Good Weather For Airstrikes

Seriously, my face still hurts from getting rocked off by Ted Leo on Saturday night. Mr. Leo and his merry band of pharmacists (featuring Abraham Lincoln on the drums… the guy on the right in the picture) rolled through New York City on their current tour on Saturday, and I took the train up to see them, as well as to visit the always fantastic Kathryn Arffa and the equally marvelous Carrie Shiffrin, who accompanied me to the concert. Despite Kathryn and Carrie’s persistent comments on the cuteness of the bassist, the concert was amazing. It was on pace to be the best show I’d seen all year, but the song distribution on the setlist could have been MUCH better. First of all, he didn’t play “Since U Been Gone”, which would be understandable if he didn’t want to alienate the rest of the band, but he ended up playing four solo songs in the encore anyway, so I was upset (as a consolation, you can download it below). Apparently much of the rest of the crowd was as well, because there were frequent screamed requests for it. Also, he used up all of his best songs (”Me and Mia”, “Counting Down The Hours”, “Timorous Me”, “Little Dawn”, “One Who Got Us Out”, “Biomusicology”… all of them) in the main set leaving nothing of worth for the encore (at least in my opinion).

Ted Leo is definitely one of my favorite artists (I mean, he’s been M3′d four times, which I believe is second only to Bloc Party), but he issue for me is that half of his songs I absolutely love, and the other half I could do without. In fact of the half that I love, a bunch of those are some of my favorite songs of all time (”Biomusicology”, “Timorous Me”, “Me and Mia”, “Counting Down The Hours”). It’s just unfortunate that the encore contained only songs from the half I don’t love, but it’s conceivable that they are great songs and I just haven’t given them enough of a chance (a couple of them I didn’t even recognize). Ted tore through all of the songs (seriously I think “Counting Down The Hours” might have lasted less than a minute) injecting them with awesome new energy and life, and was just an all-around incredible performer, jumping all over the stage and even giving the audience some very funny witty in-between-song banter. After much deliberation and calculation, it’s been determined that Ted Leo is officially my favorite person over 40 (sorry Denzel, Training Day was awesome and all, but this contest wasn’t even close). Also, the drummer, whose name I don’t know so he will be from here on referred to as Abraham, was incredible, at times even looking “like he was going to die he played so hard” according to Zack Friendly, who saw TL/Rx the week before in Baltimore (which would have been a much more economically sensible thing for me to do). He did this awesome thing where he would hit the drum and then twirl the drumstick through his fingers before hitting it again. He is now officially my second favorite drummer, behind only Bloc Party’s immaculate Matt Tong, who Pitchfork once called “the most technically proficient drummer” in music right now. As for the other songs, the crowd, myself included, went crazy during “Me and Mia”, and “Biomusicology” changed my life a little bit. Long story short, Ted Leo is an INCREDIBLE live performer on par with the Arcade Fire in terms of energy (but not in terms of number of performers) and Bright Eyes in terms of intensity (but not in terms of quavering).The Exit, who opened the show (Black Hollies also opened but we missed them), did a fantastic job. They’re really a great live band - I’ve seen them once before opening for Rx Bandits - that I unfortunately don’t enjoy nearly as much on recording, but they have one song, “Don’t Push”, that’s really great. They had a highly energetic performance that I think the crowd really enjoyed, and they do a great job with their dual vocals and looping techniques (as is evident on “Don’t Push”). The Exit released their second album, Home For An Island, at the end of last summer, but are planning a re-release featuring

Download “Don’t Push”, along with a bunch of great Ted Leo MP3s and the video for “Me and Mia”, below. There are so many incredible Ted Leo songs, so I’m just going to post the ones I’ve not yet put on an M3 mix (TL/Rx were featured on M3 V1, V3, Zack Friendly’s Guest Edition, and Rock Edition)… as for the pre-Good Weather For Airstrikes M3s, for those who want/need them I will be doing my best to post them over the Christmas break. And just as a side note, “Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone” was named the # best single of the last five years on Pitchfork’s Top 100 Singles of 2000-2004 list (which is kind of a big deal), and is frequently used (or at least it use to be) as the bumper music (what they play as they go to commercial or come back from commercial) on MTV’s TRL.

UNNECESSARY LYRICAL ANALYSIS THAT WON’T BE OF INTEREST TO 90% OF THE READERS: “Me and Mia” was recently propelled from the “awesome song” category to “amazing lyrical masterpiece” status, and also earned the title “best and happiest song about eating disorders ever” upon the aforementioned Zack Friendly informing me what the song is really about. We all knew Leo could right compellingly political anti-Bush lyrics, but turns out he’s not just a one trick pony, as the “me and Mia, Ann and Ana” chorus actually refers to eating disorders ( the “me and Mia, Ann and Anna” chorus actually is referring to bulemia and anorexia (”me and [bule]mia, Ann and ana[rexia]”). This insight brings new meaning (or just, you know, the correct meaning) to the rest of the lyrics (”fighting for the smallest goal to gain a little self-control, won’t anybody here just let you dissappear”) and really ties the whole song together neatly. For the full lyrics and further analysis, if that’s your kind of thing, go here.

