Mixtape Monday 2010 vol. 2

Lives of Crime- Fruit Bats

Remember how Garden State made the little known band The Shins smash hit indie darlings, how exciting it was to be hearing, discovering this new band along with Zach Braff’s character when he put on those huge headphones.  Well the Fruit Bats just might be next with one of there songs (When U Love Somebody) featured on the soundtrack of Youth in Revolt the new Michael Cera vehicle, which is bound to attract the indie masses because it’s Michael Cera.  Fruit Bats are from the same mold as The Shins, refreshingly inventive and retrospective at the same time.

New Kind of Love- Plants and Animals

Few bands have the skill to make a song 6 + minutes entirely listenable.  Plants  and Animals are one of the few, this song comes off like a mellowed Arcade Fire meeting with an ethereal Nick Drake, the arrangement is vast but at the same time endearing and homespun, and an absolute blast with headphones.

The Bed’s Too Big Without You- The Police

The Police weren’t entirely unknown at the time, Roxanne and Can’t Stand Losing You and So Lonely had guaranteed that on their previous debut effort.  Regatta de Blanc showcased their new signature sound and pushed them into stardom and this song is an oft forgotten highlight of the album.

Witness Blues- A.A. Bondy

Bob Dylan affected his audience so well due to his direct approach and wonderful narrative lyrics, A.A. Bondy may just be the closest comparison to the Dylan mystique and he well deserves it.

La Mar – The Beautiful Girls

Achingly introspective and beautifully understated, this song reaches into your emotions and doesn’t let go.  The lo-fi production and simple acoustic arrangement only make this song better.

Anne- John Frusciante

Sans the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante is a wholly new animal.  Featuring a Cat Stevens-esque croon, Anne starts out stark with beautiful acoustic accompaniment before expanding into a full blown creative arrangement.  A wonderful talent.

Joe’s Waltz- The Dodos

Many bands have their own sound, but the Dodos go even further, there is no other band that features their musical DNA, inventive in their arrangements and deceptively simple, they make a waltz sound like an entirely new style.

The Danger Zone- Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi isn’t the only country and blues styled guitar slinging singer but she’s one of the best, with a voice that belongs in a category alongside Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, and Aretha Franklin.

Willow Tree- G. Love and Special Sauce

I dream for the day that Beck and G. Love collaborate for they both have their own genius touch on blending musical styles, for now this is the closest I’ll get. Creative, laid back groove and tight soulful harmony.

Caught by the River- The Doves

The song you wished Coldplay and Oasis had written so you wouldn’t feel so guilty for saying you liked them, vast and beautifully arranged.

Help Yourself- Sad Brad Smith

Featured in Up in Air, this song harkens back to the best of CSNY and Simon and Garfunkel with beautiful harmonies and acoustic guitars going back and forth and yet with an arrangement that’s completely original, just one of those songs where beautiful seems to be the only word that fits perfectly. I don’t care if Up in Air wins any awards for its film merits, but it should for this song.

Please Be Patient With Me- Wilco

As great of a full band Wilco is, they have a magical quality when they tone it down to just guitars and vocals.

For No One- The Beatles

Eleanor Rigby gets a lot of credit for it, but mark my words; in terms of arrangement, production, lyrics and delivery, For No One is simply one of the best songs in the entire Beatles catalogue and is Paul McCartney’s lonely masterpiece and its over far too soon.

Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)- George Harrison

Simply put, the best all around song on All Things Must Pass the arrangement is full of mystical and haunting beauty and proves once and for all George’s ability as a songwriter.

Futures- Zero 7

Wonderfully unique in its arrangement and production with a beautiful voice to boot.  One of those melodies that will just keep rolling around in your head, a brooding kind of song.

American Hearts- A.A. Bondy

The most beautifully written piece of Americana this decade, Dylan himself would be green with envy.

Take Me Out of the City- Dawes

Not many bands can tone down their arrangement and let their harmonies dominate to create a song of utter beauty.  Dawes is one of them and it would be hard to find a band who does it better.

First Mixtape Monday of 2010

The Only One Loving You- Lee Fields

Slow burner with that straight from the 70’s soul sound.  Not even Al Green could have sung this better and that vintage sound mmmm, how was it this song only came out in 2009?

Handle With Care- Traveling Wilburys

Super-group in the truest sense, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.  All these men had a career by themselves, here they aren’t focused on the money, just on music and having fun and it shows and trading off vocals is a nice touch; Lynne, Petty, and Dylan form a tight backing harmony and both Orbison and Harrison have nice leads.  Nice guitar and harmonica touches too.

Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)- Cymbals Eat Guitars

Great new song by one of the finest new bands of 2009.  The swirling arrangement, tight organic harmonies and compelling narrative make this song work.

Sky Blue Sky- Wilco

I had long forgotten about the timelessness of this song until I heard it reworked in a simple accordion and acoustic guitar arrangement.  There is always beauty in simplicity.

