Monday, June 25, 2012

Wham Bam Shazam! (#29)

alright, so this playlist is coming in a day late with a recycled idea. in my defense, i had already begun building my playlist when jess posted her list of what she's been listening to... which happened to include some shazamed tunes. well this is a playlist of complete shazam goodness. i first heard these tunes on the radio & used the handy little app to figure out what song i was listening to & who was performing it (save one tune which i discovered via daytrotter.com). anyway, i hope these songs strike your interest like they did mine!

Listen to Danny's playlist!
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1. Dougou Badia by Amadou & Mariam feat. Santigold - COME ON!


2. Up, Up, Up by Givers - this song makes me want to do the raise the roof gesture during the "up, up, up" part. give it a try. you won't be disappointed.


3. A Candle's Fire by Beirut - these fellas sound so distinguished. shall we waltz?


4. This Head I Hold by Electric Guest - UHN! this is a toe tapping booty shaker. kinda has a tightrope j.monae vibe to it. i keep waiting for big boi to drop it!


5. Origins by Tennis - COME ON!


6. The Only Place by Best Coast - i wonder where this band lives & whether or not they enjoy living there.... hmmmmm. do they ever have fun? honestly though, i think this song owns atmosphere's "Say Shhh" song... the midwest needs a new anthem in my humble opinion.


7. The Look by Metronomy - for some reason this tune has a david bowie vibe for me... in my mind i keep imagining my friend joey cavalier dressed up as him, dancing strangely to this song. close your eyes & imagine him snapping along with me.


8. God From The Machine by Santigold - Santigold making her second appearance in this playlist. she is rocking my world & rapidly climbing my favorite artists list.


9. Generals by The Mynabirds - love when the beat changes in the chorus.


10. Rise To The Sun by Alabama Shakes - danny likey.


11. Dogpile by The Fling - this is the one i found on daytrotter. just randomly decided to check them out & i'm SO GLAD i did! their EP is quite good! and by quite i mean askjdfhoiquwhtawtaweoy4wotyvaoiurtyoavw4ytouavwet9my329yo9q4ytmouavygouachwou3ry3ouwrouihaewtmiouahvweugvhacew!!!


12. Otherside by Delta Spirit - i'm really diggin' this song. just gonna be honest & let you once again into my strange brain: for this one i imagine elton john as a chipmunk. just go with it.


13. Ho Hey by The Lumineers - this one's been getting a ton of play recently & i'm sure folks will be sick of it soon if they're not already... but i love it. and i'm gonna go ahead and dedicate this one to my beautiful girlfriend :)


till next time!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day (#28)

hey folks! since it's father's day season, i thought it would be appropriate to ask my old man to give us a father's day playlist. so here it is... give it up for my pops, dave churchill!

First off, let me say thanks to all the S.O.S bloggers who have expanded my musical tastes. We tend to get stuck in the generation we grow up in when it comes to style, fashion, thinking and music. As a child of the 70's this was especially true for me on the music end of things. I grew up on classic rock, Motown and, unfortunately to some extent, disco. Joey, Danny and my wife Terri have for the most part pushed me into listening to some new stuff. At first I was very resistant. How could I forsake my classic rock roots? What would my friends say? My co-workers? My generation?

Well, I gave it a shot, and boy am I ever glad I did! I love this new stuff! I drive truck for UPS and have a lot of time to listen to the radio. So I went and invested in satellite radio. Most of the time I'm listening to an alt-rock station which is where I discovered most of the stuff on my playlist here. And you know what else? Now when I do listen to my classic rock stuff it's not quite as stale. It's fresh and it still sounds good. Classic rock will always be my musical base that I'm jumping off of, but I gotta say you kid's are really putting out some kickin' tunes.

So without further ado, here's some of the music that's been keeping me truckin' down the road. I only wish I could've put more on here. There's a lot of really good music out there....

Listen to Dave's playlist!
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1) Little Black Submarines:  The Black Keys - This Led Zeppelin-esque tune really had me the first time I heard it. This is one band I've been listening to a few years now. A dispatcher at work burned three CD's for me to listen to and I was hooked. I really like these guys and if anybody has an extra ticket for when they're in town later this summer give me call.

2) Crystal Vases:  The Last Royals -
I'll be honest. This is the only song I've ever heard these guys do, so for all I know they're one hit wonders, but if any of their other stuff is as good as this little number, count me in. I heard a little blurb on the radio where they were discussing how they made this song. If you listen at the beginning, somebody's playing a ukelele which they had pulled out of a dumpster somewhere. They decided to restring it and feature it in a song to show that you can bring something back from the trash heap to being very useful and productive, yes even beautiful. I love that they did that....

