music monday

This week's music is brought to you by a CD stolen out of the car of some girl in Dallas.

I've never done dedications before, but what the heck, it's a new year. I suppose the first one's for all my ladies living in the District, and for the rascally man who stole the CD out of the car of that girl in Dallas. The second song goes out to all you lovers. And the third is for James, who used to have hair of similar magnitude, but especially for Raymon, who belongs in nothing more completely than he does in this video.

1. "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" (Birdy)
2. "Time Left for Love" (Shout Out Louds)
3. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Rick Astley)

music monday // a new year

1. "Swim Club" (The Cave Singers)
2. "Tender Mending" (Brooke Waggoner)
3. "Open Season" (High Highs)

music monday

1. "Man on Fire" (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)



I try to live mostly without regrets. You know. I think we all do.

But I have a few deep ones.

One is that I didn't become a world-class ballerina. Or even just a professional-quality one. Or even just a serious one.

Anyways, this video is incredible. And it'll keep you dancing all week, no matter what kind of dancer you are.

:)

music monday

Some music to dance to. Or wake up happy to. Or drive through the canyons in the snow to.

1. "All Eyes on You" (St. Lucia)
2. "Take It Slow" (Good Old War)
3. "Bright Whites" (Kishi Bashi)

music monday

1. "Red" (Taylor Swift) A disclaimer: I'm not what you might call "a Taylor fan" and I lose interest in this song once it gets to the chorus, but man that first verse? Gives me chills.
2. "Hanging by a Thread" (Nickel Creek)
...And now a dancing song...
3. "Houdini" (Foster the People)

music monday

1. "Lost in My Mind" (The Head and the Heart)
2. "Reign of Love" (Coldplay)
3. "Lost in the Light" (Bahamas)

oh, the first snowfall of the winter... {music monday part 2}

 (Further proof that Music Mondays have the power to change the course of events, to change the weather, to change the world! This Monday, on a perfectly beautiful autumnal afternoon, I wrote about Christmas songs. And SHAZAM. Snow! You're welcome.)

***

Few moments bring me back to childhood as quickly and as thrillingly as the first snowfall of the season. After a cold cold get-out-of-bed-at-four-a.m.-to-put-on-a-sweater kind of sleep last night, I opened my blinds to this...a quiet and white and lacy kind of morning.

Today is the sort of day for reading poems in bed.
Today is the sort of day for eating steaming soup from a big red bowl.
Today is the sort of day for wearing cableknit stockings and cableknit sweaters.

Today is the sort of day for starting your Christmas wishlist.

And so I shall.

Wish #1: That Sufjan Stevens (the featured artist on this week's Music Monday) will make a quick stop in the Great Salt Lake (City) on his Christmas tour.

And here's why: His Christmas tour (officially titled "The Sirfjam Stephanapolous Christmas Sing-A-Long Seasonal Affective Disorder Spectacular Music Pageant Variety Show Disaster") is rumored to go something like this (from his label's website):

“All Grinches be forewarned: The show will consist entirely of Christmas music, inviting audience participation. Be prepared to sing along with bawdy bravura! Song sheets will be provided. There should be plenty of low-production props and gags, dollar-store giveaways, inflatable unicorns, cheap confetti, make-shift costumes, and Gloria in excelsis deo.”

Let's break it down:

• consists entirely of Christmas music
• audience participation
• singing along
• song sheets
• giveaways
• unicorns
• confetti
• costumes
• Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

I'm sorry, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better party to kick off the season.

Plus it's Sufjan Stevens. The man who thus far has produced ten (TEN!) Christmas volumes (plus his new Silver and Gold album to be released in November), all of similar Yuletide joy.

Anyways, the point of all this is that this magical Christmas tour makes many stops, but Utah is not one of them. So me and a couple of friends are trying to change that. We've decided to start a movement: the Bring Sufjan to SLC Movement.

BringSufjantoSLC = us sending him all the Christmas love and wishes we can muster.

One girl had her entire school class make Christmas cards for him. One grown-up boy is recording a Christmas song about how Sufjan made him see Christmas like a kid again, complete with Christmas letter and all. I am making him holiday postcards and possibly holiday cookies, and otherwise tweeting my little #BRINGSUFJANTOSLC heart out.

All told, it's been a ball so far. A Christmas ball.

Now, if you are still reading, you either really like me, really like my blog, really like Sufjan Stevens, really like Christmas, or are in bed with your laptop trying to put off braving the snow and the homework that exists outside of your bedroom. If any of the above reasons are true, will you please join us in the fun?

You can tweet @asthmatickitty with #BRINGSUFJANTOSLC.
You can share this post on facebook.
You can email me a letter to Sufjan, and me & the crew will snail-mail it for you (short letters are just as good as long ones!).
You can join the group on facebook to get more deets.
Best of all, you can leave a comment down south about why a SLC-Sufjan-Christmas would make your holiday season merry and bright!

If you do any of these things, I shall send you a Christmas card with my love.

