Musical Musings

Sometimes, for me, listening to a Wilco song with, like, half an ear open is akin to catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and being surprised by how good you look. I put "Hate It Here" on a mix I made this weekend and have been totally blown away by its, and the band's, greatness. I don't know if Tweedy's voice has ever sounded as cool to my ears as it does here. Remind me again why I don't listen to this band (or at least Sky Blue Sky) all the time?

Americans, why do we generally refuse to have anything to do with the Arctic Monkeys? I was listening to Favourite Worst Nightmare yesterday and was bowled over anew with how good they are. I kind of can't believe some of those melodies were written by a contemporary kid in his early 20s; they're so sweetly twisty, they sound like they could've come straight out of the early days of rock 'n' roll. Not to mention Turner's facility with both writing lyrics and delivering them. Even when he's spitting sarcasm and bile, there's such ease there.

Grizzly Bear's "While You Wait for the Others" is really, really fucking good. I know the song and the video have been floating around out there for a few months already, but it always takes me a while to warm up to Grizzly Bear's stuff in general, so the full weight of its greatness is finally just hitting me now. But srsly, it's like this wonderful, warm, lavender-scented bath for your ears.