Wednesday in Words': The Rural Alberta Advantage-"In the Summertime"

Maybe it's just my mind wandering off looking ahead to the Summer, or maybe it's because I caught a live show from these guys recently and they've been stuck in my head ever since. But in today's 'Wednesday in Words' I wanted to take a closer look at the lyrics to the fantastic track from The Rural Alberta Advantage, "In the Summertime." This song is the closing track to their gorgeous album, Hometowns which got re-released in 2009 after the band signed on board with Saddle Creek. A perfect ending to a perfect album.



The Rural Alberta Advantage- "In The Summertime"
In the summertime,
I don't know if the stars were aligned.
We'd stumble onto something we would like
And I'm afraid I lost the words tonight

And in your summer dress, was holding you
But you were holding less
It's not the words, it's the ones you stress
I love as I love you just don't love me less

And once in a while,
I know our hearts beat of time.
And once in a while,
I know they'll fall back in line.

And in the summertime,
I don't know if the stars were aligned
We'd stumble onto something we would like
And I'm afraid I lost the words tonight

And when we're middle aged,
You tell me I loved you like a renegade
And how I say the things that make you sway.
And mostly I tell you you did the same.

And once in a while,
I know our hearts beat out of time.
And once in a while,
I know they'll fall back in line.

Our love is strong.
Our love is strong.
Our love is strong.
While my heart's still pumping blood.

follow the Rural Alberta Advantage at the raa.com

'Wednesday in Words' w/ Langhorne Slim-"Say Yes"

As the year comes to a close and my thoughts are gearing up for a year end list of favortite albums, Langhorne Slim's newest disc. Be Set Free will almost certainly be finding it's way into my top 20. Until this year and this album, Slim is an artist that had really slipped under my radar, but this one really caught my attention and it's been on heavy rotation ever since. He wears his heart on his sleeve on the new disc, weaving warm uplifting Americana inspired tunes of life, love and loss, like on this weeks 'Song of the Week', "Say Yes."
Slim just finished touring the US and Europe in support of Be Set Free and he recently announced two upcoming shows to close out the year supporting The Avett Brothers.

Langhorne Slim-"Say Yes"
Say yes, say yes, say yes
Say yes, say yes, say yes.

Darling, nobody plans it this way
We're floatin' or fallin'
We're gonna land either way
Put on your blue lipstick and I'll put on my Venus boots
And we're in California
but it might as well be the moon.

Say yes, say yes, say yes
Say yes, say yes, say yes

Darling, nobody stands in our way
First thing in the morning
we'll be gone without a trace
Rollin' down the highway
I feel good, I confess
I know sometimes we disagree
but I prefer when you say Yes.

Say yes, say yes, say yes
Say yes, say yes, say yes
(x2)

I could not believe it's true
I could not believe it's true

Darling (look), nobody plans it this way
We're floatin' out, fallin'
somewhere in outerspace
I'll keep on loving you
You know me better than the rest
Maybe we should flip a coin and hold our breath

I could not believe it's true

Say yes, say yes, say yes
Say yes, say yes, say yes
(x3)

Langhorne Slim Tour Dates
12/31---Asheville Civic Center with the Avett Brothers---Asheville, North Carolina
1/1---Fox Theatre with the Avett Brothers---Atlanta, Georgia

Wednesday in Words: Matthew Ryan-"The Wilderness"

If you haven't gotten familiar with longtime Nashville singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan over his first 11 albums, well frankly you've really missed out. But don't fret because Ryan just released his 12th studio album, Dear Lover, digitally last month, and he picks up right where he left off crafting intimate tunes that deftly capture the battles of love, loss and all that goes in between, just like he's been doing for the past 11 discs.
The physical version of 'Dear Lover' will be available in-stores this Feb. 16, 2010 via CIMS/Junket Boy, or if you head on over to Blurt Online you can stream the album in it's entirety.
And definitely stay tuned in the next week or so for a new 'Field Recordings' session we shot with Matthew while he was recently in NYC.

