“APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
-excerpt from “The Wasteland,” T.S. Eliot
A little “uplifting” shout-out to Spring AND Poetry Month.
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Coconut Records / West Coast
Turning lemon into lemonade--rain into sugar water.
More Info from Last.FM
Coconut Records is an indie pop solo project from Los Angeles, California featuring actor Jason Schwartzman. Formed in 2006, his debut album, Nighttiming, was released on Young Baby Records in 2007. The album had musical contributions from members of Incubus, as well as guest appearances by actress Zooey Deschanel from the band She & Him, and actress Kirsten Dunst. Coconut Records sophomore release, Davy, was released in January 2009 and like Nighttiming featured musical contributions from Zooey Deschanel. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Slightly Stoopid / Collie Man
Sorry to some folks out there--some reggae undertones, but mostly just a little melodic gem.
More Info from Last.FM
While it’s a rare commodity for a band to tour as consistently as Slightly Stoopid, the group’s diligent commitment to live music provides some insight into their loyal fan base and unique creative metamorphosis throughout their 17-year existence. Though it's been a couple of years since the release of their last studio album, Top Of The World (August 14, 2012), the Ocean Beach, California-based group—led by co-founders and multi-instrumentalists Read more on Last.fm more...
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Fruit Bats / When U Love Somebody
What can I say but "good pop song." Happiness-maker.
More Info from Last.FM
Fruit Bats is an American rock band formed in 1997 in Chicago, Illinois. The group has had many personnel changes but revolves around songwriter Eric D. Johnson. Their albums include Echolocation (2001), Mouthfuls (2003), Spelled in Bones (2005), The Ruminant Band (2009), Tripper (2011), and Absolute Loser (2016). In 2009 Johnson also joined The Shins. Originally part of short-lived Chicago group I Rowboat, Johnson and two of his fellow Rowboat members, guitarist Dan Strack and drummer Brian Belval, created Fruit Bats as a side-project. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Sam Cooke / A Change is Gonna Come
A much-covered song (Aretha's cover almost made it in), but the original just does the job best. Been listening to Sam Cooke a lot lately.
More Info from Last.FM
Samuel Cooke (born January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi; died December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles, California) was a popular and influential American gospel, R&B, soul and pop singer-songwriter recognized as one of the true founders of soul music. Often referred to as The King of Soul, Cooke had 29 Top 40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1964 including major hits You Send Me, A Change Is Gonna Come, Chain Gang and Wonderful World. Cooke was also Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Kooks / She Moves In Her Own Way
If you like this one, check out "Tick of Time."
More Info from Last.FM
British indie rock band - formed in Brighton, England, United Kingdom in 2004. The band currently consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals, guitar), Hugh Harris (guitar), and Alexis Nunez (drums). They have released five studio albums; their 2006 debut Inside In/Inside Out peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and their 2008 follow up Konk reached number one. The Junk Of The Heart (Happy) Songfacts reports that Pritchard found himself writing lyrics Read more on Last.fm more...
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Keren Ann / Lay Your Head Down
A little long, but so damn pretty.
More Info from Last.FM
Keren Ann (b. 1974) is a singer/songwriter with dual Dutch-Israeli citizenship. She plays guitar, piano, and clarinet, and engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements. She is of Russian-Jewish descent on her father's side and Javanese-Dutch on her mother's. Born Keren Ann Zeidel in Caesarea, Israel on 10th March 1974, she lived in the Netherlands and Israel until the age of eleven, when her family moved to France. Her first group, KAB (for Keren Ann Band), lasted three years. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Rogue Wave / Lake Michigan
I love all the places and depths to which this song goes.
More Info from Last.FM
Rogue Wave is an alternative rock band from Oakland, California, formed in 2002. They are headed by Zach Schwartz (aka Zach Rogue), who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust. Their first album was Out of the Shadow which was written, recorded and produced entirely by Zach Rogue (except the drums) - released privately in 2003 and finally re-released in 2004 on Subpop. In the autumn of 2004 they went on a national tour of the US, which lasted two years. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Jack Peñate / Have I Been A Fool
The Brits and Pop. Case closed.
