the Gently Mad

I’m sorry I haven’t been present on the blog for a while. I haven’t been present on any blog for a while, it seems. My feed inbox is begining to overflow. I’ve just been extremely busy with a number of projects.

But I thought I would post a Music Monday and it’s all covers this week. Some pretty cool stuff.

Aaron Lewis covering Black by Pearl Jam
Lewis has such a great rock voice. Think what you will about Staind, but he’s got a lot of talent.

The Flaming Lips covering Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
Who else in the world sounds like The Flaming Lips? I’ll tell you. No one. The lips are an all-time top 5 band for me. And they make this their own.

The Flaming Lips covering War Pigs by Black Sabbath
Another great Lips cover.

Someone covering Toxic by Britney Spears
Don’t know who this girl is, but she’s got an amazing voice.

Once again, I didn’t get around to this until Tuesday. Oh well.

Earlier this year I discovered a band called The Airborne Toxic Event. They didn’t yet have an album, but after hearing Sometime Around Midnight I immediately downloaded their EP Does This Mean You’re Moving On?, searched everything I could find about them on YouTube and started frequenting their Myspace for new songs.

I can’t overstate how great I think this band is. I can count on one hand (Ok, maybe two) the number of times I have discovered an artist or band about which I wouldn’t change a thing.

Sometime Around Midnight really is a perfect song. It’s about a guy descending into a drunken despair as he watches the woman he loves leave a club with another man. Even if you have never experienced this, the song hits on so many feelings and emotions that you can’t help but see yourself in the lyrics.

Musically, the song is also perfect. Staring softly and gradually building to a string-swept wall of crunching sound, Midnight leaves you feeling completely satisfied.

Finding such a great song is even rarer than finding great bands, for me at least. I remember a similar feeling when I first heard the Goo Goo Doll’s Black Balloon more than a decade ago.

But Midnight is a perfect example of what this band does best — somehow taking the little, day-to-day circles of modern life and romance and turning them into art.

The other thing I love about this band is their incredible literariness. The fact that their name comes from a Don DeLillo novel is telling, in my opinion. I walk away from this album with same feeling with which I walk away from great novels and films. Front man Mikel Jollett talks/sings about the same things that so many other bands do, but in a way that is transcendent and profoundly affecting.

Based out of Los Feliz, Calif. Airborne’s sound is frantic, nerve-stripped and raw. I don’t know exactly how to categorize them except to say they affect a kind of post-punk/new-wave-ish intensity, but don’t succumb to banality of similar-sounding acts.

I hope you catch just how much I love this band. They are worth a listen, even if not what you would normally go for.

With the release of their self-titled album they have broadened their tour and would be worth seeing live if in your area. They’re going to be in Atlanta in September and I can’t wait for that.

The Toxic Airborne Event has been a truly amazing discovery for me and with only one album and and EP has become one of my favorite bands. I hope they continue their current trajectory on future projects.

Check them out. (If you’re an eMusic subscriber, you can get the album there.)

OK, so EVERYBODY has some sort of music post where they share their musical meanderings of the past week or so.

But that’s because they’re cool. I love these kinds of posts because I like to find out what people are listening to and I like to discover new music.

So, here it is at the Gently Mad. The first Music Monday, er Tuesday post.

I’ve discovered a couple bands lately that have been great. Every now and then I’ll stuble across a band or musician that that is so awesome, it makes all the time spent wading through all the crap worth it.

Here are a couple that have proved to be great.

Frightened Rabbit

Hailing from Glasgow, these guys are a little bit Snow Patrol, a little bit Counting Crows and all around great. Great songwriting, great sound.

Album: The Midnight Organ Fight

Song: Backwards Walk

Why are the best songs always about breaking up?

Blind Pilot

Straight up folk. And I love it. They sound like I would image This Shins would sound on VH1 Storytellers.

Album: 3 Rounds and a Sound

Song: Paint or Pollen

Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken

Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken’s new EP has been out for a while now, but I’ve found myself listening to it quite a bit. I’ve always thought Derek Webb was a great writer of love songs and this EP showcases his skills in this area.

EP: Ampersand

Song: Watch Your Mouth

I’m a big Counting Crows fan, mainly for Adam Duritz’s writing. Many of my friends hate the band, but I never tire of Duritz’s never-ending stream-of-conscious introspective musings.

I did a wordle of all his lyrics just to see what words came up most frequently. I think it’s safe to say Duritz is the king of existential introspectiveness…

If you’re unfamiliar with wordle, go here.

If you’re unfamiliar with Counting Crows, shame on you.

I know I probably overdo the mix-tape. I have given my wife a CD compilation for every significant occasion so far in our relationship. Our first Christmas, our first Valentine’s Day, her birthday, our first anniversary — all perfect occasions for the perfect mix.

Fortunately, my wife puts up with my high school antics because she is just as much of a music lover as I am. One area of musical taste that we do not share, however, is hip hop. She loves it. I, on the other hand, have never been a fan. But thanks to a couple friends who are true connoisseurs, I have come to appreciate authentic hip hop quite a bit.

I say authentic because, as I have learned, there is a massive difference between the rap that you hear on top 40 radio stations and real hip hop, which, historically has been far more influenced by jazz and soul.

So I set out to make my wife a hip hop mix that truly captured how I felt about her and what she meant to me.

This was far more complicated than it sounds. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find great hip hop love songs that aren’t completely misogynistic?

I had several rules. First, the songs had to actually express how I felt. Two, they had to be love songs. Three, they had to be true hip hop, not r&b, which often gets lumped into the genre.

This made putting together the mix a lot harder than I expected, because there are a lot of great loves songs that are r&b and a lot of great hip hop tracks that aren’t love songs.

Nevertheless, after spending nearly two months just listening to hip hop and exploring this genre I put together, what I think, is a phenomenal mix that will appeal to lovers of great hip hop and lovers of great music in general.

So without further adieu, here’s the list. Most of these you can sample on iTunes. Others I spent quite a while tracking down.

By Your Side
1. OutKast: The Love Below (Intro)
2. Count Bass D: Seven Years
3. Common: The Light
4. C.L. Smooth & Pete Rock: Searching
5. Lyrics Born: I Can’t Wait for Your Love
6. Method Man: I’ll Be There for You
7. De La Soul: Eye Know
8. Guru: Trust Me
9. World Renown: Butter Love
10. Common: Come Close
11. OutKast: Prototype

What do you think? Have you ever made a mix that you now look back on and cringe? If you were to make one for your special person today, what would be on it?