winter is blue & i’d like to walk around in your mind by vashti bunyan, freak folk, 1970

this blog lasted exactly one day but i’m feeling bored so i’ve decided to revive it for a single post. i’ve spent the past few weeks swimming in a shitstream of consciousness and it’s the most alone i’ve felt in a while. i thought it would be cool to share with you one of my favorite but lesser known 70’s folk artists: vashti bunyan.

i say ‘lesser known’ because her first album, “just another diamond day,” of which both songs are from, received little attention when it came out in 1970, and were only noticed by the press/public in 2000. i’m really glad to have found this album because it’s such a treasure. her voice feels like spring. and even though her lyrics carry so much heaviness, loss, and longing, i can’t help but feel refreshed by the end of the song. almost serene in my sadness. her simple acoustic instrumentals are so fitting with her soft yet bold voice, which carry with them a quality of carefulness and tender vitality. her songs are like those small intimate moments you have with yourself, going over something again and again, and in the process of rediscovery, bringing them new life in memory.

this first song is just downright cold. i can let the words speak for themselves: “i am alone / waiting for nothing / if my heart freezes / i won’t feel the breaking. why must i stay here / spring comes i’m sitting here / watching love moving / away into yesterday”

this song is more well-known, but i’m a sucker for its lyrics such as, “i’d like to run and jump in your solitude” or “i’d sit there in the sun of the things i like about you.” a perfect blend of thought and reality. she somehow manages to sum up that inexplicable lovey feeling in a timeless sunny image.

it’s getting late and the shitty poet in me is having too much of a field day so i better shut it up before i do something i regret. hope you guys find the same solace in these songs as i have. sweet dreams and good night!

- aylli

x

come on inside (1999) & the sign of the times by dear nora, indie pop/rock, 2008

so JAKOB talked about three songs in one post as some sort of power move, and i refuse to let him one-up me!! here are two short songs i stumbled upon last year while stuck in a creative rut. both of these songs are from their 2008 album, three states: rarities 1997-2000, a compilation of songs by lead singer-songwriter katy davidson created over 20 years of their performing.

though the song has a melancholic quality, its lyrics are anything but. “come on inside, i’ve got a lot to say / for so many years of being treated this way” has an up-frontness to it, “i know everything i do is a blow to you / but you shouldn’t be surprised when it all comes back to you” demands to be heard, to make change. katy’s tender yet bold voice accompanied by somehow wistful, intimate instrumentation makes me feel nostalgic for a past i usually hate to think about. a long-coming confrontation.

behind the upbeat bop-iness of this song, katy sings of being in constant flux, often giving up on previously conceived plans to moments of impulse and passion, “when i think about you, i don’t care / but when i am around you...”. the song describes feeling lost in the world, anxious for the future in favor of a carefree present. it reminds me of the graphic novel “ghost world” by daniel clowes.

i love how these songs sound deceptively plaintative or cheerful while subtly being about all the  in between, as well as having the guts to acknowledge it. it captures the experience of life not as a black/white sort of dichotomy but as an infinte array of color.

- aylli

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assorted songs by the truth about dreaming, screamo/emoviolence, 2012-2015

the truth about dreaming is a one-man screamo band from michigan, and that's all i can really dig up about them.

the first song we have, titled "the ballad of jim joe kelly," is a 2 minute track that starts with a clean, sad riff, kinda reminiscent of some twinkle, before exploding into distortion-laden despair at the 50 second mark, accompanied by shrill, and desperate shrieks. wonderful song.

this next song's a bit more on the nose with the band's influences, i think. beginning with the cover art which is obviously a reference to jeromes dream's seeing means more, though musically this track doesn't sound much at all like jeromes dream. if i had to compare, i'd say this track sounds like a lot of fuzzy low fidelity skramz bands like mnwa, and makara, with a twinge of the clean, and softer parts of bands like the spirit of versailles. a frenzy of screams, and fuzz, supported by a kinda goofy, kinda endearing synth that cuts through the mix.

sick song.

this is the last song. has a really nice clean vocal section. again, a lot like the spirit of versailles, the khayembii communique, and kite flying society.

this is such a great band. the person behind it has a scene-grind project called cambodian heat which i'm very fond of too. but that's for a different time.

see you around.

-j.m.

comforting sounds by mew, alt rock, 2000

man, does this song live up to its title!

i’m not sure if i first heard this song on the radio or if my dad played it for me while we were on our way someplace, but either way, it has stuck to me since. though the build up to this already 9min long song is long in itself, it’s worth every second.

it never fails to amaze me how, even in its simplicity, its effect on me is so profound. the repetitive instrumental melody works wonders in the way it calms my nerves and washes away my anxiety / everything that overwhelms me.

this song feels like lifting a veil to reveal the bigger picture; something i’ve always known was there, but could never quite see. or like living a lifetime in an instant!

i’m just in awe. listen here!

- aylli

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ditching friends for naps by your favorite place, emo/folk, 2015

your favorite place is a solo emo acoustic project from bradenton, florida. i found them out through a cover of one of their songs by a friend of mine's band, worst party ever. 

idk, i really like this track. brings me back to a weird time i floated through. 

the acoustic guitar accompanied only by vocals recorded on a shitty laptop microphone microgenre of lo-fi is something i'm really fond of; i love the transparency of simple, stripped-down music. for what it lacks in instrumentation it makes up for in delivery, and in the lyrics.

"I guess this makes you right 
I didn't fight just like you said. 
I'll stow away in your westbound veins 
and burst the capillaries in your head."

- j.m.

well-dressed by hop along, indie folk-rock, 2015

starting this with one of my favorite emerging bands, philadelphia indie folk-rock band, hop along. 

i first heard this song on the radio segment of the podcast “welcome to night vale” roughly a year and a half ago, and looked up the band the second the last note rang out. i’ve been entranced by the dynamically killer voice of frances quinlan ever since.

this song comes from their 2015 album, painted shut, which got me through a lot of difficult experiences the past year. though this song is one of the slower ones in the album, it’s also the most vulnerable. both moving and haunting, each line is jam-packed with emotion, delivered simultaneously through gut-punching, guttural cries and piercingly soft whispers. 

so give this song, and the rest of the album, a listen! (and watch out for the release of hop along’s newest album, bark your head off dog, coming out this week!!!)

- aylli

x

complicated by heavens to betsy, riot grrl/emocore, 1994

so, to kick things off is a song from the band: heavens to betsy.

heavens to betsy was a 90s riot grrl outfit who were contemporaries with the likes of bikini kill, and sleater-kinney, but they were never as well known.

i was first introduced to them by a fucking video game i played two years ago called gone home, which was really good, you should play it. this song played at the end of the game, and made me a little sad.

that said, this BOP comes from their 1994 album, calculated, where it stands out as one of the slower songs on the lp. corin tucker brings some really sincere vocals to this track, which with the slow, solemn guitar riff bursts into emotionally exhaust(ed/ing) crescendos, with yelling!!! which drips with teen angst, and heartbreak. the refrain still haunts me honestly.


though they're a riot grrl band, this could very well be an early emo or emocore song from the 90s, like what you see from bands like still life, and everyone asked about you. 

here it is:

enjoy.

-j.m.