hardware
March 19, 2008 – 6:43 pm
New music Wednesday comes with a decided pout, whereas every music blog out there has been posting live photos from SXSW — which, by the way, looks like it kicks fucking ass this year.But I’ve got two nice tracks for you and a video I’m obsessed with. So enjoy!
She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here”
The exciting collaboration between world’s-best-guitar-picker M. Ward and world’s-sexiest-female Zooey Deschanel was released yesterday, and I think it’s incredibly interesting. The songs are all Deschanel’s own, and the record was recorded in Portland just this last year (I can’t believe Zooey could have been just chillin’ at the Doug Fir and I was completely unaware… but I would have pulled a musicians wanted Jack-McFarland-meets-Broadway-diva and that would have been embarrassing). The music itself is surprisingly upbeat but definitely quirky, and hearkens to mid-’50s big-hair doo-wop music (I hear an early Linda Rondstadt in Deschanel’s voice, which surprises me because she was almost husky [but hot] when she sang her big solo in the ever-brilliant “Elf”).
MP3: She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here”
Rilo Kiley – “Let My Love Open The Door”
This is a live cut via You Ain’t No Picasso from SXSW, but don’t you feel like Rilo Kiley was always intended to perform this song? Kind of like when Sheryl Crow covered “The First Cut Is The Deepest,” and you didn’t want to admit it, but her version was better than Cat Stevens’? Okay. Not exactly. But anyway, this cover is not extraordinary, nor does it take any major risks, but it’s a perfect choice for the band. You listen to it and you think, “Huh. That makes sense.”
MP3: Rilo Kiley – “Let My Love Open The Door” live
Video: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – “Bag of Hammers”
Thao, aka Thao Nguyen, has released two provocative-but-decidedly poppy albums in the last two years: The brilliant but virtually critically ignored “Like The Linen” and this year’s incredible and explosive “We Brave Bee Stings and All.” Hailed by Laura Viers and others, Thao is growing into a regular indie darling, and for good reason: Her vocals are always careful and her lyrics have that rare quality of being able to stand on their own two feet. She’s my latest obsession. Last week, her perfect stop-motion animation video for “Bag of Hammers” (the first single off “We Brave”) dropped, and it has like 250 hits from me alone.