This is Merton

This is Ben Folds’ tribute

I doubt any of these people knew who Ben Folds was, but imagine randomly getting on chatroulette and after one weird person after another, you randomly get Ben Folds during one of his shows.  That would be priceless.

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Pixar’s UP Remix Video

Downloads over at SG

Mumford & Sons were a random find a while back that falls in the “Thank God I decided to check them out” category.  There’s probably another 30 albums in my inbox that I’ll think are simply amazing, but truth is I probably won’t ever listen to them.  Sad, for sure.  Mumford & Sons caught a break, because I looked at the sea of emails and just clicked one randomly.  I proceeded to listen to their wonderful album Sigh No More for the next two weeks pretty much non-stop.

Usually in determining an album deserves to be among the top 10 of the year, it really comes down to two factors.  One, do I know a majority of the lyrics, and two, did my roommate get sick of hearing the album blaring from my room and playing in my car to the point that he gives me an “Are you serious?” every time it’s playing.  Sigh No More gets a definite yes and yes to both of those.  As a kid, I’d sit with albums for days straight and know every lyric and note by heart and it’s sad to think I rarely have time to do that anymore.  So, I have to take note when an album gets me to listen faithfully to it like I did in the good ol days.

There’s so many stand-outs on this album I won’t write a lengthy track by track review and instead just tell you a few things I really enjoy about it.  If you can imagine Glen Hansard and his Swell Season project, only way more intense both lyrically and musically, then you basically have Mumford & Sons.  Songs like “Little Lion Man” and “White Blank Page” stand out as straight forward, loud, folk songs, while “I Gave You All” and “Dustbowl Dance” take the cake for slower songs that build into a few of my favorite song climaxes of the year.  I think I listened to “Dustbowl Dance” on repeat every morning going to work to wake me up for a good two weeks straight.  It starts off nice a slow, which fit on my morning drives because I was just waking up, but by the end when the drums kick in and everyone just goes nuts, I couldn’t help but notice my heart rate jump up and me yelling, “Hell yeah!  Let’s sell some shoes!” (I work at a shoe store part time by the way on top of my record label side stuff).

I think I’d said enough to at least get you to check them out.  Their sound is the complete opposite of Freelance Whales, but both should crack my top five of the year if nothing else slips in suddenly.  Sigh No More is easily among the year’s best, and it’s just a shame that they’re only just starting to get noticed here in the states.  I’ve done my part giving this album to anyone I even vaguely know.  Bugging them until they’d finally given it a few good spins.  And for the most part, everyone’s really enjoyed it.  Their brand of intense folk isn’t necessarily for everyone, but it sure struck a chord with me, and I’ll say it again.  Thank God I randomly stumbled upon this album.

Mumford & Sons
Sigh No More
Perch Score: 9.555/10

Little Lion Man [mp3]

Dustbowl Dance [mp3] (at least listen to the 3:06 mark when they go crazy and tell me it doesn’t make you want to crank the volume up)

Little Lion Man Video

Live Videos at ICA London,
March 4, 2009

-Roll Away Your Stone (documentary style)
-I Gave You All
-Timshel
-Winter Winds + The Cave

Official Site / Myspace

I may be way behind in finally seeing this, but oh well.  This was sort of how Tiffany and I first met (no signs involved though), only our first meeting was in the grand lobby of Union Station in Chicago.  Too long a story to go into here, but it makes me like this video that much more.  I guess it was a viral video for Schweppes, but after watching it just now, I couldn’t recommend this short film any more.  It’s fantastic and if it doesn’t make you smile, even a little, then you my friend, have no heart.  Enjoy and let me know how you liked it in the comments.

Cloud Cult – Live at the Triple Door from Jim Beckmann on Vimeo.

I had intended on reviewing Firekites’ album The Bowery a while ago, but I guess it never got past the point of being just a draft.  I liked what I wrote, but I think I’ll just scrap that draft and write up a quick one that gets right to the point.  Firekites’ album The Bowery was released in 2008, so I’m in no way claiming to be on top of things here, but if most of you are like me, then you’ve never heard of them to start with.  And that’s a shame and the very reason I’m introducing all of you to this great band.

Fans of Owen or possible American Analog Set should take to Firekites immeditately.  Right from the opener, “Last Ships”, you’ll know whether Firekites’ music is for you or not.  It’s music like theirs that make me miss sitting in the library for hours listening to my ipod, playing my “study mixes”, full of bands like The Books, Boards of Canada, Eluvium, and so on.  Bands that I wouldn’t necessarily get super excited to just pop in while riding in my car, but ones that hold a special place in my musical heart because I spent hours with their music in the background.  Don’t get me wrong though, I sure as heck don’t miss the actual act of studying for hours in the library.  That, my friends, I’m sure of.

But Firekites falls in somewhat of a grey area for me.  It has worked as background music as I sat quietly and read my new book, but I’ve also found myself wanting to play it on my way to work in my car, and being just as happy hearing it “actively” with my full attention.  To me, I think that should make you perk your ears up a bit, because if you’ve read the Perch loyally over the years, rarely does an album work in both ways for me.  So, take note my friends.  This album is a keeper.

Stand-outs include “Last Ships”, “Mirror Miracle”, “Same Suburb, Different Park”, and “Autumn Story”, which has an amazing video you should watch below.  The whole album really works as a whole, but if you have to start at a few songs, start with those.  Otherwise, sit down and listen to the whole thing straight through.  It’s really that good.  Check out the mp3’s below and the video for “Autumn Story”, and let me know what you think in the comments.

(all the links, videos, and tunes after the jump!)

Firekites
The Bowery
Perch Score: 8.799/10

I can’t get the whole album to stream, just 30 second clips, but click here to head over to Imeem and stream the whole album.

Last Ships [mp3]

Autumn Story [mp3]

Autumn Story

Same Suburb, Different Park

Official Site / Myspace