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)

NEWS: God only knows

Allow me this digression please.

My best friend and blogmate here at WIAC married the love of his life this past Saturday in sunny southern California.

Everything was perfect.

Beautiful weather, a beautiful ceremony, a beautiful reception, and a beautiful bride and groom.

And of course, the music during the reception was top notch.

In celebration I present the song to which the happy couple took their first dance together as husband and wife.

Congrats you two.

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
from the album Pet Sounds (Amazon/iTunes)

ARTIST: 60's Pop - The gift that keeps on giving

We're back!! Sorry about the technical difficulties. Such is life I guess.

So every year or so I get into a mood where nothing will satisfy me quite like The Beatles. I'll listen to their whole catalog again, sometimes several times over.

About mid-December I listened to an NPR podcast of Bob Boilen's All Songs Considered where he sat down and dissected The White Album with Bruce Spizer (who wrote The Beatles On Apple Records), and that set me off. I tore apart the White Album like I never had before, and if you've got a few minutes I could talk your ear off about how that album is the perfect post-modern follow-up to the seminal Sgt. Pepper's (insights I attribute mostly to my recent Humanities class). But I'll spare you.

The last couple times I've gone into a Beatles binge, it's been closely followed by an intense interest in The Beach Boys. Kinda funny, but I've just spent the last couple weeks tearing apart some of their old albums as well. I dived back into my (beloved) Pet Sounds, and finally purchased a copy of Brian Wilson's Smile (rather amazing). I also just became familiar with their early seventies efforts Sunflower and Surf's Up. Wow. I have to admit that I'd written these guys off as has-beens forever after Pet Sounds dropped, Smile got shelved, and Smiley Smile flopped. I've been excited to discover how wrong I was. Though neither of these records (Sunflower or Surf's Up) are quite the masterpiece that Pet Sounds was, they are far from has-been material, and I've had a blast discovering them.

Here's an exceptional track from Surf's Up, one I've already loved for awhile due to it's inclusion on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Though technically not 60's pop (it was released in 1971) it's still an incredible song. Hooray for re-discovering old gems.

The Beach Boys - Feel Flows
from the album Surf's Up (Amazon/iTunes)