WXPN — Blog — Gloriosity

So, there was a time when I had fallen off the blog.

See what I did there, dance lovers and musical theatre mavens?

For a brief while, instead of dreaming up whimsical artsy posts, I spammed my friends.

Seriously.

I sent emails every Friday with a cheerful subject line, usually something like:

Subject: Happy Friday, Music Lovers!

and proceeded to share my latest musical finds with a list of about 40 people. None of whom, it should be mentioned, ever asked me to stop spamming them with unsolicited music. Some of them actually even listened. And I can thus take credit for spreading Carly Rae Jepson's seminal classic, Call Me, Maybe, to a few people who had never heard it before.

(That's my closet hipster speaking.)

But now that I'm back in Blogland, I'll forego the weekly email and instead deposit my unschooled and uninhibited musical genius here.

You are welcome, Blogland.

So, enough dilly-dallying.

Song 1) Mumford & Son's Newest single, Believe

In no uncertain terms, let me make it clear to you: I believe in this song. The minute I heard Michaela Mejune of WXPN tell me over those 6AM radio waves that Mumsy was inspired by Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin I was SOLD. But then she played the song, and I had to resist the urge to close my eyes and be subsumed by musical deliciousness because I was driving in the middle of the Route 1 interchange on 76, and that would have been dangerous.

Please. Listen. The song starts all Mumfordish, all mellow and haunting with grand attenuated timing. Then comes the drop. Sliding in out of left field comes this plaintively wailing guitar, and it's like they've channelled Page or Buckingham. Ode to Jimi Hendrix, as played by a band of hairy Brits.

“Sliding in out of left field comes this plaintively wailing guitar, and it’s like they’ve channelled Page or Buckingham.”

It's stellar. I adore it. I cannot wait for the album because I COVET it.

Click the image to pop to YouTube and listen.

Song 2) Torpedo by Jillette Johnson

A masterful little thumper of a tune, perfect for kicking your running mix up a notch. Jillette Johnson (no, I had never heard of her before, either) has got that chick voice that I love - that remnant-of-heavy-drink-and-social-smoke-with-a-side-of-heartache thing that turns a song into an anthem. I haven't memorized all the words yet, and I may not be quite convinced that she does, as she sings, know how to take a right hook. But I DO find myself singing, "So come on, torpedo. Do your worst!" when I'm anxious or nervous or tired of running or just by myself in my apartment and can belt it out at the top of my lungs.

Because, you know. Singer.

Song 3) Canyon Moon by Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness

I can hear this sucker in my brain when it's silent in the room. (Okay. That may be because I have listened to it too many times.) You may know (or you will learn) that I am easily swayed by any song with certain elements: madly inconsistent thirds harmonies, clapping, and oooohs. Extra points for the acapella refrain to drive the melody home.

So... Canyon Moon is a jackpot.

The added bonus is: you can pull this album up on your Spotify account and just let the whole damn thing play, because it is all simply lovely.

So go find your music sources and dig these tunes up. And if you like them, stay tuned for a Happy Friday in the future, because you know I can't post an ed.1 without promising more....