urgencytobleed: (Default)
So... here's the deal. I enjoy making lists. I also enjoy torturing myself in the form of forcing myself to pick favorites (it's a very painful process for me, okay? I feel bad leaving things out and choosing one thing over another!). So what better way to combine these two boredom-induced activities than by making lists of my top twenty songs by my favorite musicians? Naturally, first up is none other than Rilo Kiley.


I had planned on posting this particular list awhile ago and I had this whole entry with in-depth explanations for each choice all ready to go... and then I somehow accidentally clicked refresh and the saved draft ended up being not-so-recent so I lost it all and got so frustrated that I didn't even want to post it anymore. But I have the songs uploaded so it seems a waste not to. But I can't do all the explaining over again. I've posted about a good amount of these songs before anyway so if you want to know my reasons for loving them, just look back through the Rilo Kiley tag or something. Or just let the songs speak for themselves; come on, I think it's pretty obvious why they're awesome. If you somehow have not heard any of these, get to doing that right this moment!

As a disclaimer of sorts, I must stress that this is a list that's constantly changing; the top ten has been pretty static for awhile but the bottom ten are more fluid and move around depending on what I'm in the mood for. Also, please don't hate me for not including a certain song. I do love almost every song of theirs and this was a hard list to narrow down! And I was hoping this would make a nice "ultimate Rilo Kiley" mix but unfortunately it won't quite fit on an 80-minute disc as is. The last couple of songs would have to be knocked off. Or maybe only one if the silence/interludes at the end of certain songs was edited out but I'm too lazy to do that right now.

Drumroll, please. )
urgencytobleed: (mindy and leighton are so cute)
Here are a few random songs/artists I am loving at the moment. No *NSYNC this time, I promise. ;)

Click for music. )

And also, because I'm feeling generous and because no one is really getting anything out of me keeping them to myself, here are links to some random things I have uploaded in my MediaFire folder - a few albums, some songs. They are all good, I promise, so download whatever you'd like! Remember to change xx to tt for the links to work.

Links. )
urgencytobleed: (inside the one who holds you)
I know I haven't been posting very often lately - at least not very often by my standards, anyway. I guess I just haven't had much to talk about recently. The albums I'm still most anticipating this year have yet to come out and I haven't been making very many notable new discoveries. However, here are some songs that have caught my ear lately, some from new releases, some older. Enjoy. :)

urgencytobleed: (blake and jenny)
So, here's the deal: I think I am the single unluckiest person with computers in the world and ours (which is no more than six months old, mind you) decided to die and the hard drive had to be completely replaced. Obviously, everything was totally wiped out. I'm to the point now where I've been backing up most everything on my external drive, so I didn't lose much, but part of what I did lose was two nearly-completed album reviews that I was planning on posting here in the next week or so. Needless to say, I now have to completely re-write them. I remember most of the points I made, so I think it will go fairly quickly, it's just actually getting around to doing it that's the hard part.

Anyway, I don't know when I'll have those ready again and I don't have much else to post right now. So, in the meantime, I saw Rilo Kiley live for the second time last Sunday and it was amazing, of course. I don't have the patience to write a formal review when I have these other ones looming over me, so instead here is a very informal account that is full of endless amounts of praise and obsessing. Read if you dare. If not, just skip to the songs, if you're still living under a rock and haven't been forced to listen to Rilo Kiley through my insane obsession with them.


urgencytobleed: (jenny smile)
Song of the Day


Rilo Kiley - Glendora

LYRICS )
Everyone's probably a bit tired of this song since it's practically a given that someone will yell out for it at least once at every Rilo Kiley show, but you can't deny it's cuteness. The lyrics are a bit wishy-washy, but for every truly terrible line ("Every time I come over to your house/You just shit on my face/And you know, you know, you know/You know it really freaks me out") there is a completely brilliant one ("And would you fuck me?/'Cause I'd fuck me") to make up for it. And the juxtaposition of Jenny's adorable baby-ish vocals against the very grown-up words just makes it even better. It's a great little song that shouldn't be forgotten amongst all of their other more mature material - just don't ask them to play it anytime soon (or at all really), okay?

DOWNLOAD
urgencytobleed: (Default)
Song of the Day!



