Regina love.

I just found out tonight that Miss Regina Spektor, singer/songwriter/musician extraordinaire, will be playing on October 4th at the Sound Garden, a small record store downtown in Fells Point. And the show is free, man. So even though it's on a Wednesday night...it doesn't cost money, and it's nearby, and even though they haven't announced a time yet I'm betting it's on the early side. So you can bet your ass I'll be there, and I'm more excited that you could possibly even imagine. I've wanted to see her for so long.
And I haven't really been listening to much else besides her new album Begin to Hope lately, either. Well - that and Sufjan. But it seriously blows my mind, how great it is. (The one exception being the obvious new version of "Samson". The original, off Songs, has always been my favorite Spektor song because it is so slow and haunting and beautiful. It is the kind of song where the voice and piano is so gut-wrenchingly beautiful that it makes you want to jump off a bridge. But in a good way.)
I've uploaded two of my favorites off the album (besides "On the Radio", which I love, but has also been all over my local college radio station lately, so I'm getting kind of sick of it).

That Time

Hotel Song

And also, here’s the pretty much brand-new video for “Fidelity” (Begin to Hope). I think it's adorable.




And ALSO, because this is one of my all-time favorite songs in the world (as evidenced by the fact that Jeff Buckley’s version was in my last post, too), Regina’s gorgeous cover of “Hallelujah”.

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)


Oh, I have so many other things I should be doing right now...I love this.



P.S. Hey, everyone (anyone?) - let me know here if you take any of this. I just like to know who's looking, and who's stealing, that's all. Enjoy.

P.P.S. So the song links aren't working, and I honestly have NO IDEA WHY. But, uh, if you click on it, and it takes you to a Blogger error page...just go to the address bar, delete everything before the YouSendIt site and the quotes around it. And it should work. Sorry...

First post. Exciting, no?

So I created this blog for two reasons.
Reason No. 1: I love to force my musical taste and interests on everyone else. Um, I mean...I love the opportunity to, uh...share...music...with other like-minded people?
Reason No. 2: I need yet another pointless activity to distract myself from the barrage of homework and college applications that is currently taking over my life.
Anyway, this is where I'll be posting mixes I've made (like this entry), or a song I've recently been obsessed with, or where I'll just write about a new album I've heard or a concert I've been to. Basically, this is going to be a place for me to express all my music-dorkiness without having to force it on other people who just really don't care. And, if you like it, you can steal lots of music from me. Sound good? Okay. Onto the real stuff.

Earlier today I finished up a new and revised version of my old "Beautiful Voices" mix. Maybe 'beautiful' is the wrong word, but I don't know...this is a mix of all the voices that make my stomach feel squishy; that make me smile whenever I hear them sing. I have another hour-long playlist of all the songs that were cut from the mix, which accounts for the lack of Dylan, Beck, Damien Rice, etc. These are just all the voices that seem especially...well, especially special.
Oh, and there are also a lot of covers, because...well, I like covers, and pretty much any mix I make has a bunch of them on it. So deal with it, bitches.


Beautiful Voices.

1. Elliott Smith - "Trouble" (Cat Stevens)
2. Janis Joplin - "Summertime" (I have no idea who did the original of this, it's been covered so many times)
3. Lou Reed - "Walk On The Wild Side"
4. Cat Power - "I Found A Reason"
5. M. Ward - "Let's Dance" (David Bowie)
6. Mirah - "Monument"
7. Sufjan Stevens - "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
8. Feist - "Secret Heart"
9. Devendra Banhart - "This Beard Is For Siobhan"
10. Joanna Newsom - "Inflammatory Writ"
11. Death Cab For Cutie - "I Will Follow You Into The Dark"
12. Regina Spektor - "Samson"
13. Bright Eyes - "Lua"
14. Be Your Own Pet - "Ouch"
15. Jeff Buckey - "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen)
16. Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous"
17. The Decemberists - "Bridges & Balloons" (Joanna Newsom)
18. Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - "The Maid Needs A Maid"
19. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Counting Down The Hours"
20. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Cheated Hearts"


And I also just have to post this song because I've been listening to it over and over and over and over for the past couple days. Blasting it in my car, from my headphones in the darkroom, walking to class, in my bed...seriously, everywhere, I've been listening to this song. It's just wonderfully gorgeous. I mean, pretty much everything the man does is wonderful and gorgeous (um, and also himself), but...yeah.

Sufjan Stevens-"The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)"