Today is the very last day of March, as I realized earlier this morning, which means that today is my very last chance to sustain my streak of posting at least once each month since May of 2007. Of course, I began 2008 as ambitiously as ever, with even loftier goals for myself, hoping to post to either one of my blogs at least once each day, but that quickly faded. So what happened? In a word, life. In another, love.
After so many years of living almost exclusively in my head — long and lonely commutes, brutal brain-draining work, and little time in between to barely breathe let alone heal — my wife and I gave birth to Sawyer, our bouncing baby boy. Abby was so in tune with her body and our baby during the pregnancy that even I was able to move into my own. It was a time to be, not think, and it worked wonders for me. I have never felt so alive.
Naturally, blogging has taken a backseat here — those first two months are killer — while I do occasionally post on Sawyer’s blog, I have hardly been standing still. I continue to work with this notion of doing from the being place, not the thinking place, and have begun to see an incredible shift in my life. Surprisingly, my dreams and aspirations haven’t changed, but my approach to them has, and now the idea of dwelling in and writing more about a “world of me” now seems wholly uninteresting, even to me!
Long story short, this post marks a turning point, not the first and certainly not the last, but definitely a sea change. What was once a blog all about me will soon become less declarative and more inclusive. I may be the beginning, but the story will no longer end with me — I want to open doors not shut them with my old “here’s how I see it and you should too” attitude.
In that spirit, I would like to close with an excellent new track from Beckett and Taylor, one of whom I have written about before, called “World of Me” — it truly is the perfect bridge between these two worlds:
Come play with me. The more I think about it, that might just be my new tagline…
↓ Download all seven songsI can’t believe we’re already in February now, with January just breezing by without a sound. It’s amazing to look back on the month that was, at the immense quantity and quality, not to mention variety, of things I was able to design and build. Unfortunately, the best stuff is under lock and key for the next few months, but I’ll share the other stuff in another post soon. For now, I’d rather share with you seven of my favorite new songs for 2007.
One of my favorite webapps over the past few years is Last.fm. It listens to everything I do, and records who, what, and when on my Last.fm profile page (I also import this data to my ephemera page on this blog). We can both see everything I’ve listened to since November of 2004 (over 14,000 songs so far). It hasn’t moved much in the last week since I bought my new green iPod shuffle (the best iPod yet) but it doesn’t synch those songs for one reason or another. It’s really fun to watch…
At any rate, here are my seven favorite new songs for 2007, in the order in which they were discovered:
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Song Beacon In The Darkness Artist Gruff Rhys Album Candylion Label Rough Trade |
First, it’s rad that this album is on Rough Trade, which was, in the 80s, the quintessential London record shop (I’ve been to the one in Covent Garden) and label of The Smiths (trust me, that’s huge). The label dissolved in 1991 only to be reincarnated in 2000 (their current roster is a veritable who’s who). As for Candylion, this album just burst on my scene and quickly found its way into my head and heart. The production is lush and full, the songs varied yet incredibly precise… never too much but always just enough. The instrumentation on this song in particular is exquisite and the groove is almost countrified, especially with the slide guitar. And I love the delicate crash cymbal as it marks each transition within the song. I can’t get enough of this song or this album. It’s truly that good. |
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Song Heart of Hearts Artist !!! Album Myth Takes Label Warp Records |
!!! (pronounced as any three repetitive sounds, commonly chk chk chk) has a new album coming out in March. I’m as excited about this one as I was the new Squarepusher album of 2006, but so far I haven’t tried to find Myth Takes online. The album artwork is stunningly beautiful, along with the soon-to-be released limited edition picture disc, which of course I have already ordered. Luckily, they saw fit to release this song for free download. It is, as pitchfork says best, “an unstoppable juggernaut.” Absolutely massive. I can’t wait for March 4, 2007. |
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Song Life is Neon Artist Neon Don Album African Dope’s Greatest Hits Label African Dope Records |
I discovered Neon Don on the impeccable Ben Mono DJs Anonymous mix I downloaded early this year (honestly, the first 25 minutes are just about perfect). African Dope Records is a South African label, and I’m not familiar with any of their other artists, but I absolutely love this song. The vibe has an almost Japanese hiphop feel at times, the beats are clever and concise, and the lyrics? You gotta check this chorus:
For the longest time I thought it was ‘boning chickens’ not cloning. I’m not sure which one makes more sense. I can (and often do) listen to this one over and over again in the car, and if you count the number of times I’ve played the Ben Mono mix it’s easily the song I’ve listened to most this new year. |
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Song Guitar Beat Track Parts 1 + 2 (Live Mix) Artist Laszlo Beckett Album Plowtrax Vol 1 Label Hand on the Plow |
This song is positively demented, but damn if it doesn’t make me shake my booty like no other song right now. The vibe reminds me of the classic Lasse Gjertsen video I posted last year, which still drops my jaw every time I watch it. I’ve also blogged about Laszlo’s remix of Pleated Lemon’s Cocks and Fannies, indeed, as it turns out, very few of us do have one of each kind. Hand on the Plow is easily one of my most favorite labels right now, their stuff is on my must-have list the day it comes out. I can’t wait to hear what comes next. |
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Song Still Artist The Marcia Blaine School for Girls Album Halfway into the Woods Label Highpoint Lowlife |
I don’t know much about these three cats from Glasgow, to say nothing of their choice for a band name (I prefer to call them MBS4G), and I’m not entirely sure why I purchased this on bleep.com, but it’s such a phenomenal release. This song in particular just blows me away, with its near-perfect blend of Joy Division, early Autechre, and a little bit of Pretty Boy Crossover too. I pretty much listened to this album non-stop for a week straight, just playing it over and over again while at work on the demo. It can fade into the background at times, which each song following the slow build → big sound explosion → slow fade routine, but it never fails to disappoint. This will likely make my end of the year best of list. Highly recommended. |
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Song No Love in Your Heart Artist The Earlies Album The Enemy Chorus Label 679 Recordings |
I saw this one on bleep.com, sampled the first song as I always do, and bought it without listening to the rest. This song alone was worth the $9.99, and truth be told I haven’t made it much past this one. I don’t know that it’s any one thing that pulls me into this song, because everything does it for me, from the slow build, to the Mark Bell-esque snares from Bjork’s Homogenic, to the horns at the end… this song just hits it hard. The lyrics are a bit on the hurtful side, perhaps a bit close to home, but the rush is so intense. I can only hope the rest of this album is as good, but I have a feeling it’ll be tough to match this one. |
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Song Underwater (you and me) Artist Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Album Some Loud Thunder Label Self released |
This album snuck up on me, I knew it was coming out soon but hadn’t kept close tabs on when. I couldn’t find it anywhere online, so I actually bought the cd at the Virgin Megastore on Market Street Tuesday morning. Apparently Virgin is having all kinds of trouble with iTunes so they’ve been forced to cut their prices on new releases to $10. At any rate, like the previous album, this one takes a more than a few listens to fully digest. Even though it sounds familiar, it is totally new (a sentiment that reminds me of a review I read on The Strokes second album, “It sounds me of the first album but without that song I like”). Regardless, this song is classic CYHSY material. The lyrics are exceptional too, here’s the chorus:
I’m really only beginning with the rest of the album, but this song distinguished itself after the first few rounds. I’m sure there’s many more to discover and I can’t wait to find them. |
That took me about four hours to do, and I didn’t even try to add artwork or links to purchase. Oh well. As always, more soon.
