music is for lovers » Chill

Four “Indie” Christmas Music Albums

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:46:27 +0000

Last year, I wrote a post entitled 11 Great Indie Christmas Music Tunes featuring music from Future of Forestry, Jimmy Eat World, Sufjan Stevens, and Jack Johnson. This year, I thought I’d share a few more indie Christmas tunes of my 2009 Christmas.

Paper Route – Thank God the Year is Finally Over

This EP contains two tracks, both of which are awesome. They are Paper Route originals, and you can download them free!

Download “Thank God the Year is Finally Over”.

Jars of Clay – Christmas Songs (buy it!)

Perhaps my favorite new addition to Christmas this year is the entire Jars of Clay album Christmas Songs. It’s got a very chill, somewhat playful feel to it. Favorite track so far:

Jars of Clay – Drummer Boy

[See post to listen to audio]

Jars of Clay - Hibernation Day is pretty good (Jars original)

[See post to listen to audio]

Jars of Clay - Wonderful Christmastime

[See post to listen to audio]

Jars of Clay - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

[See post to listen to audio]

Reliant K – Let It Snow Baby…Let It Reindeer (buy it!)

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Punk Christmas music sucks (sorry, MxPX, it does). However, aside from a few songs that rock out (which suck), most of these songs are just an upbeat and fun take on a whole lot of christmas carols (20, to be exact). The album is only $5.00 on Amazon, so it’s well worth it. You can just get ride of the tracks that shred.

Reliant K – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

[See post to listen to audio]

Reliant K - Sleigh Ride (a bit punkish, but fun)

[See post to listen to audio]

Reliant K – Silent Night

[See post to listen to audio]

Reliant K – Handel’s Messiah (had to include this…just because I had to)

[See post to listen to audio]

High Street Hymns – Love Shall Be Our Token (buy it!)

Another solid album this year is from High Street Hymns entitled Love Shall Be Our Token. With a few new takes on some classics, and a somewhat minor key feel, it’s a good change-up. A few tracks.

High Street Hymns – God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman

[See post to listen to audio]

High Street Hymns – O Little Town of Bethlehem

[See post to listen to audio]

Future of Foresty – Travel II – Listen!

Josh — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:46:26 +0000

Future of Forestry’s second installment of their four part EP series arrived a few months ago, and it’s time you hear it too. Oh yes, it is time.

I’m honestly too lazy to write more about the band, other than they’re pure, unfiltered, awesomeness, so here’s what I said about them previously:

Hailing from San Diego, CA, they’re automatically cooler than most of us. But unlike many So Cal bands, their music has substance, soul, and depth. Lyrically provocative, filled with rich harmonies, and a displaying a damn good use of digital delay, it’s just really good stuff.

Their new disc, Travel II, is the cat’s meow – have a listen to a few tunes:

Future of Forestry – Travel II – Slow Your Breath Down

[See post to listen to audio]

Future of Forestry – Travel II – Holiday

[See post to listen to audio]

Also, listen to the entire Travel I EP!

Buy Future of Forestry Travel II

Death Cab for Cutie – Meet Me On The Equinox

Josh — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:19:27 +0000

Death Cab for Cutie just released a new single on the Twighlight Saga: New Moon soundtrack entitled Meet Me On The Equinox, and it’s better than any of the songs on their most recent release, Narrow Stairs. (By the way, if you still haven’t picked up the Open Door EP then you should check it out).

If you’re like, “WTF is an equinox?” here’s a definition for you:

The time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21 (vernal equinox or spring equinox) and September 22 (autumnal equinox).

Listen to Death Cab for Cutie – Meet me On the Equinox

[See post to listen to audio]

Buy Meet Me On The Equinox

The song is really good, and worth spending some time with. The video…not so much:

Oliver the Penguin – Similar to Postal Service

Josh — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:10:42 +0000

Oliver the Penguin is a chill, relaxing, and soothing group who is more than a girly version of the Postal Service, they’ve got their own thing going on and it’s rad. The band is two people: Tommy Walter from the Eeels / Abandon Pools, and Rie Sinclair who is Emmy-Nominated independent composer. Apparently, the group started when attempting to write a song for a TV show, realized they had something grand, and decided to do a full album. I’m so glad they did.

Their lyrics are worth listening closely to, Rie’s voice is perfect for the music, Tommy’s voice compliments it well, and I love the somewhat abrupt pronunciations and syllables matching the beat. It’s one of the few albums that sounds seamless from song to song without sound monotonous. I’m never sure where one song starts and another ends, and it really works for them.

Check out a few of my favorite tunes, and connect with the band on Facebook too – they’ve got a decent page.

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Girls and Boys

[See post to listen to audio]

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Paper Airplane

[See post to listen to audio]

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Do I Leave My Heart Here

[See post to listen to audio]

Additionally, you can listen to the entire album on Relevant’s “The Drop”.

Thanks to Rob for the tip!

Thirteen Senses

Josh — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:27:05 +0000

Thirteen Senses‘ lead vocalist, Will South, might remind you of Mew’s lead singer (but, not quite as awesome). This piano driven British band with a clean guitar supplementing the tunes is fairly melodic and worth a listen, but you may found yourself ‘in like’ but not quite in love. Listen to a few tracks, and you be the judge.

Thirteen Senses has been picking up steam ever since their inception in 2002. The album The Invitation reached 14 on the UK Album Charts, and their second album, “Contact” launched the band into the UK Top 20. Their third album, slated for release sometime in 2009, should move the band even further away from their ‘beautiful’ and ‘wafty’ roots, to a full on British rock band.

