I was poking around my old music collection of ripped CDs (which the RIAA believes are illegal…) and stumbled on Death Cab for Cuties’ The New Year.  Given the proximity to New Year’s Eve, I threw together a quick playlist of songs appropriate for this time of year.

In another day and age, I would’ve burned a CD for my friends (or made a mix-tape).  Today, though, I blog it and let you get the mp3s.

This ‘A New Year’ playlist certainly leans stands firmly in the mainstream and won’t win me any awards with Pitchfork.  I did put some thought into the song ordering, and maybe you’ll notice, but maybe not. Whatever.  I like it.

You can download a zip file of these mp3s from yousendit for the next week (till 1/5/07).  You can also download an mp3 of the first song from suedo apmuza.

Anyway, here you go:

1. A Good Year for Roses (Counting Crows)
2. Losing a Whole Year (Third Eye Blind)
3. The Long Day is Over (Norah Jones)
4. The New Year (Death Cab for Cutie)
5. Setting Forth (Eddie Vedder)
6. Empty Hearts (Josh Ritter)
7. Either Way (Wilco)
8. Times Like These (Jack Johnson)

Happy New Year.

I saw Swell Season at the Regency Grand Ballroom on Friday, November 9th, 2007.   Swell Season is made of up Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard (lead singer from The Frames); their songs together eventually became the feature-length movie-musical Once.  I saw Glen Hansard with The Frames at the Somerville Theatre in Fall 2005 (opening for Josh Ritter) and even saw Swell Season in Fall 2006 in a short set opening for Damien Rice.  I enjoyed the previous shows … but not nearly as much as this most recent show.  Glen is even more powerful with just his voice and an acoustic guitar while Marketa is a reticent force. ‘Heartfelt’ is the best word I can use to describe both their songs and their performance.

A couple thoughts about the show:

1. Glen played the same beat-up guitar he played in the movie Once.  Great touch.
2. Marketa didn’t play The Hill, one of the best songs of the movie. 
3. Marketa didn’t say almost anything during the show.  Would’ve liked to hear her a little.
4. WOW I LOVE YOUTUBE: Glen did an amazing rendition of Van Morrison’s Into The Mystic. They also did a really fun version of a Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin Nowhere.  Ohhh-eeee….Ride me high, tomorrow’s the day my bride’s gonna come … (update: here’s a better video of the dylan cover.) 
5. For me, Leave was the most powerful song of the night.  Glen singing “Let go of my hand \ you said what you have to \ now Leave \ Leeaaveee …” Unforgettable.

And now for something completely different:

I was reading about Lewy Body Dementia (LBD, sort of like Alzheimers) today and put on the Once soundtrack for some background music.  Falling Slowly came on and froze me.  (If you want to listen along with me, download an mp3 of Falling Slowly.)

I had been reading lines such as the following:

• “An early typical sign of LBD is occasional loss of attention and alertness”
• “Persistent difficulties with short-term memory and recalling specific names of people or objects show up much later in LBD.”
• “…may have more difficulty responding appropriately during a conversation, such as finding the right words to express themselves or staying on the topic.”
• “…there may be signs of depression, such as increased irritability, poor concentration, lack of attention during interactions, sadness or a negative mood, poor appetite or sleep…”

All the while I was listening to Swell Season singing “I don’t know you” … “Words fall through me \ always fool me \ and I can’t react” … and

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can’t go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I’m painted black

It’s probably a stretch that the song is about dementia … I even heard Glen explain Falling Slowly as about ’seeing a girl across the room at a party and wanting her’ … but the meaning changed for me just now.

Important lesson: much like Helvetica (the font), a good song (like a good font) can hold many different meanings for many different messages to many different people. 

p.s. Here’s a poor quality cellphone picture I took at the show: