LIGHTER OF FIRES

another contender for song of the decade. so great and so gorgeous.

the great talent of this band lies in their versatility. what's the continuity between their three albums? um, the trombone?

GET A HANDLE ON YOURSELF, SON

IS DO THE WHIRLWIND THE SONG OF THE DECADE?
(i replaced the video because guys, you HAVE to hear the live version. SO SICK)

my life as a music listener has four stages.
1. when i was ten and listened to showtunes
2. the strokes
3. architecture in helsinki
4. vampire weekend

the AIH period of my life lasted from the first time i saw them, on september 28 2006, until the first time i heard vampire weekend, on december 17 2007. during this time i pretty much listened to nothing but architecture in helsinki. i bought places like this the first day it was released (i took the train into the city with my friend and we went to virgin megastore and i bought places like this and m.i.a.'s kala, which were released on the same day) even though i'd had it since it was leaked three months previous.

my first architecture in helsinki song was do the whirlwind. it has very special meaning for me, as it will have for pretty much anyone who has ever seen them play live. i have seen this band three times. whenever they come near me i will see them. i would be a different person without this band.

OR HOLD MUSIC?
i still remember the first time i heard this song. SUCH A JAM.


IS IN CASE WE DIE THE ALBUM OF THE DECADE?

this might be my number one, guys. i've got to do some more thought but this album is like a big chunk of gold. neverevereverdid is one of my favorite album openers ever. and the whole thing is just a big mixture of fun and foreboding. KILLER.

also, if we're going to do hottest hotties of the decade, i would be REMISS not to mention GUS FRANKLIN whom i CRUSHED ON MERCILESSLY for a long time. i was always struck by the fact that he looks like harold from harold and maude (best movie ever). he once told me i was a good dancer and i was convinced i was dreaming. but yeah, HE'S GOING TO BE UP THERE.

IT'S BEEN FOREVER SINCE I LAST BLOGGED

i feel really bad about not bloggin' like crazy this past little while, because i always have a lot to say about music. i've been really busy with midterms and stuff but i've decided to take time out of my BUSY SCHEDULE to talk to you about SOMETHING I FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT:


THE FIRST TRACK ON THIS ALBUM, WHICH IS CALLED NEVEREVEREVERDID.

i remember when i first heard this song: it was in central park, in the concert i described to you a while back. i went to see AIH knowing three of their songs. i have called them my favorite band for about two and a half years. this song opens with those church bells, and i remember the next morning looking desperately on itunes for what song opened with church bells. my brother and i were ecstatic when we found the right one. i recall that they closed with this song, which makes quite a bit of sense because it is devastating. this is one of the most powerful songs that i know, but when i think of other powerful songs they sound nothing like this one, which in its multi-instrumentation is almost whimsical. i love beyond loving when it falls apart, then picks back up together.

the second time i saw AIH it was, at the time, the sweatiest experience of my life and the best concert i had ever seen. (both of these titles have since been stolen, but i feel that AIH established them in the first place and deserve quite a bit of recognition. i had never thought about what the best concert of my life was prior to seeing them). they played neverevereverdid second-to-last. during that part in the middle, "slender is the finger and it points towards the floor," cameron sang in this different rhythm, with the words grouped differently, and we all sang it like it is on the album. i will never forget the sound of that. it was like we were all a choir. i remember that he was standing just above me, and i was in the front row, i think he leaned on the drums and he sang and we all just looked up at him and yelled the words, "offers you an excuse..." and then everyone in that entire room yelled "ONE! OF! TWO! THINGS! I WISH I HAD AND NEVER DID!"



also, i know i don't usually blog about fiction but i feel like i need to share the greatness of this with the entire world.
THE FINEST STORY IN THE WORLD --- RUDYARD KIPLING. i love how i just annotated this like i do with songs.
read this today and my mind was blown. could not think straight for about 15 minutes afterward. pretty much, on a smaller scale, how i felt when i first heard ladies of cambridge. IT'S THAT GOOD.

