Pachebel's Canon in D

I ran into this video while browsing YouTube the other day and I thought this bit by comedian Rob Paravonian was pretty clever. I like music, I like to laugh, so it's nice when these two things come together. Lovely satire Rob, very well done.

Enjoy the holidays everyone. More music is being collected as I speak.

And for anyone who would like to get in touch with me, send me music to listen to and possibly promote, or just say hi I've obtained a new email address. From this point on this blog will use the email the_worldforgot@yahoo.com.

Please do drop me a note.

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The Last Christmas Post

Well, today is offically Christmas Eve. And for this little slice of the internet that means that today marks the last day I will be posting Christmas music. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday, no matter what country you live in. In fact, I hope you're not reading this blog right now because you're too busy preparing for the festivities or you are actually celebrating them already. If you are reading this on Christmas Eve I appreciate that you chose to stop by for a little while, now go and have some fun with friends and family.

Merry Christmas everyone.

mp3 : Rooney - Merry Xmas Everybody
mp3 : Low - Just Like Christmas
mp3 : Leona Naess - Christmas
mp3 : Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas
mp3 : Ben Kweller - Rock of Ages

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Arcade Fire

We've all heard the buzz surrounding the new Arcade Fire album due out in 2007. And if you're even one half as excited for it as I am you're ready to buy the disc the day it hits the stores. My only fear is that it will lack the intensity, the sense of play that made their debut, Funeral, such an amazing album.

Anyway, here's to hoping the long wait between albums has allowed them to skip right over the dreaded sophomore slump. Enjoy the music, the first nine tracks is the live recording off of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic show. And I must say these songs sound amazing. The last track posted here is the new Arcade Fire single entitled Intervention as heard on BBC 1.


mp3 : Arcade Fire - Intro (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #4 (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Vampire Forest Fire (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Interview (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Intervention (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Born on a Train (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - In the Backseat (Live on KCRW)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Outro (Live on KCRW)

mp3 : Arcade Fire - Intervention : new single


sites
Us Kids Know Fan Site
Myspace
Official Site

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Forgather

Recently Broc Stanage, possibly better known as the indie folk outfit Forgather, has been rereleasing some of his older material. I've taken to downloading his tracks and rehosting them on my blog as they'll get a much wider ciruculation this way.

If you like good music you'll love Forgather. Download and enjoy.

mp3 : Forgather - Turn Away
mp3 : Forgather - Cry

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No Doubt

When I started this blog I never expected to post anything to do with the band No-Doubt. To be honest I liked their style and their sound a lot more back when Gwen was sporting pink hair and the rest of the band didn't come across like some punk-rockers in a B-list movie. Apparently they still have an audience somewhere in the world, and guessing from Gwen's latest solo efforts that somewhere is probably Japan.

This song is from way back, during the era when all you heard in the summer was Sugar Ray, Fastball, the Goo Goo Dolls, and of course No Doubt on the radio. It's a solid acoustic effort and it showcases the idea that this band is made up of actual musicians, not just eye candy.

mp3 : No Doubt - Ex-Girlfriend (acoustic)

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One Stop Shop

For the next couple of days, maybe even weeks, my life is going to be extremely busy. Therefore the frequency of my posting will probably drop a bit and for this I apologize. I'll still try to throw up some music and some lovin for you all, but don't expect anything spectacular.

All that being said I do have this one spectacular post for you all to enjoy. About every six weeks I get a little bored with the music I've been listening to. And when that happens I troll the internet to find what's getting buzz, who the kids are listening to, and who deserves a mention on this blog. And after I've sampled hundreds of tracks I select the music I think you all should listen to.

So here it is, the first installation of what I hope will be a long series of posts. Because I find these files in various and sundry places, and then compile them all into one hopefully convenient post, I've dubbed this series One Stop Shop.

Here you go, and merry Christmas.

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian - Christmas Time is Here
mp3 : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance
mp3 : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Underwater (You and Me)
mp3 : Coldplay - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
mp3 : Death Cab for Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
mp3 : Explosions in The Sky - Welcome, Ghosts
mp3 : Goldspot - Float On (Modest Mouse Cover)
mp3 : Radiohead - Down Is The New Up
mp3 : Regina Spektor - Fidelity
mp3 : Regina Spektor - Samson (original version)
mp3 : The Postal Service - Grow Old With Me
mp3 : The Strokes (feat Regina Spektor) - Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men
mp3 : Thom Yorke - Videotape

All tracks come highly recommended.

