Another Form of Relief

It was March of last year that I first wrote about Jenny Owen Youngs on this blog. That was around the time I first discovered her wonderful song called Fuck Was I, a gentle, haunting song about regret. It was one of my favourite songs of last year, despite me never really getting into the rest of her material.

Since then, she has been signed by majorish record label Nettwerk who have reissued her first album, Batten the Hatches. In recent months she has toured the UK, released a split EP with Dave House and recorded a cover of Nelly’s Hot in Here, the video of which you’ll find further down.

Convinced that the original album hasn’t been milked enough, we now have the video for Was I, which seems to be a variation of the original song I wrote about a year and a half ago. To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of it’s rather non-sensical “What the was I thinking?” chorus, but hey, the violins are still nice.

And here’s the Hot in Here video that I never got around to writing about a few months ago:

Batten the Hatches was released in the UK about a month ago via Nettwerk. Was I is presumably being released as a single, but I have no idea when.

One of the classics..

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs - Voice on Tape (expired)

Jenny Owen Youngs: Website || Myspace

#19
Emmy The Great
‘Paper Trails’

Website
Myspace

I’ve really tried to get into the music of Emmy the Great, but I can’t seem to do it. Maybe I’ve been hearing the wrong songs or something, but all of the tracks that I’ve picked up from various blogs haven’t done very much for me. All except this one anyway. It’s quite a feat for an artist I don’t particularly like to get to get a song in my top 20 songs of the year, but ‘Paper Trails’ somehow gets there. I can’t even tell you what it is that I like about it. Possibly the song itself, but it makes so little sense that it’s probably not. It could be her voice, but if it is, why don’t I like her other songs? It’s all very confusing really. Rest assured that this is a fine song though, and certainly worthy of it’s place here.

#18
Sky Larkin
‘Keepsakes’

Website
Myspace

I wrote earlier on in the year that ‘Keepsakes’ was one of my favourite songs of the year, and the fact it’s made this list confirms that very little has changed. It’s not their most complex song, but it’s the one that I’ve enjoyed more than any of the others in the past year. There’s something a little creepy about the whole thing, but it’s mainly just an outlet for Katie’s increasingly powerful voice.

#17
Play Radio Play
‘Jello’

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Myspace

The first time that I heard the early parts of ‘Jello’ I genuinely thought that I was listening to The Postal Service. Nearly everything comes across as uncannily similar: the song structure, the random electronic bits and the vocal is pretty much a perfect Gibbard. Of course, this leads to an ineviatble question of why I’m including a song so highly here if it’s just a rip-off of another band. I’m not even sure if I can answer that question entirely though. I just really like the song. It’s simplistic and some of the words are a little awkward, but it’s just incredibly catchy.

#16
The Light Footwork
‘Coastlines Are Landmines’

Website
Myspace

The Light Footwork seemed to arrive entirely out of nowhere with an already perfected sound. Primarily the creative outlet for Jay Underwood and Becca Wilhelm, they combine the musical sounds of Beulah with the songwriting finesse of Stephen Malkmus. If I was putting together an album list for the year, there is no doubt that their debut release, ‘One State Two State’ would feature very highly, if not in the number one position. I don’t think I’ve played any other complete albums as consistantly in the past year. Anyway, ‘Coastlines Are Landmines’ is just one standout song on an incredible album.

#15
The Elected
‘It Was Love’

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Myspace

“I’m still not a big fan of ‘Sun, Sun, Sun’, but this song is just about my favourite of any song that The Elected have put out. If there’s one thing Blake Sennett can do well, it’s sounding melancholy while doing his best Elliott Smith impression. An entirely depressing story about two people who stay together because they know no better (”I just put up with you / Kid, I stayed because you wouldn’t leave”). I don’t know if it’s supposed to be positive or not when Blake describes this time as “It was love / Or at least the closest I got”, but it certainly doesn’t seem that way even if it’s supposed to be.” - originally posted June 2.

#14
Pony Up!
‘What’s Free Is Yours’

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Myspace

I discovered Pony Up! toward the end of the year, and have since obtained a lot of their material. To be perfectly honestly, a lot of it isn’t all that interesting to me. What is interesting to me though are perfect pop songs, and ‘What’s Free Is Yours’ certainly falls into that category. An upbeat song from a slightly bitter woman who is changing her perception of the past to make the guy she’s broken up with seem like the bad guy (”I don’t believe / you’d be here if you could / But then again / you never said you would / I make up promises you never made”). It’s this perfect capturing of the quirky little things that people do that allow Pony Up! to have some fantastic songs. They just need seeking out amongst all the rest.