3) Lazy Eye:  Silversun Pickups - These L.A.-based rockers have a little bit of the Smashing Pumpkins sound to them. Maybe I need to go back and give the 'pumpkins another shot because I was never a big fan of theirs but everything I'm hearing from these guys is pretty good. Lazy Eye is the first song I ever heard them do and it remains a fav.

4) April Fool:  Manchester Orchestra -
A few years ago I heard the two Joeys (Churchill and Cavalier) gushing over some band called Manchester Orchestra and all I heard was "blah, blah, blah...".  Then earlier this year I'm rolling down the road listening to my alt-rock station and this song comes on. Wow! I was blown away at how GOOD these guys are! To me, they hit ya right in the gut with some classic, hard rock, guitar riffs coupled with great vocals. If I could get NDY (my band) to do this song, I could die and go to heaven. This whole album, Simple Math, is A+ in my book. Plus, Danny totally sounds like Andy Hull.  How could I not like these guys?

5) Charlie Brown: Coldplay - Off their latest release, this is one of my favorites. The whole CD is good. Coldplay will go down as one of the greatest bands of all time. I know some of you may argue with this, but you should really respect your elders.

6)  Trojans:  Atlas Genius - This song grabbed my attention the first time I heard it and within 6 months it was No. 1 on the Alt-Nation top 18 weekly countdown. It stayed there for quite a while. After you hear this song I think you'll know why...

7)  Strange Attractor:  Animal Kingdom - This is a recent addition to my playlist. "The light in your eyes, well, it's pulling me in." I love that line. It reminds me of my wife. 'Nuf said.

8) Jump Into The Fog: The Wombats - I love the grungy keyboards on this number.

9) Reunion: M83 - I loved "Midnight City" and this song was an amazing follow-up tune.

10) Easy Way Out: Gotye - Thank you Danny...

11) Get Burned: Sleeper Agent - This song and "Get it Daddy" are the only two songs that I've heard from this group so far. Loved them both.

12) Cough Syrup: Young the Giant - This song also rode along the top of the Alt Nation top 18 for a number of weeks. It is a unique blend of movement, vocals and acoustic guitar. If I had a top ten for last year this one would be close to the top. "A dark world aches for a splash of the sun." Love it.

13) Allies: Mutemath -
I saw these guys in concert a while back and got a whole lot drunker than I intended. I guess I was so wrapped up in the music that I lost count of the drinks I was pouring down my throat. I'm very grateful that I can remember the concert. That drummer must have made a deal with the devil. He can do things that shouldn't be humanly possible. I love Mutemath. One of my favorite bands. Thanks for the tickets Danny. Best Christmas gift ever!

14) Your Touch: The Black Keys - Did I mention that I like this band?

Thanks for putting up with the old guy. I promise I'm not going through a mid-life crisis, but your music gave this baby-boomer a lot of good miles driving for Big Brown all night long. Thinking about this song list made my father's day weekend a little more funkified.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Something Borrowed, Something New (#27)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. A lot of bands these days are making big bucks off of music that sounds like it's more out of their parents era then their own. This week at Sound of Souls we'll take a gander at some newer tunes that would've fit right in 30-50 years ago. Your comprehensive retro music smorgasbord awaits!

Listen to Joey's Playlist here!

Staying In Love by Raphael Saadiq - I fell in love with this song instantly and staying in love with it was not tricky. Mr Saadiq sounds like he's rocking the crap out of Berry Gordy's Motown records. Goodness gracious, this song is delicious!

Junk Of The Heart (Happy) by The Kooks - Hey! It's the British Invasion all over again! I can just imagine seeing these guys on a grainy, black and white TV decked out in super uptight suits, playing to hoards of screaming girls. They even have a British Invasiony band name!

Don't Gotta Work It Out by Fitz and The Tantrums - A lot of the bands on this list just kinda dabble with a song here or there that has a certain "throw back" feel to it, while the rest of their music is more progressive and modern. Fitz, however, kicks it old school exclusively. This is a unique and bold band (no guitars) that feels like it stepped right out of a time machine.

You Ain't Alone by Alabama Shakes - Holy crap! One of my favorite new songs from one of my favorite new bands! Brittany Howard slathers the vocals on this song like one would generously apply barbecue sauce to a plump rack of ribs. Janice Joplin and Joe Cocker would be proud...

Your Magic Is Working by Of Montreal - Another tune with a total 60's vibe. The wavey vocals, distinctly 60's-ish guitar, and the trippy organ are quite the combo. Perfect for some nice sunny weather!

Are You Gonna Waste My Time by Zues - I'm picking up hints of Led Zepplin here..... Mmmmm yes, that's good. They could throw this song on KQRS tonight and the bonfire wouldn't skip a beat. Pass me a PBR!

Walk At Night by Cults - You can tell this band cut their teeth on Garage Pop and 60's girl power. Cults songs have a dreamy, cinematic vibe to them as they doo wop and shoo wop along. It'll be fun to see how this band evolves.

