I'm a big sucker for the heavy exhalation. When I first heard that weighty sigh of breath that hangs in the room to start this first new Ray LaMontagne song (from his upcoming Gossip In The Grain ), I smiled wide to myself. Once it cues up and that voice starts singing, I was texting gushing and effusive words to my friend Bodie who found it for the listenin'-- something to the effect of " !!!! o dear heavens how i love [...]
Happy August and what a great Friday it is! I've got some great news for you Ray fans. Let's start with the smaller news first and on we'll go to the bigger and better. 1. In case you don't know, Ray Lamontagne has announced the release of his new album, Gossip In The Grain , set to be released on October 14th from RCA records. Now we automatically know that it will knock our panties (or manties, for that matter) right off. But, he has also announced that [...]
Friday, June 13, 2008 The problem with posting songs in advance (even two of them) is that there is no way to be sure what any given day will hold and, therefore, whatever song(s) I chose in advance will almost always turn out to be wrong for the day. "Bouncing Off Clouds" fits our family's frantic Friday of travel. A day of rushing, waiting to rush, and rushing some more, through airports, on taxis, to resorts. Fast, fast, fast. And all of this fastness culminated in my travel purse [...]
Today I want to discuss about the simple-but-sweet 3 minute pop song. As a talking point, here's the DC-based Julie Ocean , with a track from their just-released Long Gone and Nearly There . #1 Song - Julie Ocean I have absolutely no problem believing that contemporary popular music is every bit as meaningful as classical music. Sure, the more people out there producing songs the more dreck you are going to get, but at its pinnacle, any form of music which inspires people, gets them dancing, or gives [...]
Normal Wednesday features take the week off to bring you this special report: Last year, Heather, Bruce and I gave you 30 Great Love Songs For Valentine's Day . This year... Heather's list of broken hearted songs: Give Judy My Notice - Ben Folds Untouchable Face - Ani DiFranco I Do - Jude Cardinal Song - The National Hard Way To Fall (live) - Ryan Adams Dry Your Eyes - [...]
J ust one set of great Christmas songs is not enough. And how could I not post Low's excellent "Just Like Christmas?" It is another of our faves over here. Go spike your egg nog. MP3 | Feist - Lo How A Rose Ere Blooming MP3 | Jason Gleason - Sleigh Bells And Wine MP3 | Leona Naess - Christmas [...]
This morning I hopped a plane to New York City for a long weekend visiting three of my best friends from the year I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. I am ridiculously excited. After all those months of spending ridiculous amounts of time together with these gals, seeing mind-boggling beauty and pushing our tenuous edges through hesitant Italian speaking, train rides all over Europe, lots of carbs and gelato and Michelangelo, and questionable Italian dance moves in sweaty clubs, we all went back to our respective lives across the country and the world. The four of us saw [...]
In honor of "Labor" day, here is a mix I made back in the fall of '05. The Duchess and I were talking a Lamaze class. Our teacher encourage us to make a mix of soothing music for the delivery. The Duchess wondered why we couldn't have a mix of up tempo songs. Songs to keep the energy up. To keep the breathing rhythmic. To keep her in a good mood. Instead of moody, slow songs that would only annoy her. So I made this batch of rocking songs. Of course, Duke Jr. was a [...]
.point of imagination./ Leona Naess - Lonely Boy /...
Sometime this year, I hope to see Leona Naess 's fourth studio album Thirteens released. She's been talking about it for about a year through her MySpace blogs and website, but still no specific release date. She has such an appealingly open and unique voice -- one of my favorite female artists to sing along with. In my pipe dreams, this is roughly the type of music I would envision myself making if I ever learned to play the guitar. For some reason, it always [...]
Leona Naess is a female singer-songwriter that hasn't gotten the breaks she deserves. Some of her songs have been used in soundtracks (the first track below was used in some ABC show that was like live action Nancy Drew many years ago which I don't remember the name of the show). She has a ton of talent. If I had to pigeonhole her, I would say she fits somewhere between Tori's spunk, Heather Nova's sass and Lisa Loeb's lovesongs. I Tried [...]
Well, today is offically Christmas Eve. And for this little slice of the internet that means that today marks the last day I will be posting Christmas music. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday, no matter what country you live in. In fact, I hope you're not reading this blog right now because you're too busy preparing for the festivities or you are actually celebrating them already. If you are reading this on Christmas Eve I appreciate that you chose to stop by for a little while, now go and have some fun with friends [...]
Well, it finally happened. I was finally subjected to my first live performance of the season of "Feliz Navidad," which ne'er fails to make me want to gouge my eardrums out with a knitting needle. I also was at a fancy office Christmas party on Friday night and the soul cover band kept throwing in trombone lines from Joy To The World and Sleigh Ride, etc etc etc. It brought to my attention the fact that this post is long overdue. I've got a pretty sizeable collection of " Christmas Music That Won't Drive [...]
Today marks one year (!) since I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS took its first tentative steps with an initial post, and I've been contentedly rolling along ever since, gathering steam as I go. I know that downloading music (and absorbing all that I have to say here) can sometimes be like drinking from a firehose, so I thought to compile you a 20-song mix of my absolutely favorite tracks that I have featured in the first year of this blog. Some of these tunes I posted up way at the beginning when I [...]
I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS
The Mountain Tempo
Audiography: Stop. Pause. Play.
Heartache with Hard Work
The Late Greats
Can You See the Sunset
Achtung Baby!
The World Forgot
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
How High Can You Hear? Test Your Hearing Now!
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
[MP3] Cosmo Jarvis – “Sunshine”
Taste And Try Before You Buy