More Info from Last.FM
Born 1984, Jack Peñate is a singer/songwriter from Blackheath, South London. He is the grandson of Mervyn Peake, author and illustrator of The Gormenghast Trilogy. Along with the likes of Lily Allen, Jamie T, Kate Nash, Adele, etc, he is often included in the "Estuary English" pack of UK musicians - the 2006/2007 UK trend of young musicians singing without consciously altering their spoken English accent. (Estuary English being the accent commonly found around the south east of England Read more on Last.fm more...
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Sara Bareilles / Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay
Risky, I know. She's made it into a few mixes now, I think. AND it's one of the best songs in its original self. BUT...this cover made me experience the song in a different, almost equally compelling way. The lyrics became much more desperate to me here.
More Info from Last.FM
Sara Beth Bareilles (born December 7, 1979) is a Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter, pianist, Broadway composer, actress, and TV producer and writer. Bareilles was born and raised in Eureka, California, United States. After graduating from UCLA in 2002, Bareilles performed at local bars and clubs. She issued two demos of mostly live tracks in 2003: The First One in April and The Summer Sessions in October. In January 2004, Bareilles released her first studio album, Careful Confessions. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Amy Millan / Ruby
I love this entire album. It was between this and "He Brings out the Whiskey in Me."
More Info from Last.FM
Amy Millan is a Canadian indie rock singer and guitarist, recording and performing with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene. Her debut solo album, Honey From The Tombs, was released by Arts & Crafts on May 30, 2006. In interviews Amy has stated that the songs on Honey from the Tombs were written over a period of years, but are only now being released. Millan released her sophomore album, Masters of the Burial, on September 8, 2009. The album is produced by Martin Kinack and musicians appearing include Evan Cranley Read more on Last.fm more...
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Amos Lee / Night Train
Love him too.
More Info from Last.FM
Amos Lee (born 1978 as Ryan Anthony Massaro) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. His self-titled debut album is full of folk and soul, with a jazz twist. The Flower Songfacts state that his fourth album, Mission Bell, which was released on January 25, 2011 debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 40,000 copies sold in its first week; these sales were the lowest for a #1 debut in the Nielsen SoundScan era. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Adele / That's It, I Quit
It's my mix's "couplet" of kinds: Sam Cooke, and then a Sam Cooke cover.
More Info from Last.FM
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born 5 May 1988), is a multiple Grammy Award-Winning English singer-songwriter from Enfield, North London. Her debut album, 19, was released in January 2008 and entered the UK album chart at #1. The album has since received four-times Platinum certification in the UK and has sold 5,500,000 copies worldwide. The album included the hugely popular song Chasing Pavements. 19 earned Adele two Grammy Awards in February 2009 for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Wars of 1812 / Forget You Madly
Upbeat and Searing. Good break-up song, if anyone needs one.
More Info from Last.FM
For the most part, The Wars of 1812 were born from nothing more than five days spent together in a basement studio. In the summer of 2006, four friends united in De Pere, WI to make a record. The group had played and recorded together in various pairings throughout the years, but never together. Over the course of five days, the quartet learned, rehearsed, recorded, and fashioned together a cohesive assemblage of nine songs, which would come to be known collectively as Status Quo Ante Bellum - translating to "as it was before the war. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Temper Trap / Sweet Disposition
I'm sure you've all heard this one. But it sustains the test of replay.
More Info from Last.FM
The Temper Trap is an indie rock band which formed in 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. Now based in London, the band consists of Dougy Mandagi (vocals, guitar), Jonathon Aherne (bass), Toby Dundas (drums) and Joseph Greer (keyboards, guitar). In October 2013, an official statement confirmed that lead guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto parted ways with the band The Temper Trap's debut album, Conditions, was released in 2009 and contains the singles Sweet Disposition, Fader, Love Lost and Science of Fear. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Dri / Don't Wait
She played in The Anniversary with my good friend, then went out on her own (if you want any of the juicy details, I have the scoop...). This whole album should just come with the ocean. (Great beach songs.)
More Info from Last.FM
(For the Hardcore / Crossover band see D.R.I.) Adrianne Verhoeven has spent her music career lending her vocal and keyboard chops to bands like The Anniversary, Art In Manila, Fourth Of July, and Extra Classic but Dri, as she is known to her friends, has spent her twenties seeing the world, falling in and out of love, getting lost in the hazy days and buzzed nights of Lawrence, Kansas, and dreaming all the while of stepping out and rocking the mic on her own. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Lykke Li / Get Some
Here begins my "Seduction Couplet." Get Some. The Twist. I fell in love with the song in tandem with the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TTPGAy5H_E
More Info from Last.FM
Lykke Li (born Li Lykke Timotej Svensson Zachrisson on 18 March 1986 in Ystad, Sweden) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her music often blends elements of pop, indie rock and electronic; various instruments can also be found in her songs, including violins, synthesizers, tambourines, trumpets, saxophones and cellos. Li possesses the vocal range of a soprano. Li was raised by artistic parents (her mother was a photographer, her father is a musician). Read more on Last.fm more...
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Frightened Rabbit / The Twist
The 'bad boy side' of Frightened Rabbit (compared to the 'sweet boy' song on Noah's first mix). Great either way.
More Info from Last.FM
Frightened Rabbit was an indie rock band which formed in 2003 in Glasgow, Scotland. The band consisted of Scott Hutchison, Billy Kennedy (guitar, keyboards), Grant Hutchison (drums, vocals), and Andy Monaghan (guitar, keyboards). The band has released five albums: "Sing the Greys" (2006), "The Midnight Organ Fight" (2008), "The Winter of Mixed Drinks" (2010), "Pedestrian Verse" (2013) and "Painting of a Panic Attack" (2016). Lead singer Scott Hutchison (b. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham / Ginger Snaps
The lyrics are so good! Word play, when done well, always wins me over.
More Info from Last.FM
Dean Wareham (born Michael Dean Wareham, August 1, 1963) is an American musician, who formed the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, before settling in New York City in 1977. Wareham attended high school at Dalton School in New York, and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a B.A. in Social Studies. He left Galaxie 500 in April, 1991 and founded the band Luna. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Cat Power / Living Proof
I've always loved Chan Marshall. My husband hates her (or finds her, rightfully so, "totally a downer"), except for this song. So, I compromised.
More Info from Last.FM
Cat Power is American singer-songwriter, musician, occasional actress, and model Charlyn Marie Marshall (also known as Chan, pronounced "Shawn") (born in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. on 21 January 1972). Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. After dropping out of high school, Marshall started performing under the name Cat Power, while in Atlanta, backed by musicians Glen Thrasher, Mark Moore, and others. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Brandi Carlile / Heaven
A whole new level of good covers. Making you love a song whose original you hate (but secretly may have liked in the 80's).
More Info from Last.FM
Brandi Carlile (b. June 1, 1981, in Ravensdale, Washington) is an American singer-songwriter, perhaps best known for her 2007 single "The Story". Carlile's music has been categorized in several genres, including pop, rock, alternative country, and folk. She released her first album, 'Brandi Carlile', on July 12, 2005. In the beginning, Columbia Records signed Carlile in late 2004 on the strength of songs she'd been recording periodically at home. Read more on Last.fm more...
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John Prine & Iris Dement / In Spite of Ourselves
The "When Harry Met Sally" of duets. Except a tad dirtier, with a little more twang.
More Info from Last.FM
John Prine (born October 10, 1946 in Maywood, Illinois-died April 7, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee) was an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s. The son of William Prine and Verna Hamm, his grandfather had played guitar with Merle Travis and he started playing guitar himself at 14 years old. He was a postman for 5 years and spent a couple of years in the army before starting his musical career in the Chicago area. Read more on Last.fm more...
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