It's Working by MGMT - Hey, What'ya know! MGMT made a freaky song about doing drugs. Welcome to your psychedelic beach party! I poke fun at MGMT because of how far off the deep end they have gone, but this song actually is really good.

Holdin On To Black Metal by My Morning Jacket - Here we have the ever diverse MMJ delving into some hazy, psychedelic glam rock. I'm picturing James Bond sipping on a Martini (shaken, not stirred), or Austin Powers hitting on a shaggadelic Minx. Yeeeah baby!

Mykonos by Fleet Foxes - These guys would've slayed the 500,000 concert goers that attended Woodstock in the summer of 1969. Crosby Stills and Nash, America, and Simon and Garfunkel all rear their heads from time to time when listening to these modern day folk giants.

Tomato In The Rain by Kaiser Chiefs - You say tomato, Kaiser Chiefs say to-mah-to. They also make music with a serious Eric Clapton or Doors vibe.

Pull My Heart Away by Jack Penate - This was one of my favorite songs from a couple of years back. I guess you could say it sounds like it's from the 80's but it's really just on this list because Jacks voice sounds almost exactly like Robert Smiths of The Cure.

North Side Gal by JD McPherson - Holy Oldies! I swear to you, this song isn't even two years old. Little Richard and Fats Domino give it two thumbs up!

Wake Up Alone by Amy Winehouse - Unfortunately, we lost another one to the infamous "27 Club". It's sad that she had to fight her demons on such a public platform and at such a young age. During her much too short music career she blessed us with gems like this and many others. This song might be my favorite of hers.

The Last Prom On Earth by Gayngs, and Beth/Rest by Bon Iver - Pretty much everything on the radio these days seems like it is a cheap knock off of 80's pop music but these last two songs take a little different approach to the 80's craze. Gayngs goes totally cheesy and schmaltzy, while Justin Vernon channels his inner Mike and The Mechanics. Yes please!!!

I love it when bands get creative and push the envelope, but there is something to be said about tipping your cap to those who came before you.  These acts have been inspired by the all time greats and they honor them with the music they make.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

What Jess is listening to.. (twenty-sixsies)

This is what I'm listening to currently - want to listen with?
It's a collection of stuff I've found while snooping through Songkick.com, Grooveshark suggestions, Jagjaguwar and NinjaTune labels, and Shazamming while driving.  Don't tell anyone about that last part.

Snoop with me!
Any new finds I should add to my list??

Listen to Jessica's playlist!
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1.  Poison Cup by M. Ward
I might be developing a crush which makes perfect sense because this dude's in a band with my girl crush, Zooey D.  Also, these lyrics are perfect.

She said "if love,
If love is a poison cup
Then drink it up"

'Cause a sip
,A sip
Or a spoonful won't do
Won't do nothing for you
Except mess you up"

And I hope,
I hope
Hope you know what this means
I'm gonna give you everything


2.  Horses by High Highs
I shazammed this while Sunday driving through sunny Minneapolis.

3.  Before the Sun by French Quarter
Random Grooveshark sifting.  I have no idea who this guy is, do you?

4.   Bendable Poseable by Hot Chip
Shazamming at a red light on the way to work, uncontrollable car dancing while holding my phone up to the speakers.  If you happened to be parked next to me, I hope it gave you a nice start to your day. 


5.  True Love Will Find You in the End by Daniel Johnston
Radio K Shazam, on the way to the Saint Paul Farmers Market.  After hearing this song, I think I was suddenly expecting to fall in love and kept ducking behind plants and fruit tables.  Because.. that's how you fall in love, right?


6.  I'll See You Later I Guess by Papercuts
Grooveshark told me I would like this band.
I think it was when I was listening to Sharon Van Etten's new album, Tramp.


7.  Dark Parts by Perfume Genius
Shazammed on the way home from work.  This one made me tear up a little.

I will take the dark parts
Of your heart into my heart
8.  Into Giants by Patrick Watson
This guy's entire band is incredibly talented.  I saw them at the Cedar Cultural Center and they had me in the palm of their hands.  Also, Cat Martino opened for them - what a cutie!  I totally want to be her friend!!!  
See the video on the right for proof of this absolute cuteness.

9.  By Your Side by Beachwood Sparks
Scrolling through The Current's daily playlist - that thing is a gold mine.

10.  To Build a Home by Cinematic Orchestra
A little google trail took me from Patrick Watson to Cinematic Orchestra to the Record Label Ninja Tune - anyone familiar with any of the other stuff from this label?  I'm loving CO so far.

Also, apparently everyone already knew about Cinematic Orchestra.
Come on, people, share the love!  :)

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Have an absolutely lovely day.  
There's only gonna be one just like this one.




"By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me"