Long Live The Party :: Andrew W.K.

Long Live The Party

Andrew W.K.

The Wolf

Andrew W.K. - wow. This guy is something. His music is so awful. The lyrics are so bad and the music is repetitive and simple. All of his songs pretty much sound the same - even across albums.

BUT I LOVE HIM.

Every time it pops up on shuffle in my iPod, I have to click over to it. It's the most energetic music I've ever listened to and it just gives me such a feeling - that feeling I had when I was a kid and would hear a great 80s song. There are a lot of 80s elements to his songs and I think that's why I really get into him.

Obviously, this song is about partying - just like all of his songs. This song directly references a party (as does about 6 of his songs) and how it needs to live on. Basically, it's a positive, life affirming song. A song about having a party but oddly, at the end it takes an interesting turn:

The more that you can give it, then the more it will be
And if you do not have it, you can take it from me
All we ever wanted was a thing to believe,
And now that we have found it, we have all that we need.

Party is the new Christ?

Judy Is a Dick Slap :: Belle & Sebastian

Judy Is a Dick Slap

Belle & Sebastian

Push Barman to Open Old Wounds

Here's a fun little instrumental by Belle & Sebastian off of their compilation album. This is one of the songs that you can picture someone singing over and you're waiting until they do and they never do and then you play it again and sort of mouth your own lyrics to them and you realize why you aren't allowed to write songs and then you curl up into a ball and change songs.

It's a good one, this.

Waiting for a Dream :: Rufus Wainwright

Waiting For A Dream

Rufus Wainwright

Want Two

Gosh, this song gets in you for sure. The voice that goes in and out of echo and that phone call filter, the repetitive piano chords, the drum machine beat, the long strings, the long words.. Rufus at his essence... It's just so crazy soft and relaxing.

With that said, the lyrics are definitely sad. Waiting for a dream to last... He's worried about what's going on in the world and in his life and he just wants a dream to last because that's the only safe thing. It really does break my heart when you know exactly what someone needs but they don't think they need it.

Every Day I Read Your Stars :: The Pearlfishers

Every Day I Read Your Stars

The Pearlfishers

The Young Picnickers

This is such a pretty song. The Pearlfishers are so poppy it's insane. They almost border guilty pleasure - but I stand firm on pure pop.

The songs that this guy writes are perfect pop songs. The lyrics are sweet and mostly about love. And, of course, this song about a guy who reads a girl's horoscope everyday. Obviously, I don't buy into horoscopes but I get the importance of what he's doing. Just trying to understand where she's coming from and she's into the stars.

The sound of this song is really, really flowery. I'm going to say 70s sounding but I always get the 60s and 70s mixed up. Let's just say late 60s/early 70s. How's that?

Niagara Falls :: Sufjan Stevens

Niagara Falls

Sufjan Stevens

Greetings from Michigan - The Great Lake State

Ahhh.. You can never beat a good Sufjan Stevens song. My favorite artist. The first one to come and knock Ben Folds out of the top spot since '99.

This song is one of the bonus songs that you get if your have the vinyl or iTunes version of the album. It's a pleasant song - banjos, horns, piano and repeated lyrics - basic Sujan fare, but beautiful none-the-less. I really like when he pushes his voice to sing high but also whispery. It really makes these songs sound like they have so much heart.

One critique - too short.

X-Files :: Del The Funky Homosapien

X-Files

Del The Funky Homosapien

Future Development

This is one of my favorites from the Future Development album - Del's cancelled third album on Elektra. He ended up releasing it from the Hiero site later on - THANK GOD. It's brilliant too.

This is classic Del - it's rapped in the style that he's had since the beginning and it almost gives me chills when I hear him rap. It's nostalgia all wrapped up in a short black guy.

As far as beats go, this album seemed to depart a little bit from the normal Domino stuff and mixed up the samples with keyboards. It really eccentuates the west coast sound where Del comes from.

Definitely, find this album and get it immediately.