Sunday variety

Here's two songs I'm really enjoying today. Two very, very different songs.

This one while I was at the gym:





And this one right now:

 

I don't think there's any album or anything attached to Geronimo, but graph rabbit have an album coming out in October. Only Fields is the first single and the only track I can find now, but I'm looking forward to hearing more.

The Oh Hello's

Today was kind of shit and now I have a headache. But The Oh Hello's make it all better. The brother and sister duo from Texas have one self-titled EP and I love every song on it. Mostly reminds me of Of Monsters and Men, but also a lot of The Civil Wars. They only have 4 songs on the EP, so I'll just put one up, Hello My Old Heart, the opener. But you should probably go buy the EP cause every song on there is awesome.





Ok I lied, I'll put two. Have I mentioned that I rate all my songs in iTunes? Well I do, and 5 stars is reserved for songs I could listen to over and over and over and over. And then maybe once more. All 4 tracks on this EP are 5 star songs. I want more from these guys. Here's more for you.

Stars

Today was not looking like it was going to be a very good day. In fact it wasn't such a good day. But then I found out Monday is a public holiday so I have a 3 day weekend, which makes it all better. That and I'm headed up north to visit a friend for the weekend and stay on the gold mine he manages. I'm hoping I can get a couple pounds as a souvenir. For free, obviously. I mean what are friends for if not to hook you up at their job?

I'm in Ghana, by the way. For like the 4th time this year. Which is fine by me cause I kind of like it here. And the food is good. I would actually be happy being poor in Ghana, because I could honestly eat banku (this gruel stuff made from maize) and shito (Ghanaian hot sauce) every day, and I figure that's like the Chinese equivalent of rice and soy sauce. So I'd be set.

Anyway this blog is supposed to be about music, so music it is. This time it's what is probably my favorite band: Stars. They're part of that whole Toronto/Broken Social Scene group of artists (which includes Feist, another favorite). Their album Set Yourself on Fire is my favorite album of theirs, and possibly one of my favorite albums. Never gets old, and I can relate to pretty much every song on there.

I'm not sure which song is my favorite. There are a bunch of great ones, but two in particular that I are probably my favorite Stars songs, period. Don't really know what to say about the two songs except that they're my favorites. So just have a listen. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead.

They took the words right out of my mouth. And probably hers, too, but I'm not as concerned with that.

I used to play One More Night for my students in Japan as part of class. I would play them songs and make it a fill in the blank excersize. I'd mix up the songs for different classes, basically whatever I was feeling, but all of my students heard this one (and Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis cause it was #1 on the Billboard charts at the time and I was trying to incorporate the Billboard charts into my lesson. I probably know every word of that song thanks to teaching in Japan.)

So the good news is you've now heard these songs in case you hadn't before. The better news is that Stars's new album comes out next month and I'm very excited about it. The few songs I've heard so far have been great and I would like to have it now.

Hiatus Kaiyote

Hiatus Kaiyote are my new favorite. I can't stop listening to their album, Tawk Tomahawk. Especially The World It Softly Lulls, which is pretty much on repeat in my ears.




This self-proclaimed future soul group has an incredible debut album, which will definitely be on my top 10 list for the year. Unless I find a bunch more music like this and realize they're just mediocre, but I highly doubt that's going to happen.

Generally, I don't pay too much attention to lyrics, but sometimes I'll look them up when I particularly like a song or a specific line strikes me. There was one of those lines in Mobius Streak, the opening track on their album.

Origami birds flock from my heart, burst out in colour to wherever you are.

Other than that, the lyrics make pretty much no sense to me. They're super abstract. But I like how that one sounds anyway.

School of Seven Bells

I got the newest School of Seven Bells album a couple months ago and was planning to blog about it cause I really enjoyed it. But then sometimes when I blog about bands I've been listening to for a while, I'll go back and listen to their old albums before blogging about a new one. That's what I've done in this case. Before, I thought their new album, Ghostory, was my clear favorite by them. But then when I went back and listened to the first one, Alpinisms, I realized it was much better than I originally thought and really great.

School of Seven Bells are these twin sisters and some dude who make music. For some reason, I always think of them as gypsies, or coming from the mountains of Peru or something. Don't ask me why, I have no idea how I got that image. They're from New York. I became a bit obsessed with the first song I heard by them back in 2008ish, Iamundernodisguise.





I also love that they have weird names for their songs. Makes me like them even more. Like this one, Connjur. I don't even think that's a real word.





One of the twins quit the band before this third album, so the sound is a bit different. That's not completely true. The sound is actually quite consistent, it's just the vocal style that's different. Not as layered and not so much harmony and all that good stuff. But still an awesome album. Listen to all their albums. And on the new one, pay special attention to The Night and Lafaye.