beck "tropicalia"
to my ears, beck's at his best when he plays the genre-bending poet. this song is just so smooth. it grooves along in contrast to its rather dark lyrics, "misery waits in vague hotels to be evicted." i only recently discovered just how much i like 1998's mutations but it's been on repeat all week. great song.
[buy the album!]
harvey danger "problems and bigger ones"
harvey danger never deserved to be a one-hit wonder. "flag pole sitta" is still one of my favorite tracks from my alt rock radio listening days. but all of where have all the merrymakers gone? could have made it onto the radio. this song IS the nineties. you can hear it dripping off of the guitars and production. the song sort of muddles along pleasantly until 2 minutes in when it opens up and becomes the classic 1997 alt rock ballad it is. each time the chorus hits, it gets a little better. harvey danger's singer is playing with the long winters these days, but they're working on a new (third) album as we speak. color me tenatively excited.
[buy the album!]
joanna newsom "sadie"
equal parts bjork and devendra banhart, this track has a strangely addicting quality. from the first time i heard it, it wormed its way into my brain and wouldn't get out. the constant almost-grating quality of her voice is a perfect contrast to the couldn't-be-more-beautiful instrumental half. and when she hits certain notes it just kills. she owns you for 6 minutes. often when a song really catches my ear. it's not what the person is saying, but HOW they're saying it. and that's this song all over the place. "this is an old song / these are old blues / and this is not my tune / but it's mine to use." there are so many great things about this song it's hard to know where to start. lucky for me, the whole cd, the milk-eyed mender, is this good too. [this track was recommended by ben gibbard of death cab for cutie / postal service fame, on npr's excellent all song's considered page.]
[sounds like: devendra banhart, bjork]
joanna newsom "peach, plum, pear"
i couldn't resist a second joanna newsom track. this one is shorter, and maintains my attention in a much different way. driving, sparse, childlike whimsy at first, and then halfway through it starts layering on itself with multitracked vocals that just barely fuzz the speakers. i have no idea what this song is about, but it's riveting.