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I CAN BE INDIE TOO
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So somehow I missed the memo that there would be little-to-no new music released this week! After perusing my usual sites, I became more and more discouraged by the chaff I was finding – the natural high I’d gotten from having Memorial Day off was quickly dampened. I was so hard-pressed for new stuff that I scoured the iTunes stores of diverse countries like Italy, Canada, Croatia, and even Albania, although they only sell apps, so that was no help.
In the end, I decided that, rather than sacrifice the integrity of my blog by posting sub-par new music, I’d just find as many as I could and then supplement with slightly older music that I love.
And that lengthy introduction brings me to my first song, “It’s Alright”, by Matt and Kim. The song came out with their album Lightning last fall, but the video for the song (which, in its weirdness, is definitely worth a watch) came out a few months ago, which is how I’m rationalizing their addition to this playlist.
For those who don’t know, Matt and Kim are an indie pop duo/couple from Brooklyn, NY who have a very “do it yourself” attitude towards music – they write, sing, record, mix, produce, and perform almost everything on their albums. This gives their music some great aspects not found in other indie groups: heartfelt lyrics, quirky instrumentation, and an overall sense of amalgamation between the tracks on the album that makes this pop-qua-indie-music what it is.
“It’s Alright” is a hysterically peppy (cue the horns), heavily drummed (cue Kim, the punk-ish half of the duo) summer pop-electro song featuring cheesy synths and a cloying indie whine that you hate to love or love to hate. Though it is a repetitive venture (I feel like the titular lyrics are repeated about 200 times in the 3-minute song), there is enough here to satisfy and entertain the avid indie-pop listener.
POP CONFESSION
“Wild (feat. Big Sean & Dizzee Rascal)” – Jessie J
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[souncloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/sergi-benito/wild-jessie-j”%5D
I haven’t been the biggest fan of Jessie J over the past year or two – out of the seven Top 10 songs she released on her last album Who Are You, only a few received repeated plays through my headphones. That being said, I feel like Jessie J has something to bring to the music scene that she has, as of yet, left untapped. With “Wild,” I’m not sure how much closer she gets to exploring her potential, but it’s a step up from the rote triteness of “Price Tag” and hopefully a sign of good things to come on her new album, due to drop this summer.
Big Sean graces (or defaces) the song with a rather drab, self-aggrandizing rap line in the middle of the track, while Dizzee Rascal, whom I personally love, follows him by spitting some heavily accented (read: barely understandable) rhymes. (He’s a love-hate rapper, so you’ll decide for yourself whether or not it’s your thing – after living in Oxford for a few months, he became one of my favorites).
Balancing on top of it all, however, is Jessie J’s rough and raw voice, which guides the song and salvages it from perhaps otherwise hip-hop dullness. Lyrically there isn’t much to write home about here, but vocally she comes off as a grittier version of Karmin’s Amy Heidemann, which is a pretty good thing in my book. Backed by a sleek but relatively understated hip-hop drum kit, her verses and choruses salvage the song from the grasp of predominantly uninspiring rap verses.
Jessie J described the song as a “tribute solely to her fans as a thank you for their constant love and support,” which I suppose explains the lyrics to a certain extent, but any way you look at it this song is enjoyable, and I confess that it is my pop obsession of the week.
ALTERNATIVE FUN
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[souncloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/liberation-music-oz/vance-joy-riptide-1″%5D
Vance Joy is a folk pop musician from Melbourne, Australia, best known for his smooth voice that is somewhat reminiscent of Nick Urata (the vocalist for Devotchka, of “Little Miss Sunshine” acclaim). His music captures “the familiar pulse of everyday experiences in a unique and celebratory manner. His lyrics reach out to you and hold on for a moment.” There you have it – a pretty accurate self-description from his website that I couldn’t really best, so I just included it in toto.
Melodically, the song reminds me (and possibly everyone else) of “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men. It probably has something to do with the lead role the ukulele plays in both songs. Along with the ukulele, there are a host of other indie-staple-instruments, such as slap drums, a cowbell, piano chords, a few plucked guitars, and some commanding humming. The overall composition sounds like something Vampire Weekend would have liked to have done, although maybe only on their fist album.
The song is awesome and uplifting on its own, but the video tells a whole other weird and clever story. The lyrics are integrated in unexpected ways so that we are told a story through clips of a beautiful female singer who becomes more messed up as the video continues, spliced together with images of riptides, magic tricks, horror dentist scenes, and the Wild West. While at times it’s super creepy (especially on the line “taken away to the dark side”), it is seamless and clever and I am digging it a little bit. Check it out.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
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As did many of you, I spent much of Memorial Day weekend hunkered down in the basement with blankets and provisions, obsessively watching season 4 of Arrested Development. As the 15th episode came to its amusing “we-didn’t-finish-off-any-of-the-plot-lines” conclusion, the credits rolled and an incredibly catchy, heretofore-unheard (by my ears) song played over them. After a few seconds of enjoyment, I had looked up the track, and discovered Lucy Schwartz’s “Boomerang.” And now I’m sharing it with you, because it is awesome and fun and you will love it.
Schwartz is a 23-year-old Californian singer who gained some notoriety for writing and singing Landon Pigg’s song “Darling I Do” for the motion picture “Shrek Forever After” (which no one saw and therefore didn’t bring her that much acclaim after all). Other appearances on soundtracks for Grey’s Anatomy, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, and What Maisie Knew passed her before the public eye a bit more, but she is still waiting for her big breakthrough, so spread the word now.
