Passion Pit's "I've Got Your Number" has a fairly low-key start. But after a few minutes, Michael Angelakos adopts his howling falsetto and breaks through the subdued hand-claps and electronic pulses, shooting the song to more overwrought heights.
I think this moment is as good a place as any to begin my musings on Lizzie's July mix, because many of the songs featured here have drastic changes that cause the listener to reevaluate or reimagine what the song as a whole is about. Soft/loud, mellow/intense, acoustic/electric: opposing transitions abound, both within and between songs.
Admittedly the next song on the mix does not illustrate my theory about transitions, because "Slow" by Grouplove is more about chugging along than transitioning. It does make a great pairing with the previous track, both having an intense but not rushed energy. I promise, I will have more examples of transitions later on! Stay tuned!
I really like The New Pornographers and I've enjoyed solo material from contributors A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and (especially) Dan Bejar, but I had somehow never listened to their 2007 album "Challengers." It's a good thing that Lizzie put a track from that release on her July mix because it turns out "Myriad Harbour" is easily one of the best songs I've encountered all summer. A Pixies-like acoustic guitar riff opens the song, and is soon accompanied by Dan Bejar's flamboyant, emotive singing. By the time the band reached the harmonica-accented chorus I was in love.
Now here's where we get back to transitions. "West Coast" by Coconut Records starts out as a very catchy, intimate little tune about heartbreak ("I miss you / I'm going back home to the West Coast"), and it is transformed into a mega cascade of large-scale music through the appearance of pounding drums, piano, strings, and ascending vocals. Upon headphone listening, I discovered that you can hear Jason Schwartzman shout "C'mon, everybody!" just before the anthemic transition occurs, which is pretty awesome. A similar arc happens in Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter," but in that song, the shift from hushed to huge reminds me strongly of Glen Hansard. That is a very high compliment coming from me. And with his impassioned delivery, Damien earns the comparison.
"I Would Do Anything For You" by Foster the People has a bouncy "oo-la-la" chorus that felt strangely familiar for an instant when I first heard it. This upbeat electro love song was juxtaposed by "Talking in Code," a wonderfully slow and gloomy acoustic number from Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's. I really loved the folky atmosphere created by the guitar arpeggios. Next was "Boy With a Coin," which has the weird, dark rhythms and poetic lyrics that mark my favorite Iron & Wine songs. The transition between this track and Miike Snow's "Black & Blue" was one of the best I've heard on any mix ever. The droning Iron & Wine fade-out seamlessly became the fade-in that precedes the opening drumbeats of the throbbing dance track "Black & Blue."
The blending of male and female voices on "Set Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright is really working for me. This is another track with a very cool build-up, from ringing guitars and piano chords to full-on frantic rock band, but the voices are what really anchor the entire thing. "Perfume" by Raven Zoë opens with some guitar chords that make me think it's going to be a Bon Iver song. If Bon Iver was a teenage girl instead of a 30-year-old man.
The next two songs are both high-energy freakouts from really interesting female musicians. Cat Power's "Ruin" is another of my new favorites from the mix. It has a great guitar solo and really New Wave-y bassline on top of which Cat Power sings the names of countries around the globe (which all have ruins!). "Bizness" by tUnE-yArDs is global not in its lyrics but in its sound. The instrumentation and singing here are highly influenced by African styles of music, but the over-all sound remains absolutely unique. It might be the most ecstatic-sounding song I know.
"Naive" by The Kooks is much more conventional guitar-rock compared to the two experimental soundscapes it follows, but that makes it kind of refreshing given its placement on the mix. It's lively and likable. "Devil Town" from Bright Eyes is a wonderful place to end the mix, with its excellent lyrics and beautifully ragged production. "All my friends, they were vampires / I didn't know they were vampires / It turned out I was a vampire myself"; the song, like these lyrics, is funny and surprising and immensely charming. A perfect note to end on.
Instant favorites: "Myriad Harbour," "The Blower's Daughter," "Talking in Code," "Set Fire to the Third Bar," "Ruin"
No comments:
Post a Comment