A Quote

I loved words. I love to sing them and speak them and even now, I must admit, I have fallen into the joy of writing them.— Anne Rice

Song of the Day (Wagon Wheel)

This is one of my top five favorite songs of all time.  Ever.  Not even exaggerating.  The Old Crow Medicine Show version is my favorite, but I’m pretty excited about this Mumford version too.  I don’t know why but when I hear this song, I feel like I’m home.

Hope you do too!

Mumford and Son.  So Good.

Song of the Day (Milo Greene)

NPR…ever true and faithful resource for musical treats and ear-nosh.  For me at least.  Today I saw a link to a list of songs the NPR interns feel were overlooked on all of the “Best of 2011″ or “This-is-going-to-be-popular-in-2012-so-hurry-up-and-listen-so-you-sound-like-you-know-what-you’re-talking-about”-lists, and I was pleased.  Very pleased.  Usually I go through the lists of songs and like one or two but these interns hit the bulls-eye as far as my interests go, particularly with this Deskless Concert Series they did with Milo Greene.  Now, I’ve been living out of the country for over a year so maybe I am just way behind the times here, but I had never heard of Milo Greene.  I am so excited about them.

So today I’m posting the whole Deskless Concert of Milo Greene.  Enjoy!

Song of the Day (O Come Emanuel)

Now, for those of you that know me, I’m not typically a fan of Christmas music.  I don’t know why, it’s not that I’m a Grinchy or anything, I just don’t like it.  It doesn’t fall under things I like listening to.  A lot of times Christmas music grows old by December 1st because department stores have already had it playing on repeat for three weeks, and there are so many terrible soft-jazz and pop-remake versions of Christmas songs.  I usually tolerate Bing Crisby or Ella Fitzgerald, and let’s all be honest with ourselves, the Charlie Brown Christmas album is the best one out there.  Other than that…meh.  

This year however, a friend showed me a Christmas song that The Civil Wars put out.  I love that it’s arranged just a little differently, and it’s in a style that I tend to like anyway.  So Merry Christmas everyone!  Hopefully you enjoy this song.  I do!

O Come Emanuel by The Civil Wars.

Song of the Day (Blues by Five)

This has been the most wet, rainy, cold, miserable night/morning this year.  It has rained hard all night, wind blowing through my window, and this morning I awoke to a frozen nose, and the two lakes outside have basically become one.  It’s so cold, I’m wearing costco-brand uggs that I found in a dumpster.  It’s that bad.

Luckily there is one thing that makes this weather seem not so bad, and that is jazz music.  The good classic stuff though, none of that stressful modal shenanigans (sorry modal jazz fans).

John Coltrane and Miles Davis.          photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14038629@N06/2086109654

This morning I’ve been listening to Miles Davis to get through the rain, and it’s working pretty well, so naturally I would make MD song of the day.

Here’s “Blues by Five” from the Miles Davis Quintet’s album, Cookin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet.  Did I mention it was the Miles Davis Quintet?  Quintet.

Song of the Day (Tighten Up)

This is one of my favorite Black Keys songs, but I had never seen the video…and it is a shame I had to wait until now to see it.  It’s so funny!  I think the most genius part is the guy pulling a donut out of his pocket…then his kids pulling a mini donut out of his pocket.  I love it!

This is also in honor of the new Black Keys album, El Camino, coming out in December – yay!!  So soon!

Enjoy “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys.

Song of the Day (Gracias a la Vida)

This song will forever remind me of Lindy.  He’ll randomly break into this song, as well as a few select others, and it always forces me to think about the two lines he repeats most often…

Gracias a la vida

que me ha dado tanto…

Thanks to the life, that has given me so much.

He’ll start singing this when we are all together sharing a meal, or when we have all the host families here and everyone is smiling and laughing…

…he’ll also sing it in the middle of solving a torta, or moments after we’ve just finished having to deal with a stressful situation.

For the last year-and-a-half, Lindy’s motto has been “Life is Good.”  It’s almost become a mantra for me, and more often than I not I catch myself singing “Gracias a la vida,” or saying “life is good” in my head when life gets most stressful around here.  I always feel a hundred times better afterword.

So, today has been one of my lowest this semester.  I can’t say specifically why, just that I haven’t felt this tired and disconnected from myself in a while.  But, the whole time I’ve had “gracias a la vida” stuck in my head and it’s gotten me through.

Thanks Lindy :)

“Gracias a La Vida” sung by Mercedes Sosa, written by Violeta Parra- this is one of the most beautiful songs you will hear in your life, if you ask me.

Song of the Day (Civilian + Hot as Day)

I’m going out of town for a few days, so here are TWO whole songs of the day to hold you over for the weekend!  I found them both on “Haus Konzerte – Munich’s Finest Live Sessions.”  Pretty good if you ask me.  Also, Wye Oak is fantastic.  Enjoy.

Civilian by Wye Oak

Hot as Day by Wye Oak

Song of the Day (Charles Darwin’s Corn Crop Blues)

This is so beautiful.  And glorious.

Charles Darwin’s Corn Crop Blues by Terrible Buttons.

(Sorry, I can’t actually embed the link onto this page…you’ll have to go to the link!)

Photo by kristen Black photography. So good.

Song of the Day (Childish Gambino)

Song of the Day is Album of the Day today!  (Get it?)

I was listening to the new Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) EP today, and I loved it.  I will say this:  some of the lines made me go, “hey that’s rude.”  But then there were others that made me go, “Oooooooooooooooh shit,” in a good way.  I will also say that I probably have a celebrity crush on Donald Glover, and I haven’t had a celebrity crush since I was in love with Josh Hartnett in eighth grade.  Does he still exist?

Anyway, here is a link to NPR’s First Listen of Childish Gambino’s new album, Camp.

LINK!

Enjoy :)