Matthew Ryan- "The Wilderness"
Our hearts were broken
When we came here
There's really only one thing
That I want to dear

The wilderness
Comes creeping
& carves you a hollow
Are you ready for tomorrow?

Oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh

I want the dream that we never had
I want the dream that we never had
Before the dark and the day go bad
I want the dream that we never had

Where all the fires
& cruel disease
& all that brings us to our knees
Dissolves, despairs, concludes, concedes
The future here now please

I want the dream that we never had
I want the dream that we never had
Before the dark and the day go bad
I want the dream that we never had

The wilderness
Comes creeping
& carves you a hollow
Are you ready for tomorrow?

Oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh

I want the dream that we never had
I want the dream that we never had
Before the dark and the day go bad
I want the dream that we never had

Amazing grace is it too late?
Is it too late?
Is it too late?

Amazing grace is it too late?
Is it too late for me?
To save a wreck like me?


plus check out the new video for "City Life" below.


Official Matthew Ryan website.

Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?- 'Wednesday in Words' w/ Frightened Rabbit

After unveiling their new single recently, "Swim Until You Can't See Land", Frightened Rabbit have also announced the title and release date for their upcoming 3rd studio LP, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. The new disc will be out this March on FatCat Records, and follows up the bands utterly brilliant, 'The Midnight Organ Fight.' which nabbed our '08 album of the year honors.
Whereras the last album dealt in vivid detail of a break-up of a relationship, frontman/guitarist Scott Hutchinson say's that this album needed a fresh direction ... "Thematically, this record had to be different from the last," "Nobody wanted to hear more break-up songs, and thankfully, I no longer had any in me." The LP's lead single, "Swim Until You Can't See Land," is streaming now via FatCat's website and will be out digitally this Nov.17 with the additional track "Fun Stuff."

Frightened Rabbit-"Swim Until You Can't See Land"
We salute at the threshold of the North Sea
in my mind
And the nautical board-man that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
(Whoaaaa) I swim (Whoaaa) swim (Whoaaa)

Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it numbs.
And the rest of me is a burgeoned man
built to collapse into crumbs
And if I hadn’t come down
To the coast to disappear
I may have died in a land-slide
Of the rocks, the hopes and fears.

So swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

Up to my knees now, do I wait? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before though it’s my first
And perhaps last time.
Let’s call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past
She’s there on the shoreline
Throwing stones at my back

So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

Now the water’s taller than me
And the land is a marker line
All I am is a body adrift in water, salt and sky

So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?

follow Frightened Rabbit on myspace.

'Wednesday In Words' : The Rural Alberta Advantage-"The Ballad of the RAA"

This week on one of our new features, 'Weds. in Words' we take a look at the band The Rural Alberta Advantage and the track, "The Ballad of the RAA." The Rural Alberta Advantage were born out of Canadian singer/songwriter Nils Edenloff's exodus from Edmonton, Alberta to Toronto, Ontario in 2003 that not only inspired the band's name, but also became the meat of his subject matter on the bands debut disc, as Edenloff's lyrics documented his feelings of loneliness and of being homesick after the move. Give it a listen and read along below.

The Rural Alberta Advantage-"The Ballad of the RAA"
We invariably left the prairies
In my heart
Since we never moved an inch
Does the love grow home with the wild rose?
now somethings moving out here

We invariably left the prairies
In my heart
Since we never moved an inch
Then you found me alone on a Friday,
now somethings moving out here

Swap Garneau for Dundas
My parents for your dad
The Rockies for the Great Lakes
And my heart pounds as you say

Swap Garneau for Dundas
My parents for your dad
Rockies or the Great Lakes
And my heart pounds as you say

And all these things will past
It's the good ones that will last
And right here what we've had
Is a good thing, it will last

And all these things will past
It's the good ones that will last
And right here what we've had
Is a good thing, it will last

The RAA on myspace.

Wednesday In Words (#6): Los Campesinos- "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future"

Here's pt. 6 in our ongoing new feature, 'Weds. In Words', spotlighting songs and lyrics that have gotten stuck in our heads. This week we take a look at the upbeat Welsh septet, Los Campesinos and the song, "The Sea Is a Good Place To Think of the Future." The band leaked the track a few months back, as they were in the middle of recording their upcoming sophomore LP, which they've been working on in Stamford, Conn. with producer John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney). The upcoming CD is said to be slated for a release sometime next year, but no word as of yet if this track will make the final cut.