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Seven Days of Sufjan : part 7

Today is a sad day because it marks the last of my Seven Days of Sufjan. It was a fun trip while it lasted and I hope I provided you all with some Christmas cheer and some harder to find tracks. Thanks for all the comments everyone. Also, merry Christmas to you all. Over the past week I've been getting hits on this blog from every continent but Antarctica, but I'm sure that's just because it's summer for them right now so they're probably off sipping cocktails and chasing penguins.

Enjoy this track from Sufjan's Songs for Christmas. If you're interested in the man you should take a second and read the bio posted on his label's website. here . It's really a rather interesting biography.

mp3 : Sufan Stevens - It's Christmas Let's Be Glad


And as promised some harder to find tracks for you all to enjoy.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - Borderline
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - The First Full Moon
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - The Star Spangled Banner
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - Variation on Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park

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[up next: one stop shop, new forgather songs, page france]

Seven Days of Sufjan : part 6

Sorry kids but I'm strapped for time right now. I'm posting this real quick before I head out into the place some people refer to as the real world. Amazing, I know.

Something else that is amazing is this song by Sufjan. Yesterday I posted the instrumental ditty that is derived from this full length song. Both are great and worthy of space on your hard drive, but this one has words, you know, if that's what you're into.

Enjoy.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanuel

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[up next: the last day of sufjan, one stop shop vol 1]

Seven Days of Sufjan : part 5

Everything this man plays is golden. Here's a clip of him playing Chicago; a simple and yet stunningly beautiful song.

I'm not sitting at my own computer right now so I cannot honor the comments I received yesterday with extra Sufjan songs right now. But fear ye not, I am a man of my word and tomorrow I will upload some extra rare tracks from the man who once called Michigan his home. For today I am posting a track that I'm not sure anyone else has put online yet. Probably because it's an instrumental track that's rather short and rather simple. But it's precisely these musical interludes that make Sufjan who he is. These musical leftovers are what flesh out his albums and give us all a reason to actually buy full albums instead of settling for single song downloads.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanual

[note, the spelling of the song is not a typo]

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[the next post will contain some bonus tracks, thanks for the comments]

Seven Days of Sufjan : part 4

This is a video of Sufjan playing an impromptu version of "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" at SXSW in 2004. And yes, he was famous then too. Watch the video, it's simply wonderful.

Another day has come and another Sufjan song is posted. This puts us just over half way through Seven Days of Sufjan and I must say it has been an enjoyable run. As I stated in the first post, if there are comments left during this time I'll post more than one song per day. On top of the Christmas music I also have some rare and largely uncirculated Sufjan songs that I think you all would enjoy. If I don't get any comments I'll just keep posting one song a day. Enjoy it while it lasts.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - Only at Christmas Time

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Seven Days of Sufjan : part 3

Today we look into the grab bag and we find a track from Mr. Stevens that is quite honestly the best Christmas or winter themed song I've heard. I know I'm prone to exaggerations, but this is one time when you must take me seriously. Download this track immediately, put it on one song repeat, and let your mind escape into the type of song that put Sufjan on the map.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - Sister Winter

Easily the best winter song ever recorded. I challenge you to find anything as poignant and as lyrically beautiful as this. I dare you.

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Seven Days of Sufjan : part 2

Let us be honest for a moment. Sufjan Stevens was the single driving force that brought music blogging to the prominent position that it now holds. He was the indie darling we all loved and craved and he's the only reason you might be skimming this skimpy post.

He's one of the most prolific songwriters of this millennium and his Christmas tunes are simply amazing. And so I bring to you the second installment of Seven Days of Sufjan. Enjoy the music and check back tomorrow for another song.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - We Three Kings of Orient Are

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Christmas Showdown

Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams


Frank Sinatra rounds out the top three all time Christmas Albums. Although I'll always love Frank I'm not sure if his lounge singer act will ever trump the likes of Bing Crosby or Andy Williams. Maybe he was too much of a vagabond to ever really corner the market on something as traditional and respected as Christmas. Regardless as to the reasons he's not my favorite he still has the standard Sinatra pinache and it puts an interesting spin on some classic songs.

mp3 : Frank Sinatra - White Christmas
mp3 : Frank Sinatra - Whatever Happened To Christmas?
mp3 : Frank Sinatra - The Christmas Song
mp3 : Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

buy Frank Sinatra's Christmas Collection on Amazon for 9.99


I've already posted about both Bing and Andy but apparently the new filehost I was using was pretty crap. I've uploaded all of those songs again and below you should be able to right click and save them straight from this post.


