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The August Mix (part two)

There’s a reason why I separated these songs from the first mix during the previous post. If you’ve already listened to the songs on Mix 1, you will probably notice the slight change of mood on this batch of songs. Listen for yourselves…

August Mix Two:

David Gray – “Fugitive“ (first single from his new album Draw The Line, due out September 14th)

comment: Color me excited! New stuff from David Gray! I loved his previous releases!

The Damnwells – “Soundtrack“ (from their current album One Last Century)

comment: This song is just a little taste of what they have to offer and I like it. If you like what you hear, you can get the full One Last Century album for free by downloading it from their official website www.thedamnwells.com.

Manchester Orchestra – “I Can Feel A Hot One“ (from their current LP Mean Everything To Nothing)

comment: Cool band, great song. Anybody wanna tell me what it’s about?

Rachael Yamagata – “Over and Over“ (track from her current album Elephants)

comment: Love her. I know it’s from last year, but I just felt like putting this one on here because it kinda fits.

After Midnight Project – “Take Me Home“ (single from their debut full-length album Let’s Build Something To Break)

comment: Promising new rock band out of LA, California. They’re currently signed to Universal Motown Records, a major record label. That means its probably uncool to like them. haha.

Jason Kanakis and His Coalition of the Unwilling – “Anything“

comment: He has played guitar for Cary Brothers and many other cool alt-folk-rock artists that I like, so it was a no-brainer for me trying this one out.

Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words“

comment: This is the second Radiohead song to leak online during the past month. Where its from nobody knows, but the fans are rejoicing. Yay!

Amanda Palmer – “Have To Drive“ (track from Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)

comment: I ignored her album after one listen last year. Listening to this now, I am wondering what the hell I was thinking. Big thanks to a friend who was playing this loud off his laptop speakers last week.

MuteMath – “Burden“ (closing track from their new album Armistice)

comment: I am still in the process of getting to know their new album, it sounds kind of… uhm… busy. But this one I like a lot. Its nine minutes long, but it sounds like two songs played one after the other.

Blue October – “My Never“ (track from their current album Approaching Normal)

comment: I was shocked at how mellow their new album was when I listened to it after it was released back in March. Now, a few months after, I’ve learned to like a lot of the songs on the record. This one in particular stands out for some reason.

The Swell Season – “In These Arms“ (track from their upcoming new album Strict Joy, due out in September)

comment: I turned giddy as a kid on Christmas day after I found out that Glen Hansard + Marketa Irglova, a.k.a. The Swell Season, will be releasing a new album in September. If you are still clueless as to who they are, you’ve probably never watched nor heard of this little musical gem of a movie called Once. This is one of the new songs on the new album. Wow! ’nuff said.

If you noticed that a lot of the songs are kinda slow and dreary… well, that’s the kind of mood I’ve been in lately — contemplative, introspective and emo haha. I would love to know your thoughts on these songs. Hit the comment button!

The August Mixes (part one)

There used to be a time when my weekly dose of new music discoveries and updates would come from the radio or music magazines or MTV (ack!) or CD shops. Aaahh, those were the good ol’ days. Everything was at the right pace. I had exactly just the right amount of time to take each single, and each album in… digest the songs, learn the lyrics by heart, put them on repeat in the CD player, fall asleep listening to them, request them on the radio… all those wonderful things. Those days, I could walk into a record store and know exactly which albums are new. Not a week goes by that I don’t go inside one to check out the goodies, even the shop attendants recognized me back then.  Those days, I could still name every single song that would come on the radio after just a few notes or lyrics from a song’s intro. My friends found it quite amazing, hell they even called me a walking jukebox. With any music-related query and concern they had, they went to me. Those times, my dear readers, were the roaring 90’s.

The early 2000’s brought in a different kind of music revolution. Remember Napster? Kazaa? Limewire? Discovering new music took on a whole ‘nother level of awesomeness and ease. My tastes in and knowledge of music was expanding at a very rapid pace. For a time I was liking it. I could still absorb most of the stuff that’s out there.

