Songs For March 23rd, 2013

Why not add photos? Blogs with content solely composed by mediocre writing have a short shelf life. I'm diversifying. Yes, now with addition of this picture this blog will stand the test of time. I like to take photos of neat things, and if I can share my musical tastes, why not share some neat photos that I've taken? -- and by extension, things I've seen that I've felt warranted a photo. I read somewhere that men are more likely to take photos of places, rather than people and women are the opposite. I don't know if this is true, but I can say that I am a man and most of my pictures are pictures of places. I think once I've finished this blog entry, I'll go back and add photos to my other blog posts.

Anyway, on to My Songs For March 23rd, 2013.

1) "Hope In The Air" by Laura Marling. A friend of mine suggested that I listen to Laura Marling's work. Depending on the person, I will indulge or I wont. I did, and I am thankful and glad I did. I have been circling her 2010 album "I Speak Because I Can"and there are many standout tracks, but "Hope In The Air" is my favourite at the moment.

2) "Take This Waltz" by Leonard Coen. The sections of this song where it turns to a duet is nothing short of powerful.

3) "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra. In all honesty, this song can get old quickly but it builds and builds into a flash of pure brilliance. From 2:35 to 3:06 is why I listen to this song -- in fact, sometimes, I wish it was just its own song.

4) "Reno Dakota" by The Magnetic Fields. This week I have been kind of fascinated by songs written to places. I often think of cities as characters, and in this way, a song to a city doesn't seem to out of place. It's strange, often a song about a place can reveal more about the writer than a personal passage.

5) "El Paso" by Danielle Ate The Sandwich. Again with the theme of songs to places. Another strong example.

6) "Trinity (Titoli)" by Annibale E I Cantori Moderni. This song is on the 'Django Unchained' soundtrack. It's a showboaty, broadway show kind of song. It's over-the-top, ridiculous, and that's not a bad thing.

7) "Devil's Spoke" by Laura Marling. This is the opening track to "I Speak Because I Can" and it builds into this angry folksy, country, banjo-picking, foot stompin' thing of beauty.

8) "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane. I re-watched "A Serious Man" the other day. Enough said.

9) "Ginger Bread Man" by Rapskallion. I was told that this carnivalesque band hung out in Melbourne side-streets and that they put on a really good show. This is a song they wrote describing the "eternal optimism" of a smiling gingerbread man. As they aptly explain, it's strange that this "cheeky chappy... will soon be eaten.".

10) "City Middle" by The National. This is easily one of my favourite songs. Ever. Just because it snuck on my top ten for the week shouldn't suggest it would rank any lower on "My Top 10 Favourite Songs" list.

A student asked me yesterday what my favourite song was. I told him that I wasn't sure, but that I would think about. I have thought about it and I think that will be next week's entry: Jakob's Favourite Songs. I'll pick 10 to make it challenging.