Always Like This

(compiled July 25, 2011)

Spotify playlist (not all tracks show up…see full list below):

*

Dust on the Ground– Bombay Bicycle Club

Lex– Ratatat

Secret Meeting– The National

Houdini– Foster the People

Curl Up Like A Dead Leaf And Go Where The Wind Blows– Bombay Bicycle Club

Guns Out– Young the Giant

Bomb– Band of Skulls

Noche Nada– GIVERS

Ten Cent Pistol– The Black Keys

Always Like This– Bombay Bicycle Club

Into the Mirror– Minus the Bear

Lessons Learned– Matt & Kim

I Saw You Blink– Stornoway

Half of Something Else– The Airborne Toxic Event

Rinse me down– Bombay Bicycle Club

Same Dream China– Gold Panda

Too Dramatic- Ra Ra Riot

Lover’s Spit– Broken Social Scene (with Feist)

*All songs available for download in my shared Dropbox folder and Spotify account!

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‘Dust on the Ground, ‘Curl Up Like a Dead Leaf and Go Where The Wind Blows,’ ‘Always Like This,’ and ‘Rinse me down’ are the first few Bombay Bicycle Club songs that really stuck to me when I first listened to their albums.  ‘Dust on the Ground’ on the Flaws album is more wholesome, acoustic version than the version on the Dust on the Ground EP, but I like them both equally. The version on Flaws reminds me a little bit of Mumford and Sons, who of course I STALK! My favorite lines of this songs are: “It’s that subtle way that you throw me down, and I’m inches above the dust on the ground” and “There’s an itch so slight, even when you’re gone…And I must wait until I’ve found the ground that you are walking on.”

‘Curl Up Like a Dead lead and Go Where the Wind Blows’ immediately drew me in with its really awesome guitar intro, and the little jam sesh that stars at about 3:24 into the song is also pretty sweet. And, main chorus- “Going back away, I waste away…Going back away, no way, no way”- reminds me of the thoughts that often run through my head when I think about going back to visit my hometown. While I love my parents and sister, I realize how important it was for me to get away and build my own life out here on the West Coast. Getting out of your comfort zone and learning to face challenges independently is one of the only ways you’ll grow to realize your utmost potential…at least that’s what I’m always encouraging people to do! I may also be biased because I’m very much an “Explorer” by nature. I never was one to be able to sit in one place for a long time. I often get the “Ants In The Pants” syndrome!

‘Always Like This‘ was another song that really stuck to me, hence it being the title of this playlist. I love the buildup to the fun lil’ guitar part that sneaks up about 30 seconds into the song. My favorite line in this one is: “Try to look proud, but you’re not in the slightest. It’s happening now and it’s always been like this.”

With a relaxing melody and tender voice, ‘Rinse Me down’ has a very soothing vibe to it and also has so much emotion wrapped into so few lyrics:

“Chasing the night

To make it right

Oh and you had it

Caught like a rabbit…

Told you to wait

But it’s too late

You got your man

Rinsing him down…

 Turning your head

To mine instead

Gave me the eyes 

Burning like light”

Bombay Bicycle Club is an indie rock and folk band from Crouch End, London. The band comprises: Jack Steadman (lead vocals, guitar), Jamie MacColl (guitar), Ed Nash (bass) and Suren de Saram (drums). Bombay Bicycle Club won the Best New Band award at the 2010 NME Awards on February 24, up against nominees such as The XX, The Big Pink, La Roux, The Olivers and Mumford & Sons. They have a new album called A Different Kid of Fix coming out next week! 🙂

‘Secret Meeting’ was my go-to song when I was kind of in a rut and wanted to sort of “disappear in a room,” as expressed in the opening verse of the song: “Didn’t anybody, didn’t anybody tell you…Didn’t anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?” I found this song very comforting, especially when all I wanted to do was disappear and sort of my thoughts alone, away from any distractions. That’s when I fell in love with the line in the next verse: “I’m sorry I missed you, I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain.” SO GOOD and so appropriate (at the time).

‘Guns Out’ is one of my favorite Young the Giant songs. I love the beginning line: “Get out your guns it’s time to start a fight…Whoa, and it won’t take too long, I want to make it right.” It totally reminds me of those times where you get into little tiffs with friends but you know that it won’t be long before you patch things up and get back on track. I also really like the line: “Just tell me we are going somewhere where the stars meet the sky.” (I get chills…)

“And so I stayed up all night,

Slept in all day

This is my sound”  (so rebellious and I LOVE IT!)

‘I saw you blink’ is a song by a band called Stornoway that I found out about through a friend Andy (Field) Aiken.  It has nice uplifting beat that always seems to put me in a good mood, even on a bad day.  Stornoway is a British alternative indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. It consists of singer and guitarist Brian Briggs; multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman, and the latter’s brother Rob on drums. The band is signed to the British independent record label, 4AD (also representing tUnE-yArDs, Bon Iver, The National, Iron & Wine, St. Vincent, and many other favorites)

‘Half of something else’ is a song on Airborne Toxic Event’s newest album, All At Once, that was released a few months ago.  I had been listening to this album nonstop before seeing them in concert in Sacramento on June 17^th, and this song ALWAYS seemed to reel me in with its awesome keyboard entrance. I find the lyrics really beautiful and interesting, and I admire the way they are in sync with the intensity of the instruments throughout the song. They def tell a cool story:

“On the night that we met 
You said that you wanted 
Something more from me       (so good)

And it was all that I could do

I remember your face, like a child 
The way that you blushed and 
The way that you smiled

And now it’s all that I can do 
And I wake up feeling new 
You’re so much more than I ever knew

So I think of all the years spent alone 
It’s like you’re searching for something 
To make you feel whole

Like a half of something else 
Like you’re half of something else 
Just a fraction of yourself

Don’t take it so hard, we did what we could 
There were no easy answers 
To be understood

And it was all that we could do 
We’re the only ones who knew 
Now all I think about is you.”

The first time I heard ‘Same Dream China’ off Gold Panda’s Luck Shriner album, I was like “OMG this is PHENOMINAL! How in the heck does this guy think up all these sounds in his head?!!” I absolutely LOVE the aggressive windchimes and the neat fusion of this windchimes sound with other elements at both 2 min and 3 min into the song. Lucky Shiner has been described as an “album of beat-driven electronic music that’s easy to fall in love with. In Gold Panda’s world, vinyl-static beats and heart-on-sleeve melancholia collide, and the results are breathtaking.” I am seeing Gold Panda at the Independent in San Francisco on October 23^rd. Le sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

‘Too Dramatic’ was one of my favorite’s of Ra Ra Riot’s newest album The Orchard. I love the violin intro, and also the way the violin picks its intensity following the line “You’re too dramatic…I don’t understand it!” I saw this song performed live at show in February and it was AWESOME. This is def a great song to rock out to when someone in your life is being, well, TOO DRAMATIC.

‘Lover’s spit’ is a song that was originally written by Broken Social Scene, but then later redone with Feist on vocals. I had include this version because I’ve always loved Feist and I’ve always thought her voice was unusually calming and unique. My favorite part of the song is when she sings, “You know it’s time, that we, grow old and do some SHIT.” HAHA…Always make me laugh. Such a good line, and such a beautiful and sexy song.