Fast forward to 2009… there are too many great bands and artists out there that I’m missing out on, and there are too many of them that I know of now that I am slowly unintentionally forgetting the existence of the other ones. I can’t properly sing-along to songs anymore because my brain is overflowing with lyrics from plenty of songs that a lot of times I go blank.  More importantly, because of my busy and problematic life, I am slacking with this blog’s updates (I’m sure I’ve told you that for the gazillionth time this year). I can’t keep up with what’s out there anymore… darn you internet! lol. Okay, it’s either the internet is flooding me with too much information (don’t get me wrong, it’s great) or I’m getting old. Who to blame? Who to blame? Hah! I blame the internet! :p

xoxo — xoxo — xoxo

So, remember a couple of weeks ago when I promised one song per day? Well, I didn’t lie but I wasn’t able to keep it so shame on me! To make up for it, here are a bunch songs for y’all… some new songs and some new artists I’ve been listening to during the past month or so. If you want more information on any of them, google can help you out! hehe!

August Mix One:

Weezer – “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To“ (lead single from upcoming album Raditude, due out October 27th)

comment: I find it more instantly likeable compared to their previous lead single “Pork and Beans”. Fun song, I like!

Passion Pit – “Eyes As Candles“ (track from their current album Manners)

comment: Give their album a try, it’s very good!

Train – “Hey, Soul Sister” (lead single from upcoming album Save Me San Francisco, due out October 27th)

comment: I’m glad they’re back. Hopefully the new album is better than their previous release, which was a bit of a letdown. This new single of theirs is so catchy, even though it sorta reminds me of a certain Jason Mraz song. Don’t let the title fool you, it does not sound like how you’re thinking it. Lady Marmalade this is not haha.

Sondre Lerche – “Heartbeat Radio“ (lead single from upcoming album Heartbeat Radio, due out in September)

comment: Learned about him because of the movie Dan In Real Life. Quite the find!

Lights – “Saviour“ (lead single from upcoming album The Listening, due out in September)

comment: Learned about her because of a Gap commercial some months ago. She kinda reminds me of Donna Lewis (remember her?), sound-wise.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – “Young Adult Friction“ (track from their current self-titled debut album)

comment: Very cool band name, if I may say. Soundtrack-worthy song!

Hellogoodbye – “When We First Met“ (track from their as-yet-untitled upcoming new album)

comment: What happened to the electronic elements of their sound? Still, I like this one quite much.

Mika – “We Are Golden“ (first single from his upcoming album The Boy Who Knew Too Much, due out September 21st)

comment: Igat lang gihapon siya lol. Melodic, fun, and dynamic… exactly what you’d expect from an upbeat Mika song.

Frankmusik – “Vacant Heart“ (track from his current album Complete Me)

comment: Check out the album! I think its one of the best pop albums to come out this year. What is up with all the 80’s-sounding songs these days?! Gaga what have you done?!

Ingrid Michaelson – “Maybe“ (first single from her upcoming album Everybody, due out next week)

comment: I don’t hear her quirkiness on this one. Its sort of a more mature effort from Ingrid.

to be continued…

Paalam…

Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino (1933-2009) Rest In Peace

The heavens cry when heroes die. It may have rained today, but the streets were filled with hundreds of thousands of people paying their respects and showing their love to one amazing woman who moved an entire nation to fight for freedom in the most awe-inspiring of ways. Years may have passed since she put this country onto the world’s history books for doing something great, but to this day, she remains a symbol of how great a Filipino could be in the most trying of times. We will never again have a leader as gentle, as loving, and as inspiring as you were and are. We will miss you, Tita Cory.  May your legacy and example help us all to bring our country back to greatness once more. Taos puso po kitang pinasasalamatan dahil sa binigay mong buong pagmamahal sa sambayanang Pilipino.

Just in case… I have a confession to make

A couple of days ago, I woke up to the sound of the rain spattering all over our house’s tin roof. It was a cold and lazy Sunday morning, and I was anything but ready to get out of the comforts of my tiny but warm bed.  I realized that I had fallen asleep with the computer and stereo on. It was tuned in to some online radio station I had on from the night before which played some nice coffeehouse, singer-songwriter types of artists and songs.  Then I noticed something, a familiar-sounding voice came out of the stereo speakers singing this lovely-sounding, dreamy, lush and sweeping song, accompanied by the piano, strings and cello.

