Don't Wanna Fight No More

[alabama shakes - don't wanna fight]




This is the best album I have heard in so long. Musically it's just so good, so tight. Instant love.

walk away now, and you're gonna start a war

[start a war - the national]


whatever went away i'll get it over now
i'll get money i'll get funny again

do you really think you can just put it in a safe
behind a painting, lock it up and leave?

our love is dead but without limit

[bright eyes - make war]

please return, return
to the person that you were,
'cause it's too hard to belong
to someone who is gone.
my compass spins; the wilderness remains.

and now you're just a ghost

[katy perry - ghost]

katy perry on repeat 24/7.

there's a desert that size can't be measured

[lord huron - ends of the earth]



i was a-ready to die for you baby,
doesn't mean i'm ready to stay.
what good is living a life you've been given
if all you do is stand in one place?

I remember you well in the chelsea hotel

[leonard cohen - chelsea hotel #2]

ah but you got away, didn't you babe
you just turned your back on the crowd
you got away, i never once heard you say
i need you / i don't need you

i need you / i don't need you

i remember you well in the chelsea hotel
that's all, i don't even think of you that often

You Spend Your Days Dying Like A Rose In The Vase

[motorama - rose in the vase]

itunes has labeled motorama's latest album, calendar, as 'dream'... in a way that feels almost right, but also a bit wrong. motorama's sound is dreamy, but it's also gritty and haunting. it's a dream where you wake up feeling strange and a little bit lonely, though you can't remember what you were dreaming about.

this is my favourite song off of calendar. you can also download their 2010 album alps for free on their website along with some singles and past EPs.

motoramamusic

also i think they have nice album art and this is possibly the first russian indie band i have ever heard? i think that's pretty cool.

lost in rogue valley

for the past few weeks i've been feeling like i needed some new music, but i was looking for something so specific that i was having trouble finding something that stuck. i wanted a blend of folk/country/singer-songwriter but with a full band, etc. maybe i wasn't even sure what i wanted. maybe "country" is too strong a word for what i was looking for.

but i was looking through the 'folk' tag on insomnia radio and i clicked on this band called rogue valley and it was basically everything i was looking for, plus a bit of pop and amazing cover art. plus everything is available on their website for free or pay what you can.

winter

what really gets me about this band is that, in the course of the year, they released four albums, one for each season. i think that a) this is ambitious and b) they really pulled it off. there aren't a lot of "weak" songs on any album, thrown in there just for the sake of having enough songs. i dig it.

my favourite album so far is geese in the flyway, the fall album, because it was the first one i listened to. but they're all pretty great, in my opinion.

two songs that i really like so far...

+ geese in the flyway (geese in the flyway/fall)
+ dangerous diamonds (false floors/winter)

you ain't gonna find me, 'cause i'm not who i used to be

forgot to post this on monday.

[alabama shakes - i ain't the same]

this album is soso surprisingly good, and the alabama shakes deserve every bit of recognition they're getting right now. i feel like maybe that means their second album is going to be disappointing, if they write another one. but yeah i can't stop listening to this.

this is one of those albums where i don't really relate to many of the lyrics, but something about the whole package is just really perfect. even if the album is called 'boys and girls'.

i said i'd never grow old
i can't remember how that used to be

(via)

the best way to touch your heart is to make an ass of myself

[jens lekman - kanske ar jag kar dig]

currently enjoying jens lekman's 2007 album 'night falls over kortedala'. further enjoying that it's labeled as 'holiday' music in my itunes. feeling like i can relate to this song about being awkward...

i almost posted this in the morning and then i realized that i don't post things in the morning on my blog? trying to maintain my 'night owl' illusion.

(kylejthompson)

Can't Change The Weather, But We Sure Can Change Our Shoes

Yeah, I know I'm terrible at this. I'm busy/self-destructing/freezing. More on that later, maybe.

Anyways, it's Monday, so I should post a song. I'm still listening to a lot of She & Him (I'm even listening to their Christmas album, which is something that I'm usually morally opposed to), but I've also been going back to Bon Iver and Bright Eyes recently. I think it's something about the weather. I don't really want to post Bon Iver or Bright Eyes though; I've done that quite a lot, I think.

A good friend of mine introduced me to The Mynabirds, and I really like their song "Buffalo Flower" off their latest album "Generals". It makes me feel sad a little bit.

When the bully winds push on your shoulder, you show them who's king...

(via)

something hiding for us in the night

[something hiding for us in the night - the wooden sky]

i know i already posted this song 2 years ago when i first saw the wooden sky in montreal. but i'm posting it again because i just saw them play on saturday, and i this is my favourite song by them.

i was thinking about how the wooden sky is one of the bands that i've seen play most often in my life. it's not a lot; 3 out of the 4 times they've been to montreal in the last 2 years. but i went with the same person every time, and that's kind of a nice a feeling. i was thinking about how just because i'm doing the same things i did 2 years ago doesn't mean i'm not different. doesn't mean i haven't changed.

i'm scared that i don't change. i mean, i always worry that i'm not growing, that i'm making the same mistakes over and over again. but i have changed, and i do change.

yeah, i'm different now. it's okay, you know. i'm talking to myself. it's okay.

and if that mean old city gets you down...
i'll be around, i'll still be around.

Oh, What Can You Do With A Sentimental Heart?

watched 500 days of summer recently as part of my recent movie-watching phase, so now i am obviously listening to she & him, because zooey deschanel.

