This song was quite literally the only reason I could wake up and crawl out of bed those icy December mornings. The only way I could force my legs to keep mechanically moving down the uncooperative street, trying to breathe in the stinging air. 

That beat. That chorus. The part that goes, “Make that money/watch it burn/sink in the river/the lessons I’ve learned.” (One of the catchiest bridges ever.)

How to recognize a great song: when, at 5 AM, half way to your destination, you're grinning like an idiot and practically dancing down the slick pavements. This is a great song. 

My perception is that OneRepublic is one of those bands that people relatively enjoy, but viscerally label as being “too pop” or “too top 40” to take seriously. It's not the kind of band you name-check at a party. There's this old episode of Gilmore Girls where the aforementioned Gilmore girl, at her friend's indie-rock band's gig, kindly makes conversation with her ex’s new girlfriend, who isn't really enjoying the music. "So what kind of music do you like?" 

“I don’t know,” says the sweet, dull, blonde girl, vaguely, "uh, Michelle Branch, Matchbox 20?“ 

“Geez,” mutters a James-Dean-wannabe character, and there follows a half-hearted attempt of the main character to pacify, though our intrepid heroine clearly agrees with the greasy-coiffed-leather-jacketed fellow.

The point of this tangent being: if that scene had been set in the present, I have this feeling that OneRepublic would have been one of the names slipped into that list.

But you know what? Ryan Tedder knows his way around some good music. 

He spins some incredible melodies and counter-melodies, soaring choruses, and frankly, I’ve never heard better use of dynamics by any other band.  The music is consistently epic, anthemic; it always sounds like it’s reaching upwards towards an ideal. It’s unusually positive for our post-modern culture, but it's just as thoughtful and well-crafted, if not more so. 

(More than, for instance, this eloquent line from Afraid by The Neighbourhood, whose actually poetic Sweater Weather I do like: “It hurts but I won’t fight you / You suck anyway / You make me wanna die.” Nice, guys.)  

And they are both charming and electric live. I had the pleasure of seeing them at their concert in Terminal 5, a really underrated venue, in which they were continuously delightful. The highlights: 

• - their cover of Take Me Out, 
• - the duet with surprise opener Sara Bareilles, 
• - the part where they charmingly passed a bottle of champagne to the crowd and said, "We kind of got in trouble for this at the last concert because there were people who were underaged - so pass this around and only drink it if you’re over 21,"
• - the shirtless gay guy in white pants who was sinuously dancing around in a 2-square-foot space with his hand in the air like it was a nineties' rave, and went around telling everyone that everything was fabulous
• - the cello. Any band with a string instrument is worth a listen.

So, leather-jacket-wearers of the world: I will gladly admit to listening to OneRepublic (you know what, I used to listen to Michelle Branch, too). And now, in the words of Elizabeth Bennet, despise me if you dare!

Mirrors:  

Oh JT. The 20/20 Experience was generally something I didn’t need to experience again, with the exception of Mirrors. The melody is epic and catchy, the beat light and nicely self-contained.The mirror metaphor gets overworked to the point where no songwriter, present or future, can ever use it again, but the lyrics are clever enough to be entertaining:

“Aren’t you something to admire/‘cause your shine is something like a mirror/

…If you ever feel alone and/the glare makes me hard to find/
Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side.”  

Aw. (Those are the perfect forgot-our-anniversary-but-get-out-of-jail-free words, right there.)

It’s also the first time in a long time that JT isn’t singing exclusively in falsetto. That’s kind of exciting. 

And at 5:45, where the part of the video most worth watching begins, he gets to show off some Gene-Kelly-Channing-Tatum moves in a wonderfully and tightly designed set. Will anyone ever say no to watching a good-looking man dancing in a black trench and turtleneck?

The dancers in the video are a bit weird (they’re what I imagine Capitol citizens would look like in a slutty, ill-fitting-hosiery version of The Hunger Games). And, like most of his songs these days, it’s a bit long. JT dear, not everything you perform has to be the musical equivalent of Beowulf.

But the probable reason I actually like and remember this song is because it reminds me of this exchange, one epic August night when two of my far-off friends descended into Philadelphia to rock the town:

[“Mirrors” starts to play in the background]

AH: (looking up upon hearing the song) You know, it’s a commitment.

