Koala-esque Australian singer Lenka covers Modest Mouse.
mp3: Gravity Rides Everything [Lenka]
The second Sara hits the high note at the chorus (“Set me free, leave me be. I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity.”)… beautiful.
mp3: Gravity [Sara Bareilles]
mp3: Gravity (Live at the Fillmore) [Sara Bareilles]
Some background on the song Gravity (from Wikipedia): “Mayer suggested in an interview with the magazine Performing Songwriter that “Gravity” was the song he was always trying to write, using the example of “Come Back to Bed” (from Heavier Things) as being an early attempt at “writing Gravity“.”
When I read this on Wikipedia, I felt like I really understood John Mayer so much better musically. Because “Gravity” is one of my favorite songs too. As is true in most bluesy songs, it’s the silences that are just as important as the singing parts.
“This is the most important song I’ve ever written, it’s a time capsule song. I will listen to it every day of my life if I need to. It’s honest to God the most important song I’ve ever written in my life, and it has the fewest words. I was in LA, and I was there for the summer, just writing tunes, and I was in the shower. And I don’t know where it came from, but it’s the damn truth you know, and I just sang, “gravity…is working against me.”- John Mayer on “Gravity”
mp3: Gravity [John Mayer]
John playing “Gravity” on David Letterman
Love the intro here.
mp3: Gravity Rides Everything [Modest Mouse]
The better thing to come out of Alaska: Kate Earl. Earl makes pop music, but it’s not all completely manufactured and auto-tuned. Personally, I think “Nobody” by Kate Earl was one of the catchiest, sexiest (“Nobody hikes up my skirt like you”) songs of the year and yet she has been unable to garner the amount of popularity that marketing machine Katy Perry has been able to gain. “Nobody” is subtle, a bit dark with a pinch yearning… and an utterly alluring beat. Hopefully, Earl finds more of the commercial success she deserves in 2010!
mp3: Nobody [Kate Earl]
I’m sure the highly blogged-about group The XX will be making a lot of “best of ‘09″ lists this year and rightfully so. Despite losing a member this year, I hope they will continue to make more amazing music in the coming year.
mp3: Islands [The xx]
How did I miss this little gem the first time around? Perhaps because I was too busy obsessively listening to “Lights and Music” while fist-pumping, before fist-pumping was tainted by MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” Now I am loathe to do anything that may associate me with anything/anyone on that crummy show. And yet, I can’t turn away…
mp3: Nobody Lost, Nobody Found [Cut Copy] (via Redthreat.wordpress.com)
at 0:54 seconds
“Nobody” by the Wonder Girls has been blowing through Asia like an insuppressible force of (solid gold pop music) nature. Catchy as hell, but lyrics tug at your threadlike heart strings.
mp3: Nobody (Rainstone Instrumental Remix) [Wonder Girls]
Here’s the uncontrollably catchy original:
* Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Mase Remix) [Alicia Keys]
Alicia Key’s newest album “The Element Of Freedom” is dropping like cryptococcus neoformans infected pigeon poop (sorry, medical school verbal diarrhea) on December 15, but thanks to the magical machine that is piracy on the internet, the first single “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” is already floating around the cyberspace for eager ears. It’s nothing especially innovative or different from songs on her last album “As I Am,” but it’s still pop gold from Ms. Keys. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t give it vancomycin (ok, ok, I’ll stop with the medical terms =P).
*Make You Mine (Fred Falke remix) [Miami Horror]
Miami Horror is an electropop act hailing not from the hot sexy caliente ciudad Don Johnson made famous, but from the land of kangaroos, shrimp on the barbie, and Nicole Kidman’s real face before it discovered botulism toxin. I have no idea who Fred Falke is but he always makes really good remixes… this is one is relaxing.
*Who Says [John Mayer]
Thanks to Joe Yu for introducing/sending me this song! It’s nice and easy. It’s off of Mayer’s newest album “Battle Studies” (great title by the way). While the paps might play him off as the d-bag who bedded Jennifer Aniston, one can’t deny his ability to produce good music. He had me at “No Such Thing.”
