Joey Bada$$ - Little Rachel

How about some short-but-sweet rap on a rainy Sunday evening?  From Brooklyn's Joey Bada$$ and his Rejex mixtape comes "Little Rachel."  Sweet rap?  It exists here. Mr. Bada$$ raps over the tap of the piano keys.  Simple, but effective.  Nonetheless, he makes this a track rife with emotion as he follows the life of the titular character.  The rhymes are pretty slick too, which doesn't hurt.  She don't no blacks and blues on the eyes, for they have seen so many lies so many times and cried so many cries.  But Little Rachel has dreams, just as I dream of the underrated rap stars like Joey Bada$$ replacing the likes of Lil Wayne and Chris Brown in the scene.  That's Little Rachel.

Nightwish - The Islander

Music and good days come hand-in-hand in my experience.  My faith has been restored in HMV today, as they had Eluveitie's The Early Years on sale for ten dollars.  And then there's Nightwish.  Always Nightwish.  I'm long going to be nostalgic about Anette.  She's the complete package of the symphonic metal genre, and I'm following her personal blog closely for when she posts some new solo tracks.  In the meantime, I have Dark Passion Play and Imaginaerum to keep me occupied, today's feature coming from the former.

Okay, "The Islander" isn't an Anette-centered track, but she's still there in the background.  Lead vocals come courtesy of bassist Marco Hietala.  He's gotta have some of my favourite clean male vocals in the metal genre.  His pipes are matched with an acoustic feel to the song.  It's a little Celtic too, which I have no issue with.  "The Islander" is mysterious; kind of along the lines of "Turn Loose The Mermaids" (look it up if you have no clue what I'm talking about).  This is evidence of the versatility that Nightwish has a band, even if they're lead singer-less for the moment.

 

 

Parlovr - You Only Want It 'Cause You're Lonely

I've done lush rock and a bit of lush alternative (Silver Snakes, anyone?) but today is the day to listen to some lush indie.  It exists, and it consists of borderline-dreamy vocals and chilled out guitar work.  Think breezy and relaxed.  So we're on the same page now?  Good.  Parlovr is a Montral-based collective that gets the genre, and shows us that they do with tracks like "You Only Want It 'Cause You're Lonely."  Thank you, boys.

"You Only..." is about what you think it is, but gets its power from the flow of music.  What starts out on a mellow level rises to a stunning chorus.  To put it into context, think of Parlovr as Arcade Fire meets Foster The People.  That's what this track is.  It's a little beachy, a little lush, and a lot good.  Just listen to it, because I know you don't have much else to do today.

Angel Olsen & Marissa Nadler - My Dreams Have Withered and Died

What happens when you bring two folky indie darlings together?  Magical things.  You may remember Miss Nadler from an earlier post, but Angel Olsen is new to the Fromalt2zen bracket.  That's okay.  There is always room for new blood in my domain.  They come together here to cover Linda Thompson folk classic "My Dreams Have Withered And Died."  Not the typical choice of a cover song, but since when is anything I like typical?

Angel and Marissa turn "My Dreams..." from a take-it-easy folk ballad to a new dimension.  Here the song thrives on a minimal quality, focusing on their vocals intertwining.  I like that they don't exactly sing together in a sense.  Marissa's smokey vocals and Angel's slightly higher register are not perfectly synced, but with the delicate strum of a guitar behind them, they make "My Dreams..." something real.  You're there in the room listening to them perform (oh, how I wish that was true).  So take a leap of faith today, if you trust me enough.  Go minimal folk, and see how quickly you fall in love with this.

Ensiferum - Wanderer

Let's call this a folk metal Monday to end all genre-related Mondays.  Oh, you were expecting a Top 10 list?  Never fear, I'm saving it for next week, mostly because I'll have to upload quite the load of French music to Youtube before that can happen.  So in the meantime, let's stick with what we know best.  "Wanderer" is another selection from my favourite Finnish band's album Victory Songs, which boasts a title track to end all title tracks.

What do we have here?  Epicness.  "Wanderer" is a six-and-a-half minute voyage through viking territory.  Petri Lindroos rocks out on vocals, as usual, and you know that this is what the folk metal genre is all about.  This is the kind of music I listen to around the apartment and get asked if this was recorded for Lord of the Rings.  I wish!  "Wanderer" doesn't have a lot of the death growling that Ensiferum has used to their great advantage in the past, but it works here.  You don't need to scream to be heard, people.  This isn't a song you'd wreck your voice singing along to.  This is a victory song.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

I'll say one thing first: I've had this post planned for about a week and a half, but didn't anticipate that it would fall on a day it rained.  Fate has an interesting sense of humor after all.  Anyways, there's something about "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" that speaks to everyone.  We can all relate to the weather after all, right?  So gave you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?  It sure is something, and musically, this is something too.  This is CCR's swamp rock at its finest, though I'll let you make an argument for "Born On The Bayou" if you must.  Just do this for me today: go sit in front of a window, plug this in, and watch the rain fall.  Nirvana will be reached.

Green Day - Letterbomb

Nobody likes you, everyone left you, they're all out without you having fun.

I'll admit to being a bit indifferent about Green Day.  Everyone I ask picks Dookie as their best work and is a bit shocked to find out I'm not their biggest fan.  Well, I got American Idiot when I was in the seventh grade, and though I don't enjoy it as much as I did back then, a few songs are still worthy of featuring.  "Holiday" is my absolute favourite Green Day song, but "Letterbomb" wins the feature.  It's got the Green Day brand of punk that makes it theirs, but doesn't leave that peppy-shouting-too-political taste in your mouth.  I find Billie Joe Armstrong likable in "Letterbomb," which says something, and the guitars are killer.  It's punk all grown up, and the fact that I'm still listening to it eight years later earns major awesome points.  Sure, a song can be good when it comes out, but that good feeling lasts?  Now we're talkin'