Musically Inclined "Things," For Lack of a Better Word

Well folks, TMI's been laid up sick since Friday, and by TMI, I mean yours truly. In the spirit of not having the focus to write about one thing, here are a few items of interest that I thought were worth mentioning.

- Obligatory Beatles/iTunes post: We all knew it was going to happen at some point. There's just way too much money there. Though, before the news leaked or whatever last night, I was hoping the announcement had something to do with the fabled iTunes Cloud. Gizmodo did a funny post on the the matter.

- Avett Bros in unexpected places: There's a website called Design Sponge that I nothing short of adore, we'll say. While perusing my Google Reader this morning, I saw they posted about the Avett Brothers and upon scrolling realized they did an interview with Scott Avett about his artistic pursuits. Great stuff!

- Speaking of cool brothers: The Gregory Brothers turned up on the Today show recently. Points to the dweeb reporter for the stiffest, most out-of-touch explanation of Auto-Tune. Speaking of Auto-Tune, it couldn't even save the Today Show crew from the most painful a capella cover of "Dynomite."

- You Can't Tell Me Nothin': Apparently some guy put out a book with lyrics from rap songs, saying what fine poetry it is, without ever actually having listened to the songs. NPR sent him links to the songs on Youtube and had a conversation with him about his impressions and the relationship between the lyrics and beats/rhythms of rap. I just thought this was really interesting because for the most part, I always thought the rhythms were rap and hip-hop's saving grace. Then again, one of my mottos for a happy life is "quote Kanye whenever possible."

- Make it stop: Pop is so much better than it was in the 90s. Evidence: I can't get this song out of my head. I'm mildly ashamed, but mostly perplexed by why it works at all. Stupid Glee. I think I will be blogging about the value of a solid pop song very soon. Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry-- your credibility will suffer death by cotton candy.

Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise : Avett Brothers

Just to drop a quick line, I finally picked the Avett Brothers' last album I and Love and You this weekend. It's been on my list a while. I first heard about them in 2007 around the time their album Emotionalism came out. It was this summer though, that I really started to dig the North Carolinian trio. Their Bonnaroo performance (Not that I was there. Thank you Youtube and NPR.) was so energetic and so entertaining. I think I played it back a several times over the next few days. When cheap synth and poorly-used Auto-Tune threaten to overtake us all, it's bands like the Avetts whose sound keeps us grounded.

Anyway, here's a video they put out this summer for "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise." Take a look if you're not already quite captivated by these guitar/piano/upright bass/banjo-playing/foot-stomping fellows.

The Sound of Settling : Death Cab for Cutie

As obvious as it may sound, the older I get, the more certain bands, albums or songs make sense to me. The National is a good example. Boxer is one of my favorite albums. I know I appreciate it more than I did as a freshly-graduated high schooler and I know I'll appreciate it even more when I'm 30. There can hardly be a better occurrence than a band that grows up with you.

Death Cab for Cutie works that way for me too, but maybe in a different way. Lord knows I've written about them ad nauseum, but its hard not to after repeated realizations that there's a line in a song that sums up perfectly what I'm thinking. (And no, I could not really use a wish right now.)

Example: These days whenever one of my friends get engaged, (and man, are they getting engaged) I like to have a ceremonial playing of "I Was Once A Loyal Lover," chiefly for the lines that say "All my friends are forward thinking, getting hitched and quitting drinking. I can feel them pulling away as I'm resigned to stay the same." Cheers, right? It's great stuff.

Today I figured out that a thought I'd been trying to condense into a tidy phrase was already hanging out in Death Cab's "The Sound of Settling." Partly, I think it's a testament to the songwriter. While the lyrics v. music debate rages on, I think I'll continue to put put my faith in words.

In any case, check out the video. 1:55 is probably the best part of any given music video I've ever seen.

Tonight: Bob Dylan

The past several weeks have been downright stellar in terms of live music. Between the many bands of Next Big Nashville and The National, tonight's Bob Dylan concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashvegas will be the cherry on top.

Going in, I know that a Dylan concert isn't going to be like hitting shuffle on my small collection and sitting back to enjoy. I know its going to be more a matter of an auditorium of people crowded around this little old guy-- and we'll be infringing on his world.

I'm not expecting to hear "Like a Rolling Stone," at least in any recognizable form. I'm not even expecting to be able to understand what he's saying half the time. I'm expecting to see Bob Friggin' Dylan and his beady eyes peering out over the audience, and man am I excited.

Thought that was worth mentioning.

Peace.

More Sufjan For Less

The Age of Adz is $3.99 on Amazon. In the wise words of our bird-like buddy, Jónsi, "go do!"

I Walked : Sufjan Stevens

A quick word. Sufjan Steven's upcoming album The Age of Adz is set to be released Oct. 12 (Hey! That's tomorrow!) and I had a few fleeting moments at work today to hear it streaming on NPR. I didn't get all the way through, but I made it to "I Walked," which so far is my favorite track. Upon Googling, I realized that my alter ego-- the Hyde to my Jekyll, if you will, apparently downloaded it for free off his Band Camp site and immediately forgot. How do I put this-- song is fantastic.

It's definitely a different feel from Sufjan Stevens's other records. Stephen Thompson from NPR described the sound as being less "precious." I think that's a really good way to put it. It's more electronic-- drum machines and all that business. At the same time though, there are parts of this song that have that "precious" feel that we've come to know and love from Stevens.

While part of me is intimidated at the 25-minute track that closes out the album, I think I want to pick up The Age of Adz anyway. I'm just thinking that my collection needs these sounds in it. Guess we'll see.

Discoveries in The Basement: Keegan DeWitt

Here's my musical tip of the week. I've gotten to go to some shows for Next Big Nashville here in fabulous Nashvegas over the past few days. I've seen some pretty good acts. Yeasayer, for one was quite experience-- a potentially seizure-inducing experience, but enjoyable nonetheless. Only being mildly familiar with them, they were all kinds of unexpected. Kopecky Family Band also ripped it up pretty thoroughly Friday night at the Mercy Lounge. It was indie catharsis and they definitely busted out into the "Bed Intruder" song-- you can hardly beat that.

That said, one of my best discoveries from the past twoish days was Keegan DeWitt at The Basement on Thursday night. Sadly, I didn't get to hear the entire set with great attention because technically I was working (here's to journalism!), but what I heard was pretty fantastic. They brought a really infectious energy. Case in point: "Say La La." If you listen to nothing else on his MySpace page, listen to that song and just try to move on with your life. You will be back.