Zach and I are really into Mikal Cronin right now (see his song of the day yesterday here). There is just something about that guy. He is really good at combining melancholy lyrics with happy sounds. Saves the Day does that really well, as does Best Coast. It takes something that can feel too sad or to heavy and makes it lighter. Upbeat music provides a great lens through which to view tough things. I feel such a connection with the singer in these cases because I know they understand me, but they also help me forget about difficult things.

Listen to Mikal Cronin's "Weight" in Zach's post.

Watch Best Coast's "Do You Love Me Like You Used To" below:

Watch Saves the Day's "At Your Funeral" below:

The blog is not dead, we're just on summer vacay! Anyways I found some time to share one of my favorite songs right now. It's by Mikal Cronin and it's called "Weight". It's from his second album MCII. Check it out. 

I couldn't decide which song to choose for my song of the day; they both make me cry, so I thought that was a good theme for this post. It isn't very difficult to make me cry. Put on a song I love and I will cry every time, even if I have already listened to it five times in a row. 

When I was in high school, I read the Gossip Girl books voraciously. They were pretty silly, but they brought me into an entirely different world, one I would never know. My favorite books do that for me. I started watching the show sometime during the second season, I guess, and I have been hooked ever since. My friend Abby and I watched the first six or seven episodes at once, and that wasn't the last time I did that. I stayed up until 4.a.m nearly every night during a seven-week break from school in August 2010.

I became really emotionally vested in that show in a way that I hadn't since The O.C. in high school and Degrassi before that. I know, it's a silly premise. I used to refer to it as my guilty pleasure, but I like to own it now. Gossip Girl is my favorite television show. I always wanted to be Blair Waldorf, although I am not as mean, I think. Also, I love Chuck; he made the biggest transformation of all of them (and the actor that plays him, Ed Westwick, has a British accent!).

I had a hunch about who Gossip Girl actually was, but I never really knew until the second to last episode. Holy cow. The series finale was insane. Two weddings! Cops, Gossip Girl unveiling, babies! Sometimes life is crazy or sad or bad or good, and things like music and television shows and movies become a stand-in when you experience loss or any kind of tumult. I feel that way about music more than I do television, but I've only really become attached to three TV shows, and this is probably why. I cried a lot, but I always cry, so that's nothing new.

I want to buy all of the seasons on DVD and watch them again and again. It took me quite a while to watch the final series. I had to watch the series over again first. I wear bows on the left side of my head because of Blair Waldorf. I discovered really incredible music because of the show. I probably am not cool because of this post, but I am also not cool for a lot of things, and I like most of those things about myself.

Below is a playlist from season 6 of Gossip Girl. I didn't create it, but it's good.

Put me in the Real World confessional because I've got a confession: I never liked Pearl Jam. I just hate that "grunge" voice so, so much. It's the same singing style of Creed and Nickelback. I always wanted to like Pearl Jam, and maybe I will if I give them a chance again. Nirvana was always one of my favorite bands, so I thought I should logically be a Pearl Jam fan (logically). 

I think that She and Him is one of those polarizing bands; you either love them or hate them. I am in the former group, but I think people sometimes hate them because they get tired of Zooey Deschanel. Homegirl is everywhere.

A friend invited me to one of their shows back in 2008, and I agreed to go because I love M. Ward. I hadn't seen Elf, and I had no idea who Zooey Deschanel was. I listened to a couple of their songs, and bought a ticket last minute for $35. That was probably the most expensive show I had been to at the point with the exception of Warped Tour. Going to see a band you don't know usually kind of stinks, but this show was incredible. It was certainly worth $35. M. Ward is an amazing guitar player, and Zooey has a killer voice. They had 60's style backup singers, and both Ward and Deschanel played a million instruments (including the mouth trumpet).

I fell in love with them after this show. I bought the first album and listened to it non-stop. I was really excited when Volume Two came out. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. The music was still as good as ever, but the lyrics felt kind of flat. I couldn't sense any real emotion behind them, which is what made the first album so good. Don't misunderstand me, though. The album was good, but I just didn't think it was great.

Thankfully, Volume 3 swooped in a couple months ago and saved the day. The emotion is back! After some deliberation, I can even say with confidence that this album is better than their first, and I thought it would be hard to top. The music still has the 60's pop element, but it veers off into different sounds a little bit, so it doesn't feel like the same album they've made twice before. M. Ward's Buddy Holly-influenced guitar is very distinct on this album, and I love that. Nobody else sounds like M. Ward. I kind of felt like he was missing from the last album a little bit.

