Girls - Album

Official album art, courtesy of Wikipedia

If the Beach Boys were forming a band today, I feel like this is the music that they would play. Girls captured the timeless California sound that we have all grown to love, but they put a unique twist to it, creating something that not too many bands have done, or even tried.

The obvious creativity of the band's name and the album's title sets up what is to be expected from its sound. Now, don't take this sarcasm as a bad thing--in reality, this is the essence of music. Album is, under any consideration, a catalog of a life in love; it says all the things we want to say, feels all the things we want to feel, and wades through the same problems we all face every day.

Every time I hear something new, I try to come up with a short, yet descriptive way to tell people what I am listening too. This is often not too easy, because everyone's perception of music is different. Regardless of all of that, Album features what I like to call "love-gone-wrong" songs. Everyone can name an endless list of love songs, break-up songs, or any such list involving strong emotions, but what is often overlooked is that strange feeling of no longer having something great--that disillusioned feeling you get when something has come to its end, and you have to move on, into a new area of your life which is not necessarily where you want to be. Well, this is exactly the feeling that Girls manages to capture so well.

Artist Feature: Hannah Hickok & Maggie Kraus

So, this is the second Artist Feature. I don't know much about these ladies, except for the fact that I really enjoy their music. Their music is very mellow and has a simple sound.

I find that I listen to a lot of music in a sleep deprived state, usually early morning, after staying up all night, when I have to do something--I usually experience a fake sensation of being energized, yet everything I do seems to be affected. I don't know if this makes sense to any of you, but this is a very particular mood that I am often in--if you have felt it, you know what I am talking about. Anyway, this mood calls for a very specific sound, which these girls deliver on.

Benjamin Jameson Morey - "Chest Songs" (or) "The Giraffe in the Fishbowl"

Official album art, courtesy of Bandcamp

This album is the second installment of Benjamin Jameson Morey's Wallpaper Series, and my first official venture into his music. So far, I am sweetly impressed.

Benjamin's entire operation is all about a guy with a guitar, somewhere in a living room or a basement in upstate New York, scribbling away songs on piece of paper, and this is reflected in his music. The melodies are simple, sweet, and catch your ear--they remain ringing long after the song has finished--and the songs feature lyrics to match. Benjamin writes from the heart, and this album is a testament to that.

Artist Feature: Orla Gartland

Hi guys and gals. I've been super busy this week with work, and have been exhausted most days, so I didn't have time to prepare anything. I'm sorry about that.

But, as it turns out, I also like listening to artists that don't exactly put out albums. However, these are some of the people I love the most, and I feel that they need to be a part of my blog. Luckily, as you may have guesses, this is my blog, so I get to do whatever I want; and so comes the first Artist Feature.

Hopefully, in the future, I will include these in addition to the weekly albums, but for this week, I hope this will make due.

So without any further pointless talk, this is Orla Gartland.

Allison Weiss ...Was Right All Along

Official album art, courtesy of Bandcamp

If anyone were able to bottle angst, it would be Allison Weiss.

I discovered this fine artist on Twitter of all places. Who would have thought? A person that I follow asked her to hang out in New York, and that message alone exerted a supra-natural power over my fingers, causing them to type her name into YouTube. The rest is self-explanatory.

I've only had this album for a few days, and yet have listened to it over ten or fifteen times. I can't quite put my finger on how I feel about it, because every time I listen to it, I catch yet another detail, completely changing the feeling that I get when listening to the music.

Though the songs are not all that multi-layered, and caution mostly on the stripped-down side, the feelings evoked by those songs are nothing if not complex.

Allison Weiss writes songs about everyday life--those little events that happen to everyone every day. Even though she is "just a girl with a guitar," her songs will resonate with just about anyone who is lucky enough to hear them. Often times, her songs even take on a personality of their own. They hold strong feeling--usually sadness or anger--and yet put on a happy front for the passers-by.

The Ribbons - Surprise Attacks

Official album art, courtesy of Google Image Search

I first discovered this band on Daytrotter, a site that has done both good and bad for me. At first, I was not very impressed, as only one of the songs on Daytrotter really caught my ears. However, after listening to that one song over and over and over, I decided to give the album a try. They have two albums out at the moment, and since I could not find absolutely anything about the band online, I decided to buy Surprise Attacks at random. I think I made the right choice.

When I heard the CD, I found that their sound is completely different from the acoustic tracks available on Daytrotter. And all I have to say is "Holy crap!"

This band, and this album in particular, has a very unique sound that I have come to describe as muffled rock nostalgia, with a particular jazzy twist to some of the songs. It is truly something unique, yet so familiar and dear.

As I pressed "play" sitting in a dimly lit room with a giant pair of headphones on, grainy black and white images of a girl gently spinning in a snow-covered city park, her frizzy hair twirling in the breeze she creates, immediately started going through my head. I was immediately thrust back into my childhood, walking around town, mittens on, snapping pictures of everything on my five-pound Russian SLR. The smells of the photo chemicals came back, as I had hand developed terrible quality images in the attic while listening to badly-recorded garage music.

Rarely does music create such a psychedelically nostalgic feeling for me, and I have yet to discover where The Ribbons get the magic to do so. I can officially say that this album has become my new Christmas soundtrack, replacing the overplayed Jingle Bells and O Holy Night. For me, this gives me that true warm holiday feeling.

Official Site: ribbonsnyc.com