Bing Crosby

mp3 : Bing Crosby - White Christmas
mp3 : Bing Crosby - The Christmas Song
mp3 : Bing Crosby - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
mp3 : Bing Crosby - I'll Be Home For Christmas


Andy Williams

mp3 : Andy Williams - White Christmas
mp3 : Andy Williams - Silent Night, Holy Night
mp3 : Andy Williams - O Holy Night
mp3 : Andy Williams - Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season

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[up next : seven days of sufjan, one stop shop]

Seven Days of Sufjan

As I try to sort out why Hype doesn't recognize mp3's stored over at gigasize I've decided to begin my Seven Days of Sufjan a couple of days early. For the next seven days, beginning now, I'll be posting a Christmas song by Sufjan once a day. If I get requests or I get enough comments I might even up it to two or three songs a day, depending on the traffic this gets.

Here's the first track, keep coming back for more.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - What Child Is This Anyway?


Oh, and please make sure to take the files from the previous two posts about Bing Crosby and Andy Williams. Everyone needs a little classic Christmas music in their lives and those two guys are essential to anyone's holiday collection.

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Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby is the next man in line for these Christmas posts. His Christmas album is a classic owned by or at least familiar to every American family. His voice has the swagger of Christmas albums that have long since moved from classic to traditional and you can always tell Thanksgiving has passed when you start to hear Bing on the radio.

mp3 : Bing Crosby - I'll Be Home for Christmas
mp3 : Bing Crosby - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
mp3 : Bing Crosby - The Christmas Song
mp3 : Bing Crosby - White Christmas

buy Bing Crosby's White Christmas on Amazon for 5.99

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[coming up next : Frank Sinatra, Seven days of Sufjan, and One Stop Shop]

Andy Williams

I'll be honest; I love Bing Crosby, the newest Sufjan Stevens Christmas music is incredible, but my heart's favorite will always be Andy Williams. The songs in this post hark back to the days when bands were big, variety television shows were bigger, and vinyl was the only way to hear your tunes. Vinyl is actually how I was introduced to Andy Williams. My father had the Andy Williams Christmas album on LP and we used to haul the old record player up from the basement the weekend after Thanskgiving to start listening to the man with a voice so smooth.

mp3 : Andy Williams - Happy Holidays / The Holiday Season
mp3 : Andy Williams - O Holy Night
mp3 : Andy Williams - Silent Night, Holy Night
mp3 : Andy Williams - White Christmas

buy Andy Williams Christmas on Amazon for 9.98

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Everything Reminds Me of Her

I might have the coolest younger brother on the face of the earth. He has great taste in music and occasionally he makes a mix for some various or sundry reason and ships it out via the internet to me. Granted, he is a younger brother, so some of his musical choices are a little sketch, but for the most part he puts together solid music. This mix of his is a little skewed because he made it for his girlfriend and every song in this selection apparently reminds him of her in some way. I figure the kid must be in love because I cannot fathom any other reason he would be listening to Fergie.

Enjoy the mix my brother made. I'll have some more tunes up in a couple of days. As per usual the mix is available as a single download as well as individual songs.

download : Everything Reminds Me of Her

01 : Doveman - Dancing
02 : Architecture in Helsinki - What's In Store
03 : Elliot Smith - In the Lost and Found (honky bach)
04 : Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
05 : Daft Punk - Something About Us
06 : Fergie - Fergalicious
07 : The Postal Service - Nothing Better
08 : Billy Talent - Pins and Needles
09 : Weezer - My Best Friend
10 : Phantom Planet - On My Mind
11 : Ben Folds - The Luckiest

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Mr. Stevens is All The Rage

Every so often I conform to the adage "give the people what they want." In other words I sell out for page loads. After all, if I average 600 hits a day for the rest of my life I'll make almost 20 dollars a year in ad revenue. And that's worth it to me. If I wasn't Dutch I wouldn't be much.

Ok, enough of that. I really just wanted to post some rare Sufjan Stevens Tracks. That's really all I'm doing these days. And if it keeps the hyperactive indie kids happy [and leaving comments] then it really is worth my time. Enjoy the music and have a happy Christmas.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - God'll Ne'er Let You Down
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People

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Making a Map

I had this grand idea to make a musical map of my life. I got the idea right after I met my girlfriend in Thailand last year. It was an idea to help her to get to know me. It would be full of songs that all had stories. Each song would be from a different era of my life. And I am working on it. I am still working on it almost a year later. It's a pretty huge undertaking to take your life and pare it down to two discs of music. But it will be glorious when it is finished. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement. I guess I'm merely aiming for informative at this point. And I hope it'll be completed before next summer.

I need to stop being a perfectionist.