Los Campesinos-"The Sea Is a Good Place To Think of the Future"
"I grabbed hold of her wrist and my hand
Closed from tip to tip
I said “you’ve taken the diet too far
You have got to let it slip”
But she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again
She’s not eating again, she’s not eating again
I ask her to speak French
And then I need her to translate
I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant
She was always far too pretty for me to believe
In a single word she said, believe a word she said

At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation
from allergic reaction to a general anesthetic.
She spent the rest of her teens
Experimenting with prescriptions
in a futile attempt to know more than the doctors

She said one day to leave her
sand up to her shoulders
Waiting for the tide
To drag her to the ocean, to another sea’s shore
This thing hurts like hell
But what did you expect?

(chorus) And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood
And the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years
Dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind
A thousand years in perfect symmetry

Best known left wrist right finger
through all the Southern States
on every video games machine
They call her triple A.
There were racists on the radio
trying to give up smoking
the chat show host he joked
“you have to wait for the government program”.
You talk about your politics
and I wonder if you could be one of them
but you could never kiss a Tory boy
without wanting to cut off your tongue again.

A good place to look to the future
is when you are sat at the sea
with the salt up to your ankles
and a view of the end of the pier
you may look down at your model’s feet
and wish that you’d just float away
and the weather here is overcast
and the sea is the same shade of grey
so the landscape before you
looks just like the edge of the world
but to the left side and the right side
either way is a crazy golf course

The sea is a good place to think of the future.
(repeat chorus)

Wednesday in Words (#5) Fanfarlo-"I'm a Pilot"

A new feature we started up last month taking a closer look at some lyrics that have caught our ear. This week we take a look at a track off of Fanfarlo's uplifting debut disc, Reservoir, and the song, "I'm a Pilot." There was always the theory floating around that the song was loosely centered around Howard Hughes, but I was never quite sure if that was true or not. But in a recent interview with the website laist, singer Simon Balthazar spoke to the songs origins.
Here's the question and what Simon had to say ... (the lyrics are below)
Is anyone in the band really a pilot?
Ah, no. The name kind of came first. Then I thought - who's a pilot? And thought about Howard Hughes, so the song is about certain aspects of his persona, specifically him going nuts, locking himself into a room recording endless tapes.


Fanfarlo- "I'm A Pilot"
You can't trust that sound,
You're sleeping in all the time,
You'll see me on the screen,
Through all the other soul's dark walls,
With the sun.
The mad circus says good night.
The tape machine exposed,
from all its spinning round the moon.
I've scratched all my reels,
I've bitten all my nails to the bone,
Like a stone.
You come back and thrown up.
Away From the top,
and away from the drills,

But kid I'm a pilot,
It's all I believe in (x2)
You can ride on my back.

And time on your hands.
You spent your money down by the tracks,
you had the drivers sign your arms.
My hospitals will welcome you home,
Like a tomb.
With gun marks aching,

To look at your grace,
and believe what you say.
But kid I'm a pilot
It's all I believe in (x2)
You can ride on my back.

If I stay in this room, they'll remember me for my youth
If I stay in this room, they'll remember me for my youth.
If I give it all up (x3)
But kid I'm a pilot,
It's all I believe in (x3)
You can ride on my back

The band will be appearing next week in NYC with a few shows scattered across the CMJ festival.
Oct 19 CMJ: The Syndicate presents at Rebel NYC
Oct 20 CMJ: The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media present at Pianos NYC
Oct 20 CMJ: Brooklyn Vegan presents at Music Hall of Williamsburg Brklyn
Oct 21 CMJ: The Bowery Presents at Bowery Ballroom NYC
Nov 7 Festival Les Inrocks at Boule Noire Paris

Fanfarlo on myspace.