Rilo Kiley - A Town Called Luckey

LYRICS )
I can't believe I've never posted this song before because it's absolutely epic. Though, apparently, a lot of people don't like it, but I don't know why. It is quite different from the rest of their catalogue, a lot harder and darker and more chaotic, but no less good. I think part of the reason I love it so much is that for some reason, I really enjoy it when Jenny does her little scream-y thing, like on "Spectacular Views" ("It's so fucking beautiful!") or "Jenny, You're Barely Alive" (which is also an awesome song). So, naturally, my favorite part of this song is the "A storm cloud! A hurricane!" part because it's so intense. You know, I actually wouldn't have minded at all if Under the Blacklight had gone more in the loud rock direction than the fluffy pop direction, but alas... maybe they're saving that for next time. (Is it weird that I possibly get more enjoyment out of choosing a picture to accompany posts than in choosing the music? Seriously, it took me about ten minutes to decide on one.)

urgencytobleed: (Default)
Alright, finally, a 2007 wrap-up. I was getting nowhere with trying to make a cohesive mix, so I've decided to go about this a bit differently. Basically, this whole week is going to be "2007" week and I'm going to try to post something everyday - the first two days will be my top ten albums, the next two will be songs from other good albums, and the third will be sort of an "anticipated in 2008" post. I've posted quite a few of these songs in the past, but it gives you the chance to realize that these are my very favorites and if you haven't tried them by now, I definitely recommend you to! There are still some albums I haven't listened to properly but I realized that if I kept trying to listen to everything, this wouldn't be done until the end of 2008, so I decided that none of those would probably make it into my top ten anyway and settled on this list. I'm pretty happy with it; the only spot that doesn't feel completely static is #10, which was occupied by quite a few different albums until I decided on what's there now. So, without further ado, the latter half of my top ten, complete with reviews, purchase links, and Youtube videos!

10.
Emma Pollock - Watch The Fireworks (purchase)


Watch the Fireworks, in many ways, picks up where Emma's previous band the Delgados' final album, Universal Audio, left off. It's full of catchy, slightly quirky indie pop tunes sprinkled with well-written lyrics and Emma's distinguishable raspy yet sweet vocals. The album opens with "New Land", which could be a pretty generic singer-songwriter track if not for the carnival-esque melodies and persistent drumbeat propelling it. This is true of most of the tracks; they don't tread any new territory, but Emma knows how to make them memorable and instantly lovable. "Acid Test" is a bit edgier and more rock-oriented while singles like "Paper and Glue" and "Adrenaline" are poppy without being completely vapid. All of the catchiness is interspersed with more folky simple songs like "Limbs", "Fortune", and "The Optimist" which are soft and pretty but Emma's slightly raw voice keeps them from sounding bland. Her music is probably most reminiscent of female artists like Anna Nalick and Nerina Pallot, but her years of experience with the Delgados allows her songs to be more meaningful, impactful, and durable than others with a similar style who haven't been active for as long. Her delivery sounds both youthful and wise at the same time and her songs fit nicely as one unit but never blend together until you don't know which is which. I used to listen almost exclusively to artists of the "female singer-songwriter" ilk but I've grown a bit tired of that these past couple of years, so it takes a lot to capture my attention in that category anymore. For that reason, Emma definitely deserves to be on this list. From the moment I first heard Watch the Fireworks I knew I was in love and even if her chosen style of music isn't terribly unique, she definitely stands out as one of the most talented women in that group right now.

  • Acid Test
  • Paper and Glue
  • The Optimist


See #9-6. )

#5-1 tomorrow! (Unless you know the one other place I've posted this. In that case, you're lucky.)
urgencytobleed: (dresden dolls hot)
It's past midnight now, so I guess it's officially New Year's Eve and seeing as how I won't be here most of today and Tuesday, there's no better time to post some New Year's related songs, right? Right. The reason for most of these being here is blatantly obvious so I won't bother going into further details, but you may be scratching your head at the inclusion of "Troubadours". But wait - it has the sound of party noisemakers throughout and Jenny (or at least it sounds like her) shouts "Happy New Year!" randomly at the very end. Okay, so, it's not much of a reference, but you know me, always looking for an excuse to post some Rilo Kiley. And on a semi-related note, I just watched the movie Talk to Me which featured Jenny as a drug-addicted prostitute which was a bit odd to see. The movie was completely terrible besides her, unsurprisingly, but it's always fun to catch a glimpse of her acting past. Anyhow, before I veer totally off-course, here are some lovely songs for the occasion!

