Mundane Mondays: Sibling Rivalry

Mondays are tough. Sibling relationships can be even tougher! Here is solid mix chock full of songs about brothers and sisters. Enjoy!

1. "Brothers and Sisters" Brother Ali
2. "Sisters" Pomegranates
3. "Brother" Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
4. "Sister" The Black Keys
5. "Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves" Eurythmics
6. "Unknown Brother" The Black Keys
7. "The People I Know" Eric Hutchinson
8. "Sisters" Rosemary Clooney and Betty Clooney
9. "Sisters and Brothers" Sisters & Brothers 
10." We Are Family" Sister Sledge

Mundane Mondays: Sibling Rivalry from MaryMargaret8 on 8tracks Radio.

Mundane Mondays: Homecoming

Mondays are rough. The holiday season is now upon us, and we must begin the pilgrimage home. Home takes many shapes. It can change or remain exactly the way it always has  been. Home is where your family is. It is where you forgive each other and sit down together. Home is where everyone wants to be, until they actually get there. Here is a mix dedicated to the complicated idea of going home.

1. "Celebrate Me Home" Kenny Loggins
2. "Home" Michael Buble
3. "Honey Come Home" The Head and the Heart
4. "We Lived Alone" Connie Converse
5. "Tear Down the House" The Avett Brothers
6. "English House" Fleet Foxes
7. "Home" Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
8. "The Once and Future Carpenter" The Avett Brothers
9. "Homeward Bound" Simon & Garfunkel
10. "Small Town Moon" Regina Spektor
11. "You Ain't Alone" Alabama Shakes
12. "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" Perry Como

Mundane Mondays: Homecoming from MaryMargaret8 on 8tracks Radio.

Mundane Mondays: You, my Darling, are a Pioneer

Mondays are hard. Remember that you are a pioneer. You are wild and young and capable. Go be it. 

Pioneer
1. "Wake Up" Arcade Fire
2. "Swim Club" The Cave Singers
3. "Grown Ocean" Fleet Foxes
4. "Can't Go Home" Good Old War
5. "Down in the Valley" The Head and the Heart
6. "Peter Pan" Jinja Safari
7. "Bloom" The Paper Kites
8. "Icarus" The Staves
9. "Emmylou" First Aid Kit
10. "Mistaken Hands" Jude Moses
11. "Janglin" Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
12. "Flowers in your Hair" The Lumineers
13. "Blue Ridge Mountains" Fleet Foxes

 

Mundane Monday: You, my Darling, are a Pioneer from MaryMargaret8 on 8tracks Radio.

Mundane Mondays: Girl Power

Mondays are rough. You, my lovely lady, are going to need some power anthems to help you through the week. 

Girl Power
1. "Mansion Song" Kate Nash
2. "Spectrum" Florence + the Machine
3. "Love on Top" Beyonce
4. "Japanese Eyes" Kitten
5. "Generals" The Mynabirds
6. "Most Wantes" Cults
7. "You Know I'm No Good" Amy Winehouse
8. "Schoolin' Life" Beyonce
9. "I Am Not a Robot" Marina and the Diamonds
10. "Pot Kettle Black" Tilly and the Wall
11. "None of Your Business" Salt-n-Pepa
12. "Heart of Glass" Blondie
13. "He's Not a Boy" The Like
14. "If You Can Afford Me" Katy Perry
15. "You Don't Own Me" Lesley Gore
16. "I'm Every Woman" Whitney Houston

Mundane Monday: Girl Power from MaryMargaret8 on 8tracks Radio.

An apology..

This is a sincere apology for my extended absence. These past months have seen some great musical discoveries (Least of which being the release of The Carpenter, by the Avett Brothers). I have discovered new jazz artists as well as some great pop. As I became enveloped in school and college applications (Bleh.), these discoveries helped me along the way. I'm back, my darlings. And I'll do my best to stick around.

For Kelly

School is picking up, and since we've been busy from the start around here, it is imperative that we keep our wits about us. After all, this is week four of a major school year full of double the musicals and double the stress (Need I mention college searches?). All of this being said, it is times like these when I put Katy Perry on pause and pull out some mellow tracks. So, here's to the Friday in. (I think we need it after all of that screaming last week. Texas forever.)

