We could've grown old together, but instead you'll always be twenty three

Today's track is courtesy of MC Lars. Lars is a rapper out of Berkely, California, but he's not your typical MC. Instead of guns, bitches, and blings, Lars is more likely to be rapping about Star Wars or Edgar Allen Poe. It's lighthearted, enjoyable stuff. Usually. On "Twenty-Three", off his newest album This Gigantic Robot Kills, Lars drops the jokiness for a haunting chronicle of a friend's suicide. I wasn't expecting this track while listening to the album, and it knocked me out.

MC Lars-Twenty Three

Where you just kept coming apart, straight in my arms

Now here is a band that evokes a mood. The Gaslight Anthem are a new punk band starting to make some noise. Think Springsteen crossed with the Alkaline Trio. Listening to Gaslight, you you were in 1950's New Jersey, driving in a boat of a convertible chasing girls on an endless Saturday night. Catchy, catchy, catchy.

The Gaslight Anthem-Old White Lincoln
The Gaslight Anthem-The '59 Sound
The Gaslight Anthem-The Patient Ferris Wheel

For years and years in my heart you'll stay

Well, it's Valentine's Day. Might as well post a love song. Let's go with one of my favourite tracks of all time, "Always For You", by The Album Leaf. Wistful lyrics+chilly background music=a gorgeous track about devotion. Greatness.

The Album Leaf-Always For You

Learning to open the box in your throat

So, something a little different today. What I'm posting here is not music, per se. It is poetry, something I've become increasingly interested in over the last year or so. But, I find myself fairly unmoved by the older poetry of a Keats or Blake or what have you. Modern stuff is where it's at. Performance poetry, to be exact, which is spoken word performed on a stage, in front of an audience.

Obviously, from this description, you can assume that the way to properly appreciate this art form is to see it live and in person. But, recordings make a reasonable facsimile. A growing number of poets are bridging the gap between music and poetry and releasing CDs, which is nice for us.

3 tracks today. The first one comes from a gentleman by the name of Buddy Wakefield. "Convenience Stores" is off his 2006 album, Run On Anything, and it's a simple tale of a convenience store clerk and a trucker set to a gentle piano melody. The lyrics (or poem, should I say), are a knockout.

Buddy Wakefield-Convenience Stores

The next two tracks come to us courtesy of Bernard Dolan. B. Dolan is a spoken word guy turned rapper. These two tracks come off his 2008 debut, The Failure. "The Skycycle Blues" is a mediation on Evel Knievel and the act of going into direct competition against Death, while "Kate" speaks of a young man struggling to make sense of an evil world, and hoping that those touched can come through it untouched. Incredibly cathartic stuff. Enjoy.

B. Dolan-The Skycycle Blues
B. Dolan-Kate

Note: Both Wakefield and Dolan are signed to Strange Famous Records, possibly the best Rap label going today. In fact, Dolan is a co-founder of the label. More artists from Strange Famous will definitely be touched on at some point.

This letter's written itself inside out again

Automatic Loveletter should be breaking out any day now. They write some seriously catchy pop punk tracks, and vocalist Juliet Simms has a sense of star power about her, as seen on this track. "Hush" is a power ballad off their 2007 EP Recover. Simms delivers a gloriously imperfect vocal that cracks with emotion as she belts out about a love gone dead. There's a newer version of this song on their 2009 self titled EP, but I've chosen this earlier version for it's more stripped down, raw quality. Enjoy.

Automatic Loveletter-Hush

The one relief comes from the pounding of the bass strings

And here, we have what is far and away the sexiest song I've ever heard. "End: User", by Vixtrola, is one of those songs that creates an atmosphere from the very first note. The star of the track is vocalist Jamie Blake, sounding like every girl you've ever desired, cooing lyrics about drowning out all your bad dreams over a trip hop beat. Gorgeous.


Vixtrola-End: User

A hymn to the immortal wind

Welcome to Encyclopedia Melodica. Because I just wasn't content with trying to badger my friends into listening to new and awesome music, and have thusly expanded into the whole of the world wide web.

Our first entry comes from Mono. Mono are a Japanese band who do instrumentals. Big, giant, instrumentals. If you're familiar with Explosions In The Sky, you know what I'm talking about.

Today's track is the closer off their latest album, Hymn To The Immortal Wind, entitled "Everlasting Light" Beginning with gently chiming pianos and aching strings before rising into a crescendo of dissonant guitar and pounding drums, the 10 minute plus track gives new meaning to the word epic. Check it out.

Mono-Everlasting Light