Save Me From What I Want- St. Vincent

Another musician that came up big in 2009, think Fiest and Carly Simon with Of Montreal like touches, surreal and beautiful.

Sexy Sadie- The Beatles

Sadie is an underrated masterpiece by John Lennon.  Completely frustrated with how things with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had turned out, Lennon put his sardonic wit to the task , taking an innocent 50’s progression and turning upside down, this music had been Lennon’s influence and were always ripe with stories of falling in/ finding your love. This time he had the love and now he wants it gone. The uplift of the bridge only to bring things back to where they were before symbolizes Lennon’s message perfectly, they thought they had found enlightenment and realized they were taken advantage of.  This dry production and 50’s rock and roll style arrangement would be a hallmark of Lennon’s solo career.

Happiness Is A Warm Gun- The Beatles

Because everything about this song is masterfully done, the arrangement, the illustrative lyricism, the biting delivery and again a revamp of 50’s rock progressions.  No one could describe the dark side of psychedelics and isolation like Lennon could.

Beware of Darkness- George Harrison

By the time The Beatles were at their end Harrison had so many songs written that Lennon and McCartney didn’t care to listen to or put time into fleshing it out.  Their loss because All Things Must Pass was a triple album masterpiece.  What Harrison had over the other two in terms of songwriting was the depth and intense mood, his touch for lyrics is also underrated, often encompassing a deeper subject matter than Lennon or McCartney ever attempted, and he never came off fake.  Beware of Darkness is one of the albums best, the lyricism is beautiful poetry, the arrangement is vastly benefited by the Wall of Sound production and the guitar solo on this one is good too.

The Pageant of The Bizarre- Zero 7

Like a carnival at night, only with singing, wonderfully done.

Black Rain, Black Rain- A.A. Bondy

There is a quality so undefinable, so comforting and soothing in a man backed with only his words and his acoustic guitar, and in all those former terms, this is one of the best.

Green Grass (Tom Waits cover)- Pascal Fricke

It’s 3 am on a Paris street, an intimate performance, and heck its written by Tom Waits, just listen to it already.

Thunder Road- Bruce Springsteen

This isn’t just simply a song or music, this is a movie, this has it all. The dream of escape and youth wrapped up in energy and excitement.

Darkness on the Edge of Town- Bruce Springsteen

With Born to Run lying in the dust behind him, his dreams of youth behind him, Bruce was beginning to see things a little darker.  This song touches on it perfectly, theres darkness at the edges and its beginning to leak in, but the arrangement pulls it off beautifully, understated, with glimmers of hope, because hope is never fully gone.

First Night- The Hold Steady

It’s almost like the first left turn out of the edge of the town Bruce spoke of lay this song, beautiful dark and simple.

Karen- The National

Power in simplicity, and it helps when you have a voice like that.

Like It Or Not (Version 2)- Architecture in Helsinki

It’s a party in a song and everybody is invited.

Long Distance Operator (Outtake)- The Band

It’s like The Band is in your living room having a jam, you can’t help but feel wonderful listening to it.

Rap Rebirth?

This is one for all you people that are sick of how rap has become take one line autotune it drop the bass to ridiculously low levels, spend more time on the music video than the actual creativity and call it a number one hit.  Rap used to be a musical tour de force to be envied, while most of music beared slight influence to predecessors, rap took samples and reworked them with a nimble lyric and rhythmic ability that few singers could match.  It also unlike many musical genres had few limitations, only jazz before it had such an expansive field for creativity. N.W.A., A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were the forerunners in their sample mastery, combining elements from 70’s funk and jazz along with great word interplay, Tupac and Biggie were next, combining big personalities with big funky samples and Jay-Z and Kanye West followed.  But rap has now seemingly hit a wall, creativity now plays a minor role to dance-ability, and being able to dance to a rap song is all well and good because there are times where mood and sobriety (or lack thereof) call for it.  However earlier in 2009 an album by the producer BK-One, Radio Do Canibal, brought a glimmer of hope to a revival of rap’s glorious hey day, the whole album is phenomenal but to pique your interest heres a little sampler.

The True & Living–

This song features a bass groove so downright funky Bootsy Collins and all of Parliment would have given their left nut to call it their own.  Not only is this sample hopping, but the vocals themselves bring to mind the Game and Nas at the top of their game, a must listen.

Gititit–

This song comes off like a call back to the old school rap groups freestyle jams, its funky and the lyrics are sly, you can hear a bit of Snoop Dogg and Jurassic 5 in this.

Here I Am–

This is a fine track and it would fit right in to Dr. Dre’s 2001, just listen to that great guitar sample and mellow production, its a great chill out song.

Philly Boy–

The Roots always frustrated because their talent as musicians seemed to overshadow their ability as a rap group, but let Black Thought assure you otherwise.