I want frosted windowpanes, I want a winter wonderland, I want to deck the halls and sing fa-la-la-la-la with those I love! Come, Sufjan, come!

music monday {a special post}

Last night, I went home for Sunday dinner. Let me tell you what that entailed: four younger sisters, a brother and his beautiful wife, my parents and my sweet sweet grandma, a roast, potatoes and carrots, homemade rolls and homemade jam, lively dinner discussion, picking apples off the apple tree in the back, playing 500 in the yard while the sun went down, playing Rummikub on the carpet once it finally had, pumpkin autumn cream-cheese frosted cake with mini-leaf sprinkles, hugging, warmness, love.

And best of all, Sunday night included discussion of Thanksgiving break...meaning what pies we're going to make and more wonderful still, how we were going to decorate our gingerbread houses.

Which meant we also may have sung a few Christmas songs while we were picking those apples out back.

Now, I've been listening to Christmas music since July. (Last year I started in August, which means by the time I'm in my thirties and have children, they will be listening to Christmas music starting in January. Consider yourself warned, future husband.) I just figure that Jesus Christ's birth is something that we can celebrate all year round. Why not! And also, I have found that I appreciate Christmas music more--I feel the wonder of it more--if I'm listening to it in July, or October, reminiscing about past Christmases, anticipating (like a little kid again) the joys of the holiday season.

I started Music Mondays to share the songs I've been listening to during the week--the great finds, the favorites, the ones I can't get out of my head. So I've gotta be honest here: I have no non-Christmas songs to share this week because all I've been listening to is how there's no place like home for the holidays. Lots of fa-la-laing around here.

But hold up, all those of you who have a no-carols-before-Thanksgiving-let-alone-Halloween rule: Before you tune out, just give it a little chance. Do you like Christmas? Do you like presents? Candy canes? Snowflakes? How bout happiness? I promise that these are not your typical Christmas songs. They won't ruin the season for you. They won't jinx you. They will only and completely make you happy.

So, in part one* of this week's music post, I present 3 songs from one of my favorite artists. They are technically Christmas songs, but I think they should be enjoyed any day of the year (especially on October 22nds).

1. "I Saw Three Ships" (Sufjan Stevens)
2. "The Friendly Beasts" (Sufjan Stevens)
3. "Once in Royal David's City" (Sufjan Stevens)





*And yes, I am plotting a part two to this little post, and part two will ask you to do something important and wonderful, so clear your schedules and get ready! (Just kidding about clearing your schedules--it will require minimal but delightful effort on your part.)

music monday

1. "Mighty" (Lord Huron)
2. "Old Pine" (Ben Howard)
3. "Wrecking Ball Heart" (Jack's Mannequin) This is the last song Jack's Mannequin is releasing. Done. They're done. So soak it in and love every bit of it and hope there is another Andrew McMahon project soon. (You can download the song for free here.)

music monday

1. "Call Me in the Afternoon" (Half Moon Run) *incredible video. Please watch.
2. "Life" (Avett Brothers)
3. "Cavalleria Rusticana--Intermezzo" (Pietro Mascagni)

music monday (mumford & sons edition)

All Mumford. Their new album comes out tomorrow. Can you blame me?

1. "Home"
2. "Ghosts That We Knew"
3. "Below My Feet"

music monday

1. "Come Back Down" (Greg Laswell & Sara Bareilles)
2. "Runaways" (Elle Lefant)
3. "Lovers' Carvings" (Bibio)

music monday: fall mix

Three songs to listen to while you watch the leaves change:

1.) "Amazing Eyes" (Good Old War)

2.) "Clean White Love" (Lisa Mitchell)

3.) "Lady Percy" (King Charles) I have no idea what is going on in this video, but I kinda love it.

music monday

I'm only doing one song today because putting any other music next to this makes all other songs look pitiful. Incredible. I could listen to her voice every second of the day and never get tired of it.

1. "Skinny Love" (Birdy)

music monday

1. "Kids" (Lady Danville)
2. "Dahl Parts" (The Theater Fire)
3. "Follow Me" (John Denver)

music monday

1. "Early in the Morning" (James Vincent McMorrow)
2. "Mother to the Moon" (Jason Myles Goss)
3. "Sparrow and the Wolf" (James Vincent McMorrow)

music monday

1. "Oh Henry" (The Civil Wars)
written in the mountains of Salt Lake City

2. "A Corps Perdu" (Gregory LeMarchal)
Gregory LeMarchal battled cystic fibrosis. He passed away in 2007 of lung complications.

3. "Mercy" (Dave Matthews Band)
the band's newest song woot.

music monday

1. "Ten-Twenty-Ten," Generationals
2. "I Wish That I Was Beautiful For You," Dustin Hanlon
3. "Knot Comes Loose," My Morning Jacket

music monday

1. "Landline," Greg Laswell
2. "Cosmic Love," Florence and the Machine
3. "Love More," Bon Iver

music monday

Three songs for your Monday:

1. Kishi Bashi, "Bright Whites"
2. Frou Frou, "It's Good to Be in Love" (piano version)
3. Patrick Watson, "Adventures In Your Own Backyard" (for the beautiful orchestration)