PLAYLIST: A Beach Boys Tribute

I made this playlist a while back, and I've enjoyed it way too much not to share it. It's made up completely of modern tunes that are, to my ear anyway, in some way inspired by the Beach Boys. In some of them, it's just the percussion that does it for me, in others its the harmonies or the production techniques - some are more overt than others (The Explorer's Club and Panda Bear), but a few of the subtler ones are real stand-outs as well (the breakdown in "Quiet Houses"). This started out as a sort of novelty playlist but it's turned into one of my favorite mixes from last year - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

mp3: The Explorer's Club - Do You Love Me?
from the album Freedom Wind (iTunes)
mp3: Death Cab for Cutie - You Can Do Better Than Me
from the album Narrow Stairs (iTunes)
mp3: Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
from the album In Ear Park (iTunes)
mp3: Magnet - Wish Me Well
from the album On Your Side (iTunes)
mp3: Panda Bear - Bros (edit)
from the album Person Pitch (iTunes)
mp3: Animal Collective - Derek
from the album Strawberry Jam (iTunes)
mp3: Fleet Foxes - Quiet Houses
from the album Fleet Foxes (iTunes)
mp3: Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails
from the album The Stage Names (iTunes)
mp3: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
from the album Pet Sounds (iTunes)

VIDEO: DCFC's 'Grapevine Fires'

Check out the latest video off last year's fantastic Narrow Stairs below. Animated by Walter Robot (aka artist Bill Barminski and writer Christopher Louie), it adds an interesting dimension to what was already a rather poignant song.

Written about the 2007 California wildfires, this song's a stand-out on that album for me. There were several times in my childhood when I'd sit on a high hill and watch the nearby landscape burn and the sky fill up with smoke and ash. It's always so surreal. I had a few friends that lost their homes in 2007's blaze, and the thought is always in the back of my mind that maybe it'll be ours next time. This video seems to capture that sense of mortality.

Check it out below, and as a bonus, try to spot the smoke monster from LOST in the first few frames:

NEWS: Happy Electioneering!

So election day is winding down, and I hope you've either voted already or you're on your way!

At lunch I sat down to watch some CNN and all the Election Day '08 stuff, but I have to admit I got side-tracked when I found that Finding Nemo was playing on the Disney channel. Man, Pixar can do no wrong.

Anyways, here's a couple election day songs to make you feel good about doing your civic duty!

The Cranberries - Free To Decide
from the album Stars - The Best of 1992-2002 (iTunes)


Death Cab for Cutie - President of What?
from the album You Can Play These Songs With Chords (iTunes)


Razorlight - America
from the album Razorlight (iTunes)

ALBUM: I'd have done the same as you

In reading the blogosphere's responses to Death Cab for Cutie's new album, Narrow Stairs (out yesterday), I've noticed a lot of comments like "it has to be better than Plans" or "gratefully not another Plans", or other similar sentiments.

I had to stop and think for a bit, because I loved 2005's Plans, and it had never really occurred to me to think of it as anything less than a fantastic record. It gave me pause to think about all of the things that I love about this band; the reasons that I keep coming back to them. Things like Ben's intricate and endlessly relatable lyrics, the creative guitar-work, the often counter-intuitive drumming, and their over-all ability to weave deep, textured songs from seemingly simple pop beginnings. Though admittedly more polished than their prior releases, Plans had all of these things in spades - and so I still stand by my love for that album.

Now comes Narrow Stairs, and we see a step backward from that "more polished" sound - but all the things I love are still there. The album is rough around the edges, as is evident from the pounding chords that catapult the first track, Bixby Canyon Bridge from its atmospheric intro to its fuzzed out climax.

The first single, I Will Possess Your Heart, is perfect in my opinion - a sprawling sound-scape built around a repeated progression comparable to Transatlanticism's title track or Different Names for the Same Thing, just flipped on their heads. Cath... and Your New Twin Sized Bed showcase the heartbreaking lyricism I love so much, while returning to a sound that is more comparable to The Photo Album than anything since.

The one real surprise is You Can Do Better Than Me, a Pet Sounds nod to California-pop with its reverb-y drums and 60's organs swirling. And it turns out that what could have been a miss-step for many is quite a pleasant surprise here - with vintage Benjamin lyrics like "my old clothes don't fit like they once did / so they hang like ghosts of the people I've been".

But aside from all of this picking apart, music is all about what it does to you - about those moments when you feel like you couldn't explain a feeling or a thought better than those notes just did. And since picking up Narrow Stairs I've had several of those moments, the ones that make me grateful for music.

