“What Are You Doing New Years Eve?” by Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt
It’s a little late for me to be posting about this, but it’s still January, and I should post before it becomes February. I really love how simple and sweet this song is. And it lends itself to harmonization so nicely. No doubt maaaaany individuals keeled over watching this. Including me.
Fun. - We Are Young ft. Janelle Monáe
I was late in the game in discovering the Format. The first song I heard by them was called “The First Single,” and it’s one of the songs I associate with my budding interest in non-classical music. In 2008 they split to form separate groups, one of them being “fun.” which caught my attention with “Be Calm.” It sounded like it’d been inspired by Handel’s Passacaglia or something similar (that passacaglia’s a whole post on its own). If you don’t remember who Janelle Monáe is, she sings that super catchy song, “Tightrope.”
The above music video by fun. was released 2 days ago and looks and sounds pretty epic. In this article from iphonesavior.com the writer cheekily notes that the initiating move in the video (“hipster chick hurls her Windows phone across the room”) “reinforces the idea that nobody deliberately throws an iPhone.” Download the video for FREE on iTunes here.
For a little more info on the Format and its derivatives along with FREE downloads, visit indierockcafe.
Apparently “We Are Young” was covered on Glee.
Adam Cousens - Island Flower
I found Adam Cousens on this site, which reveals a few gems pretty often. This one stood out to me especially after having recently seen and enjoyed The Descendants. They’re not related, it’s just that the ukulele reminds me of the soothingly pleasant Hawaiian music that played while I sobbed my eyes out during the movie. I cannot get enough of the lazy verses and “oooooooo”-ing harmonies. Download “Island Flower” for FREE here. ”This Road Ahead” (also good) reminds me a little of Mumford & Sons.
2 - Nikki & Rich - Next Best Thing
One of my friends has been listening to Tightrope, by Janelle Monáe constantly and it’s so irresistibly catchy (you can’t help but want to dance) that I went and made a station from it on Pandora (is this considered cheating?). This led to several great songs that sounded really similar. The song in the video above is by the group Nikki & Rich and while it’s not as catchy as Tightrope, it still got me moving. A little more searching brought me to an article about them that included a link to a free gift of their debut EP. A preliminary listen revealed “City Lights” as the most repeat-worthy song, but maybe the others will grow on me.
Other songs that turned up on the Pandora station (they’re all pretty catchy):
Sepalot - Go Get It (feat. Ladi6)
The Bamboos - You Ain’t No Good
Duffy - Mercy
Congrats to Scott’s 3rd celebrity girlfriend who made it to the front page of Hacker News.
Stunning music video.
I found a couple songs through a grooveshark mercedes ad today. Apparently they want to make “coupe remixes” and have you choose 8 out of 12 pre-chosen songs to remix and they’ll remix the most voted 8 into an album. I figured pre-selected songs should be good enough to listen to and found a couple songs that I liked.
I’ve heard of a few of Metric’s songs but I never got around to checking them out further. I’ve decided “Help I’m Alive” is worth listening to several times and adding to my indie party playlist (kidding… sort of). I don’t get how they manage to make the song sound broody and then flip around into a light major bit and it all sounds listenable and connected.
I’ve never heard of School of Seven Bells, but I liked “Windstorm” enough to want to listen to more of their stuff.
“Dance (if you wanna)” by Vivian Girls has an upbeat unrefined indie sound that would fit well with songs by Black Kids or Best Coast.
And listen to Johnny Cash just because. I want to hear how they decide to remix “Walk the Line.”
All mentioned songs can be listened to here as well.
I don’t know anything about the ACL (Austin City Limits) music festival, but they have a free sampler with a few songs that I like so far. The songs by Delta Spirit, Fitz & the Tantrums, and The Head and the Heart sound promising. Haven’t listened to all of it, but I think it’s rare that I like even 3 songs on a sampler so I think it’s worth a shot. Click the title link for more info.
Requires iTunes, Expires Oct 31, 2011
Included songs:
The Antlers — Parentheses
The Cave Singers — Swim Club
Delta Spirit — Devil Knows You’re Dead (EP Version)
Federico Aubele — No One
Fitz & the Tantrums — Don’t Gotta Work It Out
Gomez — Options
Ha Ha Tonka — Made Example Of
Hayes Carll — Stomp and Holler
The Head and the Heart — Lost In My Mind
J Roddy Walston and the Business — Used to Did
little hurricane — Crocodile Tears
Mavis Staples — You Are Not Alone
Smith Westerns — All Die Young
Telekinesis — Please Ask for Help
Yellow Ostrich — WHALE
6 - Amazon offers a $2 Credit for MP3 Downloads for Free with code FALLMP3S
found via slickdeals. Tip: type it in instead of copy/pasting
6 - The Tallest Man On Earth - The Gardener
It took me a awhile to get used to The Tallest Man On Earth (who’s supposedly not that tall). His voice isn’t what I’m used to enjoying. And even though several friends with reliable musical taste recommended his songs, I was slow to realize why they had this guy on repeat. I can’t stop listening to his songs. They’re refreshingly simple and have a pure back to basics feeling that I can’t find the right words to pin down. Haha, lame analogy but listening to this guy is like fresh veggies after months of having only had processed and canned veggies. Just give him a listen.
My favorites: The Gardener, Like the Wheel, Burden of Tomorrow
Also good: The Wild Hunt, King of Spain, The Dreamer
“King of Spain,” “Pistol Dreams,” “The Gardener” downloadable for FREE here.
“Burden of Tomorrow” downloadable for FREE here.
“Love is All” downloadable for FREE here.
“The Wild Hunt” here, and “Graceland” a Paul Simon cover here.
I’ve only played the cup game a couple of times. I remember being introduced to it sometime in elementary school, and being very bad at it. Then later in college, a couple friends started a game up in the cafeteria and I discovered I was still very bad at it. I guess the rhythm of the cup game has always been catchy, but I never really thought about it until I heard this song.
This cover by tay9andahalf is awesome. The group she was covering is fantastic as well: Lulu and the Lampshades - You’re Gonna Miss Me. I can’t decide which one I like better. Apparently the original is by the Mainers Mountaineers - Miss Me When I’m Gone.
Both of the covers are very catchy. I could listen to them both on repeat. You don’t have to listen to the original (it’s just there for reference) but listen to the covers. Really.
“Purchase $50 or more in eligible textbooks shipped and sold by Amazon.com to your Shopping Cartby 11:59 p.m. PST on January 17, 2011. Eligible textbooks are those that display the offer message on their product information pages.”
If you’re buying textbooks off Amazon anyway, might as well get some free music to go with it
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