“Boomerang” has just about everything in it you could want from a folk-pop track, including retro-styled piano clomping, hand claps, jazzy brass bass lines, and, best of all, an audio tap-dancing segment. Throughout it all, Schwartz’s mellifluous voice plunges and sails over the ups and downs of a breakup, which is reflected both lyrically and stylistically. If you took A Fine Frenzy singer Alison Sudol and forced her out of her self-contained singer-songwriter shell and then threw in a dash of soul music, you’d have something close to Lucy Schwartz.
All in all, this track is immense fun, a perfect conclusion to the back-and-forth 4th season of Arrested Development (see what I did there?), and a wonderful song to get you in the mood for summer.
SINGER-SONGWRITER
“Fall At Your Feet” – Saint Raymond
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[souncloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/lovesweetsounds/saint-raymond-fall-at-your”%5D
There are a slew of rather fungible British singer/songwriters putting out music right now, so when I first saw Saint Raymond, the stage name of Nottingham’s Callum Burrows, I was ready to be less than enthused – or at least bored with things I’d already overheard. We’ve listened to the acoustically strummed ex-love songs from barely post-teenage guys who flip their hair (or worse, wear those emo beanies) and talk about how their love and heartbreak was totally different from everyone else’s.
And yes, there is a touch of Ed Sheeran here and there, a smack of The Script or a stuttering riff like Two Door Cinema Club… But in the end Saint Raymond brings something unique to an over-populated genre of music that I found rather relieving; if not wholly distinctive, it is at least an attempt at a variation on a theme.
The theme of “Fall At Your Feet” is simple – it’s a delicate love song sung with vigor rather than a croon. While the lyrics tell the tale of stepping up in a relationship (though the music video confused me on that count), a mix of big drums and swift harmonies keep things interesting and upbeat throughout. A bursting chorus lights the song up in the end, accompanied by a surge of extra vocals and even some howls, which lead to the final line of relief/despair as he honestly asks himself “who am I trying to be”?
Okay, maybe not on par with F. Scott Fitzgerald, but in the space of 4 minutes Saint Raymond has twisted your standard “girl trouble” idea on its head, utilizing pop and alternative rock techniques to craft a song simultaneously emotionally evocative and sonically pleasing. Well done.
INSERT SAD/SLOW SONG HERE
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Dallas Green, ex-guitarist and vocalist for Alexisonfire, has had a pretty successful solo career fronting the band City and Colour. He’s released 4 albums (or will have by this coming Tuesdady), and is known for songs like “Sleeping Sickness” and “The Girl” along with his penchant for heart-rending falsetto and acoustic guitar prowess.
“Take Care” is one of the slow, ballad-y songs (in case the this entry’s heading didn’t tip you off) from his upcoming album The Hurry and the Harm. Lyrically, City and Colour is not charting any new territory here; the love concepts and metaphors might be enough to induce some eye rolling in the more cynical of you, although to others this element of his songwriting skills will be a thrill.
Musically speaking, the song is delicious. The melody soars on Green’s fragile falsetto, while the acoustic guitar perfectly accompanies the verses, soothing strumming aligning and diverging from the main vocal line in an enchanting manner. Add to that a light string counterpoint, and you have the perfect recipe for a light, beautifully executed, poignant love song. “Take better care of yourself my friend.”
PICK OF THE WEEK
“You Know Where to Find Me” – Imogen Heap
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[souncloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/imogenheap/you-know-where-to-find-me”%5D
I’ve been secretly biding my time with this blog, wondering how long I could hold out before I featured a song by Imogen Heap. I was sort of hoping she’d have released some more new music by now that I could jump on and review, but it looks like she’s been busy in the studio, so I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer and settled with “You Know Where to Find Me,” one of her more recent releases.
One of the many awesome things about Imogen is the way she attempts to change the way musicians interact with their music and fans. She was one of the first major musicians to embrace Twitter, and has pioneered a series of inventions including these sweet musical gloves, in addition to releasing an app and a ringtone (p.s. I wake up to that every day). Her most recent venture, with the in-progress title Heapsongs, is a concept album where one track will be recorded, mixed, and released, along with a video, approximately every three months (over a three year period). She’s gotten through about 6 of them, and each one has been fascinating, original, and beautiful in its own way. Yes, I’ve reverted to hyperbole because I love her so much.
“You Know Where to Find Me” is a strongly piano based song featuring 13 different pianos (provided by fans) in 13 different houses/studios throughout Edinburgh. Imogen composed it while she spent a few days as an artist-in-residence in South Bank’s “A Room for London” and was written to describe the River Thames. “This whole song is written about the river to have this still moment with us,” Imogen said, and the song does just this. This is accomplished lyrically through her intricate and effortless skill at simultaneously being androgynous yet extremely specific about subject matter; the clever writing can be looked at from various viewpoints while also being relatable to almost any situation. “You could be screaming drunk / Well I’ve got my bad days too. / I’m gonna be here for you…be still with me.”
Musically, the song is anything but still, though the rhythmic motion of waves is mimicked throughout by the lightly swaying, looping, coiled piano motifs. Imogen’s voice, layered over and over, is, of course, at the helm of the track, echoing melodies and harmonies throughout an ocean of sound and space. The main line is enhanced (volume controlled) over most of the song, although towards the climax it gets somewhat drowned in the crash of accompanying chaotic instrumentation and swelled beats, an effect that is assuredly intentional, since the song is about an eddying body of water.
Imogen’s ingenuitive record is shaping up nicely, and I can only hope that she will continue crafting beautiful and inventive music for many years to come.
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