Youtube is Eating My Brain - All Songs Considered

NPR does a wonderful podcast called All Songs Considered, with host Bob Boilen.  No musical genre is outside the purview of Bob Boilen and All Songs Considered, and through the agency of this podcast I have come to greatly expand my musical horizons.  What is amazing about the show is that whether it is New Age Jazz; old-school rap; Afro-funk polyrhythmic Fela Kuti-esque World Music; or just plain rock'n'roll, Bob plays it all, and his genuine love and appreciation for the music is always on display.  There is also a delightful blog for the podcast that is worth bookmarking and reading, as the All Songs Considered crew are a very intelligent and open bunch; constantly throwing topics out for discussion, and requesting feedback from their audience.

In appreciation of their hard work today's YiEMB consists solely of songs that I have come to through listening to this wonderful podcast.

First up is a new song from David Byrne and Brian Eno, Strange Overtones, off their new album Everything that Happens Will Happen Today.  I heard this one on a podcast while driving out to Atlanta this Fall, and immediately fell in love with it.  Upon my return to SLC, I went to Emusic.com and bought the entire album.  I am not sure if this video is the official video for the song, but the culture of isolation evoked by the gun-wielding gas mask wearing inhabitants, and the dissonance of the imagery fits very weill with the lyrics and music.

Second out of the gate is Brooklyn-based Antibalas with the song Beaten Metal from their Security album.  I heard this song over a year and a half ago, but only got the cd this past June.  This video is actually just the song, but it is one of my favorite pieces of music from the last year.  Well worth the listen.

Thirdly is the group Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse with Liz, the Hot Receptionist.  Really, nothing more needs to be said, but I'm going to say more.  I just pulled one of their albums off of Emusic, and am in the process of listening to it.  As Bob Boilen opined, they are funny, rude, and occasionally profane, but the music is great.

Being over thirty, I don't pay much attention to the hipster bands that are multiplying like mice these days.  However, that is my loss as I almost lost out on hearing two bands.  The first, MGMT, doesn't allow embedding of their videos so they lose out on the promotion that simple thing would allow.  However, the second band is Panic at the Disco, and their videos I can embed!  Specifically, this video is for When the Day Met the Night, and is actually a fan-made mini-movie that captures the sweetness and innocence of the song perfectly.

Lastly is Regina Spektor's Fidelity, quite possibly the first song that I tracked down after hearing it on All Songs Considered.  What is funny is that it was only after I had bought her cd did I remember that I had first heard the song on the podcast.  While about half the songs on the album are not exactly to my liking, the other half of the songs make the cd well worth the purchase.