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Showing posts with label coconut records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coconut records. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Spring? Summer? Gethen?

To Noah and the Whale: what were you thinking releasing this now, boys? It's already summer! Our minds are too busy thinking of huge heart-shaped sunglasses, big tasty cocktails with yellow umbrellas in them, kids with Cloudberry Records T-shirts at festivals, polka-dot bathing suits! We're too distracted by all the annoying racquetball-playing men in Speedos - we can't go back to butterflies and swallows and blossoms! And what's with all the bleakness? It's June! You better plan your recording sessions accordingly so songs about seasons are actually released in the respective season. Ahem. All that said, pretty good song.
Now here's a band that has got its seasons right. The song is still not the hand-clapping, belly-shaking, happy-whistling pop that you would want to hear on a beach, but it's just so good it will have to do. I never could whistle anyway.

"And when we're middle aged,
You tell me I loved you like a renegade
And how I say the things that make you sway.
And mostly I tell you you did the same.

And once in a while,
I know our hearts beat out of time.
And once in a while,
I know they'll fall back in line."
No matter how many times I hear this, the fact that a song with backing vocals by Kirsten Dunst - aka Interview With a Vampire, Spiderman, Mary Antoinette girl and protagonist of a Savage Garden video back in the day - can be so good never ceases to amaze me.

Illustrations by Francisca Pageo and Lisa Kettel
P.S. Noah and the Whale also have a pretty cool cover of Girlfriend in a Coma & Laura Marling a cover of Mary and Rocks & Daggers mashed together in a Noah and the Whale medley - if you're a NATW fan, make sure to look them up on Hype Machine/Elbo.ws!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

What would I do if I could have these songs dedicated to me today, but 10000 miles away someone else would fall off a bike and die ? Hmmm...



So, Valentine's Day has come again. You know that all over the world men, women and, especially, teenage boys are going to be dedicating "Creep", "Hallelujah" and uhm... "I Will Always Love You" to their loved ones. Leonard Cohen, Bright Eyes, and Brian Adams, Death Cab for Cutie, Magnetic Fields, and The Beatles will be heard on stereos, ipods and gramophones (for the old-school) all day long. If you don't want to bore your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband/crush with the same ol' same ol' here are some lo-fi and possibly less known songs that are begging to be dedicated to someone, so don't let them down :)


(The Robot Ate Me - Apricot Tea)
This song gives me goosebumps every time.


"If you want to lay at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean,
I'll be the one that comes with my ship and drops the anchor down.
Will you be the one that smiles for me?
I'll bake you muffins and apricot tea.


If you want to glide in the night sky,
I'll be the one that comes with my plane and pulls the stars out of the night,
And brings them to the day for you.


Oh, will you be the one that smiles for me?
I'll bake you muffins and apricot tea"


(Coconut Records - This Old Machine)
Everything in two sentences.

"This old machine has been good to me
All of my life
I have waited for you
Waited for you

Waited for you

Waited for you.
"

(Paul Baribeau - Strawberry [Acoustic])

This version is so much better than the one on "Yikes"!


"To say that you are cute would be like saying a strawberry is sweet,
'Cause a strawberry has secret flavors that are sharp, and tart, and red, and deep
And I would love to find you growing wild out by the woods,
I would make a basket with the front of my t-shirt,
and take home as many of you as I could.
And to say that you are pretty would be like saying that the ocean is blue,
'Cause the ocean is full of all kinds of colors,
and I see all kinds of things when I look at you
And I want to explore you
with my tennis shoes off
Standing ankle deep in a tide pool
with my khaki pants rolled up.
And to say that you are funny would be like saying that the night sky is black,

'Cause the night sky is filled with stars and comets and planets that no one has seen yet
And I want to look at you lying down on my front lawn
I'll try to take you all in at once, but you just go on and on and on..."




(Elephant Parade - Boat Song)
I want to fly in a balloon too.


"I want to sleep on a boat
And I'll sail away with you
Oh, but the winds are much to strong
And I am feeing weak so...
So, I want to fly on a balloon

And I want to fly with you

Oh, but the winds are much to strong

And I am feeling weak
so...
So, I don't know if you like to sleep on boats, too
I won't make you go
But you'll come, I know
I know.
"

(Chasing Dorotea - The Anchor Song)

Those who know it, love it.

"You've gotta a sparkle in your heart stronger than the brightest sun
And every time you come around I know for sure that you're the one
You're the parachute that saves me when I feel the need to jump

You're the records that I play and you sing the songs I need to hear

There is an ocean in your eyes deeper than the dark blue sea

And every time you fall asleep I want the waves to swallow me

You're the island that I swim to when I need to find a rock

You're the cables that connect me when I need to feel attached to something"


Both illustrations found here.