A Sampler Platter of Songs

Whew! After what has seriously been the busiest two weeks of my professional life, I have finally found a little downtime. And obviously the first thing I wanted to do was give a Tennessee mountain holler to everyone at "I Totally Hear That."

So... hey y'all! (Imagine me saying that really loud, while sporting the overalls I insisted on wearing in grad school. Because I was subversive.)

Anyway, here are a couple of singles that I think are worth a listen.

Have you heard...

"Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional? I know, right? Generally, this group merits the big "meh" from me. But this new single is really pretty. It has a sadness that strikes me as genuine, and Chris Carrabba's vocals are surprising. Why? Because they don't get all screamy and tortured. Instead, the singing stays simple, the music stays restrained, and the whole experience stays lovely. A tuneful keeper.

And that reminds me... did you all ever hear the song "How I Go" by Yellowcard featuring Natalie Maines (of The Dixie Chicks?) It's astonishing.

Really, I'm kicking myself because I didn't remember to put it on my list of favorite songs from 2006. If you want to hear it, you can watch the following YouTube video, which features the song set to scenes from the anime movie "Princess Mononoke."

Which... bwahahaha! It's just so dorky to put rock songs under snippets of animated films. But I kind of love the towering geekiness of it. I understand the impulse to make something that expresses your own response to a beautiful song. But still... bwahaha!

Anyway... here's the video...




There's an epic sweep to this song that I find really impressive. It manages to be dramatic without sinking under Jim Steinman levels of syrup. Although how amazing would it be to see scenes from "Spirited Away" underscored by "It's All Coming Back to Me Now?"

And if you're looking for some new R&B, let me suggest "Anonymous" by Bobby Valentino. The bouncy beat--created, of course, by Timbaland--has these odd beeps and swooshes in it, as though Bobby just couldn't stop playing his old-school Nintendo while he was in the recording booth. It's fun, and he can hit high notes without resorting to a tremulous falsetto, which means he's a better singer than many of his contemporaries.

Hope you enjoy some of the samples from this platter!