MY BLOODY VALENTINE

i'm in tears. literally. hot, hot diggity! who wants to go?


��� my bloody valentine: only shallow
��� my bloody valentine: slow
��� my bloody valentine: you made me realize
��� my bloody valentine: soon

SONG OF THE DAY (#230)

'the mutineer,' by mojave 3

buried at the very end of mojave 3's 2006 album, 'puzzles like you,' is this little gem sung by drummer ian mccutcheon. it's noteworthy because not only is it a terrific song, but it's also the first time [to my knowledge] that someone other than neal halstead or bassist rachel goswell has taken over lead vocals on a mojave 3 album track. he's got such a nice, unaffected voice [and yeah, he does sound a bit like mark linkous]. i've always kind of imagined this song playing over the end of the closing credits to some movie. here's hoping ian rocks the mic on future mojave 3 albums.

as far as mojave 3, have very quietly made a very nice career for themselves. after slowdive [one of this kid's favoritest bands ever] was dropped from their label, neal started writing more 'traditional' songs. the new songs were enough of a depature from the trademark slowdive sound that it necessitated a name change. mojave 3 was born. and now 13 years and 5 studio albums in, they're still a tremendous band.

→ mojave 3: the mutineer
→ neal halstead: high hopes
→ slowdive: 40 days

SONG OF THE DAY (#229)

'tv,' by headlights

i'm just going to copy and paste this from their website: 'Following the demise of Absinthe Blind, Erin Fein and Brett Sanderson formed the short-lived guitarless band Orphans, which provided Fein a developmental first outlet as principle songwriter. Soon, Tristan Wraight returned to Champaign from a stint on the road as touring guitarist for Maserati and joined the band, invoking a startling change as he and Fein began a prolific period of songwriting together. The band changed completely, and in the thaw of the Illinois spring of 2004, Headlights was born in a farmhouse just north of Champaign.' so there you have it.

headlights is pretty new to me, but they've been around for the last couple of years. according to my itunes, i added them to my library last march, but ask me if i remember doing so [i don't]. i tell you, it's a good thing i was listening to heart ['til now i always got by on my own. i never really cared until i met you! and now it chills me to the bone. how do i get you alone?' belt it out, ann!] yesterday because headlights was right before them. i scrolled up, hit play, and was immediately taken by them. seriously, this is some good stuff. they remind a bit of stars, and erin's vocals remind me a lot of new buffalo's sally seltman [if that sounds like a great combo, it is!]. according to their website, they're working on the newest l.p. as we speak. this is very good news. their first l.p., 'kill them with kindness,' and an e.p. titled 'the enemies' are out now. check it out. great stuff.

'tv' is rockin' little tune. judging by the first strummed chord, you might think it's the open note to a sergio leone spaghetti western soundtrack [or a franz ferdinand song -- i'm just sayin'], but it immediately jumps into a tried and true chord pattern. throw in some funky piano, some video game sounds effects and you've got a super song. but don't take my word for it. listen for yourselves....

headlights: tv / video
headlights: put us back together right / live

SONG OF THE DAY (#228)

'annie, let's not wait,' by guillemots

anytime i can talk about, write about, or listen to the guillemots, it's a very good thing. yes, they were my favorite band of 2006, but that doesn't mean i stopped listening to them in 2007 [and i'm still swoon over aristazabal. and, let's face it, who isn't?]. quite the contrary, in fact. my love has only grown as has my disappointment that they've not reached a wider audience. these are some top tunes, kids. if you don't already have the album, buy it, steal it, download it, borrow it and rip it, whatever. just get it.

'annie' was kind of a suprising choice for a single [it's been out as a single for awhile now]. it's a fine song, even a great song, i just never imagined it as a single, especially since it's track #10 on the album and everybody knows that albums tend to be frontloaded with singles and potential singles. but no one could ever accuse the guillemots of taking the conventional route, so it really shouldn't be surprising at all. i don't know about you all, but i'm going to just listen and enjoy it. so please enjoy yourself some guillemots, too...

→ guillemots: annie, let's not wait [single version] / video
→ guillemots: photograph ['annie' b-side]
→ guillemots: my chosen one [from the 'from the cliffs' e.p.]

SONG OF THE DAY (#227)

'out from under stars,' by vitesse

it doesn't get much cooler than the story of vitesse. hewson chen and joshua klein collaborated on a piece of music for their 'intro to music composition' class as the university of chicago. after forming their band, they took a page from the led zeppelin school of recording and recorded their debut in a dazzling 36 hours.

they released their most recent album, 'you win again, gravity!' [from which this song comes from] back in 2002, but with hewson's commitments to alsace lorraine, who knows if and when we'll get some more vitesse. i, for one, have all eight fingers and both thumbs crossed [it's a nasty visual, so don't think about it] that we do.

fair or unfair, it's hard not to mention the magnetic fieldswhen speaking or writing about vitesse. as soon as joshua klein opens his mouth he sounds like a slightly more upbeat stephin merritt [it's kind of like listening to paul banks and saying, 'hey, he sounds like ian curtis'] and the majority of the songs on 'you win again' straddle the between holiday-era magnetic fields and architecture & morality-era o.m.d. it's the classic lo-fi, synthpop d.i.y. aesthetic. and it's awesome! it's not hard to imagine a room full of rolands and moogs and about eight miles of cables and extension chords. now that's an awesome visual. think about that one for awhile.

the beauty of the album is that despite the blatantly retro sound, it doesn't sound fixed in any one particular time or place. synthpop's been called many things [most of them disparaging], but with endearing lyrics like, 'when you speak the constellations swirl' and undeniably melodic tunes, this is probably the first time it can be called transcendent.

��� vitesse: out under stars
��� vitesse: of all the things that you've done wrong
��� vitesse: just for a night
��� the magnetic fields: strange powers [from holiday]