As I got up out of my bed and headed onto my computer, I seemed to have already made up my mind on who the artist was. All I had to find out was the song’s title. In my head, I was so dead sure that it was Rufus Wainwright singing. I was wrong. His name was Matt Alber, and the song was called “End of The World”.

I am now on the hunt for his other songs, to try to see if I like them as much as I love this one.  If you have not heard this yet, you definitely should listen to this. Its one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard this year, except that its actually from 2008. His album is called Hide Nothing. I’ll be looking out for that. For now, enjoy this one.

Matt Alber – “End of The World“ (from his 2008 album Hide Nothing)

I don’t want to ride this roller coaster
I think I want to get off
But they buckled me down like it’s the end of the world
If you don’t want to have this conversation
Then you better get out
Cause we’re climbing to our death
At least that’s what they want you to think

Just in case we jump the track
I have a confession to make
It’s something like a cork screw

I don’t wanna fall, I don’t wanna fly
I don’t wanna be dangled over
The edge of a dying romance
But I don’t wanna stop
I don’t wanna lie
I don’t wanna believe it’s over
I just wanna stay with you tonight

I didn’t mean to scream out quite so loudly
When we screeched to a halt
I’m just never prepared for the end of the ride
Maybe we should get on something simpler
Like a giant balloon
But I’ve got two tickets left,
and so do you

Instead of giving them away to some stranger
Let’s make them count, come on
Let’s get back in line again and ride the big one

Don’t you want to fall, don’t you want to fly
Don’t you want to be dangled over
The edge of this aching romance
If it’s gonna end, then I wanna know
That we squeezed out every moment
But if there’s nothing left can you tell me why
That it is you’re holding onto me
Like it’s the end of the world

Do you know what it feels like to feel like this?

photo by Che Burashka

Buried alive beneath the fruity landslide

Owl City – “Strawberry Avalanche“ (download-only)

Oh, there’s a citrus constellation in the galaxy / Stretched on the back of my eyelids / That I’ve been dying to see / If you were a beautiful sound in the echoes all around / Then I’d be your harmony / And we’d sing along with the crowds / Beneath the candy-coated clouds / A strawberry avalanche crash over me / This is a world of dreams and reverie / Where I felt the stars explode around me

comment: As with yesterday’s artist, here is yet another one-man band. Owl City is the musical project of none other than myspace sensation Adam Young, who has been generating buzz among the musically-discriminating since 2007. Young had already released two previous albums while unsigned. Last week saw the physical release of his major-label debut album Ocean Eyes. Prior to the album’s digital release on July 14th, a couple of songs were made available for free via Owl City’s official website. But for some strange reason, these songs are not part of the album.

Here is one of those tracks… an awesome piece of musical delight that will leave you wanting more. Its so happy you can’t help but feel good listening to it. This is an example of music that gets you high. It sounds so similar to The Postal Service (the other project of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie, just in case you didn’t know), but much much happier. If you like this song, then you will love the new album! Check out Owl City’s previous releases as well (Of June, and Maybe I’m Dreaming).

Two down, five more to go for the week…

Chances are all they hope to be

Five for Fighting – “Chances“ (from the upcoming album Slice, due out October 13th 2009)

Don’t get me wrong, I never say never / ‘Cause though love can’t change the weather / No act of God could pull me away from you / I’m just a realistic man, a bottle filled with shells and sand / Afraid to love beyond what I can lose when it comes to you / And though I’ll see us through / Chances are we’ll find two destinations / Chances run away from me / Still, chances are more than expectations and possibilities / Over me

comment: John Ondrasik has another winner with this one. I’ve always thought of his voice as one of the most unmistakeable singing voices of our generation, and to me he is a truly gifted songwriter who always connects with his audience. He always knows how to pick the lead singles for his albums too, this one’s no exception. If only the song had a more distinguishable sound production-wise, then it would have been perfect. But for what it is, its already a great song musically and lyrically.

One song a day for the rest of the week… (but can I stick to that promise? haha, hopefully!)