#13
Pocketbooks
‘Cross The Line’

Website
Myspace

“‘Cross the Line’ is the first song released from their new batch of recordings, and it’s easily cemented itself in place as one of my favourites of the year so far. Full of lovely imagery (it opens with “I’m asleep on a train on the Zone 2 boundary”) and basically continues as a back and forth conversation between the male and female vocalists. This takes on a nicely self-aware twist when she starts calling him on the honesty of his lyrics (”As a kid I would run through the fields and orchards” / “What about your hayfever though?” / “I’d climb the branches to the top” / “What, with your vertigo?” / “Look, I’m making all this up”). Extra points also have to be awarded for being the first song I’m aware of that actually slots in the term “Oyster card” without being entirely tacky.” - originally posted November 4.

#12
Beeches
‘Make Your Own Luck’

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Myspace

Proclaimed as “a fucking excellent song” by at least one attendee gig Beeches played for AFoR a month ago, ‘Make Your Own Luck’ is my favourite song of theirs and one of the best I’ve heard this year. Musically it comes across as a crazy drunk person, jumping from energetic bursts of aggression to slowed down gentle parts and back again. Lyrically, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Essentially the story of man singing to his new step daughter after he met her mother at “the filming of Trisha” before they “married on Kilroy”. Of course, it’s all rather whimsical, but who can resist it when it leaps into high gear for the second time?

#11
Jenny Owen Youngs
‘Fuck Was I’

Website
Myspace

Firmly a part of my “big in 2007″ list is Jenny Owen Youngs, something that was made stronger by a recent signing to Canadian indie label Nettwerk, who will be re-releasing her 2005 album ‘Batten The Hatches’ early next year. Despite initially being kind of indifferent to it, ‘Fuck Was I’ quickly became one of my favourite songs of the year. Pretty much the anthem of any breakup, mournfully looking back and asking “what the fuck was I thinking?” All sung by a wonderful voice with a gentle strings arrangement in the background, sad songs really don’t come much better than this.

#10
Born Ruffians
‘This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life’

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Myspace

The world has been decidedly short of slacker anthems since the loss of Pavement, so a song like this from Canada’s Born Ruffians fills in the void perfectly. Two and a half loud, noisy minutes about the things the singer wants from life (a girl, nice car, a meaning to his life) while seemingly accepting that he’s too lazy to do anything about it. This certainly isn’t an epiphany song, more one that proclaims what will never be had. Making the whole thing rather a downer to be honest.

And with that we’re down to the final nine songs that make up best songs of 2006. In my opinion of course. If you read the blog regularly you can probably guess a few of the songs that will make up the top end of the chart, but hopefully there will be a couple of surprises in there too. Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what they are.

I always thought when I started this thing that I wouldn’t bother with “lame” things like lists of the top ten of the year and stuff like that, but now that we’ve reached the halfway point of the year, I feel the need to look back over just some of the fantastic music I’ve discovered since I started the blog. With that in mind, I now present my top ten songs of the year so far. Obviously this list isn’t perfect, and probably contains some 2005 songs too, but they are all ones that I’ve discovered this year. Seeing as all of these songs are so good, I’m not even going to try and rank them, so they are here in a nice and simple alphabetical order.

MP3 The Foundry Field Recordings - Buried Beneath The Winter Frames (expired) (Prompts/Miscues)
Grandaddy-esque lo-fi rock from Billy Schuh’s Missouri band. This entire album is quickly becoming one of my favourites, and is perfectly represented by ‘Buried Beneath The Winter Frames’, an upbeat, distortion coated guitar song, topped off by Schuh’s abstract words and restrained voice.
The Foundry Field Recordings: Website || Myspace

MP3 I’m From Barcelona - We’re From Barcelona (expired) (Let Me Introduce My Friends)
Wonderfully cheerful music from the 29 band members that make up Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona. It’s all pretty non-sensical and silly, but boy can it brighten up a day. ‘Let Me Introduce My Friends’, their debut album, is full of numbers like this, and performed in such a way that it never becomes grating.
I’m From Barcelona: Website || Myspace

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I (Batten The Hatches)
An insanely good songwriting talent from New York, with a voice that’s far more developed than her years would have you believe. Backed up with an impressive array of strings, ‘Fuck Was I’ is pretty much the ultimate regret song. If this girl hasn’t made it big in the next couple of years, something is very wrong in the world.
Jenny Owen Youngs: Website || Myspace

MP3 Kate Nash - The Nicest Thing (expired)
I’m not sure what I can say about Kate Nash here that I haven’t said over the past couple of weeks. Simply one of the finest songwriters I have heard recently, backed up with a fantastic voice. Dodgy production aside, ‘The Nicest Thing’ is just a beautiful song.
Kate Nash: Myspace

MP3 The Light Footwork - Coastlines Are Landmines (expired) (One State Two State)
‘One State Two State’ is about my favourite album that I’ve bought this year, and it still sounds entirely fresh several months on. The Light Footwork are a two-piece making simply great music. With lyrical skills similar to that of Malkmus and Beulah like melodies, these guys should be something big in the near future.
The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New (expired) (Get Lonely)
The prolific Mountain Goats are back once more with yet another album, and ‘Woke Up New’ is an excellent preview of what is hopefully to come. More restrained and introspective than ‘The Sunset Tree’, the song covers the period immediately after a break-up. As such, it isn’t the happiest songs, but the little observations give the song a realism not often found.
The Mountain Goats: Website

