I am so into the synths in my song of the day, "Eating Me Alive" by Alkaline Trio, off the band's album 2010 album This Addiction. I am easily seduced by darkwave power pop/pop-punk because I'm both happy and sad and find satisfaction in four-chord rock songs that weave together melodies in both major and minor keys.
"A little bit of this. A little bit of that. A pot, a pan, a broom, a hat. . ."—Anatevka, "Fiddler on the Roof." This is a blog about everything and nothing. A little parenting, a little humor, some poetry, news, essays, a lot of music. I don't want to waste your time, just send positive vibes into the blogosphere. Oh, yeah, my name is Sarah Torribio. Enough about me, how are you?
Showing posts with label "sarah torribio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "sarah torribio. Show all posts
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Song of the Day: "Dying to Believe" by The Beths
The Beths are an exquisitely melodic alt rock group. Thanks to bouncy bass-lines, lead singer Elizabeth Stokes' pretty and sweet-accented voice--the clarity of Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays but more low-key--metronome-tight drumming and layered production, their songs are indie earworms.
The Beths are from New Zealand, which is unsurprising. So many great bands, from Ball Park Music to my longtime faves Men At Work and from Midnight Oil to the Wiggles, hail from the Antipodes.
My song of the day, "Dying to Believe," is off The Beths' 2020 album Jump Rope Gazers.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Song of the Day: "555" by Jimmy Eat World
I know. I've had "555" by Jimmy Eat World, a single off the band's 2019 album Surviving, as my song of the day. Maybe even twice.
Given that the alt-rock/indie-rock/power pop band (I hate genre labels and I'm impressively bad at nailing them) formed in Mesa, Arizona way back in 1993, when I was one year out of high school, surviving is obviously this indie-rock quartet's strong suit.
I stumbled on this particular song like a year ago, late to the party as usual, and I keep going back to it. Generally, this revisiting is spurred by YouTube's AI reflecting my past listening preferences.
Each time I hear it, I feel a rustling around as it makes a place in my heart. Slow moves. I keep resisting, but I sense "555" is campaigning for a spot on my ever-changing top 100 songs. Only time will tell.
Yes, the video is weird and is meant to be, with Jimmy Eat World frontman Jim Adkins channeling villains from Dune as well as the Star Wars franchise. But the song is pretty, soaring, emotional, epic.
It puts to rest two notions. One is that Jimmy Eat World, whom I've happily seen live, is only capable of teen-pleasing power pop. (I don't know who really thinks that. I'm just fighting an imagined enemy, a straw horse. I'm like the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz: "Put 'em up, put 'em up.") Given that vocalist Jim Adkins is now 46, this song shows that musicians and bands cannot only withstand the slings and arrows of aging but can continue to rise to the top of their game.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Song of the Day: "I Don't Know Who I Am" by The Cribs
This song is a tasty piece of shoe-gaze, thick with pea-soup atmosphere and a a jangly and driving atmosphere softened by the underwater fuzz of a genre I've also heard called miasma (think The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine).
The Cribs is slightly more recently founded than the aforementioned bands (2001), but benefits from some help by an old hand. The group benefits from a continued collaboration with Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo.
It's cool and shiny stuff, this song, a melodious soundscape that make settling and existential confusion seem rife with possibilities.
—Sarah Torribio
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