Build A Rocket, Boys!

Elbow has been around for some time, and I have downloaded pretty much all of their albums. I have never actually listened to any them. This happens frequently. I download an artist's entire catalog based on a recommendation, and those albums sit in the dusty attic of my external hard drive while I listen to The National's High Violet for two months straight. C'est la vie.

Elbow's newest effort is Build A Rocket Boys! and it takes it's name from a line in this song, Lippy Kids.

Guy Garvey, who kinda looks like a heavy in a Guy Ritchie film, sings in that slightly-gravelly Manchester-accented voice about lippy kids hanging out on the corner, reminding him of his days trying to perfect "that simian stroll." Nobody ever grasps the way the memory of their evaporated youth will weigh on them years down the road. When it is finally gone, the recognition of that fact can turn us all into melancholy bastards, spiteful and mean to the kids today with their loud music and so forth. Garvey goes all in on the melancholy part, reminiscing about how he "came down from the trees" for a "freshly painted angel," spending his days "walking on walls, stealing booze and hour-long hungry kisses" but refuses to be a carmudgeon, instead urging those damn lippy kids on the corner to "build a rocket, boys" in the song's soaring refrain. It gets me every time.

Wye Oak

Let's see about starting this up again. I already posted this song on my facebook profile, but I am obsessed with it right now. So let's talk about Wye Oak.

A duo hailing from Baltimore (hey, I was just there...almost), the first song of theirs I heard and latched onto was "Family Glue" on the 2008 album If Children. Here's a live version of dubious quality:

"Two Small Deaths" is the opening track on their new album, Civilian. Beautiful dream pop harmonies.

The Postmarks

I'm not going to get into politics, but in times like these it's nice to have things to listen to. Nice things. Things that are relaxing and calm. Last night I heard The Postmarks for the first time, and it was perfect timing. They have a kind of Jobim-meets-shoegaze thing going on.

Looks Like Rain - The Postmarks
from the album The Postmarks (2007)

Three Little Birds (Bob Marley cover) - The Postmarks
from the album By The Numbers (2008)

Sporadic

Another couple of weeks without posting. It's not that I haven't had things worth sharing. But apparently, if blogger/google feels like it, they can just delete one of your posts without warning. That happened to me and it just took the wind out of my sails for while. But I think I'll start putting things here again for the, like, 4 people who read this. Anyhoo...

We Plants Are Happy Plants

We Plants Are Happy Plants is Peter Bergmann, a producer from Hungary. He makes big, swirling, epic sounding electronic music. Another blog, WeAreBinary, said it best when describing his song Apollo:

This song is perfect for a night drive when you're alone in your car. Just driving out to meet some friends at a bar...feels like you're on your way to save the world, or maybe to save a beautiful girl.

Apollo - We Plants Are Happy Plants

WPAHP on MySpace

The Rosebuds

The Rosebuds are a husband-wife team from North Carolina who have made a few albums of very solid indie rock. I love the layering of sounds and voices on this track that makes it sound a little like it was recorded in a cave.

Cape Fear - The Rosebuds
from the album Life Like (2008)

Painted Sinatra blue

I love Bon Iver and I like well-executed covers. This is a well-executed Bon Iver cover. Ellie Goulding is a singer from the UK, and her myspace page describes her music as "electro-acoustic." There's no "electro" in this one.

Wolves (Bon Iver cover) - Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding on MySpace