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This song will get me through the winter, or at least until April when I get to see Cut Copy live. The first time I saw them was back at SXSW in 2008. I’d been invited to go see R.E.M. play, and while admittedly it was kind of a fun show, kicking up dust in the backyard of Stubbs, my heart belonged to Cut Copy that night. I finally made it to the darkly lit room CC was playing in, and it was worth it. The rest, as they say, is history.

“Take Me Over” the second track off Zonoscope. This album was just released today and I’m already 3 listens deep.

There are a few reasons you may have heard about Blue Valentine already. The Golden Globe nod for Michelle Williams. The Golden Globe nod for Ryan Gosling. Ryan Gosling. Period. Or the fact that the music in the film was left to the devices of Grizzly Bear.

The material isn’t new, mostly instrumental versions of already released songs, but somehow, the pairing of the music and the movie breathed new life into these songs for me. There’s both an instrumental version of “Foreground,” and the original, and I’m currently toggling back and forth between the two of them.

Here’s the original, off 2009’s Veckatimest.

“Safari Disco Club” is the newest track from Yelle, off her upcoming album of the same name. This is a great taste of the album, looking forward to the entree.

Ok, I’m slowly digging myself out of my post-Phish-MSG hole. It’s been tough going, these past 11 days since Meatstick, trying to relive the moment via computer speakers at work, keeping the volume at a low hum so as not to drive my co-workers bananas with my obsessive compulsive play-play-repeat behaviour. The shows were great. Nay, the shows were grand. I’ll quote a friend, who when speaking about something else entirely, delivered this sentence with such eloquence, such clarity, it deserves to be repeated, and applied to the NYE run.

“It was the dumbest thing ever. No, wait. By dumbest I mean the best.” Precisely.

But I’ve moved on. Partially. And in the wake of MSG I’ve fallen into the latest album from The Bees, Every Step’s A Yes, released in October of 2010. Hailing from Isle of Wight, The Bees are a band, who at the risk of sounding critical, I can easily forget about, especially given that it’s been three years since their last album. While home for the holidays I was browsing my favorite record store where I almost always buy CDs blind - going solely on their recommendations and reviews from local papers taped to walls. It was here I was reminded of The Bees. From Beta Band-esque melodies, to trippy tunes flecked with trumpet, this fourth album is a-ok in my books.

“Winter Rose” by The Bees.

I went through a We Are Scientists phase a few years ago but they’ve since dropped down on my ‘most played’ list. But there was a time - oh, there was a time.

True story: I saw them a ways back when I was going through said phase. I had been working late and walked into the show just in time to hear them say “Thank you Torontoooooo!” Needless to see I was bummed. So I did what any normal person would do. I went to the merch table and bought not one, but two W.A.S. t-shirts. That wasn’t enough. No, I needed to relive the moment that I missed in some way. To do so I put one of the t-shirts on in the cab ride home, the whole 15 minutes of it.

T-shirt or no t-shirt, this is still a great tune.

“The Scene is Dead” from With Love and Squalor.

A friend sent this to me on a hectic day, not long before I headed to Nicaragua on vacation. As such, it’s been sitting fairly neglected in my ‘recently added’ folder in iTunes. It’s time to remedy that.

Falling somewhere under the chillwave-dream-pop umbrella (love it or hate it, it’s everywhere these days), Mikey Sanders, recording under the moniker of Blackbird Blackbird, has been churning out material at a speedy clip. I like everything I hear so far, so he can keep up that pace.

“Pure” by Blackbird Blackbird.

I ended up at a Reptar show during CMJ. I’d never heard of them and I’ll be honest, it was a rocky start. The band was playing like all members were marching to the beat of their own metronome. If Francis and the Lights weren’t up next I may have left. 

Then they tightened up. Or maybe they started to sweat out all the JD they’d drank. Whichever it was, I was able to watch without wanting to leave.

Then something else happened. People started dancing. I should rephrase, a select group of 15 to 20 people started dancing in a way that was most reminiscent of the ‘dance like nobody’s watching’ style. They were going bonkers for this band. Really, bonkers. They were chanting. The room was decently full, but only a fraction of the people were dancing like this, and it seemed they were all in some way connected to the band’s hometown, Athens, GA, the chants rising from a place of hometown pride. 

Then it dawned on me. Those people dancing were me years ago. Their friends were my friends. Finkle IS Einhorn. I immediately bbm’ed an old friend from uni with this revelation. Something to the effect of: “Dear GOD! Remember when we all used to hit the dance floor like we were the only people in the bar? I’m now one of the other people, one of the people standing at the back of the bar drinking a soda and enjoying the show, and I’m now realizing just how insane we must have looked. And also remembering why we all stopped drinking gin.”

Then another thing happened. I realized that this song was in it’s own way, awesome.

And once again ladies and gentleman, we have an example of why I love music. Sure, I love it because it makes me dance. I love it because it just sounds so darn good. But I think I love it most for the ability it has to transport me back to a moment in time. I don’t want to talk about the music, that’s boring. I want to talk about the things that happen when we listen to music.

“Houseboat Babies” by Reptar.