  • Asobi Seksu - New Years
  • Camera Obscura - Happy New Year
  • Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year
  • The Dresden Dolls - New Year's Day (live U2 cover)
  • The Good Life - New Year's Retribution
  • Rilo Kiley - Troubadours
  • Stars - A New Year (live)

And... yay for rapidly developing obsessions! I present:

Los Campesinos!



So, after dismissing them as annoying in the past, I have totally discovered how crazy awesome these guys are. I swear, this always happens to me! I guess I really need to start listening to things with a more open mind the first time. But I guess that's one of the good things about being music-obsessed: a band you hated in the past you can suddenly adore without any obvious reason for the change of opinion. It kind of proves that your taste is always changing and evolving slightly, even if you can't tell. Anyway, so, yes Los Campesinos! rocks. Their songs are really energetic and fun and make me want to dance and sing along at the top of my lungs. Even though I barely know any of the words. And I think I have a thing for rock bands with strings, ala Stars, and obviously, Los Campesinos! as well. Those violin melodies are so damn infectious. The male lead singer's voice is kind of irritating at first but I got used to it pretty quickly. I can now add them to my list of highly anticipated 2008 releases. They don't have many songs right now, but their upcoming full-length, Hold On, Youngsters..., is due out February 25th in the UK and April 1st in the US as of currently, and it definitely seems promising. Here, have some songs! Be warned, they'll get stuck in your head almost immediately.

  • Death to Los Campesinos!
  • The International Tweexcore Underground
  • Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
  • We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives

(Meanwhile, that 2007 mix is coming along slowly. I've kind of completely abandoned the original and have decided to go back and listen to some albums I never gave proper attention to and cram in a few that I never got around to listening to at all. I'm probably taking this way too seriously, but it gives me a good reason to listen to things I would've kept putting off otherwise, so I guess that's good.)
urgencytobleed: (Default)
It's still a month until Christmas but seeing as it is already completely white and miserably cold outside, this seems to be the perfect time to bust out the Christmas tunes anyway! Now, I don't know about you, but most Christmas music annoys me, so aside from a few traditional songs (though performed fantastically, of course) I've tried to mostly include ones that can be easily enjoyed all year 'round. Some are explicitly about Christmas while others are more vaguely winter-y or contain a fleeting mention of Christmas but are just so awesome that it's enough to count. Hopefully, this mix will bring you more enjoyment over the holidays than whatever crappy radio station playing those generic cheesy Christmas songs. As always, below the cut, you can find the tracklisting with links to each individual song or download the entire thing in a ZIP file.

Sew up the bad that you've done - tomorrow Christmas day comes. )
Download entire mix (72 MB)
urgencytobleed: (jenny smile)
The idea for this mix was spurred by my current Stars obsession but my weakness for boy/girl duos started around the time that I first got into Tilly and the Wall and Mates of State, probably a year or more ago now. It's great to find a really unique and affecting male or female voice but to me, it's even more powerful when you put them together. So that's the idea behind this mix and it's definitely my favorite so far. I think the songs flow really well and they're all just awesome songs, to put it simply. Three things I feel like you should know:

  1. The song the title is from (Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable") is not on the mix because, well, it's not a boy/girl song. I'm just not smart enough to think up a witty title on my own so all I could think of was this and "Scream loud, all you girls and boys" from Tilly and the Wall's "Nights of the Living Dead". I figured there was less screaming and more vulnerability/sadness on it overall, therefore I went with this title.
  2. I really dislike Johnathan Rice's music and the song on here is the only one I can stand, mostly due to the presence of Jenny Lewis' lovely voice. I don't know why I feel the need to say this; I guess to justify to myself that it's okay to have him on here or something, ha.
  3. The Slow Club song is kind of low quality since it's just a MySpace rip and the single containing it is only available in 7" format right now but I love it so much that I used it anyway. It's not completely unlistenable, just a bit tinny compared to everything else.
Okay, there's that, now to the music! Oh, in case you don't keep up with the introductory post thing, I'm starting to post all links as hxxp instead of http, to keep them safer or something I guess, so just make sure to change that part when you open one.

We are a pair of apples. )
Download entire mix (71 MB)

Apparently, my last mix got downloaded more than 20 times yet I got no comments on that post. Don't get me wrong, I love that so many people have found their way here and a comment isn't required, but it is much appreciated, even just a few words. By the way, if anyone knows of any similar bands, let me know because I seriously can't get enough of the boy/girl thing!

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Shannon

January 2020

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