Just to end here's an interesting thought from an essay Ben Gibbard wrote for Paste Magazine. I think it gives a good insight into the songs that appear on Narrow Stairs (Read the whole thing here):

"An ex-girlfriend once got upset when I told her that music is the most important thing in my life. It's more important than anyone else could ever be. I don't want to be overly dramatic and say it's the only thing that gets me up and keeps me going. But people in your life come and go. As you go through your life, you make friendships, you break friendships, you have relationships. Music is the one thing I've always been able to rely on. So why wouldn't it be the most important thing in my life?"

Death Cab for Cutie - Cath...

from the album Narrow Stairs (Amazon/iTunes)

ARTIST: We wake up, we choose love, we choose light

I heard about The Submarines a year or so ago when some very good friends saw them open for Josh Ritter in LA. They said that they were awesome. I had a few songs, and yes, they were awesome. But I never really got too head over heels for them and I'm not sure why.

Well I might just be trying to fill that boy/girl duo void for another two weeks 'til Mates of State's album comes out, or maybe I'm just a real sucker for this kind of indie-pop, but I've finally fallen for the Submarines (AKA John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard) - and I've fallen hard.

The LA couple has a new album coming out this Tuesday (May 13th) called Honeysuckle Weeks, and let me tell you again - it is awesome (I also just checked and it's already available on iTunes). This will mark their first album to be completely written and recorded together - their debut album was actually written separately while the two were broken up and then recorded after they got back together. Lucky for us they're still together and going strong - because these are awesome songs. Or did I mention that already?

The Submarines - You, Me and the Bourgeoisie

from the album Honeysuckle Weeks (Amazon/iTunes)

The Submarines - Submarine Symphonika

from the album Honeysuckle Weeks (Amazon/iTunes)

NOTES:

Also coming out this Tuesday is Death Cab's new album. Woohoo.

The Little Ones will be playing tonight at Kilby Court in Salt Lake with Ra Ra Riot. If you can, don't miss it.

SONG: Death Cab will possess your heart

As if I didn't have a million reasons to love Ben Gibbard and Death Cab for Cutie anyway - they go and release an 8+ minute song for the first single from their new record, Narrow Stairs (out May 13th on Atlantic). Yeah, I know - pretty awesome.

So the song opens with a four and a half minute long ambient noise/bass and drum jam thing before we ever even hear Ben's voice. It's all expertly rendered by Mr. Walla's superb production, and the transition into the second half of the song is pretty fantastic. The whole thing is like this drawn-out dramatic curtain pull before some long-awaited and highly anticipated... well, you know. Something amazing.

Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart

from the album Narrow Stairs (pre-order on Amazon)

ALBUM: Are you getting enough sleep, Mr. Walla?

I don't know if it's just me, but Chris Walla looks pretty worn out in all the press photos I've seen. And frankly, he has every reason to be. In addition to producing several records for bands like the Decemberists, Tegan & Sara, and Nada Surf, he has been hard at work with his band Death Cab for Cutie on their album due out later this year (check it out here). And as if that weren't enough, he just happened to release his own album on Barsuk records this week- and that's what we're gonna talk about.

The album isn't ground-breaking- in fact, it's surprisingly ground-ed in the standards of pop and rock. And unlike most ultra-egotistic solo efforts, it's not even a huge departure from his work with Ben Gibbard & company. But the songs are catchy and the melodies infectious, and Chris' talent is apparent. He plays just about every instrument on the album, aside from the drums (played by Jason McGerr and Kurt Dahle- from Death Cab and the New Pornographers, respectively), and his airy vocals carry a quiet sincerity about them.

Those vocals are what kick off the album in Two-fifty, a harmony driven track with only sparse instrumental backup. The song plays like a thesis statement for the album- a little understated, but delivered clearly and deliberately. He hits his stride with Sing Again, a poppy but somber rocker with lyrics like 'a life packed full of mindless joy/ it is not easy to enjoy', before ending rather abruptly, leaving you wondering if you missed something. Some real highlights include the quietly beautiful A Bird is a Song, with its thoughtful lines and pretty harmonies, and the straightforward Everyone Needs a Home, a song about longing that is all too relatable. Political undertones can be felt throughout, from The Score to Everybody On to the pleading Archer V. Light (a personal favorite), and hints of Death Cab can be heard particularly on songs like Geometry &c., It's Unsustainable, and Holes. Every song is tightly written, and the production is seamless- the album is just plain good from start to finish.

So worn out or not, Mr. Walla- if you keep making music like this, I hope you stay busy.

Chris Walla - Sing Again