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It’s funny how certain songs never leave your head. I often wonder what causes the catch, but either way, I’ll take it. There’s got to be some good reason.

A couple months ago, as I was going nuts over the new Kills album, I randomly watched De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté (The Beat that my Heart Skipped), a Jacques Audiard film starring Romain Duris (you know how much I love Dans Paris). Suddenly during the film, I hear this wonderfully distorted, wonderfully slow guitar riff, and I knew right away it had to be the Kills. I did a little research and found that it was “Monkey 23″ from their debut album, Keep on your Mean Side. And it’s kind of beautiful in its simplicity:

There’s a monkey on my back
Makes me act like that
There’s a monkey on my back
Makes me talk like that

I know what you mean. Here, listen to it on repeat like me.

The Raveonettes have always been a quiet favorite of mine. I adore their shoegaze/surf rock sound, and their live show I saw at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco was one of my favorite concerts of the year. But for some reason they never made it into heavy rotation on my iPod, until I got their new album Lust Lust Lust, which I’ve had on repeat for the past week.

Supposedly their most minimalistic and synthetic album to date, Lust Lust Lust has enraptured me with its lyrics and melodic hooks. The Raveonettes prove that the simplest elements can make the most entrancing songs.

To hear for yourself, check out the two tracks below. The album’s second track, “Hallucinations,” begins with the line “Absurd, my obsession with someone new don’t feel like someone new,” so you kind of get where that one is going. “With My Eyes Closed,” the penultimate track on the album, turns the tables: “I close my eyes to hurt you, to leave you . . . It was never meant to be, for me.” Enjoy.

MP3: The Raveonettes - Hallucinations

MP3: The Raveonettes - With My Eyes Closed

I’ve been a fan of Jens Lekman for a while now, but I think listening to his recent guest DJ spot on NPR’s All Songs Considered was the tipping point for me. One listen to his songs will give you the impression that he’s a warm, down-to-earth guy, but the All Songs Considered appearance really highlighted that he’s a good-natured guy making music that’s just fun to listen to, whether it’s melancholic or sugary.

Lekman’s music is heavy on the samples and features a lot of strings and brass. He tops it off with witty, straightforward lyrics — reminiscent of Jonathan Richman — that cover mundane topics in a clever manner:

But Nina I can be your boyfriend
So you can stay with your girlfriend
Your father is mailing me all the time
He says he just wants to say hi
I send back “out of office” auto-replies
–from “A Postcard to Nina”

Take a listen to the songs below, check out the NPR All Songs Considered episode, and check out the whole new album Night Falls Over Kortedala when you get a chance.

MP3: Jens Lekman - A Postcard to Nina

MP3: Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me

She’s been in my “Now Listening” sidebar for a little while now, but I have to bring more attention to St. Vincent. An alum of Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan’s band, Annie Clark is out on her own now, and thank God. Don’t get me wrong, I love the PS and Sufjan, but this girl should not be buried in an over-sized band.

Her debut, Marry Me, is one of those albums in which one or two songs immediately catch you and get played on repeat for a few weeks. Gradually the list expands until, at this point, I consider every song one of my favorites these days. The music is refreshingly heartfelt without feeling forced or hackneyed, and the lyrics, wow. Here’s a sample from “All My Stars Aligned:

I read the signs, got all my stars aligned, my amulets, my charms, I set all my false alarms / So I’ll be someone who won’t be forgotten, I’ve got a question, and you’ve got the answer

Each song has at least one moment where the lyrics and/or music take you into their own world. Hence the constant pushing of the repeat button. Hard to pick just two songs to feature, but here’s “Marry Me” (the song that initially turned me onto her… music) and “The Apocalypse Song.”

MP3: St. Vincent - Marry Me
MP3: St. Vincent - The Apocalypse Song

And lucky me, she’s playing Cafe Du Nord on my birthday. I’ve got tickets, be my date?

For years, I’ve always gone back to Super Furry Animals’ “Hello Sunshine” when I needed a little pick-me-up. One of the main reasons was the dreamy, airy intro, which I never realized was a sample (it makes sense now, but I just never thought of it). The vocal harmonies and sparse, ambient guitars create a perfect melodic swirl. And the lyrics take me away:

So hard to say goodbye
Meaning it today
I’ve said goodbye before
Leaving you alone
By the sea, by the sea
We were thrown together
A world unlike our own
Believing in each other
We drifted far away
By the sea, by the sea

The back story is even better. Continue Reading »

I would say this one is self-evident, but parts of it still confuse me as to their current appeal. Regardless, I’ve had this song on repeat for the past couple days. Lyrics aside, the guitars put me in a pleasant, pensive trance. So with my NYC trip coming up and lots going through my head, Paul Banks and company seem the perfect soundtrack.

I had seven faces
Thought I knew which one to wear
But I’m sick of spending these lonely nights
Training myself not to care
The subway is a porno
And the pavements they are a mess
I know you’ve supported me for a long time
Somehow I’m not impressed

I’m a man’s man, and feelings are for girls, but every once in a while I like to emote. As you may have noticed, music plays a fairly significant role in my life, and as recent posts have shown, I pay attention to lyrics. So I’ve decided to occasionally (or maybe every day) post some particularly poignant lyrics. They might be old, might be new, might be borrowed, might be blue. Whatever the case, they’ve gotten me thinking, so I’ll share them. Maybe whole songs sometimes, maybe just clips and phrases. This blog doesn’t have what’s known as “structure.”

First up is the last lines from Eels’ “P.S. You Rock My World.” For some reason this line always pops into my head when the proverbial bullets are flying, and today was a hailstorm.

Laying in bed tonight I was thinking
And listening to all the dogs
And the sirens and the shots
And how the careful man tries to dodge the bullets
While a happy man takes a walk
And maybe it is time to live