Best Indie Songs of 2009
Read moreDec 23, 2009 8:45 pm
A lot of great indie/alternative music was released this year. So much that I wanted to write a post to share a few of my favorites. Of course, creating a fair, comprehensive "best of" list is next to impossible, unless you base it on sales statistics or some other popularity data. This list is highly biased by my own musical taste and perhaps would be better entitled "Indie songs of 2009 that sound best to me". Anyway, in no particular order, here are my picks:
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
If it were possible for bits to get worn out by repetitive plays, I would have worn them down to their electronic stubs with this song. What's interesting is the song is very noisy. Everything seems dirty and distorted, from the guitars to the string accompaniment in the song's solo. But despite this sonic rustiness, it has very catchy melodies, particularly the guitar/piano/xylophone melody in the chorus.
Headlights - Get Going
Although it isn't quite as addictive as their previous album's Get Your Head Around It (another song whose bits were worn down considerably), Get Going is an excellent song. Or maybe I just have a thing for dreamy, double-tracked vocals sung on top of glittering layers of acoustic and electric guitars.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You
This is what My Bloody Valentine might sound like in a brighter mood (and without all the pitch bending). It's one of those songs where the vocals are slightly buried in the wall of distorted guitars, but that's okay because we still feel the warmth as they sing from their (pure? ... painful?) hearts.
We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
Awesome and anything but quiet. And yeah, where is my jetpack anyway?
The Clientele - Never Anyone But You
Speaking of quiet, this one's on the softer side, but definitely worth the listen. The gentle guitars and pleasant ringing of the organ, accompanied by strings are all beautiful, but The Clientele has another beauty on their minds... "I can only see you".
White Rabbits - They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong
This feels like a driving song; one that you might listen to on a long road trip. Everything about it (especially the travelling-style beat) assist in the motion that carries it on full-speed ahead. It's a trip I'm happy to take over and over again.
Papercuts - A Dictator's Lament
It's in the bass that almost sounds like a timpani, warm organ, and the lamenting vocals that bring this track to the list. It's not quite 2007's Dear Employee, but enjoyable nevertheless.
Wilco - One Wing
So many of the elements that make Wilco great are present in this song. From the exceptional drumming and guitar work to the harmonious chorus led by Jeff Tweedy's unique voice, One Wing is One Winner.
Kings of Convenience - Freedom And Its Owner
Of all the songs on the new Kings of Convenience album, this one has the perfect balance of guitars, piano, and two-part vocal harmonies. It's the song I've been waiting for ever since Quiet Is The New Loud's brilliant I Don't Know What I Can Save You From.
Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
I was about to put Panic Switch on this list when I remembered my more favorite track from Swoon: The Royal We. I love the way Brian Aubert belts this one out beyond his normal singing register in the second half of the song. Also the constant battle between the orchestra and the raging guitars seems like a production challenge that was pulled off perfectly.
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Bouncy old-style piano chords, interweaving vocal harmonies, trembling guitar riffs, topped off with hopelessly romantic lyrics make this another instant classic.
William Fitzsimmons - If You Would Come Back Home
Listening to Fitzsimmons' album about dealing with divorce is heart-breaking, but somehow he twists the loneliness and regret into something soft, forgiving, and beautiful. You can particularly hear it in this track, which expresses the loss and love he feels in every emotional note.
Miike Snow - Burial
You would almost expect the gloomy lyrics of Burial ("Now it's the funeral / I become the serial killer of us all") to be somewhat depressing, but the song remains uplifting by its poppy nature.
The Wooden Birds - The Other One
This one instantly gets stuck in your head and won't leave. Acoustic pop at its finest. Doo-do-do-doo.
Phoenix - Rome
Probably anything from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix could go on this list, especially 1901, but Rome is the song I've played the most. It's highly polished and singable "always and forever more."
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
If it were possible for bits to get worn out by repetitive plays, I would have worn them down to their electronic stubs with this song. What's interesting is the song is very noisy. Everything seems dirty and distorted, from the guitars to the string accompaniment in the song's solo. But despite this sonic rustiness, it has very catchy melodies, particularly the guitar/piano/xylophone melody in the chorus.
Headlights - Get Going
Although it isn't quite as addictive as their previous album's Get Your Head Around It (another song whose bits were worn down considerably), Get Going is an excellent song. Or maybe I just have a thing for dreamy, double-tracked vocals sung on top of glittering layers of acoustic and electric guitars.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You
This is what My Bloody Valentine might sound like in a brighter mood (and without all the pitch bending). It's one of those songs where the vocals are slightly buried in the wall of distorted guitars, but that's okay because we still feel the warmth as they sing from their (pure? ... painful?) hearts.
We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
Awesome and anything but quiet. And yeah, where is my jetpack anyway?
The Clientele - Never Anyone But You
Speaking of quiet, this one's on the softer side, but definitely worth the listen. The gentle guitars and pleasant ringing of the organ, accompanied by strings are all beautiful, but The Clientele has another beauty on their minds... "I can only see you".
White Rabbits - They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong
This feels like a driving song; one that you might listen to on a long road trip. Everything about it (especially the travelling-style beat) assist in the motion that carries it on full-speed ahead. It's a trip I'm happy to take over and over again.
Papercuts - A Dictator's Lament
It's in the bass that almost sounds like a timpani, warm organ, and the lamenting vocals that bring this track to the list. It's not quite 2007's Dear Employee, but enjoyable nevertheless.