“When we toured the songs,” says Will, “that’s when I actually did think ‘god these songs are a bit wafty aren’t they?’. You got sick of not being able to get into it that much because it’s a beautiful moment and whatever.” “At the beginning of the set we’d start on ‘Into The Fire’,” adds drummer Brendon James, “so we’d come on strong and end strong and it just dipped in the middle.”

For the reasons stated above, I don’t find myself returning to The Invitation very often. It starts strong, but makes a dip and never quite returns to the promising start of the first two tracks. Because the songs are fairly straight forward, they lose their replay-ability rather quickly. Nevertheless, their new preview “Crystal Sounds” sounds excellent! All these signs point towards a mature and rockin’ third album.

Their latest release, “Contact” seems more attractive than The Invitation and I’ll be picking that up soon. You can listen to a few of those tracks on the Thirteen Senses site and I recommend “Follow Me.”

But why not make up your own mind!

Listen to “Into the Fire” from “The Invitation”

[See post to listen to audio]

Listen to “Thru the Glass” from “The Invitation”

[See post to listen to audio]

If you like it, buy it!

Some More Imogen Heap Remixes

Josh — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:18:29 +0000

I recently wrote about Twistival.fm – a music + twitter method for raising money. Imogen Heap handed out her tracks, and let anyone and everyone create some remixes — all you had to do is tweet about it and donate $5.00 through Twitter. Anyhow, here are those remixes…a lot of them just blow, but I really liked the @blkrblt remix:

And…Imogen just posted 12 seconds of a new track on 12seconds.com:

Jeeeez! that was quite some battle! Here’s the start of the 1st m8 on 12seconds.tv

Listen to Copleand – You are My Sunshine Album

Josh — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:55:10 +0000

If you don’t like Copeland, you’re probably sick of reading about them. However, if you do like them; read on. After purchasing the album, I think it lacks a bit of punch. I still like it, and it’s growing on me; but it’s not as good as the last few albums. I’ve included a few tracks, so decide for yourself.

They’ve chilled it out a bit–and while I like chill, this feels a bit more disheartened to me than it does chill. Perhaps disheartened is the wrong word, because it’s certainly dripping with everything from dark lyrics to contented tone. Perhaps it’s just, overall, a rather dark album that rarely does see the sunlight.

“Good Morning Fire Eater” and “Grey Man” are my favorite. They’re my favorites because they actually break. They move into some rockin’ guitars, strong layers, and the full sound I love.

Check out “The Album Projects” review for a good read.

All that being said, I would most certainly buy it again.

Check out a few tracks:

Grey Man:
[See post to listen to audio]

Good Morning Fire Eater:
[See post to listen to audio]

What Do I Know? (the Copeland I know and love):
[See post to listen to audio]

Go buy it from my Amazon store:

Holiday in Spain

Josh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:40:02 +0000

I’m in Spain. I’m sure I’m loving it…I wrote this before I left. But, because I’m in Spain…I’m pretty sure every song, every piece of music, will be way better as I stare out over the Mediterranean from a giant cliff.

And, a few particular songs came to mind…

Counting Crows: Holiday in Spain

Copeland: Getting By (Rentals Cover)

[See post to listen to audio]

New Aqualung – Words and Music – Listen

Josh — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:39:24 +0000

UPDATE: Listen to a few of the tracks yourself.

Overall, the album is pretty chill. Way more chill than Memory Man. It’s good; but it’s not great. If you’re in the mood for some intricate chill music, this is the album for you.

The Paul Simon cover “Slip-Sliding Away” is amazing! As is Good Goodnight — it’s Aqualung at it’s best.

Rather than writing it all up, have a listen.

Slip-Sliding Away
[See post to listen to audio]

Good Goodnight
[See post to listen to audio]

Check them out on the mixtape.

Original Post:

It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since Aqualung’s latest album, “Memory Man” which you can hear a track from in my latest Aqualung post, or on the mixtape.

Aqualung’s new disc arrives on October 7, and is a compilation of new songs, old songs, and a Paul Simon cover. Music Remedy has a good summary for you to check out.

In the meantime, prepare thyselves for more piano, amazing mixes, and some crazy offbeats with “Cinderella” off “Memory Man”

[See post to listen to audio]

Copeland’s New Track “Grey Man” & a DVD – You Are My Sunshine

Josh — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:39:43 +0000

Copeland is coming out with a new album, “You Are My Sunshine” and they just put up a track off that disc on their MySpace page. It’s amazing. It’s called “The Grey Man.” Go check it out.

I also just found out they’re putting out a DVD with the new disc! You can pre-order it from that link as well. Here’s what they say about it:

This special edition includes a bonus DVD complete with an 11 song filmtrack, documentary about the band, and other unique footage all packaged within a deluxe box.

And, by the way, did you know that this disc was mixed by Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket)? Nice! Their clean tone is so, so pretty.

Read more about You Are My Sunshine here — there are quite a few other links and info regarding the new album that’s worth reading.

P.S. Here is the track list:

1. Should You Return
2. The Grey Man
3. Chin Up
4. Good Morning Fire Eater
5. To Be Happy Now
6. The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)
7. On The Safest Ledge
8. Not Allowed
9. Strange and Unprepared
10. What Do I Know?
11. Not So Tough Found Out

Go pre-order it if you’d like. That is all.