MP3s:
“Don’t Push” - The Exit
“Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists*
“Hearts of Oak” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists*
“The High Party” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists*
“Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists*
“Me and Mia” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists^ [highly recommended]
“Little Dawn” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists^ [highy recommended]
“Since U Been Gone” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists [highly recommended]

* = from 2003’s Hearts of Oak [buy]
^ = from 2004’s Shake The Sheets [buy]
Video:
“Me and Mia” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The video’s alright I guess. It’s very high resolution, but it’s just a video of Ted and the gang playing above a Ray’s Pizza in NYC, and then in the middle of the song Ted goes downstairs for a slice before returning to close it out. I used to always be like “Yo, Ted, you’re filming a music video, man. Can’t you wait until the song’s over to grab a slice, like couldn’t you have gotten something before you came?”. But now that I know the song is about eating disorders it makes sense and I’m all “Oh, alright Ted, I feel that”. Also, this video is good because you get to see Abraham Lincoln in all his percussive glory.

As for the main body of this post, sometimes I use parentheses way too much. Sorry. It happens.

Hey, so Derek is buried under the immense weight of finals week, and as a result the noble GWFAS website has suffered slightly, so he’s handing me the reins for today. It’s been a while since I’ve posted over here, so Derek has decided that two birds could be killed with one stone here: I could both reintroduce myself to the GWFAS-reading public, and I could keep the masses happy with a selection of some of my recommended tunes. Basically, this post is the stone. And, as a reward for reading all that, I present to you ten songs that I’ve been enjoying recently, with basically no theme to tie them together. Here goes:

NOTE: Derek told me “In anticipation of the haters who will complain that you’re posting files in .m4a/AAC format, just tell them to wake up and get iTunes or fucking deal with it. Alienating readers is so hot right now.” So yeah, they’re in .m4a format, converting them just to post them here would be an absurd waste of my time. Also, Derek wants me to inform you that the Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show he saw in NYC last weekend was “mind-blowing” and promises he will post on it shortly. But yeah, anyway, AACs below:

Shout Out Louds, The Comeback
I bought this album a month or so ago and I like it. I especially like this song.

Johnathan Rice, So Sweet
Apparently this song was on some O.C. mixtape, so you’re either in the ‘I love it cause the O.C. does’ camp (unlikely) or the ‘I can’t like it cause it was on the O.C. ‘ camp. Basically, I don’t care, listen to this song cause its good (once you get past the voice… kind of gruff).

The Polyphonic Spree, Light & Day/Reach for the Sun
This song is just really happy.

Ladytron, International Dateline
This is my favorite song from Ladytron’s new album, Witching Hour.

The Clientele, (I Can’t Seem To) Make You Mine
This song is dreamy in the sense that it actually feels like you’re dreaming while you listen to it. It’s odd, but definitely in a good way.

The Rosebuds, Blue Bird
Regardless of what anybody else has to say on the matter, I personally think this song is freaking adorable.

Jens Lekman, Black Cab
Depending on who you ask, Jens Lekman is either so hot right now or about to be. This is your opportunity to either ride the trend or beat it.

The Avalanches, Since I Left You
Speaking of Jens Lekman, this song was around long before his track “Maple Leaves” came about, but that song and “Since I Left You” share the fact that they both sample the same whimsically happy tune.

The Boy Least Likely To, Be Gentle With Me
This song may not have been posted in the timeliest fashion, but it recently came up when I put my iTunes on shuffle and I was reminded of how innocently sweet it was.

And now, the moment you haven’t been waiting for because you didn’t know it was going to happen: I present to you what is, in my personal opinion, the best song Ryan Adams has released in 2005. I think that 29, which comes out the Tuesday before Christmas (I believe), is better than Cold Roses (which I liked) and Jacksonville City Nights combined, and this is my favorite song from the soon-to-be-released 29, a Good Weather For Airstrikes exclusive:

Ryan Adams, Night Birds

Thanks for your time,
Evro signing off until next time.