Wilco - One Wing
So many of the elements that make Wilco great are present in this song. From the exceptional drumming and guitar work to the harmonious chorus led by Jeff Tweedy's unique voice, One Wing is One Winner.
Kings of Convenience - Freedom And Its Owner
Of all the songs on the new Kings of Convenience album, this one has the perfect balance of guitars, piano, and two-part vocal harmonies. It's the song I've been waiting for ever since Quiet Is The New Loud's brilliant I Don't Know What I Can Save You From.
Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
I was about to put Panic Switch on this list when I remembered my more favorite track from Swoon: The Royal We. I love the way Brian Aubert belts this one out beyond his normal singing register in the second half of the song. Also the constant battle between the orchestra and the raging guitars seems like a production challenge that was pulled off perfectly.
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Bouncy old-style piano chords, interweaving vocal harmonies, trembling guitar riffs, topped off with hopelessly romantic lyrics make this another instant classic.
William Fitzsimmons - If You Would Come Back Home
Listening to Fitzsimmons' album about dealing with divorce is heart-breaking, but somehow he twists the loneliness and regret into something soft, forgiving, and beautiful. You can particularly hear it in this track, which expresses the loss and love he feels in every emotional note.
Miike Snow - Burial
You would almost expect the gloomy lyrics of Burial ("Now it's the funeral / I become the serial killer of us all") to be somewhat depressing, but the song remains uplifting by its poppy nature.
The Wooden Birds - The Other One
This one instantly gets stuck in your head and won't leave. Acoustic pop at its finest. Doo-do-do-doo.
Phoenix - Rome
Probably anything from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix could go on this list, especially 1901, but Rome is the song I've played the most. It's highly polished and singable "always and forever more."
The Sweet Sounds of Free Music
Read moreNov 17, 2009 11:46 pm
I recently discovered that Amazon.com offers tons of free songs for download, including full albums. Follow this link to see the full list. (Or go to Amazon, click on mp3 downloads and find the free music link.)
At first I was skeptical when I saw this, thinking it would only have songs by obscure, unknown bands. And, while it does have a lot of those, there are still quite a few songs that are worth the download. Out of the 1,327 songs currently listed, there's bound to be something you'll find interesting.
At first I was skeptical when I saw this, thinking it would only have songs by obscure, unknown bands. And, while it does have a lot of those, there are still quite a few songs that are worth the download. Out of the 1,327 songs currently listed, there's bound to be something you'll find interesting.
Snow Patrol's New Album
Read moreNov 2, 2008 3:09 pm
Woohoo! Snow Patrol just came out with a new album! It's called A Hundred Million Suns.
Even from the opening song, you can hear how much they have improved over the years. At the same time they have kept their distinctive sound. They have some catchy songs this time around, like Take Back the City and Lifeboats ("Send your lifeboats out for me~"). The song Engines sounds like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and Collective Soul, an interesting combination. The album also has their longest song, which runs just over 16 minutes.
Some people complain that this album has nothing compared to Chasing Cars, but I think amongst this hundred million suns, there are a few brilliant stars.
Even from the opening song, you can hear how much they have improved over the years. At the same time they have kept their distinctive sound. They have some catchy songs this time around, like Take Back the City and Lifeboats ("Send your lifeboats out for me~"). The song Engines sounds like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and Collective Soul, an interesting combination. The album also has their longest song, which runs just over 16 minutes.
Some people complain that this album has nothing compared to Chasing Cars, but I think amongst this hundred million suns, there are a few brilliant stars.
Long Lost Friend Found: SelectCurrentWord
Read moreOct 21, 2009 1:19 pm
In versions previous to Visual Studio 2008, there was a keystroke that I used all the time: CTRL + W. This selected the current word that your cursor was on in the code. However, once I upgraded to Visual Studio 2008, they remapped that keystroke. After a lot of Google searching, I finally stumbled upon the new keystroke: SHIFT + CTRL + W!
I feel like I've found my long, lost friend.
I feel like I've found my long, lost friend.
IE8 Compatibility View Icon Proposal
Read moreApr 7, 2009 6:05 pm
Cleaning Visual Studio Recent Projects
Read moreMar 11, 2009 6:46 pm
If you have ever changed the path of a Visual Studio project, you have probably discovered that a broken link remains in the "Recent Projects" section on the start page. If you click the broken link, Visual Studio informs you that the project is missing and asks if you would like to remove it from the list. This works fine for one project, but if you have moved several projects, the Recent Projects list becomes polluted with broken links.
I wanted to find a way to clean up that list, so that only valid projects were displayed. Fortunately, there is a way--by using the good, ol' registry.
The project links are stored under this path in the registry: (the 8.0 part may be different depending on your version of Visual Studio):
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\ProjectMRUList
If you navigate to this path in regedit, you can manage the list. I ended up just deleting all of the entries to give me a clean slate. After doing that, when I loaded up Visual Studio, the Recent Projects list was cleared. I was then able to open each project manually, which repopulates the list with the correct project paths. You could also modify the paths for each entry, but I was too lazy for that. ;)
I wanted to find a way to clean up that list, so that only valid projects were displayed. Fortunately, there is a way--by using the good, ol' registry.
The project links are stored under this path in the registry: (the 8.0 part may be different depending on your version of Visual Studio):
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\ProjectMRUList
If you navigate to this path in regedit, you can manage the list. I ended up just deleting all of the entries to give me a clean slate. After doing that, when I loaded up Visual Studio, the Recent Projects list was cleared. I was then able to open each project manually, which repopulates the list with the correct project paths. You could also modify the paths for each entry, but I was too lazy for that. ;)