CONTINUATION

"...we are now in the midst of building a new record. It's called 'Vision Revision' and it will be yours as soon as we have worked out just what it is that we are trying to show you."
--- aih

YES.



ps. i got sent a NASTILY WORDED EMAIL about COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. i'll still try to put songs up for you, but maybe only one from each band and then some recommendations. it is really important to support music in whatever way you can! try not to steal if you can help it.

I LOVE ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI

today i came home from school early because it hurt when i moved. i am sick. i feel lingeringly like shit. i am extremely pale. this does not matter. today is the best day of my life. ]
1. barack obama is president.
2. i'm seeing the teenagers open for vampire weekend at terminal 5. after THIS breathtaking womanzier remix, i am super excited.
3. TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF MY FAVORITE BAND EVER:


(cameron was cruelly cut out of this picture)

it is still verifiable to call aih my favorite band, all you SKEPTICS AND HATERZ, because i haven't reacted to anything like i just reacted to this since i discovered born ruffians were opening for vampire weekend at summerstage. i seriously freaked out and put my hands over my face and could not move to download the song for at least one minute, wherein i was paralyzed with ecstasy. i am near tears right now.

THAT BEEP --- ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI
(not to be confused with my favorite pussycat dolls song)

there are no words for how happy this band continue to make me with every song they release and everything they do. this song is so wonderful.

GET A HANDLE ON YOURSELF, SON

two years ago today i saw architecture in helsinki for the first of what is now three times. they opened for clap your hands say yeah at summerstage, where i have now seen two life-affirming shows. i knew three of their songs at this point, but i had been listening to those three songs for about eight months. they played a lot of stuff that eventually became my favorite album of last year. i waited patiently for these songs until they came to me on places like this eleven months later.

this sounds extremely lame to say but it is immeasurable how much loving and revering this band has changed me as a person, and some days i wonder if i would love music as much as i do were it not for architecture in helsinki. it says a lot about me that i have never questioned my adoration and consuming obsession with a band whose most well-known song is called IT'5. (indeed, the band i have been most devoted to recently centers their most popular song around the lyric "hey hey hey hey!" and i will see them a third time december 3).

i never got a chance to review this concert in a real sense besides talking to my friends about it, but it really is measurable how influential september 28 2006 was in my life. i used to spend at least a half hour every day listening to AIH. i still do the tongue-cluck thing that opens DO THE WHIRLWIND when i get nervous. when people ask me what my favorite band is i just spit AIH right out even though if you looked at my top played list on itunes they are not half as represented as they once were. when i hear new-sounding bits like THIS YOUTUBE CLIP i get irrationally excited. when i see things like their announcing four australian dates at the end of this year i start feeling all US TOUR????!??!?!?! i would see them a thousand more times. this is not a testament to my insanity, it is a testament to the sheer power and exuberance of their live show - and this feeling doesn't come from just me. there is an incomprehensible amount of energy in everything they do. maybe they are summed up best by the title of their DAYTROTTER SESSION.

i guess what you want out of this post is RARITIES (?):
LOVE IS EVIL, SOONER THAN SOON, LIVING WITHOUT YOU, BEEF IN A BOX, FIND YOUR POWER ANIMAL, LOVE IS THE DRUG.

COLLECTION OF NEWZ

1) IF I DIE TONIGHT --- NOAH AND THE WHALE
july 29, "peaceful, the world lays me down," their debut album, is released in the US!
they did a great set for la blogotheque a while back.

2) architecture in helsinki, the greatest live band in the world, are "working at a leisurely pace on new album," apparently.

3) apparently, i have been a good girl, and the universe has rewarded me:
MERCHANTS OF SOUL (DEMO) --- SPOON

M12 IS REAL,
genevieve

hi, i'm genevieve.

i've always wanted to have a blog called majestic 12.
i'm going to write for you about music, which is my favorite thing in the world, and i want to write about it for my whole life.

with that said i'm going to give you my favorite song of all time:
architecture in helsinki -- the same old innocence
and my favorite song of the moment:
i zimbra (live somewhere) -- talking heads