Wednesday in Words (#4): Noah and the Whale-"Blue Skies"

Break-up albums can create some of the most epic and emotional works, and London indie-folksters, Noah and the Whale are putting it all out there with their new release, The First Days of Spring. Along with the new disc, the LP is being accompanied by a film that chronicles the entire length of the album. The disc and film, as the title and lyrics suggest, centers around a running narrative of a post-break up, and the starting over again theme, which is widely thought to be about frontman Charlie Finks former relationship with singer Laura Marling. It's not only an ambitious endeavor from the band but a deeply personal one, which is highlighted by the standout track, "Blue Skies."
Check out the song and lyrics below.

Blue Skies - Noah And The Whale

This is a song for anyone with a broken heart
This is a song for anyone who can't get out of bed
I'll do anything to be happy
Oh, 'cos blue skies are coming
But I know that it's hard

This is the last song that I write while still in love with you
This is the last song that I write while you're even on my mind
'Cos it's time to leave tohse feelings behind

Oh, 'cos blue skies are coming
But I know that it's hard

I don't think that it's the end
But I know we can't keep going
I don't think that it's the end
But I know we can't keep going

But blue skies are coming
Oh yeah, blue skies are coming
Oh well, blue skies are coming
But I know that it's hard.

Upcoming tour dates:
Oct. 20 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy
Oct. 21 San Diego, CA Casbah
Oct. 22 San Francisco, CA Swedish American Hall
Oct. 24 Seattle, WA Crocodile Café
Oct. 25 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge (early show and BBQ)
Oct. 28 Madison, WI Majestic Live
Oct. 29 Chicago, IL Lake Shore Theatre
Oct. 30 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room
Oct. 31 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern
Nov. 2 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Nov. 3 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Nov. 4 New York, NY Mercury Lounge

Film Screenings
Oct. 6 Los Angeles, CA Cinespace
Oct. 6 Dallas, TX Good Records
Oct. 8 Minneapolis, MN Bryant Lake Bow
Oct. 8 San Francisco, CA Popscene
Oct. 9 Seattle, WA Comet Tavern
Oct. 19 Los Angeles, CA Space 15 Twenty (Q&A with Charlie)
Oct. 20 New York, NY Angels & Kings
Nov. 1 New York, NY Pianos (Q&A with Charlie)

Noah and the Whale's website.

Wednesday in Words (#3): The Wooden Sky-"Oslo"

Here's the next installment of a new feature we started up a few weeks back, taking a closer look at some songs and lyrics that have gotten to us in one way or another. This week were taking another look at a song off of The Wooden Sky's fantastic new album, If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone, which we've been heaping praise on the last few months, and the track "Oslo."
Look out for the beautiful backing vocals on this one by Debra-Jean Creelman.

Oslo - The Wooden Sky

The Wooden Sky-"Oslo"
I woke up this morning with dead leaves inside my bed
You said "You're better off just where you are
than to be stuck in my head
You've got to leave it all behind you
and give yourself up to chance"
So I gave myself to chance

And I packed a little suitcase
Brushed my teeth and washed my hands
I'd been bluffing here for years
and now I think it's time I showed my hand
I'm going to move to New York City
and set the sky on fire
Oh don't the night look so alive
with it's desire

to cross the River Jordan?
But it just don't feel the same
When I came home Friday morning
With no one but myself to blame

See I have trouble with numbers
and paying the ones I owe
I put what I had left in the pocket of my coat
I went out to find a liquor store
and make a home there in the snow
Give myself a little shelter from the cold

I was bound here by my choices
Oh my god how I felt so ashamed
Still I hoped that you might join us
And take this little light of ours out on parade

I used to look at others trying to find some way to grow
And now I just look around me
I'm going to reap the seeds I've sown
I try to picture myself in Oslo
But lord help me if I go
I've been running around
and I believe it's starting to show

So I'll cross the River Jordan
If it just don't feel the same
and I'm not home Friday morning
I'll have no one but myself to blame

The Wooden Sky - A Documentary In Pieces Part 1 (SD) from Black Box Vimeo on Vimeo.

for tour dates and other info visit The Wooden Sky on myspace.

