Robert Johnson. Love in Vain.

So the first time I ever heard this song was off the Stones 1969 release Let it Bleed--classic smoky Mic going at it and the slow sex build up of Richard's guitar for that sensual fever that they're so damn good at.  Here is the original, by Robert Johnson, and here is a great close your eyes and listen link to The Rolling Stones version.

The Heavy. Colleen.

Man, I just love this song, that's it, no explanation.  It was featured in the Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah movie Mad Money and was hard to track down at first because of its ambiguous name: Colleen.  Performed by the UK bank The Heavy.  Not sure who did this video clip but I really dig it, too.

Tegan and Sara. The Con.

Oh, dear.  Freakin Tegan and Sara, who doesn't love these gals?  I will run the risk of melodrama here and just be out with it:  their album The Con, released in 2007, is without question my number one ever ever ever break-up album, ever, and I speak from devoted experience.  The Con, every single song on it, played on repeat track after track in early 09 and walked me through not just one but two tragic back to back endings of intensely heavy love affairs.  And I still love to hear it and can even listen lightly, now!  I mean, come on, that says it all.  This is the title song off the album, a rich acoustic version.  To see the video for the same, go here.  And in the meantime, encircle me I need to be taken down...!

Steel Pulse. Rollerskates.

Oh my gosh.  I can't remember the first time I ever heard this song--growing up at the beach I feel like it was just one of those always on background jams.  It was this summer though that my friend Ben asked me if I knew the song Rollerskates to which I was like no--turns out I didn't know the real name of ...life without music...one of those quintessential reggae anthems by Steel Pulse, released originally on 1984's Earth Crisis.
Anyhow, imagine my pleasure last week when my old buddy Sky started sending all this reggae music over.  This was a recent intention of mine, to grow the reggae selection on my iPod, however that's subject matter for a different blog.  There's a way better clip of this song as far as video quality, but I like it live and wiley when the audience is singing along...

Grande Roses. A Place to Love.

Grande Roses "A Place To Love" from Robert Henriksson on Vimeo.

A Place to Love by the Grande Roses just sticks in my heart the way some love songs can.  It's one of those standing in the kitchen makes time stop a minute and me be still songs that seemed to capture a lot of stuff for me I otherwise couldn't say?  I went through a minor tryst with The National this summer and maybe that's why, this song from lyrics to melancholy sounds to me like something Berninger might do.  Visit the Grande Roses, out of Sweden, here and hang out a minute and be still with this clip!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O.

So in keeping with the spirit of amazing female front woman.  I listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz so much in the background this summer that I associate the sound of them with salt and sun.  But let's talk about Karen O the sexy crazy-talented through and through rock and roller lead.  I love her.  I lvoe her presence, her lyrics and aesthetic, her mix of visionary whimsy (she's the one who did all the music for Where the Wild Things Are) not to mention her voice.  I think she's everything an artist can be.  

Sly & The Family Stone. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

If there was one album from my childhood in to preteen time that had the most influence on me (not the one I listened to the most, but the most influential...) it was Sly and The Family Stone's Greatest Hits.  By the time, at age 11 or so, that I got my hands on mom's record collection several of their songs were already familiar from radio air so what I distinctly remember is the first time I heard this song.  It felt right.  I didn't know it til recently but Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) was originally released as a bonus on that record, and it quickly became my fave because of how true it resonated with me, and equally important: because of how the song was titled with its unique spelling.  This was an early prompt to me of the freedom within language of self-expression, silly as it seems.  But isn't that it anyway--what's so very great about this song, too...