It’s officially November. Now where’s that snuggie?
I’ve decide to minimize the formatting of Music for Moodies, not out of want but due to my lack of time to link pictures and what not. I know it’s not as aesthetically pleasing as past entries but I can promise that I will continue to deliver quality songs for your aural pleasure.
mp3: Two Tongues [The Swell Season]
“Two Tongues” embodies the harmonious sound of bittersweet disappointment from The Swell Season (Academy Award winners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová from the movie “Once”). In a New York Times article about their new album “Strict Joy,” the duo was asked how it was working on a new album together after their fresh break-up. Markéta answered the question with her usual simple maturity by defining the organic purpose of all arts. “Like Glen always puts it, you live your life, and the residue of that life you lead becomes the music,” she said.
mp3: Boa Sorte/Good Luck [Vanessa da Mata and Ben Harper]
I was watching House the other day and a really beautiful song by Ben Harper came on (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZLp5oLHgvM) which I could not pirate yet due to its relative newness. However, I did come across this lovely bilingual acoustic duet by Ben Harper and Grammy Award winning Brazilian songstress (and former pre-med student) Vanessa da Mata.
mp3: Ms. Harmony [Robin Thicke]
Despite the seemingly emasculating (Sarah’s thoughts, not mine) high pitched tone Robin Thicke takes on for this low key guitar ballad, I still think he’s the man. It also doesn’t hurt that the song contains copious amounts of bongo playing.
ADELE
There is something about Adele’s voice that makes me feel like she understands how I feel when I’m sad.
mp3: Make u feel my love (Remot REmix) [Adele]
THE DREAM
I love this ultra-dramatic, ultra-electronic song. I haven’t seen the MV for it, but I hope there’s a scene with The Dream standing at the edge of a cliff with his arms open wide because that’s how I’m envisioning the chorus playing out in video (I’m hoping that it’s not yet another MV of a booze saturated club scene with hoochies).
mp3: She needs my love [The Dream]
LYKKE LI
Youth Novels, by Young Adult Lykke Li
In the music world, where years are counted in something like dog years, Lykke Li’s 2008 debut seems ages ago. And yet, it still lingers in one of my top most played albums because she’s weird… yet so listenably weird. It’s weird and catchy. The aura of her music, to me, is like a less annoying Joanna Newsom (as much as I love “Peach Plum Pear,” I’ve really hit my limit with listening to her irritating screech).There is something in particular about this track on Lykke Li’s 2008 debut “Youth Novels.” My first listen of “Youth Novels” was that it was just an amalgam of fidgety noises and bangs, often creatively done on regular instruments like pianos and guitars. But this track, “My Love,” is a welcome break from Li’s Ritalin fueled repertoire. While the background melody stays repetitive throughout the song (as is common in her album), it still holds a song all by itself. In the end, though,”Youth Novels” overall is a vocalist’s album; it is always Lykke’s vocal addition that holds each song together.
mp3: My love [Lykke Li]
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
If you have not yet checked out this lovely movie by auteristic cinema genius Wes Anderson, you should. And if you don’t love Adrien Brody yet, you will.
mp3: Where do u go to (my lovely) [Peter Sarstedt]
JOURNEY
You know it’s the 80s by the pornstached man.
‘Send her my love’ by Journey
MILKE
Milke, a duo comprised of Andrew Friendly (music) and Ra (vocal, lyrics), is inspired by the third French wave of Kitsune artists, electro pop, Stuart Price and the DFA, mixed with the pop sensibilities of Eurythmics, The Cure, Talking Heads, Stevie Wonder and Prince. With a KLF approach to creativity (minus the sheep slaying), Milke sings about displacement, mental illness, love and love-lost, obsession and sex.
This catchy tune is definitely going on my ipod for running!
mp3: Love Get Out of My Way [Milke]
