With the acclaim of her debut album, Miss Halfway, and a spot on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack, Anya Marina has recently abandoned a successful DJ career to focus on her own music. Her latest album is called Slow and Steady Seduction: Phase II.
Lissy Trullie / Self-Taught Learner
I can’t get enough of Lissy’s EP. I just finished a tour with her and The Virgins and it’s such a treat to actually want to hang out and listen to your touring partners’ sets after you play. Both bands were so fresh every night. Lissy’s got this androgynous vibe going where you swear she was plucked out of Factory-era New York City. She looks like a Warhol muse and could’ve easily fit on a bill with The Velvets and The Ramones or Patti Smith at CBGB’s in the late 70s. You expect this song to explode, but it stays pretty restrained. Sometimes that’s such a great thing. And this time, it works.
The Virgins / One Week of Danger
A sexy, sexy song with a great singalong chorus. I love the question-answer callback part of this song: ‘Well, is there something that you wanted from her? YES I want her legs her body and her cash’. ‘Cash’ is always unexpected because it doesn’t totally rhyme with ‘yes’. And I love the humor of it. Donald, the singer, has a riveting stage presence and a sweet personality with a really subtle sense of humor. He’ll sort of whisper a joke under his breath, and if you miss it, you miss it. But he’s being funny almost to amuse himself. All of that comes across in this song.
Broken Social Scene / Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl
I know this is one of their most popular songs, but there’s a reason for that. It captures such a mood! It’s got everything I love: lo-fi production, beautiful yet distorted vocals (from Emily Haines), and lyrics that just repeat over and over again. When that works, it’s really effective and special. She does such a great job of capturing that awkward, angsty moment in adolescence when you’re crushing hard on that faraway beautiful person who is changing, going off into a cooler, more popular crowd, or whatever. I love the banjo in this song, too. So random. I could listen to this a hundred times and not get sick of it.
Pixies / Mr Grieves
I love Frank Black. He has absolutely no fear when he sings. I love performers who go all the way. If you don’t know what I mean, listen to this song, especially the beginning freakout of ‘hope everything’s alright’. I named my record label Good Rope because of a lyric in this song. You can cry, you can mope, but can you swing from a good rope?
MIA / Paper Planes
I thought MIA’s music was the best part of Slumdog Millionaire. She’s a perfect example of someone who’s having fun with all the elements of her music. She’s such a vibrant artist — everything from her clothing and makeup to the production. What a cool move to use gunshot and cash register sound effects as percussive elements! The easy melody and the children’s voices in the chorus completely belie the serious themes of violence, desperation and poverty in the song.
Pinback / Loro
I heard this song the other day in my yoga class in LA and I had to find out who it was. Considering I’d spent years in their hometown of San Diego and had played them countless times on the radio, I really should’ve known it was them. I think I forget momentarily that they’ve got a massive following all over the world, not just in San Diego. This is just another great example of how they build and layer a song around a great simple idea.
T.I / Whatever You Like
I heard this song late one night after a show in DC. The venue sort of turned into a dance party after we played and this song came on and everyone was singing it. I had to find out who it was and that night I bought it, learned the lyrics, and taught myself the song on guitar. Lately, it’s my most requested song at live shows. I love doing songs that men wrote and not altering the lyrics for my gender. This song says so much about what he values — really, what is valued in our culture — it was so fascinating to me. I hope he gets out of jail early. I think we should do a duet.
Kak Prekrasen Etot Mir / Tukhmanov
My mother sent me this song last year. It’s a great Russian song. A loose translation of the title would be ‘What a Wonderful World’. If you understand Russian, it’s great. But even if you don’t, it’s a lovely song. I just used it in a memorial tribute I made for my late uncle, sadly, but it really served as the perfect accompaniment to the photo collage of his life.
David Bowie / Suffragette City
This one gets me dancing every time. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am!
No related posts.
{ 0 comments… add one now }