Playlist for a rainy night
1. "Icarus" The Staves
2. "St. Joseph's" The Avett Brothers
3. "The Light" Swear and Shake
4. "For Emma" Bon Iver
5. "These Days" Jackson Browne (Try to find an acoustic version. Just him and his guitar.)
6. "Innocent Son" Fleet Foxes
7. "Wash Away" Joe Purdy
8. "Clean Slate" M. Ward
9. "Bloom" The Paper Kites
10. "Swim Club" The Cave Singers
11. "Death of Communication (Acoustic)" Company of Thieves
12. "All Wash Out" Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
13. "Can't Go Home" Good Old War
14. "Flapper Girl" The Lumineers
15. "One More Down" Mandolin Orange
16. "Swell Window" Zee Avi
17. "Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down" Noah and the Whale
18. "Jessica" Regina Spektor
19. "A Day at a Time" Ellie Goulding

I hope this puts you in a good place, Kelly.

Summer Haze

Let’s talk concerts. For whatever reason, I have been blessed enough to be attending a bunch this summer, the first of which took place Saturday the 30. The Head and the Heart headlined the 2012 Party in the Park in Broad Ripple. The site was Opti-Park over a large baseball diamond. While it wasn’t quite a mini-Bonnaroo as Brad Holtz tried to hail it, it was an excellent venue for an evening of folk. Despite heat that could melt skin, someone wearing the same dress as me and a guy with a shirt that said, “Give me head til I’m dead,” it was an amazing show.

10 Party in the Park 2012

Openers were the Nashville band Night Beds, and Minnesota’s Trampled by Turtles. With the height of the heat during Night Beds performance, the low-key indie band had a tough time rousing the audience from the sleepy feeling that accompanies scorching weather. The performance was admirable though, and the subtle influences of their native Nashville made them stand out.

After a smoothie break and a little incident involving a wasp, I was ready to give Trampled by Turtles a go. Seeing their name on the flyer a week prior to the show, I had listened to their latest album, Stars and Satellites. Their raw, folksy, bluegrass sound was definitely appealing in recorded form, but that did not prepare me for their live performance. With five instruments (guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, fiddle), this group of mountain men shook the park awake. They played with so much ferocity and sincerity, the crowd was able to forget about the heat and instead focus on the band’s astonishing mandolin/fiddle solos.  I have never seen an instrument played so quickly. I found myself dancing along. Standouts were “Alone” and “Walt Whitman.” These guys will be headlining shows of their own in no time. The crowd loved their energy, and even I had to pay way too much to get a t-shirt out of adoration.

I was worried that Trampled by Turtles might upstage The Head and the Heart.  I had built it up so much in my head; I was scared that they wouldn’t be all I had hoped for. They took the stage and the entire park stood up. They opened with “Cats and Dogs,” and Charity meowed in place of the recorded version’s animal noises. That woman. The audience loved her. During “Winter Song,” the crowd cheered her on every phrase of her solo. At the end she remarked, “You guys are ridiculous!” This being the band’s largest headlining show thus far, their modesty and reaction to the adoring crowd was so refreshing.  They played a couple new songs with much the same sound as the previous album, but the real treat was the obvious closing number, “Rivers and Roads.” That song, at once so personal and so all-encompassing, had the whole park singing along and gave me goose bumps, as if it was the first time I was hearing it. The lights finally 

dimmed and the band filed off stage.

After a solid two minutes of cheering and hollering, Charity and Jonathan came back on stage to dedicate a song to the audience called, “Ever Since I First Laid Eyes on Indianapolis.” The duet was stellar and adorable. The rest of the band joined them on stage to play “Down in the Valley.” The concert was officially over. The sun was gone and the audience started to disperse, but for about an hour, we were all together entranced by these people who made songs that, over the past year, have made us cry and dance and sing along. It was a brilliant way to spend a summer night.  If you can find a show near you with any of these three artists, it will be well worth the price of a ticket.