she says nothing seems the same / and i can't change a thing

future islands. holy crap. i love them so much. first, listen/watch:

long flight-- let the excellent cokemachine glow review do the talking:

The stand-out “Long Flight,” on the other hand, is a slow burn. It doesn’t bother with a chorus so much as a couple of fragmented refrains (“You can’t look me in my eyes anymore”; “Just ‘cause you needed a hand”) repeated and syntactically rearranged throughout the rest of the song like a frenzied villanelle. The repetition of the lyrics, combined with an ever-intensifying synth line, creates an almost unbearable tension—and, sure enough, Herring finally breaks half a minute before the song ends, thrashing and growling for only a few seconds and then retreating into a defeated whisper. Something about his outburst feels lonely and futile, like gnashing your teeth at a mirror. Because even though all the songs on the record are sung to a certain you, there’s an unshakable sense that the person Herring’s addressing isn’t listening.

swept inside-- new favorite. compared to the extremes he takes his voice to in some of these songs (the next one in particular), the calm delivery of this song is grounding. part of me wants everyone to listen to this one first, since it's so obviously good and because it's not as immediately challenging as the other two, but just trust me here.



an apology-- one of the best songs i've heard in so long. the video is fantastic-- his energy, at first, seems insane, until the ... tenderness ... of his delivery comes through. i think tenderness is the right word. andy first got me into this band by saying, quote,

can't explain why i love it so much
singer dude has a sort of tom waits/meatloaf/ shakespeare live theatre sort of thing going on
just give them a chance
it's like posessed meatloaf
i'm serious

note that THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO APPROACH THIS BAND. i saved this one for last so you wouldn't go, ok, music that al;ec likes plus insane meatloaf singer, great, i think i will take a huge pass on that thank you. but you know what? you'd be wrong, and i want you to have the opportunity to be right, so, please. enjoy.



is it an epic breakup album? yeah, no doubt about that, but it has beautiful keyboards, some really serious peter hook bass, an amazing strange singer, and songs that i guarantee will be in your head for days. thank god for good new music.

if i live too long i'm afraid i'll die

great band, great song, great cover. has been on repeat for days.

goddamn it, amanda, goddamn it all

hi blog! here's a phenomenal new song about getting divorced.



and, for old time's sake, a phenomenal old song about getting divorced.

and i plan to be forgotten when i'm gone

various concerns:

1) lala is shutting down. this basically sucks, even if it may mean that iTunes is going streaming/online soon (apple bought lala). i will miss it, as will anyone trying to listen to anything i've ever posted on this blog before, which is a bummer.

2) the new tallest man on earth record is phenomenal. starting points:

burden of tomorrow: the happiest, i think, of all the songs on here.



a lion's heart: one of the saddest, i think, of all the songs on here.



the wild hunt: i like to think that this is a really happy wake song. (the only possible reply to this kind of statement, is, i know, "you would think that")



thousand ways: something about a thousand makes for good songs. current favorite.



3) we've got a show coming up, curated by and featuring some of my favorite people. may 14th, velvet lounge, apparently there's a flyer and everything. there may be a new song or two, some covers we don't usually get to do, etc., pending steve's return from palestine. maybe some details will be revealed about me moving away? who knows.



ADDENDUM:
4) i forgot to mention how much i've been digging late-period Johnny Cash since i listened to a lot of it to/from SF a few weeks ago. primarily these two covers:


i see a darkness (ft. bonnie "prince" billy) -- duh. great backup vox by will oldham. i may have posted this before, but who cares?



hurt -- not only does this song rule, and makes me really sad (also duh), but the production is PHENOMENAL. i want, someday, to make a song that sounds this good. rick rubin produced it; the money was obviously there; but apart from the guitar sounding perfect, the build in the end makes the vocals peak ever so slightly and fills up 110% of the sonic space. it is a physical enveloping. (this youtube is low quality and does it no justice-- find a better version if you can).

she said one day to leave her, sand up to her shoulders, waiting for the tide / to drag her to the ocean, to another sea shore

listening to this live tonight, context included, made me resolve to either die or move away. as moving away involves a lot less cleanup, i think that's what i'll do. details TK

dance party wisdom

you lot may all be missing out, that's true,

but if you haven't the time, interest, or patience,



are you really missing out at all?

lost/found EP

it's been a while, right, blog? sorry. i've been, well, busy.

in lieu of a real update, here's an EP i made that i got tired of sitting on. listen if you'd like-- they're almost all different from any of their myspace versions, and they sound 90% like what i want them to sound like, and sound 0% like anything we've ever played live. so, enjoy. it's good for listening to at work, since 3 of 5 are instrumental.

hello, babies -- lost and found EP

ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT AND SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF ONE SHAUNA Q. ALEXANDER (thank you!)