[she & him - sentimental heart]

oh, and obviously m. ward whom i love so much who also toured recently with feist whom i also love obsessively.

i also really like this is not a test from their first album "vol. 1".

(here)

I Enjoy To Write Posts About October

My general feeling about October throughout the rest of the year can probably best be summed up as "ambivalent". It's sort of this nothing month that disappears between the final warmth of September and the cold of November as "another month of school".

But when I get to October -- when I'm actually in it -- I really love this month.

First of all, September sucks so whenever October comes around it's like a huge breath of fresh air. September = stressful. October = not September, therefore October = something better. That may be a fallacy but still, I can't help but think that October means things are settling down, a normal schedule has been established, and I can breathe again without panicking.

Secondly, I feel like fall fashion is in full swing, and I can't wait to buy a new scarf and some socks and maybe even some new shoes.

Anyways, I've been listening to a lot of new music since I got back from my trip that I haven't been posting here (four months with no new music made me feel kind of deprived so I've been downloading new stuff at an abnormal rate).

Neko Case's "Middle Cyclone" is still on high rotation, but I'm also listening to Andrew Bird's 2009 album "Noble Beast".

Here's a really cool live version of my favourite song off that album "Nomenclature".



I'm also really into Yukon Blonde again. I saw them play in September when they were visiting for Pop Montreal and I picked up a sweet tank top and a renewed appreciation for how fun they are live (the first time I went to see them I was actually seeing The Wooden Sky -- but I walked away a Yukon Blonde fan). My favourite song off their latest album "Tiger Talk" is "Iron Fist" mostly because of the lyrics.

It feels like the very first time
anybody's hurt you so much
you could just die
but you will get over it.
You will get over it.

(via)

Also listening to: Destroyer, Devendra Banhart, The Mountain Goats, The New Pornographers, Okkervil River.

This Tornado Loves You

I'm 3 years late, but I'm obsessed with Neko Case's album "Middle Cyclone". I think that's because it accurately describes my whole entire life as someone who is a total mess but still needs love. I like how she doesn't shy away from the things that are wrong with her.

I have a lot of favourites on the album, but I think the one I like most is the title track mostly because of these lyrics:

can't give up acting tough
it's all that i'm made of
can't scrape together quite enough
to ride the bus to the outskirts of
the fact that i need love.

(moresque)

M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M. Ward has been one of my favourite artists ever since I heard two of his albums ("Hold Time" and "Post-War") in the Winter of 2010. Those albums remind me of sitting in the library for days writing an essay about China and studying for exams -- but for some reason it's not a stressful memory. I think I was happy then. Or at least understanding something for a moment, whatever that something was. Maybe the past always seems happier than the present. No? I don't know.

Anyways, M. Ward has got a new album out called "A Wasteland Companion" and I like it more and more every time I hear it. It's full of everything I love about him: folk/country/soft-pop/alt-rock/interesting lyrics/keyboard/harmonies, etc.

He's already got a video out for "The First Time I Ran Away":

The second time I ran away I saw warriors on the train catching tigers by the tail.

You can stream the full album on his website and I really think you should do that. Suffice to say I am not disappointed.

There are a couple of songs that I really like; "Clean Slate" is a beautiful little opening track, "Primitive Girl" is upbeat and fun, "Pure Joy" is dreamy and hopeful and redemptive. But I think my favourite song so far is "Crawl After You", a piano ballad that almost made me cry.

So I gotta crawl after you, tell you who I am...

My favourite M. Ward song of all time will always be Post-War.

in the meantime

I have to write a megapost about Feist because that's what my heart is telling me to do, but in the meantime have a listen to Sensual Harassment's remix of UK band Stranger's song "Shine On You". You can also download Sensual Harassment's 2010 album "Alpha Draconis" for free on their website which you should do because it's free and because IT'S FUN. "It's" referring to free things and also the music.

You know, sometimes I consider just turning this into a music blog.

(via)

i'll be the one who'll break my heart

[feist - i feel it all]

oh feist. if i had time to write you a love letter a day for the rest of my life, i would.

If I Had An Orchard I'd Work Til I'm Sore

[fleet foxes - helplessness blues]

i'd rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.

what good is it to sing helplessness blues?

ah, what good is it? but how to stop? i can't say how much i want the fullness of life, or how much i've given up on it.

I think the idea that I can't have everything infuriates me

I think the idea that I can't have it all drives me insane. Why can't I take 18 credits and have a job at the same time? Because that's insane. Why can't I learn the things I want to learn? What did I come to university for? To be a writer. Oh yeah, to be a writer. That's what I said before I came here. I said I would be a writer with or without university. But aren't I writing right now? Isn't anyone who writes a writer? Oh, but to be a good writer. Ah, well.

Here I am. I want everything. An apartment with a living room for fuck's sake. A job that doesn't take everything I am for minimum wage plus 10cents. It's nothing. It's something. I feel broken.

If I don't like it why do I do it? If I demand better what does that make me? Insolent, maybe. Ungrateful.

Can I get some quiet? I know, I know, I know. It's just this day. But I can't be quiet. I can't turn me off. There's always someone in there, knock knock knock, right, she says, why can't you have it all. And then another, you have too much. Oh, help. You'll never have enough.

Oh, and I want and I want and I want it all.

[the temper trap - fools]