Some of my favorite songs are "I've Got Your Number, Son," "Never Wanted Your Love," and "Together." Listen to it on Spotify and then go buy it.

A couple of years ago I heard of a band called No Age. I honestly don't know if I ever heard a song by the band but for some reason I didn't like the idea of another 2 person band or something. Recently I gave them another chance and their music is awesome! They are a punk band at heart but with some cool off kilter riffs, and noise music influences. They have an album coming out next month called An Object that I am excited for because; what I've heard so far rocks, and because they designed and produced the packaging on their own. DIY. Cool. Playlist below.



-Earl

This has actually been my favorite song for the past three summers not just this one. It's the most incredibly happy (although if you read the lyrics first you wouldn't think they're happy), catchy, amazing, summer song. It's my favorite. If the f-word offends you then you shouldn't listen to it, just a heads up. Anyway, don't just watch the YouTube video below. Download this song. Buy it or steal it, put it on your phone or iPod, roll down your windows and turn the volume to 11. The song is "California On My Mind" by Wild Light

I have been a casual Queens of the Stone Age fan for a few years. They are a rock band in the true sense; they sound cool and they're music is riff based and heavy but catchy. I have listened to their new album ...Like Clockwork at least 5 times and I enjoy it more everytime. It rocks, it's catchy, it has melancholy songs, and even beautiful ballads. I really enjoy Josh Homme falsetto on a few of the songs as well. There are multiple quests on this album including Elton John, Trent Reznor and others but they are not the focus. The good songs and rockin' vibe is. Check it out and don't be afraid of the genre or the scary vampire on the cover.

Favorite tracks: "I Sat by the Ocean", "Vampyre of Time and Memory", "Kalopsia", and "...Like Clockwork"




-Earl

My song on this day of important document-signing is by one of my favorite Scottish bands. Camera Obscura has a new album out, and I have only heard a couple songs, but I love it. This album has kind of a 60's pop feel with just the right amount of melancholy. They are also like the female version of Belle and Sebastian, who I love.

My song of the day, "This is Love (Feels Alright)" is off of their new album Desire Lines.

I first found out about Waxahatchee through photographer Ryan Russell. He shot the cover of her new album Cerulean Salt and he shoots a lot of other great bands like Paramore, the Postal Service, Against Me!, and pretty much all of the bands in Alternative Press. Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee hails from Birmingham, Alabama, where she was in a bunch of bands with her twin sister Allison (of the band Swearin').

Cerulean Salt came out earlier this year, and I've been listening to it nearly non-stop since I found about it. It feels very gritty and personal, which is probably why many people have lauded it as really good angsty high school music, which I guess I agree with. Maybe they mean that the lyrics aren't shrouded with metaphors or covered up with auto-tune and electronic whatever stuff. (I don't even know about music; I just like it.) She also has a youthful voice, but I think that adds to the authenticity and grittiness of the album. Crutchfield does have a beautiful voice, though. It just isn't fancy or diva-like.

I can't really recommend one song over another. It starts off pretty soft with "Hollow Bedroom" but the electric guitar keeps the album from getting too sleepy. My favorite song might be "Dixie Cups and Jars" or "Brother Bryan," but I'm not sure. "Blue Pt. II" kind of reminds me of Kimya Dawson but more serious. Apparently she wrote this album about a really bad breakup, which explains why it hurts a little bit (in a good way, of course.) You might like it if you are fans of Best Coast, Kimya Dawson, or other stuff that's good. Also, watch the new video for her song "Coast to Coast" below.

Justin Vernon is starting to rival Jack White as the busiest man in rock n' roll. Earlier this year JV released a blues rock album with one of his side projects, The Shouting Matches. Now he's reunited Volcano Choir (another side project) to release his second album this year.

Recently they released their first single from their forthcoming album, Repave. The song is titled "Byegone" and is nothing like songs from the previous albums. The last Volcano Choir album was a little too weird for me. "Byegone" sounds like it was meant to be a part of a soundtrack for Moby Dick. I hate the word epic, but there's no other way to describe this song, but that it's epic.

Just like with the Shouting Matches, JV ditched the falsetto for his own grizzly man voice and I love it. It makes me want to grow a beard and walk around with my flannel shirt unbuttoned, exposing my chest hair. This song makes me feel like Bryce Woodhouse (The most manly person I know).
This song is that good.