“Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands
youtu.be/1Ee4bfu_t…
Sometimes great songs get an extra push from a video or nationally televised performance. This is a fine example of that phenomenon, as the band’s performance on Letterman last spring nearly broke the Internet.[1]
But that performance should not hide that this is a great song even without Samuel T. Herring’s wacky stage presence. It is a simple, yet forceful, statement on the perils of trying to change, or change for, someone that you love.
“New Skin” - Torres
soundcloud.com/wvmusic/t…
A song I absolutely fell in love with back in February. This was part of Weathervane Records’ Shaking Through project, in which they document the entire creative process as a song is written and recorded. For this, they took Torres, Mackenzie Scott’s stage name, and added two members of The War On Drugs (Adam Granduciel and David Hartley), Sharon Van Etten, and Chris Wilson of Ted Leo & The Parmacists.
A few quick, very hot, sports takes.
CFP As an alum of the University of Kansas, I generally root for chaos when it comes to determining a college football champion. So I was pleased that there was much controversy surrounding college football’s first final four. What happened, with Ohio State leap-frogging[1] TCU and holding off Baylor after they pounded Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game, is what happens all-too-often when the NCAA basketball bracket is being put together: a game played the last weekend is given entirely too much weight in relation to the rest of the season.
“Milwaukee” - The Both
youtu.be/VqSYzOXkt…
Take two legends of power pop, put them together, and magic ensues. Aimee Mann and Ted Leo sound like they’ve been playing together for decades, and their differing backgrouns (Mann coming from art rock, Leo from punk) compliment each other nicely. Bonus points for the nicely done video.
It’s the nucleus burning inside of the cell Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls
“Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls
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DDG changed their sound a little for this year’s Too True release. They left behind the fuzzy, garage-rock sound of their first three albums for a darker, post-punk sound that is firmly rooted in the early–1980s. While making the musical change, Dee Dee did not lose her ability to write a terrific hook.
It’s hard to outrun a devil from behind Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems
“We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems
youtu.be/_k8HbcXE7…
I reserve one spot each year for a pure pop gem. This song lives up to the band’s name, sweet as sugar.
Go ahead and run your mouth if you think it’ll make people think you’re smarter You always thought you knew it all anyway Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells
Over the weekend C. brought home a story she had written in class with instructions for the weekend. We were supposed to read it with her, then rewrite it to take out grammatical errors so she could record it in class on Monday.
Which is a good thing.
Her story, which was based on the Nutcracker, featured one very concerning spelling error. After Princess C.’s brother broke the Nutcracker she received for Christmas, C.
“I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells covering Joey Ramone
youtu.be/orutQKKsv…
Normally I disqualify covers from my year end lists. But occasionally I make an exception.
And no, it’s not a cover of THAT song.
Rather, this is a wonderful cover of a song that Joey Ramone wrote while he was battling lymphoma, a disease that would eventually kill him. School of Seven Bells founding member Benjamin Curtis was diagnosed with the same disease in 2013.
I know many of you have been waiting all year for this, and it is finally here. Yes, time to unveil my 20 favorite songs of the past year. Rather than share the entire list up front and then post videos/audio files and comments for each one, I’m going Casey Kasem on you and unveiling them one at a time.
Many of these were featured as Friday Vids over the past year, so some should be familiar.
A lot of links to share since I didn’t get around to it last week.
First, what major city has the most unpredictable weather? Kansas City is No. 1, with Indy four spots behind.
Which City Has The Most Unpredictable Weather?
Joe Posnanski had a couple fine pieces of writing over the last two weeks. This one, profiling what life is like for former NFL player Priest Holmes, is wonderful and scary.
youtu.be/bjQzJAKxT… “Do They Know It’s Christmas” - Band Aid We begin our three weeks of holiday songs with one of the more maligned songs in the modern Christmas song canon. Are the lyrics cheesy? Yes. Are some of the assertions about Africa factually incorrect? Yep? Is the drama cranked about a few notches too high? Of course.
But, come on. The New Wave/New Romantic sounds defined the pop music of the first half of the 1980s.
Man, have we had trouble getting the girls to put Christmas lists together this year. In years past, we normally had detailed lists from all three well before Thanksgiving. Followed by daily updates.
This year, though, has been much harder. L. gave us a list about a week ago. C. and M. both started lists, but they kept disappearing or were never handed over. One day last week, when I asked the girls if they had their lists ready, M.
Another busy month. Four books, three of them good, two very good. I’ve been saying this for years, but I really should write down my thoughts on each one when I finish them, rather than waiting until the end of the month. My apologies for the disjointed thoughts and fuzzy memories on a couple of these.
The Facades - Eric Lundgren This was the one book I did not enjoy, which was a bummer.
Yes, that hallowed holiday tradition is back. It’s time for the first Holiday Jihad of 2014!
This one just baffles me. Last week I added my annual bookmark for the site Christmas TV Schedule, so I can be sure to record the best shows of the season. I scrolled through to find the highlights and noticed one show in particular was hard to find. I hit Command-F[1], typed in “Grinch,” and reviewed the results.
So, I’m putting this together beginning at 10:40 Sunday night. Christmas Vacation is on TV. The tree is lit. A Bell’s Christmas Ale is at my side. Yes, it is the most wonderful time of the year.
Man, the holiday weekend went by fast. It seems like minutes ago we were out to eat on Wednesday night, watching basketball on the big screens, and thinking of all that the four days ahead held.
This is better suited for a Friday Links post, but since I just saw it today and it’s relevant to tomorrow’s holiday, I thought I would go ahead and share it today.
I think I had heard of this before, but never read the details. In 1939, President Roosevelt decided to change the date of Thanksgiving to add another week of Christmas shopping. The hope was that extra week would give a boost to the struggling economy.
A busy few days between get-togethers, kid activities, and prepping for Thanksgiving.
How about a few notes?
M. has kicked off her volleyball career. She’s been to one skills session and another evaluation session as the fourth graders at St. P’s get slotted onto the appropriate team for their first year of CYO play. I haven’t watched any of her practices, but I’m hopeful that she can hang in there and make the occasional pass or serve it over the net, rather than be fearful of the ball.
There’s a new Kingdom Rush game out, so I better share some links before I disappear into it for the next week or so.
Our first article is a look into the life of a college basketball assistant coach. If you don’t get hooked up with the right guy/program, it can be a real struggle to work your way up the ladder. I’ve always found it interesting that quite a few coaches spend time in pharmaceutical sales before they dive into coaching.
youtu.be/vZEhean_R…
“Slippery Slopes” - Jenny Lewis
I realized last night that we are only two weeks from when I will begin unveiling my favorite songs of 2014. Although this song will not be on the list, Jenny Lewis will be making an appearance. I highly recommend the album from which this song comes, The Voyager.
There are beatdowns and there are BEATDOWNS. What Kentucky did to Kansas last night was a BEATDOWN, with an endless number of exclamation points after.
And I was lucky enough to watch it in person at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse.
Yay.
First thing, Kentucky is really freaking good. They have length on top of length, and their only “normal” sized player is probably faster than 98% of the players who will try to check him.