Okay, it's official, I suck at this...

So, one out of two ain't great, sue me. The For Stars one sort of worked, the other takes a little more work. From now on, instead of this guessing game about whether or not they will work, I'll just give you some links to where the song SHOULD be. If it doesn't work, don't blame me, but please let me know, I'll see what I can do (most likely nothing). Anyways, onward we go... (And yes, I have gone back and amended the previous post).

The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up "Breakdown" {LINK}
I slept on this band for a while. I think the reason I didn't listen to them at first was because either (a) I thought Jim Yoshii was the lead singer and it was some kind of J-Pop thing. Not that I don't like J-Pop, just that a person can only handle so much J-Pop at once or (b) I confused them with Jim O'Rourke whom I was convinced I didn't like, but come to think of it, I've never heard Jim O'Rourke, so maybe I had him confused with P.J. O'Rourke who might be a writer I don't like, or might be someone I have confused with someone else. Anyways, one night I came across them when I was trying to find more songs by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, I found out that Walla had produced an album by JYPU and downloaded "Breakdown" and WOW! I'm a big fan of sad music, sad movies, really, just sadness, itself. And this is sad, but good. It's very slow but builds to the loudness, kind of like a Mogwai song. My favourite part is when the lead singer (not named Jim Yoshii, there is no Jim Yoshii in the band) sings
"And often when I'm sitting in my room,
I stare at my poster of Prince,
and sometimes I think of you.
And I spit when I do.
I..hate...that...piece...of...me...it...looks...too...much...like....you."
Just so amazing. It's full of sadness, bitterness, anger, and disappointment. And the way he sings that last line of harsh guitar chords...amazing. You should go to their website, as well, there are more songs. I keep waiting for someone to stock their albums locally, I'm giving them to the end of the year before I hit the Net and order them all.

Antarctica "Absence" {LINK}

This is one of those songs that will always tie me to a specific memory of a specific time in a specific place. I was on a bus, coming back from Vancouver over the Connector through a veritable blizzard. I'd just found Antarctica's CD in the used bin at the awesome Zulu Records. I had heard this one before, and liked it. But, something about listening to it as the snow whirred past the windows fit it oh-so-well. Even if I'm playing this song on a car stereo, on a hot summer morn, with the windows down and a slurpee in my hand, it still reminds me of that winter, I think I repeated it somewhere in the neighbourhood of 8 times in a row.

The song, itself, is amazing. A breezy little electro weeper. I've never been able to understand the lyrics, or find them online, but they are quite plaintive, almost mournful. It's beautiful, and a friend told me the whole album was out of print and hard to find, luckily I'd found it before that became an issue.

Ah, what the hell, let's make it three!

Joanna Newsome "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" {LINK}

A while back, on my now stillborn first blog, I pronounced the most exhilirating moment of 2004 as being when Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley sings "You're bad news, but I don't care cuz I like you...I like you!" I might have been a bit premature.

By now everyone must have heard of Ms. Newsome, the girl with the elfish voice and the harp, and I had, as well. I really dug the song "Peach Plum Pear" but kind of dismissed her as a one-trick pony, a novelty. Once you got over the incomparable voice, it got real old real quick, I assumed. Now, recently, the spectacular Large Hearted Boy proclaimed Joaana Newsome's "The Milk-Eyed Mender" as his album of the year, so I thought I would give her another shot. And I discovered the above song "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie."

It's different from "Peach Plum Pear" in that "C.C.C.C." is much more of a ballad, a little sad, and a little hopeful, but quiet and ponderous. And when Joanna sings,
"And your skin is something I stir into my tea,
And I am watching you,
And you are starry, starry, starry"
she really belts the "starry, starry, starry," out so that it should be written "And you are Starry! STARRY! STARRY!" and I just melt. I've listened to this song, and had this part, in my head for a couple of days now. So, it looks like the race for most exhilirating musical moment of 2004 is down to:
-Rilo Kiley "Portions For Foxes" [The part where she sings "You're bad news, but I don't care cuz I like you...I like you!"
-Joanna Newsome "Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie" [When Joanna sings "Starry! STARRY! STARRY!"
-Wilco "At Least That's What You Said" [ The part when the electric guitar cuts in and the song gets LOUD]
-M83 "Run Into Flowers (Abstrackt Keal Agram Remix)" [The part when the wall of electric guitar comes in and the song explodes out of the initial downtempo hip-hop beat it had going on]
Let the voting begin...or not...