Wednesday in Words( #2): The Avett Brothers-"I and Love and You"

Next Tuesday, Sept 29 The Avett Brothers release their major label debut, I and Love and You, for American Recordings/Columbia Records, which was produced by Rick Rubin. A lot of people are saying this one could be a game changer for the North Carolina band, bringing them to the next level, and the lead single and title track sure don't do anything to dissuade that thinking. 'I and Love and You,' is a beautiful piano ballad that was actually inspired by a gig the band played at Brooklyn's, Galapagos. Scott Avett told Spinner... "It was the coolest place we'd ever been, and the furthest from home we'd ever been in every sense," ... "So the Brooklyn chorus kind of embodies the rest of the lyrics."

Now through Sept. 29, NPR Music is hosting an exclusive first listen of of the album, if you go here.
The band is also set to perform the title track on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday September 28, and another new track, "Laundry Room," on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Tuesday October 6th.

The Avett Brothers-"I and Love and You"

Load the car and write the note
grab your bag and grab your coat
tell ones that need to know
we are headed north

All one foot in and one foot back
but it don't pay, to live like that
so i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks
for never to return

(chorus):
brooklyn brooklyn take me in
are you aware the shape im in
my hands they shake my head it spins
brooklyn brooklyn take me in

when at first i learned to speak
i used all my words to fight
with him and her and you and me
oh its just a waste of time
its such a waste of time

that women shes got eyes that shine
like a pair of stolen polished dimes
she asked to dance i said its fine
ill see you in the morning time

(repeat chorus)

three words that became hard to say
i and love and you
what you were then i am today
look at the things i do

(repeat chorus)

dumbed down and numbed my time and age
you dreams to catch this world the cage
the highway sets the travelers stage
all exits look the same
three words that became hard to say
i and love and you
i and love and you
i and love and you
the highway

visit the Avettbrothers.com

Wednesday in Words (#1)

We're starting up a new feature here on the blog, that will be up every Weds. called, 'Wednesday in Words.' What I wanted to do was take some time to focus on great songwriting ( I know that's subjective) by sharing some great music and lyrics that have struck a chord in one way or another.

First up we wanted to highlight two songs by Toronto band, The Wooden Sky, who's fantastic new disc, If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone we've been digging heavily. If there's anything you want to see highlighted on an upcoming feature let me know.

(Bit Part) - The Wooden Sky
The Wooden Sky- "(Bit Part)"
Well, I stood up
You know I had to keep moving
I couldn't just sit here alone in this one place
You called my name
But you know I never hear you
But there will always be some things that stay the same
Even in some crazy world of constant change
So I changed the locks
I'm not looking for love, now
Just another pretty face that I could blame
If I get lost
You know it's all the same now
And I don't really even care to know her name
All the people in my past just stay the same

(chorus)
You know I don't have time
To play a bit part in your life
Thinking you could change my mind
That'd be crazy
You'd be no friend of mine
Be rehearsing all the time
Thinking you could put our love upon some stage

So I stood up
Yeah, I had to keep moving
Trying to get a little blood back in my veins
We called it off
But I can't sleep now
Just dreaming every night what might've been
You know I've been here before
And now I'm here again

(repeat chorus)

You could come around here just knocking on my door
Keeping me up all night just begging me for more
And I'm not really sure
What we do these things for
So I stood up,
Yeah I had to keep moving
I couldn't just sit here alone in this one place

Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me) - The Wooden Sky
The Wooden Sky- Oh My God (It Still Means a Lot to Me)
Wake up you're getting old
I've been dreaming about mountains
and you've been dreaming about gold
And if I ever make it home
to find my key won't open the door
I've been thinking about selling off every shirt I own
just to stand naked out here in the cold
trying to make it on my own

(chorus)
Oh my god it still means a lot to me (repeat 6x)

A pretty girl said to me
'you've got to take all the little pieces, put them in one big box
and just throw away the key,
no don't you ever show them to me."
I've made that mistake before
and came home to find my life just spilled out on the floor
she said she was trying to make room for more
was trying to make some room for more

(repeat chorus)