Tagged: driving drums

Ida Maria – I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked (Fortress ‘Round My Heart, 2008)

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Another artist that you can thank Sam for introducing me to. It’s really very impossible for you to not like this song. It’s catchy, up beat, and infectious. Driving drums, bass line, and guitar part start off strong, and keep us rolling through out the whole song. Ida’s voice is straining and cracks in some spots, giving us the impression that she’s really yelling, face first into the mic.  And then there’s the title, which I love.

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For the most part, the lyrics aren’t really that different. They stay pretty constant, but are effective. The first verse starts us off

Oh the clever
things I should say to you
They got stuck somewhere
Stuck between me and you
Oh I’m nervous
I don’t know what to do
Light a cigarette
I only smoke when I’m with you

“Light a cigarette, I only smoke when I’m with you” is a really great line. Then we move on to the prechorus, where there are great little vocal “Whoooaaaas” That give the song a peppy rock feel. And then, the chorus it’s self, which is

‘Cuz I like you so much better when you’re naked
I like me so much better when you’re naked
I like you so much better when you’re naked
I like me so much better when you’re naked.Yeah!

In my opinion it’s really the best part of the whole song. Pounding drums, crashing guitars, male backing vocals, and Ida belting it out. I can confess, without any shame, that whenever this song comes up on my MP3 player, or stereo, I yell it out too. This has made me the victim of many a strange glance from passers-by, or people in my house.

From here on out, the song continues pretty much in a similar manner. Listen to this song once, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, this is pretty cool” By the second time, I guarantee that you’ll be belting the lyrics out too. I promise. The combination of Ida’s ernest singing style (slightly reminiscent of Feist or Ragina Spektor), backed by powerful drum, bass, and guitar, makes this song a real winner in my book.

-James Out

Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood (Fleet Foxes, 2008)

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Bang! This song starts kicking in with folky guitar strumming and vocal harmonies that are slightly reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Driving drums keeps us rolling, and gives a really pleasant  feeling of driving down a long stretch of highway, as the sun rises over the horizon. Or at least, it does for me. Beautiful and poetic, yet cryptic lyrics are the order of the day, as it starts out with the first verse:

Come down from the mountain, you have been gone too long
The spring is upon us, follow my only song
Settle down with me by the fire of my yearning
You should come back home, back on your own now

More wonderful vocal melodies pass by and we get thrown back into another verse.

The world is alive now, in and outside our home
You run through the forest, settle before the sun
Darling, I can barely remember you beside me
You should come back home, back on your own now

Obviously this is a song about a guy, who is missing is lover, and wants to see her again. Then it slows down, and we get a strange bridge, with basic finger picking, a little bit of egg shaker, and minimal backing electric guitar.

And even in the light, when the woman of the woods came by
To give to you the word of the old man
In the morning tide when the sparrow and the seagull fly
And Johnathan and Evelyn get tired

We now move into this sort of strange, almost Metroid-esc guitar bit. Then, driving bass, and BAM! All the sudden, what happened to that other song we were listening to? Did this just change into another song completly, while staying the same song? (if that makes any sense to you) The answer is yes. This song is actually presented to us in two parts. An A,B format, if you will. I have to be totally frank with you at this point. There are few things that give me a bigger musical hard-on, then ability to pull this off. And friends, Fleet Foxes does it flawlessly.

So we finish off with this little lyric:

Lie to me if you will at the top of Beringer Hill
Tell me anything you want, any old lie will do
Call me back to you
Back to you

And we get to listen to the last part repeated, until they end together. All in all, a masterpiece of song writing, if you ask me. The combination of mostly acoustic instruments, earnest male vocal harmonies, gives this song (and the band, as you will find if you choose to pursue them farther) a old world feel that is compelling and amazing.

-James out