This week has been a great week in terms of 2006 album leaks (but not nearly as great in terms of finals and term papers). Late last week Jenny Lewis new solo album sprung a leak and gave us all something to be excited about, and as if that wasn’t enough, Belle & Sebastian’s upcoming LP, The Life Pursuit, which doesn’t come out until February 7th (!!) trickled onto the internet two days ago (UPDATE: Blake Sennet [of Rilo Kiley’s] second album from his solo project The Elected just leaked, as did the new Strokes release… so check back for that later). While I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest Belle & Sebastian fan (I have almost all of their releases, but I wouldn’t say they’re one of my favorite bands), I do enjoy their blissful harmonies, whimsical stylings and their brand of catchy shoegazing indie rock. While I haven’t listened to the new album enough to really come to a conclusion about how it stacks up against their previous releases, I have been enjoying two of the songs immensely: lead single “Funny Little Frog” and the wonderful “White Collar Boy”. “White Collar Boy” opens with a dirty synth line (think the the opening synth line of The Faint’s “Glass Danse”… or maybe that’s just me) and features wonderful sing-song choruses and harmonizing back-up vocals. The fact that the lead single’s title is “Funny Little Frog” is enough of a reason for me to like it, but then lead singer Stuart Murdoch rhymes “poet” with “funny little frog in my throat” (think: “thro-et”) and I’m sold. Download those two below, along with my all-time favorite B&S song, “The Boy With An Arab Strap”.

Also, I’d like to take this time to draw attention to one of my favorite music sites on the internet, Red Light Glow. RLG posts full albums to make them available for download, sometimes upwards of 20 in one day, and is the go-to place for all the latest advances and leaks (I picked up both the new Jenny Lewis and the new B&S from there, and they just yesterday posted the new Beck remix album, Guerolito), as well as older great albums and lots of rarities (I grabbed Stars’ tour-only EP, Dead Child Stars, from there the other day). They even have a request section where you can request an album and they’ll do their best to post it, and more often than not they come through. If illegal downloading is your thing, then I couldn’t recommend this site more. However, the site uses Rapidshare for all downloading, so if you don’t know how to use that, go here for a very easy and very helpful tutorial courtesy of the Regnyouth Archives (another fantastic downloading site).

NOTE: Good Weather For Airstrikes does not condone illegal downloading. Support the artists. Any leaked album I download I make sure to purchase when it’s eventually released, and most of the other albums I download are not yet available in the United States, and I download them only as an alternative to paying ridiculous import prices.

MP3s:
“White Collar Boy” - Belle & Sebastian [highly recommended]
“Funny Little Frog” - Belle & Sebastian
“The Boy With An Arab Strap” - Belle & Sebastian [highly recommended]

You can also head over to You Ain’t No Picasso to download two more tracks, the live and album versions of “Another Sunny Day”, another stand out track on the album.

Awh yeah, M3 Holiday Edition, or “Holla’day Edition” as it’s known on the streets, is finally here. Holiday Edish should serve as the perfect indie soundtrack to decking the halls, hanging the stockings with care, and whatever other crazy stuff you kids do these days. First I must apologize to my Jewish readers (i.e. everyone at Maret ever), there is a glaring dearth of indie Chanukah songs out there, and none of them made the cut. But rest assured, this album is still worthy of your ears, and I hope this can be a non-denominationally enjoyable listening experience. But to each their own. Anyway, highlights include Sufjan’s flawless “Elf Dance”, Fall Out Boy’s “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” (yeah, they’re not indie, get over it), Rilo Kiley’s extremely sad (but also extremely good) “Christmas Cake”, and the Studio X Session (slightly more acoustic, piano brought to the front of the mix) version of “The New Year” by omgz-have-u-heard-this-awesome-new-band Death Cab For Cutie. Feist and Lisa Hannigan (Damien Rice’s back up vocalist) also offer up soulful renditions of Christmas classics, and PAS/CAL, usually known for fun, summery anthems contribute a great new version (with some new lyrics) of “Last Christmas”. Even The Go! Team chips in with a wintery hot jam, “The Ice Storm”. And of course Sufjan is well represented, contributing two instrumentals in addition to “Elf Dance”.

I hope everyone enjoys this and I wish you all a happy holiday season, yours truly could not possibly have a bad Christmas considering the video iPod he knows is awaiting him under the tree. Happy Holla’days.

M3 Holiday Edition MP3s:
1. “Angels We Have Heard On High” - Sufjan Stevens
2. “The Ice Storm” - The Go! Team
3. “Come On! Let’s Boogey To The Elf Dance!” - Sufjan Stevens
4. “Bizarre Christmas Incident” - Ben Folds
5. “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” - Fall Out Boy
6. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” - Death Cab For Cutie
7. “Christmas Cake” - Rilo Kiley
8. “Snowflake Music” - Mark Mothersbaugh
9. “Maybe This Christmas” - Ron Sexsmith
10. “The Christmas Song” - The Raveonettes
11. “Last Christmas” - PAS/CAL
12. “Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming” - Feist
13. “Silent Night” - Lisa Hannigan
14. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” - Sufjan Stevens
15. “The New Year” (Studio X Version) - Death Cab For Cutie