Latest Posts
Jhameel – Waves (music video)
Happy Presidents’ Day! Also, happy Monday!
Last week Jhameel released an awesome new video for his track Waves from his Waves series. Get this, the lighting in the video is from street lights and iPhone flashlights. Quite the talent that Jhameel has.
Special news: if you’re one of our readers in the San Fransisco Bay Area, he’s playing tonight at Bottom of the Hill. I’m positive it will be a memorable set so show the guy some love and go watch him play!
Until next Monday, listen to tons and tons of Jhameel.
The Lumineers – The Lumineers
I’ve taken a few days to listen and digest The Lumineer’s self-titled debut LP. It is an album I was looking forward to with great anticipation. I was afraid that the album might be overproduced but my fears were unfounded. I’ve decide to review it slight differently than a traditional album review. I’ve picked out a few lyrics from The Lumineers and will let them serve as starting points for vignettes, some more related to the music and some less.
Classy girls, don’t kiss in bars, you fool
Classy Girls is a pretty simple jaunt but I love the delivery on this song in a way that as it turns out, is hard for me to describe. Simply, there’s a way Wesley Schultz delivers that line as wisdom (joining Wesley are Jeremiah Fraites and Neyla Pekarek). It’s akin to when a 50 year old man in a bar sees a little of himself in you and pulls you aside just for a second to tell you one of the secrets of life. That’s the picture my mind paints every time I hear this song and I love that about it.
I don’t gamble but if I did, I would bet on us
Dead Sea starts the stretch that allows The Lumineers to gallop out front for my favorite of 2012 race. If there’s a four song stretch that I love as much as Dead Sea through Stubborn Love, I would be beside myself. The metaphor of the Dead Sea is applied subtlely enough that it lets you to interpret the song in a number of ways.
Took a bus to Chinatown, I’d be standing on Canal, and Bowery, and she’d be standing next to me
I love this lyric so much even if I mishear it everytime; I always hear “Took a bus to Chinatown, I’d be standing awkward now, and Bowery, and she’d be standing next to me.” It’s such a simple statement that expresses so much. I’ve never been to New York and I want it to be special when I do go. Ho Hey captures a bit of that.
Only love can dig you out of this
Slow It Down is my favorite song of 2012 so far. I wanted to highlight it for this purpose more than any story. I’m already contemplating anointing it as my song of 2012 in my head because this album version absolutely cemented its place in my ears. It is 5 minutes of sincere, raw emotion distilled in a musical form. A song so cathartic that it takes me to another place. Right now, I’m drifting about and most happy when something captures my attention from reality, if only for 5 minutes. The last line is the takeaway line of the album.
Don’t take the fact I only picked lyrics out from 4 of the 11 songs of the album as any statement on the other songs, other than this: they are worthy of your ears. Stubborn Love, Flapper Girl and Morning Song could have easily had vignettes on a different day.
Simply, I recommend you take a listen. The Lumineers have created a sublime record. It has the ability to make you forget to eat a meal because you just want to listen again and again. It’s sustenance in a different form, a reminder through the airwaves that beauty can exist.
Tracklist
Flowers In Your Hair
Classy Girls
Submarines
Dead Sea
Ho Hey
Slow It Down
Stubborn Love
Big Parade
Charlie Boy
Flapper Girl
Morning Song
Here is their website and their Facebook. Tour dates are below. Hope you enjoy it on your first listen.
Continue Reading →