SONG OF THE DAY // Mumford and Sons “I Gave You All”

SONG OF THE DAY // Mumford and Sons “I Gave You All”

Monday mornings can be surprisingly introspective for me. I found myself listening to this on the morning commute, watching the rain beating at the windshield, my mind wandering.

Based in London, Mumford and Sons have a distinctively soulful twang that they throw into their mix of folk bluegrass, enough to the point that would make you feel like you were sitting in a little tavern in Alabama. This song holds immeasurable weight in my heart. I hope you enjoy.

x

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyU5OAAOOBE&feature=related]

Lyrics:

Rip the earth in two with your mind
Seal the urge which ensues with brass wires
I never meant you any harm
But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearm

I close my eyes for a while
And force from the world a patient smile

How can you say that your truth is better than ours?
Shoulder to shoulder, now brother, we carry no arms
The blind man sleeps in the doorway, his home
If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy I could have won

But I gave you all

I close my eyes for a while
And force from the world a patient smile

But I gave you all

And you rip it from my hands
And you swear it’s all gone
And you rip out all I have
Just to say that you’ve won

Well now you’ve won

Ex-Paramore Guitarist Josh Farro announces new band

Ex-Paramore Guitarist Josh Farro announces new band

FOR THE LIVERPOOL ECHO MUSIC BLOG

After one month of delving into my newest musical obsession, I read the shocking news that two of that Paramore‘s original band mates were calling it quits. For many people including myself, it was a disappointing blow to hear that the Tennessee rock outfit was moving on from their original artistic formula, but fortunately, their feisty attitude and revolutionary fervour is not entirely dissolving.

In an interview with MTV last Wednesday, ex-Paramore guitarist Josh Farro announced that he’s formed another group. His new band, Novel American, is a bit of a departure from the raucous vivacity of Paramore—leading more along the lines of the sounds of Jimmy Eat World, Radiohead and Sigur Ros with an emphasis on sprawling rock instrumentalisation.

Comprised of members Van Beasley, Tyler Ward and Ryan Clark, formerly of Nashville act Cecil Adora, Novel American is a determined movement away from Paramore and is shaping up to be a promising musical effort. Nothing has been announced by Zac, Josh’s brother, former Paramore drummer who also left in December 2010.

According to Paramore vocalist Hayley Williams, the reason for the split is a complex one. Many rumours erupted online insinuating that Williams had essentially taken over the band. In an interview earlier this month, Williams noted that her relationship with Farro had been an emotionally strained one. “It was really hard, because we were friends, and then going through a break-up and going through any kind of tension as a band really affected all the lyrics. There are a lot of specifics that I pulled from my experience with just feeling like my face was underneath a boot all the time,” she told OK Magazine.

For Farro, the lines of resentment went much further than that, with a detailed and angry blog post explaining how Williams changed the meaning of their music from nearly the very start of their career, and how Paramore evolved over seven years into something he no longer felt connected to. He wrote “[Zac and I] fought her about how her lyrics misrepresented our band and what we stood for, but in the end she got her way. Instead of fighting her any longer, we decided to just roll over and let it go.”

Farro is focusing all of his attention on Novel American now.

“I think we just disagree on a lot of things, and that’s OK,” he told MTV. “I just wish them the best in the future, and I really don’t want to make it this huge drama thing, because then it becomes this huge war, and I don’t want to dwell on that.”

EDITOR’S PICK: THE BEST FILMS OF 2010

EDITOR’S PICK: THE BEST FILMS OF 2010

November is the month where my introspection tends to get the most unshakable. It literally burns holes in my brain thinking about what feats of artistic greatness and gestures of failure were made that year. It doesn’t help that I tend to listen to Guns ‘N Roses‘ classic tune “November Rain” on repeat to comfortably usher me into the thought of another winter.

When it comes to selecting the top five films of 2010, it is never an easy task for someone who essentially lives off this stuff. Last year, after I read the script of Synechdoche, New York (a moderately disappointing film), I began to think of life unfolding much like a screenplay. There’s nothing like an omnipotent narrator reading out stage directions while you do them. Salkin sits down on a park bench, pulls out a brown paper bag and drinks from it. Sighs. Watches the children play.

Enough of that. Here’s my list of the best films of 2010.

5. Get Him to the Greek

Have I mentioned that I generally hate mainstream comedies? Especially those spawned from the filmic loins of Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up)? Starring chubby and charming Jonah Hill, British comedian Russell Brand and superstar musician P. Diddy, this film was absolutely hilarious in a Jeffrey-kind of way. For those who don’t know what a Jeffrey is, you’re going to have to watch this one. Hill plays a music record employee who’s been assigned to accompany Brand, a former rock god turned washed up junkie, to the Greek to play an epic comeback show. Things get zany.

See the art of mindfucking here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpMmU7AkDvM&feature=related]

4. The Runaways

Joan Jett is fucking dope. Nobody can deny that fact. Starring Twilight tweenie Kristen StewartDakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, this film chronicles the challenges and drug abuse that riddled the all-girl rock band from the 1970’s. Tight pants, lesbian overtones and the everlasting promise of good old rock ‘n’ roll, this film is a must-see for anybody interested in the history of this vicious musical genre.

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a teenaged guitar player trying to make it in a man’s world?

(more…)

REVIEW: THE WALKMEN – LISBON

REVIEW: THE WALKMEN – LISBON

 

Vintage guitars. Upright pianos. A sense of ever-cursed fate. These are the things the Walkmen are made of. Though failing to conjure up some kind of sonic reveal of the Portuguese suggestion its title makes, Lisbon is a beautiful redemptive soundtrack for the wretched, the despondent and the woebegotten.

While that description might sound all doom and gloom, it’s precisely what the American indie rock darlings have been perfecting since 2000. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser sings like a wounded beast—with a sad, romantic desperation about him—but retains a New York City hipster sophistication to him that somehow makes it attractive. Through carefully constructed lyrics, the quintet has been able to cultivate a mastery of the paradoxes they so artfully craft.

“Blue as Your Blood” is delicious. A rolling, stripped-down track that delves into existential heartbreak with lyrics like “Life rolled us over like a town car / Bruised up and busted to the ground.” But  Lisbon isn’t entirely self-victimizing. Take “Angela Surf City,” a crunchy, raunchy tune that sounds like it’s caught in some idyllic ‘50s malt-serving rock joint. Unlike their previous effort, You & Me, which was decidedly mellow, the Walkmen’s latest offering is both fiercely declarative and defiantly minimalist.

In fact, the entirety of the album seems to struggle between universal opposites, particularly of notions of winning and losing. With titles like “Follow the Leader,” “Victory” and “All My Great Designs” pitted against tracks like “Stranded,” “While I Shovel the Snow” and “Woe is Me,” the theme is clear, leaving it open to decide which feeling is stronger.