urgency to bleed

Here's a lovely video of Beach House performing "10 Mile Stereo" on Conan from last Monday. I can't get over how flawless Victoria Legrand's voice sounds live, my goodness. I think it actually might even sound better than on the album which is quite awe-inspiring. If you haven't heard Teen Dream yet, well, then, what are you waiting for?!? It's one of the best albums of the year! And I promise, I will do a better job of convincing you of that once I actually get around to posting my top albums of the year. Until then, enjoy the performance.


In random free music making its way around the Internet, Owen Pallett has released a demo EP that you can stream and download for free here. It's mostly instrumental, containing a few songs from Heartland without vocals and some new compositions. But the clear standout of this little collection for me is the one song that does have vocals, an alternate version of one of Heartland's best, "The Great Elsewhere," with Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond singing instead of Owen. It helps that the song is just fucking amazing anyway but I'm fairly certain that Shara could sing anything and make it sound like a work of genius. She's that good, folks.

Also, Sherri DuPree-Bemis from Eisley recently posted a lo-fi cover of Kanye West's "Heartless". I didn't think this cover was going to work but it turns out, it's actually quite a perfect choice. Sherri turns the song into kind of a dark, plaintive acoustic guitar ballad and, oddly enough, it seems completely suited to this style. Also, her voice sounds as beautiful as ever. Here is that for you.

And now for the first official taste of two albums I'm about 100% certain will be absolutely amazing (and cannot be released soon enough!):

From the initial press release that made such a big deal out of the fact that this song features Tilly and the Wall, I was surprised that they really aren't much of a presence here at all - you wouldn't even know it was them if you hadn't read about it beforehand. Though this is probably for the best because, let's face it, I can listen to Tilly and the Wall if I want to hear them; I listen to She & Him to hear Zooey fucking Deschanel and she sounds as glorious as ever. This is a nice little sunny retro pop tune with a simple catchy chorus - not too different from anything on Volume One except that it's more produced and glossy-sounding - but not in a bad way. Though I'm not the most unbiased, reliable source in the world (I would be excited to hear Zooey sing the phone book to be quite honest), it's pretty great in my opinion. But I think it will probably end up being one of the weakest tracks on the album when all is said and done. Volume Two is out March 23rd - far too long of a wait, I know, but I'm sure it'll be well worth it.

At this point, my most anticipated upcoming album is probably Joanna Newsom's. I'm trying to keep from spoiling the surprise by listening to too many of the songs in their live forms because Have One on Me is becoming one of those albums I feel like just needs to be very special and shiny and new the first time around. But an officially released song is fair game, right? This is more Milk-Eyed Mender than Ys - just under four minutes, melodically simplistic but memorable, Joanna's voice (sounding just as quirky but better than ever) and her harp and her beautiful lyrics all it needs to leave a strong impression. But I'm positive the best is still yet to come - because, oh yeah, I should probably mention this is going to be a triple album. FUCK YES. I HAVE BEEN FREAKING OUT INTERNALLY OVER THIS NEWS FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. Have One on Me will arrive on February 22nd. And I think it will possibly be too epic to listen to without spontaneously combusting. AOTY? I have to say, the chances are looking very good.

Also, have you guys heard about these mysterious "Iamamiwhoami" viral videos that have been going around for a couple months now? There have been several names tossed out as to who could possibly be behind them but the most common is Christina Aguilera. I kind of unabashedly love Christina (mostly for Stripped) and I would fucking worship her if this was her new sound but I really doubt it's her - it just seems far too drastic/creative/weird of a move for her to attempt. Also, that new and very generic ballad she sang on the Haiti telethon doesn't fit with the aesthetic/sound of these videos at all so I don't know what the fuck's going on. All I know is I'm waiting with bated breath for the mystery to be solved because I am simultaneously fascinated and creeped out by the whole thing. And I usually never fall for viral shit like this.

A bunch of random songs I've uploaded recently for whatever reason. Might as well spread the wealth, right? Some of them are songs I've already posted but have likely fallen victim to the strange Box.net glitchy mp3 upload issue so if you're OCD about music like me hopefully these ones have no problems with skipping and strange noises.

( Click for links. )

Alright, as promised, today = the top ten. I can honestly say that I adore every single one of these albums. So I'm quite happy with this list. I've also realized that my reviews would be a whole lot shorter if I didn't quote so damn many lyrics... What can I say? I'm a sucker for good lyrics. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say. Except that these all come highly recommended, obviously, so if you haven't listened to them, I think you should give them a chance. Oh yeah, and if anyone is surprised by my number one, well, you must be new here because it's so predictable if you know me. That is all. On to the music...

( #10-1 *drumroll* )