Tag Archives: indie music

Death Cab for Cutie #MusicMonday Artists You Must Hear Week 1

Posted on January 4, 2010 at sometime around 11:45 pm

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I’ve decided that I am going to attempt to recommend one indie-ish artist (which I’m defining as not overly well known rather than not being signed to a major label) every single Monday.  In the twitter world (a world unto itself), there is a popular hashtag known as #MusicMonday, and since I’m a fan of sharing my love of music, I will be using Monday’s as the day I post these recommendations. This is also conveniently my day off from work each week.

With this week’s first recommendation, we start with Death Cab for Cutie. DCFC are a Grammy-nominated, alternative group, so they are pretty well known at this point, but their gentle, melodic sounds are still unknown to many.  Death Cab’s frontman, Ben Gibbard, is one of the greatest songwriters of our time.  His creative take on love and emotional poetics combined with a creative rock sound makes for a good time on the ears.  Rolling Stone reviewed their album Transatlanticism and accurately assessed the songs as “melodic” and “melancholy” and “about feeling both smart and confused, hopelessly romantic but wary of love.”  While describing the reasons for writing music, Gibbard said, “because life is very short, because there’s only a brief period of time to really connect with people…it’s important to recognize that.”  Gibbard songs help us explore love, and what better thing could there be to explore?

Enjoy.

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Below is their song “Little Bribes”.  The video was made by a fan (and is actually my favorite video of the ones shown below).

Death Cab for Cutie – Little Bribes from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

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“I Will Possess Your Heart” – Death Cab’s most famous single nominated for “Best Alternative Song”. This has a long instrumental introduction, but make sure you make it to the lyrics at the 4:41 mark.

Best lyric: “How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me…”

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The song to ring the New Year with:

“There’d be no distance that could hold us back.”

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Happy New Year. Here’s to lots of great music this upcoming year.

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Train Music

Posted on September 30, 2009 at sometime around 7:49 pm

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The mix below contains all songs with the word “Train” for your listening pleasure.  It is an eclectic flavor of music, with artists sharing their interpretation of the word train.

Song List:

1. “Train Song” by Feist and Ben Gibbard (indie gentle rock)

2. “First Train Home” by Imogen Heap (indie female singer-songwriter)

3. “Crash This Train” by Joshua James (singer-songwriter)

4. “Trainwreck” by Mat Kearney (acoustic guitar driven hip-hop)

5. “Stop This Train” by John Mayer (singer-songwriter)

6. “Penny On The Train Track” by Ben Kweller (singer-songwriter)

7. “Night Train” by Amos Lee (indie rock)

8. “Rock ‘N Roll Train” by AC/DC (old school rock)

9. “Train” by 3 Doors Down (modern rock)

10. “Ghost Train” by Counting Crows (soft rock)

11. “Night Train” by Oscar Peterson (jazz)

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Tirzah Lemmens Releases New EP and Music Video!

Posted on June 25, 2009 at sometime around 2:21 pm

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Influences/Sounds Like: Colbie Caillat, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, Fiona Apple, Sixpence None the Richer, Aimee Mann, Regina Spektor, Over the Rhine, Adele.

Siggy’s Rating: 7-stars17/7 stars!

I don’t know where to even start in reviewing a talent like Tirzah.  Her pop/folk style is so contagious to listen to, but that voice…that voice of hers is just unbelievable.  Her lyrics on life and love give listeners something to identify with. From the creative love ballad in “Strawberry Hope”, (“’cause in your eyes I know that we’re gonna make it, make it through somehow”) to the challenge to her love in her first single “Flight” (“Now I have to say there’s things in the way of me letting go, but you, you take me by the hand, help me understand…I am waiting for you to be my flight”), Tirzah brings melodies that always leave us humming throughout the rest of our day.  Of course, every first EP from an artist needs to have a good break up song and “Over” gives us just that (“You traded what you had for ease, no more responsibility…but I know you couldn’t care less, cause you won’t even clean up your mess, and I just need you to know, that I’m completely letting you go. This thing is over.”).  [Note to humans: never date an artist or autobiographical writer or you will find yourself published in places you never wanted].

I personally helped engineer some of the songs and am Tirzah’s manager, so of course I am going to be bias and think everything she touches is gold.  If you are looking to get her music, click on the icons below.  You can also go to NoiseTrade for a limited time and “Pay What You Want”.  That’s right! You can pay whatever you would like for the EP or (even better) you can get the EP for free!  All you have to do is click on the widget below and tell 5 of your friends about Tirzah.  This way she can continue to let more and more people hear her music, which is Tirzah’s goal.  Of course, a little money thrown her way couldn’t hurt a starving artist… :)

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Purchase on iTunes

 

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Visit Tirzah’s Myspace

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Indie-Greatness

Posted on March 17, 2009 at sometime around 1:39 pm

Independent music is unheard by so many.  It’s hard to know what is good out there in the indie scene, so I’ve done the hard work for you (well…some).  I’ve posted below a mix and short review-type writing on each song for your listening pleasure.  Click the play button in the player above to stream and/or you can download the individual .mp3′s at the end of this post.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!

“Save Me” by Aimee Mann

Inspired by the film, Magnolia, “Save Me” cries out from the depths of every one of our hearts.  “But can you save me, from the ranks of the freaks, who suspect they could never love anyone?”  Magnolia is a provocative but necessary film that pushes us all to love those around us, despite how different we really are from each other.  Aimee’s theme track for this film is perfect.

“There is So Much More” by Brett Dennen

“I wonder how so many can be in so much pain,
While others dont seem to feel a thing
Then I curse my whiteness,
and I get so damn depressed,
In a world with suffering,
Why should I be so blessed?” Read More »

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