MP3 Nathan Asher & The Infantry - Turn Up The Faders (expired) (Sex Without Love)
New band Nathan Asher & The Infantry somehow managed to bridge the gap between Bright Eyes and Bruce Springsteen, combining shaky, uncertain vocals with flashes of hard rock and the odd piano breakdown. If these guys haven’t signed to a major label yet, it’ll be happening very soon.
Nathan Asher & The Infantry: Website || Myspace

MP3 Sky Larkin - Keepsakes (expired)
A fantastic little band from Leeds who keep putting out demos that are getting better and better. ‘Keepsakes’ comes from the latest batch of these, and allows them to reach new heights, both musically and lyrically. One of the few British bands that I’m genuinely excited to hear more songs from.
Sky Larkin: Website || Myspace

MP3 Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives (Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives EP)
The songs on the ‘Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives’ EP never quite reach the brilliance that was ‘The Start Of Something’ from last years ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP, but they are still great songs. This title track is the best of them, a pounding number that brings together 80’s British rock with the sounds of the 60’s. Throw in Ramesh Srivastava’s voice and you have the perfect combination for success. I’ll put money on them being somewhere on The OC soundtrack in the next twelve months.
Voxtrot: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Young Republic - Modern Plays (Modern Plays)
The Young Republic are a nine-piece from Boston making some fantastic orchestral pop music. ‘Modern Plays’ is the title song from their latest release, a more abstract affair than their previous works, allowing them to pull away from the inevitable Belle & Sebastian comparisons a little. Oh, and did I mention that this why they are all still in college? They will go a very long way if they stick with this into the future.
The Young Republic: Website || Myspace

Other mid-year goodness..

Mike at Nothing But Green Lights has a 19 song mix of the best music from the first six months of year, including more Sky Larkin and Voxtrot, as well as some fantastic music that may be brand new to you.

Ryan at Good Hodgkins has posted up his seven essential albums of the year so far, including Belle & Sebastian, Figurines and Band of Horses.

Calum at Mocking Music has numbers 5-10 of his top ten albums of the year so far. Presumably the top five will be following soon, and there’s sure to be some good stuff in there.

Both of my long time readers may well remember me gushing about Jenny Owen Youngs a while back. Looking back now, I don’t think I wrote anywhere near enough at the time, so I imagine I’ll end up writing about her again in the future. If you haven’t discovered her yet though, get yourself to that post and give her a listen. All of this is elementary though, as we aren’t here to talk about just Jenny today.

I would like to introduce you to The Robot Explosion, which is a side project of Jenny and a bunch of other similarily minded musicians. They describe their sound as “the hushed wasting away of a vibrant girl to a shell of her former self” and “the soft hum of all-consuming alcoholism”. For those of you who like a little musical detail in your descriptions though, they play around in the indie electronic pop area.

Two of their songs are actually Jenny solo songs that have been massively reworked. One of these is ‘Fuck Was I’, the Jenny track I posted originally, and it takes on an entirely different sound when performed by The Robot Explosion. Gone is the piano, in is the electronic wizardry. I think I prefer the Jenny version more, but it’s still a great song in it’s own right. Another one of these reworked songs is ‘Voice On Tape’, which you’ll find here.

MP3 The Robot Explosion - Voice On Tape (expired)

In this case, I like The Robot Explosion version of the song a lot more. The slightly annoying answerphone intro in the Jenny version is gone, and a song that talks about a “voice on tape” does sound better with a more processed, electronic feel. Best of all, the awesome Jenny vocals still remain, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

You can of course listen to a bunch more of The Robot Explosion on their Myspace, where you can handily pick up their EP for only $7. While you’re there, be sure to check out the solo work of each of the band members. They are all putting out good material, so don’t be surprised to see any of the others pop up on here in the future.

I can’t quite remember where I first discovered Jenny Owen Youngs (I’m thinking Skatterbrain, but I’m not sure). It’s one of those cases where I downloaded ‘Fuck Was I’, played it once and then didn’t give it any more thought. A little while back though, Itunes threw it up for me and it grabbed me. I got past the issue of dismissing it entirely based on it’s name, previously assuming it was of little value, relying on shock value more than anything else.

Second time around though, the whole thing just clicked into place. Her vocals are akin to Cat Power, just considerably less annoying. The songs themselves are lyrically strong, but the kind where you have to actually listen to the words to appreciate the complexity. And she uses a lot of strings, which always scores big in my book.

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I

This is one of the few albums I’ve gone and bought solely on the basis of one song. I’d comment on what the others are like but the damn thing hasn’t arrived yet. Anyways, you can pick up a copy for yourself either through her website or the awesome CD Baby. Oh, and here’s the obligatory Myspace link.