but all in all, the ceiling's coming down

it's been an intense three days.

i'm weighted by thinkin'

i suppose i could write why i like this song so much, but in light of giving thanks and the upcoming weekend festivities and everything, i'll just give credit where credit is due from the pfork review: this is a great summary of why this song is wonderful.

"Graze" flows directly into "What Would I Want? Sky", a song that samples Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain" and is easily among the most warm, likeable, and melodic tracks Animal Collective have recorded. It refracts Aquarian optimism through a modern sense of uncertainty, undercutting the loop's jovial lilt with a tricky structure and lyrics that seem confused about what will happen next. "Sky" contains the first officially licensed sample of the Dead, and it's the best marketing move the band's organization has made since they greenlighted Cherry Garcia. It's not easy to take a cut-up voice and make it the centerpiece of a tune, and it's harder still to sing along with it in a way that doesn't sound forced. But "What Would I Want? Sky" sounds as natural as something that grew out of the earth.

i think the best way to tell good things is by whether they feel as natural as something that grew out of the earth.

i've got no more baggage / i threw all my old things away

the new walkmen album (new to me, several months old to all others) is amazing. i keep thinking about ways to write about it to entice you to listen to it. i haven't settled on one yet. until then, consider this an utterly worthy addition to the false optimism list. maybe a team captain.

New Country - The Walkmen

also, uruguay won tonight, 1-0. not so bad, right?


right?

...

false optimism

i've been listening to a lot of kid a recently, since i bought it from lala (which i love, in case you were wondering) for $1.99. optimistic came on first this morning, and in honor of the recent recurrence of my horrendous stress dreams (a sample from just today: i slept through our big conference, which is coming up; came home on the train after that and it turned out it was christmas, and i didn't get anyone anything) i thought of making a list of my favorite fake-optimism songs.

at some point i realized that list is really, really long.

but here's a first crack. i'm trying lala embeds, because they are reliable, and you can get your requisite one listen out of them for free. if you want to download them, go to hypemachine.

Optimistic - Radiohead

comment: uhhhh, duh.

Bows + Arrows - The Walkmen

the least convincing "nothing's wrong" i've ever heard.

Used To Be - Beach House

she's arguing with herself at the end! sounds just like my head, except for way more beautiful. also, i could have posted almost any beach house song for this theme.

Here It Comes - Modest Mouse

one of my most favorite, most upbeat modest mouse songs. yet: "you always told me life's a dam that breaks, well, here it comes"; "keep it clean and no one's ever won"; and, of course, "the place and the time where we knew everything could go wrong"

Slow Show - The National

i always thought this was a no-brainer, but i can't tell you how many people i've had to convince that this is NOT A HAPPY SONG.

Waitin' For A Superman [Mokran...

the absolute, definitive, best version of this fantastic song. also, it's probably about jesus, or the messiah? i think that counts for bonus points.


so, yeah. that makes a pretty good front half of a mix-- and if these seem like very typical al;ec songs, and the type of songs i listen to all the time, that's because THEY ABSOLUTELY ARE.

false optimism