And I do need to give you some music to satisfy the lonely people out there.

mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens - I Can't Even Lift My Head

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EA Mix vol 8 - Fix Me Now

I'm still not sure why I titled this mix "fix me now" although maybe at the time I was working on this slice of music it was a cry for help. I've been dealing with a lot lately. I think that's all that needs to be vomited here.

So below is the mix. Bowing to popular opinion I have decided to upload the mix as a single file download. The individual songs are still available here, but if you want to just snag them all at one time I've supplied that link as well.

download : EA Mix vol 8 - Fix Me Now

01 : Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars (Acoustic) : This song is great in any format. Their last two albums have both been solid efforts and it's always refreshing to hear a band present their material in a new way. This version is raw, one take, maybe even one track. However it was recorded it's a great way to start mix 8.

02 : Jude - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley Cover) : This cover reminds me a bit of JD Natasha's cover of Outkast's 'Hey Ya' just without the backing orchestra. It's bouncy, it doesn't really take itself seriously, and Jude comes across like a better version of Jason Mraz. Maybe that's because he actually has talent.

03 : Zach Williams - Push : Yes, I might have a slight infatuation with Zach Williams. I think the man is brilliant and just waiting for his turn to play for a larger audience. This song starts slow and rapidly develops into something amazing. I simply love the line "I was wondering how long, how long it'd take for you to notice, I can't look you dead in the eye without losing time." Danceable.

04 : Get Set Go : I Hate Everyone : Just to clarify, I don't hate everyone. Most people I actually like, or can at least get along with. But apparently Get Set Go has some anger issues, maybe a bit of latent bitterness towards something. This song reminds me a bit of Weezer a la the Pinkerton era. A tad silly, a dash of melancholy, and catchy licks.

05 : The Weepies : World Spins Madly On : "I woke up, and wished that I was dead, with an aching in my head. Thought of you, and where you'd gone, and the world spins madly on." The process of the end has never been something easy to swallow, but it's also never been this beautifully told either.

06 : Josh Garrels - Answer in Love (Live) : So much of this song comforts my heart at times when all I can do is try not to think. Josh is again in the studio attempting to what amounts to copious loads of new music. His hope is that at the end of the day he'll have written so many songs that he can hand pick only the best for his new album. If there's even one as great as this song he'll have no problem moving the merchandise.

07 : Elefant - Why : I can't decide if this group fits into a genre like ska/punk or eighties revival. Maybe they're more a ska/punk band who's only one keytar away from achieving pure eighties glory. No matter what type of sound or genre they were attempting to hit in this song it's still a good pop song. Straight forward, it is what it is, and it's worth hearing.

08 : Gary Jules - Something Else : It seems as if Gary Jules is back in the spotlight after his biggest song [his cover of Tears for Fears' - Mad World] was used in a tv ad for Gears of War. This is original Jules writing, and the man has some talent, even if the sound behind the words is a bit oldschool.

09 : Matt Costa - Astair : I need to do a feature just on Matt Costa. His latest album is easily worth downloading from allofmp3, or maybe even from some other overpriced proprietary garbage software program that will remain unnamed. All hateration aside this song is good acoustic folk, which is Matt Costa's bread'n'butter.

10 : Lindsey Czechowicz - Escape : Probably the hardest name ever to type on a keyboard. I hereby move to change her stage name to LC. It's hip, the letters actually stand for her name, and it's easier for the kids to say. I think I have something against musical acts that use difficult to pronounce, spell, file, or remember, names.

11 : The Killers - Why Do I Keep Counting : Yes, the second song I've featured off of Sam's Town. And I know many people out there are still sad that The Killers deviated from their original glam pop sound. But listen to this entire song. It's larger than life, it's [gasp] a new direction for them, and it's definitely heavily influenced by The Boss. "Help me get down, I can make it, help me get down." "And if all our days are numbered then why do I keep counting?"

12 : Joseph Arthur - Enough to Get Away : On this song it feels as if Joseph Arthur is actually mashing up his older material with the best of Belle and Sebastian. Basically it's any indie kids dream. All of his newest album, Nuclear Daydream, is worth a listen. Mr. Arthur continually makes impressive indie pop music, and he's a, how should I say this, dedicated painter as well.

13 : Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Acoustic) : Yes it's official, according to Billy Corgan and Myspace at least, the Pumpkins are back together and are recording a new album which is due out summer of '07. It just felt natural to end this mix on a classic from one of the greatest rock bands that the States have ever produced. Here's to hoping that Billy and crew stick together, get along, and keep away from drugs.

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