2008 - 6 Months of Music Goodness

I had to come back here and post my mix up, since this format is still better than tumblr for posting music lists and the like.
Going straight into the top 15 songs I've been loving this year so far (in no particular order other than the proper ebb and flow of a mix) -

1. MGMT - "Electric Feel"



Infectious and fun, my mood instantly improves when this song starts playing.

"all along the eastern shore
put your circuits in the sea
this is what the world is for
making electricity
you can feel it in your mind
oh you can do it all the time
plug it in and change the world
you are my electric girl"


2. People Press Play - "These Days"



Such a gem of an electronic/pop song, and the few times where I actually enjoy and prefer the female singer's voice. The lyrics are on the sad side but the melody balances it out perfectly. The music video with those cute kids is pretty adorable too.

"These days are moving fast ahead
And one more day like this
Could change everything that we
Ever thought would keep these days
We're always in and out of everything
It feels like someone is turning tricks on me
And we're losing our grip"


3. M83 - "Too Late"



I dig everything about this song: so moody, lovely, and romantic in that eternal pining sort of way. This band's new album Saturdays = Youth is ridiculously good and I could have picked about 4 other songs to easily go on this list. French bands are kicking ass this year.

"I look into your eyes
Diving into the ocean
I look into your eyes
Falling!

Like a wall of stars
We are ripe to fall

And if you are a ghost
I'll call your name again
And if you are a ghost
I'll call your name...

You, always."


4. Frightened Rabbit - "Floating in the Forth"



I'm normally skeptical when any new band is touted as immensely amazing and that they'll be storming the music scene. A lot don't live up to that praise (hello, Vampire Weekend and Voxtrot), but I give them a listening shot anyway, since I'm such a music-junkie. Critics are actually onto something with Frightened Rabbit's new album The Midnight Organ Fight. There are some pretty stellar tracks and this one was a standout for me. Yes, it's about suicide but it's never been sung about so prettily before. And it does get hopeful at the end, so get off my back.

"So you just stepped out
of the front of my house
and I'll never see you again.
I closed my eyes for a second
and when they opened
you weren't there."


5. Big Blue Ball - "Whole Thing"



You know how old artists rarely come out with new material that is as interesting or good as their hey-day's stuff? Peter Gabriel is immune to that, I'm convinced. His Big Blue Ball project album is just another stellar output. And maybe it's only me, but I loved the new song "Down to Earth" he did for WALL*E.

This album's story is actually pretty interesting:

“One week in the middle of summer this craziness exploded in our Real World Studios. We had this week of invited guests, people from all around the world, fed by music and a 24 hour café. It was a giant playpen, a bring your own studio party. There’d be a studio set up on the lawn, in the garage, in someone’s bedroom as well as the seven rooms we had available. We were curators of sorts of all this living mass. We had poets and songwriters there, people would come in and scribble things down, they’d hook up in the café. It was like a dating agency, then they’d disappear into the darkness and make noises - and we’d be there to record it.” - Peter Gabriel

Big Blue Ball is an album by multiple artists which grew from "recording weeks" at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in the early 1990s. In production for more than 15 years, "Big Blue Ball" is a project featuring several artists from all around the world working together. According to Gabriel, the initial recording was finished in three years during the early '90s, but "the tapes were left in a mess and it's taken this long to sort out." Producer Stephen Hague was finally called in to sort out the project.

I bought the album on iTunes and it's exactly what I expected and wanted.

"the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love is close as I can get"


6. Rogue Wave - "Missed"



Picked this song purely for the guitar.

"a snapshot of time
is just a memory of mine
I will file it in a vial
of denial
and cast away
so what’s next

I missed your love"


7. José González - "Down the Line"



A track I can't get out of my head. I don't know whether if it's the low quality version or the vocals that sells it for me but it's solid regardless.

"Come on over don’t be so caught up
It’s not about compromising."


8. Paddy Casey - "Fear"



This is maybe the first time a song spoke to my inner mom who hasn't emerged yet. If I had kids, this would be something of a theme as I raised them. Plus it's catchy as hell.

"Well I pray my child will live happy and long, Lord,
And I hope she never will sing this song"


9. Samamidon - "Saro"



Honestly, this guy is amazing. His folk music is the kind I could keep on repeat until forever and still feel like it's fresh and beautiful. Plus he single-handedly is responsible for getting me into loving Tears For Fears with his cover of "Head Over Heels". For that, I'm forever thankful.

"I wish I was a poet
Could write in find hand
Would write my love a letter
One she'd long understand
I'd send it by the water
Where the islands overflow
And I'd think of pretty Saro wherever I go"


10. Azure Ray - "Trees Keep Growing"



Good lord, this song is so pretty and sad. I forgot how good Azure Ray was until I heard this song a few months ago.

"It's funny how you can forget
There's a world outside yourself
Where the trees keep growing
And the cars keep moving
Without you there
And it's funny how you can forget
There's a world outside yourself
Where the one who loves you keeps on living
Without you there"


11. Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin - "Some Constellation"



Pop song 101 - Just do whatever SLYBY does.

"I'm tired of standing in the light
outside her window
Fro her I would row to the ends
of my imagination."

12. Tears For Fears - "Woman In Chains"



The 80s vibe to it is unavoidable but this song is now an Andrea classic. It builds to something very cool and it's pretty much as political as I'm going to get with my music.

"Well I feel deep in your heart there are wounds time can't heal
And I feel somebody somewhere is trying to breathe
Well you know what I mean
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains"


13. Fleet Foxes - "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song"



Cool new band that I've been into this year. Kudos to Fleet Foxes for making harmonic folk music so killer.

"Through the forest
Down to your grave
Where the birds wait
And the tall grasses wave
They do not
know you anymore"

14. Electric President - "Ether"



I love seeing Ben Cooper continuing with this group. The lyrics are pretty morbid but it's nothing new with Cooper. The happy melody more than makes up for it.

"Then I fall asleep again
And by myself I'm wandering
A forest made of skeletons
Of people I once knew
And all their spines are perfectly aligned
Like cold power lines"


15. Cloud Cult - "Love You All"



The digitized voice is something new and cool from them, and the melody is the perfect farewell/send-off for all of life's events.

"I love my mother
I love my father
And when it's my time to go
I need you to know
I love you all"

That's my list, and so far this year of music is shaping up to be about 1000% better than last year. Can't wait for December!