October 10, 2008 2:32 pm

Songs I Am Loving Right Now

  • “Dry the Rain” – The Beta Band
    I am totally one of those people that had never heard of this band until they were mentioned by John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity:

    “I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band.”

    It’s such a nice song. It’s mellow, has a great beat, and is a little guitar-twangy without being outright TWANGY, if that makes sense. It is totally not a country song, is what I’m saying.

  • “Sons & Daughters” – The Decemberists
    I don’t know how I managed to avoid listening to The Decemberists for so long – THEY ARE GREAT. Absolutely fabulous. The singer’s voice is so distinctive and clear, the songs are simple and bizarre and powerful, and Sons & Daughters is just one of many awesome tracks. I mean, come on – they use the word “dirigible” in it, and the phrase “fill our mouths with cinnamon.” HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT?

    I’m a sucker for good harmonies and this has them in abundance, with a lot of “in the round” singing, where several people are singing different parts of the song at the same time. It’s gorgeous. We actually played The Decemberists albums before our wedding, when people were filing in and sitting down.

  • “Mammal” – They Might Be Giants
    This is a song about mammals. It is soooo catchy – you will probably be singing the “MAAAAAAAAAAMMAL, MAAAAAAAAAAAMMAL!” part for FOREVER after you hear it. That, or the “maintaining the very high metabolism they have” part, which is probably the bit I get stuck in my head the most. The best part is that it’s outrageously fun to sing at the top of your lungs (like most TMBG songs) so it’s really less annoying and more fun than it sounds.
  • “The Mesopotamians” – They Might Be Giants
    This song also has a bunch of amazing harmonies, mostly during the chorus. TMBG played this song when we saw them live a while back, and it was seriously so amazing – they got all the overlapping parts and harmonies just right, and you could tell they just love what they do.
  • “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys
    So, I am a huge Beach Boys fan. I don’t really go around advertising it, but seriously? I think they are really good. (Not-so-secret: I bought a Beach Boys Christmas album. On purpose. Because I wanted Christmas songs by the Beach Boys.) This is such a sweet, upbeat song. I usually reserve Beach Boys listening to summertime, but I’ve been on a big Pet Sounds kick lately and this is one of my favorite tracks off that album.

(Can you tell I am basically out of blogging fodder? I have no idea what I should talk about. Is there anything you want to hear from me?)

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2 Comments

  • Amanda says:

    Hmm… well I like The Decemberists and The Beach Boys are lovely, but I’m not their biggest fans – you’d have a swell time chatting to my band mates or the love of my last summer though – they’re all very into the music you are, judging by this mere 5 songs.

  • Julianne says:

    I’m listening to “Sons & Daughters” right now. :) If you like The Decemberists, you’d probably like Tarkio (Colin Meloy’s former band), too. It’s alt-country/folk with the same distinctive voice.