Beck Loves Music

For nearly as long as I’ve been aware of current music, I’ve loved the Goo Goo Dolls. I was as ardent a fan as was possible without regular access to the internet… and while Iris was greatly overplayed, I loved Slide and Black Balloon (wow, that was a LONG time ago, you guys!), and I even had a mild celebrity crush on John Rzeznik, despite his being 20 or so years older than me. :-p

Since then, they’ve put out consistently good music, with Dizzy Up the Girl and Let Love In being the primary albums I really remember.

ANYWAY, the other day I was driving home from work and heard a voice that I recognized instantly–but the song itself I’d never heard. Not only that, but I was also a little confused… “am I listening to a Christian station?” I asked myself. “Isn’t this the Goo Goo Dolls?”

Here’s the song, plus lyrics after the jump, for your convenience.

Goo Goo Dolls – As I Am

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Hat tip to Junshien for this one…

I’d never actually heard about Matthew Mayfield until reading through my twitter feed yesterday, but he’s apparently had a couple songs on Grey’s Anatomy (say what you will about smutty TV shows, a lot of them have awesome soundtrack pickers on staff) that were really popular, etc.

Now You’re Free is a new release from the newly solo Matthew Mayfield, and I love it! He has the kind of mellow, soft rock/folk sound that I really like, so win!

This song is the title track—a great song with an even better video! What can I say…I’m a sucker for guys being sweet with cute little kids (show me a woman that isn’t!). I feel a particular affinity for the line, “now you’re free and it sets you apart.” What it means to me isn’t necessarily what he meant it to mean, but that’s art for ya.

Check it out:

Matthew Mayfield – Now You’re Free

Now You’re Free

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Duffy is one of many artists that I heard of, looked up and pretty quickly dismissed as repetitive and kind of annoying.

However, like many of those artists, I’ve grown to appreciate some of her stuff lately, so I thought I’d share. Duffy’s 2009 album, Rockferry, is the one I listened to and decided I didn’t like—there are a few tracks on it that I enjoy, but overall, I find Duffy to be one of those singers where it is best to pick and choose which songs to buy, rather than purchasing an entire album.

Stylistically, Duffy is similar to artists like Amy Winehouse and Adele, with strong, occasionally irritating vocals and a bit of a 60s vibe to the music and instrumentation.

Well, Well, Well is a song from 2010′s Endlessly, and is what got me back on this track—the song is super catchy and the video is very funny (to me). Some people raise their eyebrows at what I think it funny in music videos though, so while I personally find the whole thing charming, you might hate it. Just be prepared.

Duffy – Well, Well, Well

See, how great was that? I love how earnestly those guys are dancing.

In case you’re interested, the standout tracks on Rockferry are, in my opinion, Stepping Stone, Mercy, I’m Scared, Rain on Your Parade and Breaking My Own Heart. Check it out on YouTube.

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Florence + The Machine is hardly an obscure find—their stuff has had a solid indie following for years and have been featured on a lot of TV soundtracks (more and more a great place to find music) and the like.

In any case,  until a few days ago, I knew about Florence Welch… now I am a FAN. Gotta love YouTube for that.

The combination of Florence’s powerful vocals and the intricacy of her backing band makes for the kind of atmospheric music that will be great decades from now.

There aren’t a lot of albums that I would actually buy—more often than now, it’s only the odd track that grabs me—but Lungs is one that I would (and probably will). Right now, the song I’m particularly in love with is Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up). Give it a listen.

Florence + The Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

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You know how sometimes you get all excited about an album, either because you already know the artist or because something about it is just so intriguing? Then, expectations high, you listen… and so, sorely, disappointed.

Bering Strait‘s debut effort (and their next one too, for that matter) was one of those albums for me.

The premise, as I suggested, was incredibly intriguing. A group of musicians from Russia, of all places, taking on such a thoroughly American genre as country/bluegrass? Obviously right up my alley!

They’re great musicians, have perfectly good vocals, but overall are disappointingly boring. Ironically, the only exceptions to that are the songs that either highlight their instrumental skills or are in Russian.

One such song, and my favorite from Bering Strait, is Porushka-Paranya.

Bering Strait – Porushka-Paranya

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The first song I ever heard from Blue Foundation was on the first Twilight soundtrack, which, if you remember correctly, was great. That song, in case you’re wondering, was Eyes on Fire, an interesting, kind of atmospheric track.

After listening to that, I dug up the album responsible for Eyes on Fire, and was vaguely…less than impressed. One song, though, grabs me every time I hit play on the album whilest I’m working or something. That song is this song, Equilibrium.

It is great, despite some people’s mutterings about sherpas and Himalayas and so on.

Give it a listen:
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It’s too bad that thinking about blogging doesn’t actually count as blogging… over the last couple months, there’s been a lot of activity on my virtual blog, including the expansion of its scope to include coffee shop, k-drama and iphone app reviews.

Anyhow, deep breath and on to the ACTUAL blogging.

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Weddings are always good for picking up new tunes, provided that the DJ’s decently creative and/or the couple whose wedding it is has diverse taste in music (one more round of “tonight’s gonna be a good night,” anyone? gah).

I heard an awesome song as I my way to the bathroom at a wedding last weekend that instantly made me all, “sweet, it’s like Euro techno!”, and sure enough, it was by none other than Armin van Buuren, a Dutch DJ / trance producer.

Trance as a genre doesn’t have me totally on board–it tends to get a little… trance-y… but there is the occasional song that makes you go, COME ON with the awesome!

This is one such song. The video…a little cheesy. Okay, a lot cheesy (the falling bit, in particular), but at least it’s not skeezy!

For those of you who like a little extra background, Armin van Buuren has been producing trance music for over fifteen years. At one point, he played a set that was over 12 hours long (!), which broke some kind of DJ-ing record. van Buuren has for the past several years (at least) released an annual State of Trance mix, which is a pretty cool enterprise.

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(Thanks, Joe)

I like this group a thousand times better than the other Perry. Maybe a gajillion times.

Watching the video makes this a little less sad, but it’s still an awfully melancholy subject.

At any rate, this is the type of group that I would totally go see live. I find that there’s a serious difference between those bands that I could listen to every day and those that I would be clamoring to go see live. Country is always better live, every time.

Great lyrics though… “the sharp knife of a short life.”

The Band Perry – If I Die Young

What do you think… the video a bit of a nod to Anne of Green Gables??

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Naomi was trying to get me to listen to this song for a while, but I was all busy and didn’t get around to it… until finally, I did, and now I’ve composed whole ballets (practically whole festivals) around this one song, featuring myself as the primary dancer in the one of the most moving and critically acclaimed performances of all time!

In other words, you should give it a listen.

For those of you who like trivia, this is the same artist who did that song “I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You” with Mark Anthony (for Zorro, was it?). She is from Australia, yet managed to write an entire album of songs in French. She is almost as talented as the ballerina me.

Tina Arena – Si Tu Veux Mon Coeur

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