Ya Can't Call It a Song of the Week if There's No Weekly Song {Part 1}

    At this point, I imagine any potential readers figure my blog writing days lay behind me. Almost a third of the year in and not a single featured song- even though I'd claimed earlier to get back in the habit. Well, I come with no excuses. I'd honestly written off the blog. Various reasons... Don't need to get into it. There doesn't seem to have been any public outcry over it anyhow. Nonetheless, I've been keeping a list of potential songs to feature all the while. With each passing week, the urge to post grows, and at long last decided to update the yearly playlist regardless of who's keeping track. In my absence, Archie has been trying to pull up the slack, and I give him the proper credit for his efforts. His new ideas, such as the guest writers, have breathed some life into the all-but-abandoned blog. Perhaps with my lackluster consistency, he can build something with it.
    For now though, I shall list basically the first third of the 2011 song-of-the-week playlist, minus a few yet-to-come songs. Those who don't remember, the list is whole list is broken up into three mini-playlists, and once the next few weeks pass and the corresponding tunes get their spotlight, mini numero uno shall be completed. 'Til then, it's catch-up once again. I'll try not to comment on 'em too much so you can form your own opinions. Oh, and there's so many, I had to break the post into two parts... be sure to check out both!

January 2, 2011

"My Backwards Walk" by Frightened Rabbit from the album The Midnight Organ Fight. 2008.
    As tradition dictates, each starting song of the mini-lists shall have some sort of common thread. I've decided to go a different route again and pick songs that have "Backwards" in the title. First up is "My Backwards Walk". Simply great and invokes recovery.

January 9, 2011

"Something, Somewhere, Sometime" by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore from the album Dear Companion. 2010.
    Following in a similar theme, "Something" chimes in. Reminds me a bit of Mumford and Sons.

January 16, 2011

"She's Got Issues" by The Offspring from the album Americana. 1998.
    I've known this song since it was released, but never had I seen the music video. How surprised was I, then, to find none other than a young Zooey Deschanel starring in it? In my world, she's most known as the infamous Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan from (500) Days of Summer, one of my favorite movies and once mentioned here on the blog. Anyway, the song is classic Offspring detailing a girlfriend who well... has issues. I understand the song much more now than I did as a kid, and probably much more than I actually ever would have wanted to. Fun lyrics that let you pick and choose the applicable line to the situation you know.

January 23, 2011

"Handle Me" by Robyn from the album Robyn. 2005.
    Sweedish electropop. It's got some of the lyrical cliches, but "Handle Me" handles 'em well.

January 30, 2011

"Rome" by Phoenix from the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. 2009.
    This album exploded long before I had a chance to feature the song. It even won Best Alternative Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards. I'm not against featuring popular songs, but I try to showcase more of the unknown for the sake of music exploration. If everyone knows the tune anyway, do I need to point attention to it? Just the same, the more "Indie" a track is, the less likelihood of it becoming so widespread, and hopefully even the most popular Indie songs can sneak up on someone.

February 6, 2011

"Gimme Back My Dog" by Slobberbone from the album Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today. 2000.
    I had difficulty finding a studio track on the internet of this for some reason. Lots of live versions, which may tune you out on a first listen. The rugged voice only gets more rugged... A fun little rockin' song.

February 13, 2011

"Killing the Blues" by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss from the album Raising Sand. 2007.
    Robert Plant was the lead singer of Led Zep, if ya don't know, and Alison Krauss is just a fantastic singer, usually of country/bluegrass type numbers. Beautiful, calming song. Be sure to listen to the lyrics.

Continue to Part 2