Song of the Day 53: Kid Cudi - Day n Nite

Hip-hop is kinda cool sometimes.

Song of the Day 52: Bowerbirds - House of Diamonds

It's that time of year when I retreat to my room for hours upon hours and rarely see sunlight. As horribly unhealthy as I've become, I'll always find solace in the fact that music never quite pulls the plug on me. Fairly often I find music that clings to me like ants to the soda I never cleaned from my hardwood floor. And more often than not, I find that music to be indie-folk. Indeed I've grown quite a love in my heart for the whimsical and care free music that blooms beneath the bridge of the mainstream. Bowerbirds' little unknown bit of joy, Upper Air, is precisely what I need these days, and 'House of Diamonds' starts it off humbly and effectively. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Song of the Day 51: Tim Neuhaus - As Life Found You

Tim Neuhaus is one of those fantastic little gems that pops up when you aren't looking. The video for his song 'As Life Found You' is both clever and sincere, accentuating the tender nature of the music. It's simplistic, but evolves beyond its structural boundaries when paired with the brilliant composition of the tale in the video. This might be one of the few instances when a music video adds onto the enjoyment of a song for me, and I recommend everyone give it a view. Tim Neuhaus hasn't quite hit the crescendo of his career, but promises to be something worth looking for in the future.

Song of the Day 50: The Doors - The End

It's difficult to believe that music recorded forty-five years ago can still be full to the brim with life and relevance. 'The End', an apocalyptic fever dream of a song by the worshiped psychedelic-rock group The Doors has somehow kept its claws sharp and planted in the psyche of anybody that has heard its haunting rhythms. It crawls at a nightmarish pace, randomly breaking into spouts of explosive rage, then pacifying itself back down to a stalking creep. Every time I hear it, I'm taken to the opening of Apocalypse Now, where Michael Sheen is shouting belligerent and drunk in a bloody mess. He said that while filming that scene there wasn't any sort of script, but rather he was expelling his inner demons. I think Jim Morrison may have had a similar mindset when writing this song.

Song of the Day 49: La Dispute - Sunday Morning, at a Funeral

Since the release of their groundbreaking full length LP in 2008, La Dispute have focused their efforts on smaller, more concise pieces of music. A series of spoken-word EPs and two splits with two different bands over the past three years have kept their name alive and fuming with buzz as well as helped them perfect their sound and slowly progress as a band. 'Sunday Morning, at a Funeral' comes from their most recent split with Koji, and is a perfect snapshot of what their sound has become over the past years. Instead of telling a grand story over 13 tracks on an LP, they've instead started telling quick and substantial tales over single tracks. Like I say with every La Dispute track I hear, they're slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with. 

Song of the Day 48: Heavens - Annabelle

If there's anything that can be said about Matt Skiba and Josiah Steinbrick's project, Heavens, it's that it could take the listener to a different place and time. Their debut LP, Patent Pending, sunk the listener into a sort of ethereal darkness where each song swayed and groaned to reach its ultimate destination in that dreary part of your brain. 'Annabelle' captures Skiba at his best, using his ability to craft catchy choruses and imagery akin to that of Edgar Allen Poe to ensnare the listener while still giving them a reason to keep listening. It's not music for a party, but rather a funeral. 

Song of the Day 47: Kanye West - Champion

When Kanye West isn't being an egotistic psychopath, he's usually making some damn fine hip-hop. His music has slowly progressed from his humble days of self-conscious tunes about college and the struggles of the real world, to the now triumphant and success fueled tracks about just how gratuitously rich he is. 'Champion' from his third LP, logically titled Graduation, is an inspiring track that brilliantly samples Steely Dan to create one of the catchiest choruses that West has produced. The song reeks of ego but never quite reaches an obnoxious level, instead feeling more inspirational than boastful which makes it one of his best.