Blue Balls–

The sample on this is just on fire, organ, funky back-beat and guitar riff, J5 would have loved to have come up with this. Its a funny song lyrically as well.

Is it Rolling Bob? Odds and Ends

Meanwhile, Rick James… – Cake

What I love about Cake is their tasteful guitar riffing, bubbly bass, and creative arrangements, this song has all three.

I Wonder Who We Are- The Clientele

Cake meets Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd and who knew it would sound so good, good instrumentation too.

Cry Baby Cry-The Beatles

For a Beatles album, the White Album has seemed to have gained the most traction from age, the albums disjointed sounds have only proved to be better and better after repeated listens.  This song is just drenched in the iconic Beatles studio prowess and it just sounds crunchy, in an edible sort of way.

Wah-Wah- George Harrison

Unbeknownst to some, George Harrison could come up with the catchy riff or two from time to time, and pretty much that’s all Wah-Wah is, but that shouldn’t detract from its downright likeability.  This version is taken from the remastered Concert for Bangladesh and free of its wall of sound production its got a great groove.  Plus the band is in great form, after all any band that includes George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman (long time Beatles friend and John Lennon’s  go-to bassist during his solo career) and Jim Keltner (one of the best session drummers around) is bound to have great results.

I’d Have You Anytime- George Harrison

The guitar is beautifully understated here, with a great intro and chord progression.  The opening track from All Things Must pass, the song was co-written by Bob Dylan and George Harrison, Dylan the lyrics, Harrison the music, the result is perfect.

You’re Gonna Lose That Girl-The Beatles

By the time Help had come out the Beatles were at the top of the world in popularity, and their progression as pop musicians was only getting better, You’re Gonna Lose That Girl is insatiably catchy with gorgeous harmonies, sly lyrics and a great lead vocal performance by John, and the production is glorious in its shiny pop sheen.

Another Girl- The Beatles

Whats surprising looking back at Help is how mature they sounded, Paul sounds older and more gritty here than he does for the rest of his Beatles career, the song itself is just a catchy fun little number with tight harmonies and great lead guitar work by Paul himself.

Baby You’re A Rich Man- The Beatles

I first fell in love with this song because of the bass playing,  the chking intro that blooms into one of McCartneys greatly underrated chromatic basslines.  The lyrical message is sound too, appearances aren’t everything, its what you have inside.

If Not For You- George Harrison

Another song from All Things Must Pass, this time George Harrison beautifully reworks a Bob Dylan classic, great slide work and vocal performance, George Harrison made no secrets about his admiration and respect for Dylan’s music and this is a touching and tastefully done cover.

It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry- Bob Dylan

This is a live version taken from The Concert for Bangladesh coming at a time where Bob Dylan live performances were few and far between, George Harrison managed to get him to make an appearance at this historic benefit concert and he steals the show, the band takes a back seat in reverence to the rock and roll royalty before them.

Finer Feelings- Spoon

The production, the guitar melody and chorus on this song are immaculate and beautifully done, Spoon is the indie rock Radiohead, each album getting more complex in production and yet catchy and listenable, which is why I’m really looking forward to Transference, due out around January 18th.

You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb- Spoon

Featuring a New Wave meets Motown stylized arrangement, this song sums up Spoon perfectly; great melody, production, and a very danceable rhythm.

Throw It All Away- Zero 7

These guys became indie rock darlings after their song In the Waiting Line was featured on the Garden State soundtrack,  while that song managed to capture the sterelized cold mood perfectly, Throw It All Away is a song that brings a summer state of mind with it.  Great production and a interesting harmony where the woman is singing the low and the man the high end, tasteful instrumentation as well.

I Shall Be Released- The Slackers

Poor Bob Dylan, as prolific as a songwriter that he is, many of his songs are taken to greater and higher levels by bands who decide to cover them.  I Shall Be Released is given a ska reworking here and it sounds completely natural, not forced and the harmonies are beautifully done.

It Don’t Come Easy- Ringo Starr

Another song taken from The Concert for Bangladesh, the band is in high energy here and Ringo pulls off a surprisingly good vocal performance while bashing away at the drums, and although it ends up he didn’t write the song (Harrison did, and it has his fingerprints all over it) no one could have sung it or symbolized it better than Ringo.

Love Minus Zero/ No Limit- Bob Dylan

Another great live version from The Concert for Bangladesh.

Set the Girl Free- The Slackers

Featuring a Motown backbeat and a inspired live vocal performance, (the vocals were recorded at a live show, the instruments at the studio), this song is a great all around band performance.

What Went Wrong- The Slackers

The only thing I don’t like about this song is the first 5 seconds, the rest of it is amazingly done,  the song just builds and builds and the melody and vocal performance, as well as the horns on the bridge, are fantastic.

Take Me Out of the City- Dawes

The vocal harmonies are the highlight here and its a perfect end of the night song, sounding like its being played in your living room.