Me: Oh, yeah. I heard that it was for his wedding to Jessica Biel.  

AH: …no.  I meant that listening to this song is a commitment.

Truer words have never been said.

I'm finally getting around to my memories of 2013! I was starting to forget...

There's so often a song playing in the canopy of my mind that I might as well have an internal soundtrack to my life. I've come to realize that I consist of 80% music, not water; from day to day, many of my life's moments and emotions are defined by and saturated in rhythm, voices, and melodies. As follows, much of 2013 was reflected in the music I heard and loved. Here's one:

Wicked Game - James Vincent McMorrow

About 45% of the new music I “discover” is from watching TV, usually bad TV. This is no exception. But if there’s good-bad TV, So You Think You Can Dance would be it, and since in my alternate universe life (where polar vortexes don't exist and I always make wise and perfect decisions), I would have become a ballerina instead of a doctor, I not-so-secretly love this show, and I very secretly try to learn the choreography. 

But how could you not? Watch the video above, listen to that beautiful song and watch this exquisite interpretation. 

If your heart doesn't ache a little after watching that, you don't have one. (Doctor says.)

I downloaded this song the next day and listened to it for about 8 hours straight. I kid you not. (I am one of those people who greedily latch on to melodies and suck each nuanced pause and instrumental riff dry until it's memorized in my own veins; a musical vampire.) 

What's more: one day later, while looking for other versions of this song, I realized this song was itself a cover of an 80s song. I still loved it - and given my disdain for the eighties, that means something.

This lovely cover was a gateway drug to the rest of JVM’s beautiful music: lush, lavish, and quiet melodies laced with that touching, broken voice. Undeniably rooted folk, but with some intriguingly r&b touches: addictive, evocative, and extraordinarily harmonic. 

And he has a wonderful new album out: check it out. (spotify/amazon)

In honor of their rise in recognition, which I have happily and feverishly tracked over the last year; their 2012 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist; and the fact that I just bought tickets for their concert in February and am VERY! EXCITED!, this week's pick is "Flowers in Your Hair," by the Lumineers.

It's been amazing seeing them go from some band in Denver without a proper website to a Grammy nomination.  Whether it's the wave of Americana bluegrass sweeping the airwaves (Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars) or whether it's increased exposure of their songs through clever ads (Bing, an instrumental on Blue Moon) or cheesy CW TV shows (humbly, I confess that this is how I came upon their music), the Lumineers are having a great year, deservedly so.

While the most well-known and popular song of theirs, "Ho Hey," is also required listening, if only for their reference to the Chinatown buses, and the awesome lyrics, "I'll be standing on Canal/and Bowery," which is one of those lyrics meant to be completely misheard, "Flowers in Your Hair" is standard Lumineers fare:  straightforward, simple lyrics that yield deeper ideas and a sense of humor; charming banjo-guitar-cello-driven melodies; and a unaffected, spirited rhythm that simply requires foot-stomping and hand-clapping.

Other required listening:  Dead Sea, Ho Hey, Stubborn Love

Happy (or is it merry) listening!

aka What I'm Almost Sure in the Blogosphere is Known as a Cheater Post

But hey.  At least I'm persevering, right?

Today's song, while not particularly esoteric or profound, is fun, energetic, and has been not only "that song" that I end up playing on repeat beyond the auditory saturation point, but is the song I use to pump myself up before I step onto the Labor and Delivery floor.

That means this is a Big. Deal.

I was introduced to it a week ago at the Move DC march on Washington, held by Invisible Children, a group mostly known for viral video Kony 2012 and, unfortunately, its founder's viral nervous breakdown.  It should be better known for its stand against children soldiers and sex trafficking, which is being perpetrated by the IRA and its leader, Joseph Kony.  Regardless of criticism leveled against the founder and foundation, it is a great cause, and it was a great rally, which will be the subject of another post.

BUT, even better, it introduced me to "I Knew You Were Trouble" by T Swift.

I know.  I know.  But it's good.  Give it a listen.  Or two.  Or three...

(Final thoughts:  This version is pitched--the semi-'dub step' is more pronounced in the original.  I am a not-so-closet Taylor Swift fan--can't help it.  I think it's about John Mayer.  Next Tuesday, there might be some pretentiousness and "some indie record that is much cooler than mine," to quote Ms. Swift herself.)

Yes/no?