"Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex," Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS)

Song: "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex"
Album: Cansei de Ser Sexy
Artist: CSS



For a music lover/blogger, it's hard to argue with this track title! I was turned onto Cansei de Ser Sexy by their awesome live concert from Fabchannel. I love the energy, lack of inhibition, and artistic fierceness of the concert. I came to find out that CSS is a Brazillian band and that their name; "Cansei de Ser Sexy" means "Tired of Being Sexy" in Portuguese. Their in-your-face style is ironic and they are both pushing the sexual buttons of the audience and making fun of how easily those buttons are pushed-- but in a playful, attractive, artistic way. Take a look.

"Hello Bonjour," Michael Franti & Spearhead

Song: "Hello Bonjour"
Album: Yell Fire!
Artist: Michael Franti & Spearhead

Michael Franti packs a lot of lyrics and ideas into this song. My favorite stanza goes:

You say you’re a Christian ’cause God made you,
You say you’re a Muslim ’cause God made you,
You say you’re a Hindu and the next man a Jew
And we all kill each other 'cause god told us to? NAH!

I just think the world could use a lot more of Michael Franti. He's a funky, peace seeking, musical, spirit, sent down to spread some truth. It's hard to stay seated when this song plays; because the music is jumpy, but also because the lyrics offer something to believe in.

Here's the Song Video:


Here's a live version. This shows Franti & Spearhead taking a flat Belgium crowd up to 100% participation.

"Wagon Wheel," Old Crow Medicine Show

Song: "Wagon Wheel"
Album: O.C.M.S.
Artist: Old Crow Medicine Show

Thanks to Dave for recommending this song. I'm a huge Bluegrass fan. I even played rhythm guitar in a bluegrass group last summer. I love the vocal performance on this. Like the song, it's unapologetically back woods. And, the harmonies are right on-- not trying to do too much but right where they should be.

In music, but in Bluegrass especially, there's a tendency for players to try to out play everyone on the planet. This is an example of how good a song can be if the band listens to each other, plays the song tight together and just lays down what's necessary and nothing more.

The O.C.M.S. web site is here. An interesting, short Wiki article about the history of the song is here.

Here's a you tube video:

"There Is Nobody," Yoav

Song: "There Is Nobody"
Album: Adore - Single
Artist: Yoav

This new artist is currently touring with Tori Amos. This song reminds me of "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. Probably because the percussion drives and has air. But if the Stripes impress for the sound they achieve with just two players, Yoav does the same... and he's solo.

Check out this youtube video of Yoav doing a cover of "Where Is My Mind" by the Pixies (a different song altogether). He uses looping in innovative ways to create a sound scape and then plays and sings over it. The loop he creates here by singing into the sound hole of his guitar, continues until the end of the song and provides a creepy mystery to what he is doing.



It's new, innovative, minimalist. Yoav makes the most out of the sounds he creates, and has an attractive confidence that those sounds are enough. And, they are.

"Alive With The Glory Of Love," Say Anything

Song: "Alive With The Glory Of Love"
Album: Say Anything Is A Real Boy
Artist: Say Anything

The Man learned long ago how to ruin a good rock & roll song... put it on TV. But, Scrubs makes me laugh and there's no denying the power of a good forbidden love story.

I love this song on so many levels...

First the lyrics. It tells a story from the perspective of a rebel on the loosing side of a war. Max Bemis the song writer and singer had grandparents who were in fact Holocaust survivors, which I learned about by reading the Wiki article. On closer read, the lyrics reference Treblinka, a German concentration camp in Poland where his grandparents survived.

"Now Treblinkah is alive with the glory of love"

And that is the the ultimate triumph of his grandparents and of the song-- love wins.

For me, the song transcends the cultural and generational differences between the 1940's WWII era and today. After all, love is universal no matter the circumstance, no matter the time. If his grandparents' love can survive Treblinka, any love can survive anything.

The music is also special; loud, fast and angry with punk and hardcore while the singer is describing the axis powers, tender, slower and airier (good jumpy rock) while describing his lover.

This song is very well made; war on one side, love on the other. What higher purpose could there be for a song than to express an unstoppable passion overcoming the violence and inanity of war? It goes so far (in the last stanza) to reveal that the love is so strong, it would survive the singer's death.

"Should they kill me, your love will fill me as warm as the bullets, yeah.
I'll know my purpose: this war was worth this. I won't let you down…"

Hopeful and fiercely defiant under the worst of circumstances, can you imagine a love so strong that fighting World War II, being imprisoned and dying were all worth it? It puts true love in perspective and in it's proper place, diminishing war and it's physical world trappings to an obstacle. No matter how daunting the obstacle it's still just that, an obstacle. Love, on the other hand, is the very purpose for living.

"Chicago (Acoustic Version)," Sufjan Stevens

Song: "Chicago (Acoustic Version)"
Album: The Avalanche - Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album
Artist: Sufjan Stevens

I was first introduced to Sufjan Stevens on the PBS show Austin City Limits. I was captivated by the sheer number of musicians on stage (15), their elaborate costumes, and the immensely creative song writing. I was not surprised to find that there are five versions of this song: Original, Acoustic, To String Remix, Adult Contemporary, Multiple Personality Disorder.

Watch Sufjan Stevens on Austin City Limits

"15 Step," Radiohead

Song: "15 Step"
Album: In Rainbows
Artist: Radiohead

Yes, I bought the Radiohead album In Rainbows from their web site. I love Radiohead and this album does not disappoint. I'm always willing to pay for good music. I paid 7 pounds (about $14) after reading a review from a guy who successfully downloaded it for $.02. I'm a fan of the honor system and I'm a fan of anything that helps bring about changes the music industry.

15 Step is my favorite song on the album. The production of Radiohead songs has been a fascination of mine. I love the contrast of the chant-like, sampled hand clap percussion which begins the song and then is consumed by the lazy guitar. I love the sampled yells of children too. For me, this is the height of popular creativity in music production now.

"No Surprises," Radiohead

Song: "No Surprises"
Artist: Radiohead
Album: OK Computer

I get an ironic sense from this song. It’s saying something like:

“Damn, look at the state of the world! Give me some ear plugs and a pretty garden and I’ll just live quietly. In the mean time, bring down the government cause they don't speak for us.”

As if a revolution is something you can order from room service. Yet this captures a prevailing attitude, at least in it's own time.

Sonicaly, the produced version of the song is beautiful and builds from relaxed to urgent with layers of fantastically crafted sound.


This is the acoustic version from youtube:

"Jolene," Cake

Song: "Jolene"
Album: Motorcade of Generocity
Artist: Cake

I love this band and I still listen to this album all the time, even though it came out in 1994. Greg Brown is one of my favorite guitar players. It's thoughtful, it's funky, it rocks; what not to love.

"Lua," Bright Eyes

Song: "Lua"
Album: Lua - EP
Artist: Bright Eyes

Honesty.

Bright Eyes (a.k.a. Conor Oberst) is a master of conveying a feeling with a song. This is one of my favorite things about music-- it’s probably the best medium for conveying emotions. Yet Bright Eyes strips this song of all the optimism and hopefulness that usually accompanies a budding romance. This is a complete expression of the “out of self” observations of an addict and the resignation that accompanies the fall of an individual in tandem with the fall of society. If you have a shot at getting some and still can't muster a thread of hope, the world is weighing heavy my friend. In a word, this song is honest, heroically so.