"To be loved like that makes all the difference. It does not lessen the terror of the fall, but it gives a new perspective on what that terror means. I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, the one thing powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity." Paul Auster (Moon Palace)

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Sufjan Stevens - a little lost cover, 2014

"Arthur’s music is all over the place, but most of it seems to be about embracing darkness (loneliness) and ambiguity (confusion) with the biggest bear hug in the world. Catharsis! He didn’t give a shit about fads or fashion even as he was influenced by popular music, club music, and all that shitty art music at the Kitchen. He kind of cobbled it all together to create his own diverse musical language, He was funny as shit (a wordsmith, a master of the innuendo), but also dead serious (and blunt) about the deepness of his feelings, unafraid to express affection in his songs, without pandering or cliche. Arthur was real as shit. You can’t fake realness."

Guillemots - never went to church cover, 2006

"Guillemots (stylized as gUiLLeMoTs) are a British indie rock band formed in November 2004, comprising three members: Fyfe Dangerfield, Aristazabal Hawkes and Greig Stewart."

Bear's Den - crow, 2019

"Crow" by Bear's Den is a nostalgic elegy remembering the loss of a father figure. Full of bittersweet gratitude, the harmonic aspects of the track are a beautiful complement to the melody and lyrics sung by Andrew Davie with such pure emotion."

The Digital Age - galaxies, 2016

"What I can hear and feel in Galaxies is a band that is searching a bit for a new identity. There are some risks and creative choices taken that definitely work, and some that don't. But the times when it is really dragged down are when the band elects to make safe, accessible musical choices rather than ones that add to the intended experience."

Vini Reilly - home recording live, 2020

"There is YouTube footage from 2020 of Reilly playing in his living room and it’s not the work of a three-time stroke victim you may expect. But it’s still not good enough for Reilly. “I carried on and on after my strokes and I got to a level, but it’s not even close [to where I was],”

Horsebeach - pure shores, 2024

"Tried my best to do this absolute banger some justice. Here's my 3rd single from the upcoming LP, it's a cover of the track 'Pure Shores. Streaming on all the usual places and link in bio ofc. Hope you like it x"

Fancy Animals - circles, 2024

"a sound with ample entrancement, hypnotic and dreamy while still retaining a punchy melodic fervency — especially apparent in the gorgeously shoegaze-y “get inside,” closing plea."

The Jesus And Mary Chain - girl seventy-one, 2024

"Our creative approach is the same as in 1984, just come to the studio and see what happens. We came in with a lot of songs and let them run their course. There are no rules, it’s a sort of telepathy, we’re those strange twins who finish each other’s sentences."

Still Corners - crystal blue, 2024

"The genesis for several of these songs comes from dreams. Every night she wrote down the dreams she could remember. During the recording, I would pull out my dream journal and sing over various music loops that Greg had prepared. This repetitive nature felt like a trance."

Monday, February 26, 2024

Crosby Stills Nash And Young - teach your children, 1969

"In 1971, "Teach Your Children" was the final song in the movie Melody."

Dave Matthews Band - mercy, 2012

"Dave Matthews Band’s video for “Mercy” embraces the song’s themes of unity and harmony (...). According to the band, 14,334 people provided original photos and videos for the inspirational clip, a James Frost-directed mash-up video that features only glimpses of the band and focuses on the fans."

My Sad Captains - don't listen to your heart, 2017

"since i started the blog, i've got to know some great bands and from time to time we talk through email or myspace or facebook... i like to call them friends because i'm an easygoing person and it's not very hard for me to make friends (through virtual medias. face to face i tend to be a bit shy). i like to think my sad captains is a band-friend of the blog. so i'm more than happy when i get news from them... they're releasing a free song taken from their album here and elsewhere, (released on stolen recordings) called 'you talk all night'. a very mellow and soothing tune. there' also a video for the song that is so simple but so well filmed that you can let your imagination flow with the images and build a story from it."

Layzi - close two u, 2024

"I’ll start with the keys and then start writing. I’ll add the chords, and then some notes on the guitar"

Van Morrison - glad tidings, 1970

"The style of Moondance stood in contrast to that of Astral Weeks. Whereas Astral Weeks had a sorrowful and vulnerable tone, Moondance restored a more optimistic and cheerful message to his music, which abandoned the previous record's abstract folk compositions in favour of more formally composed songs and a lively rhythm and blues style he expanded on throughout his career."

Jayz - empire state of mind, 2009

"There was a first phone call, and Jay hit me up like, 'I feel like I have this record that's going to be the anthem of New York. The piano, the way the style [is], the whole flow, and it couldn't be the anthem of New York without you.' Obviously, I'm very grateful to him for reaching out to me and for that type of ability to represent my hometown, like, that was crazy. So we went to the studio. I went to the studio, and [...] I fell in love [with the track] from the jump."

Still Corners - beginning to blue, 2013

"Their offering of their own little dream-pop world in a dark corner of the Austin Convention Center comes with its own pseudo-psychedelic slideshow, and singer Tessa Murray's voice has more than an echo of the late Trish Keenan in her heyday."

Tom Waits - coney island baby, 2002

"This album is all rich, complex, mysterious, dark tomes about the concussion of hatred against love. The sound is not quite industrial or grating, but there is a discord to these songs, almost a physical discomfort."

Bill Ryder-Jones - satellites live, 2015

"Ryder-Jones, pitched to the right of the stage, could alternate between looking feverishly involved or coolly relaxed. His guitar parts were simply stunning. Nobody outside the tight-knit group could have guessed he was wrestling with demons, until in 2005 he briefly stopped touring with the band, citing a stress-related illness."

The Band Of Holy Joy - to leave or remain, 2017

"To say the Band of Holy Joy were an anomaly on the late-1980s indie scene is to wallow in understatement. All around, bands took to flared jeans and trundling Madchester beats, but the Band of Holy Joy made an oompah din on brass and accordions while singer Johnny Brown sang affectingly of London lowlife in a drunken Geordie wail. It was charmingly incongruous, as if Brecht and Weill had turned up in the middle of an episode of Byker Grove."

This Mortal Coil - kangaroo, 1984

"In 2018, Pitchfork ranked It'll End in Tears at number eight on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums".