Music Recs, the grab-bag edition

[icepixie]

Kirsty MacColl
A New England. Somehow, this is filed under "Essential Singer/Songwriter tracks" at iTunes, though it is pure eighties synthy New Wave.

Eddie from Ohio
They're a slightly folkier American Moxy Früvous, basically. I feel like I should like them more, but have trouble finding songs I really like by them. These are two exceptions, though.

Twenty Thousand Hearts
Sahara (Sorry, this one's just a clip; Grooveshark doesn't have it, and it's a pain in the butt to upload to them.)

Bear McCreary et. al.
Laura Runs is my favorite track off the S4 soundtrack. For the first two months I was teaching, I would listen to it on repeat as I drove to campus, because my way of psyching myself up to get in front of the class was to pretend I was Laura Roslin. The drumming is very confidence-boosting. I also love that it's an arrangement of the Roslin/Adama theme.

Patty Griffin
From the department of "Yet another song from this person I rec all the time," have Useless Desires, which I am a big fan of singing along to very loudly. It's sad and determined, and it just keeps growing in intensity. I love the rhyme in the chorus, too: "How the sky turns to fire / Against the telephone wire."

10,000 Maniacs
I imagine most of you have heard this song before, but for the two who haven't, take a listen to These Are Days, perhaps their biggest hit. I got into them because I loved Natalie Merchant's first album (I think it was one of the first I bought, back in the mid-nineties), and sort of wound up liking them even more. For a taste of their very early work, I'm partial to Can't Ignore the Train.

*

Bonus amusement: I am usually not an XKCD fan. However, I stumbled across the feed on my network today, and OMG, this is HILARIOUS.

Comments

[magsyb.livejournal.com]

Really like Twenty Thousand Hearts.. and the comic was cute. :)

[icepixie]

"Twenty Thousand Hearts" seems to be their most popular song. It's definitely my favorite.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

XKCD comics led to some great nerd bonding between my new colleague and me last afternoon. ;)

[icepixie]

:D

[alto2.livejournal.com]

OMG, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm pretty sure it's true:

I was listening to New England...before you were born.

::runs and hides and feels obnoxiously old::

Love the XKCD, but then I tend to love XKCD. Especially this one. (http://xkcd.com/451/) It's just so damn TRUE. ;)

[icepixie]

I was listening to New England...before you were born.

Take heart! It came out 1985. I was born in '84.

Especially this one. It's just so damn TRUE. ;)

Awwww. ;)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Take heart! It came out 1985. I was born in '84.

This? Really not all that helpful. Order of magnitude, and all that!

[asinpterodactyl.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I love Eddie From Ohio. I've seen them live twice.

How many of their songs have you heard? I can make specific recommendations, if you like.

[icepixie]

I've heard several from Looking Out the Fishbowl, and "If I Had a Boat" (the Lyle Lovett cover) appears incessantly on my Pandora stations. "Twenty Thousand Hearts" is by far my favorite, and I would gladly accept recommendations for more like it.

[asinpterodactyl.livejournal.com]

That was the first time I'd heard "Twenty Thousand Hearts", and you're right, it's excellent.

My first recommendation is "Minnesota 1945 (http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=minnesota%201945)", which I think you'll quite like. Good music, good lyrics.

You'd also probably like "Baltimore (http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=eddie%20from%20ohio%20baltimore%20this%20is%20me)" and "From Dacca" (http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=from%20dacca).

[icepixie]

Thanks for the recs. I can't believe I'm saying this, but...I think I prefer the guy singer's voice to the girl's. (This NEVER happens. I am IN SHOCK.) Of the three, I liked "Baltimore" the best, but none of them are as good as "Twenty Thousand Hearts," in my estimation.