GirlReaction -- Snip: ...Sounds Like... Archives

July 16, 2008

Recommending Random Sampler Singles

For those three of you who are always asking me for new singles to check out...HERE YA GO.

Paste 39:

"Love During Wartime" The Main Drag
"Sweet to Mend" Heirloom Projector
"Ships" Tyler Ramsey"
"Fine Line" Little Big Town
"The Story of Benjamin Darling Part 1" State Radio
"Coat Check Dream Song" (Live version) Bright Eyes

Paste 40:

"California Girls" The Magnetic Fields (another song of theirs is also a favorite this summer)
"Gravedigger" Willie Nelson
"Shout" De Novo Dahl
"Angel" Joe Rathbone
"Hot Romance" Parlour Steps
"Sing Along" Virginia Coalition (I've been loving this song for awhile now)
"Ghosts of Goodbye" Ford Turrell
"Goodnight" Zox

Paste 41:

"The Silence Between Us" Bob Mould
"Strawberry Street" Lili Hadyn
"Bye Bye Bye" Plants and Animals
"Punches" by Collin Herring
"Meet Me by the River" Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State
"I Got a Thing for You" Jim Bianco
"Changing Your Mind" Bob Schneider
"Goodnight Girl" The Nadas
"Old Song" AM

Paste 42:

"Sing Again" Chris Walla
"Buildings & Mountains" The Republic Tigers
"Nobody Knows" Keaton Simons
"Antarctica" The Weepies
"Rebel Side of Heaven" Langhorne Slim
"Shooting Star and the Ambulance" Pete Francis
"This Girl" Jordan Zevon
"I Keep Faith" Billy Bragg
"Better Things" South
"She Held My Hand" Steven Delopoulos

Paste 43:

"Graveyard Girl" M83
"Be With Me" Foy Vance
"My Only Offer" Mates of State
"Get on With It" Val Emmich
"Mystery" Ashleigh Flynn
"Late Last Night" Robby Hecht
"Standing Bird" Love Psychedelico
"Jessi Jane" The Whipsaws

And if you need reference points*, we've got:
"Right Hand on My Heart" The Whigs ...sounds like... Springsteen! "Ghosts of Goodbye" Ford Turrell ...sounds like... Ryan Adams! "Bye Bye Bye" Plants and Animals ...sounds like... Arcade Fire! Or Ravens & Chimes! "I Got a Thing for You" Jim Bianco ...sounds like... Joe Cocker! Or Tom Waits! "Old Song" AM ...sounds like... Josh Rouse! "Nobody Knows" Keaton Simons ...sounds SASSY like... Jason Mraz! "Open Fire" Sara Mac Band ...sounds like... The Dixie Chicks! "Standing Bird" Love Psychedelico ...sounds A BIT like... The Dixie Chicks as well! "Jessie Jane" The Whipsaws ...sounds like... Lynyrd Skynrd!

* Note that ...sounds like... is a very loose term that may mean actually SOUNDS LIKE or may mean rather mean "reminds me (and no one else) of".

Posted by Duff at 11:20 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Rags, Recommending, Tunes

April 07, 2008

Woah. Could've sworn...

The vocals on the chorus of "Thing About Trouble" Doug Burr (I see the devil...) ....SOUND so much LIKE... Ryan Adams, I am doing serious doubletakes at my iPod screen right now.

That said, the verses sound more like Springsteen.

Posted by Duff at 07:43 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

November 23, 2007

Do I just have him on my mind?

Or does the song "Home" by Tandy (on Paste Sampler #37) not sound a LOT like Bob Dylan?

It also has a sort of Eagles/country/lots o' harmony voices feeling to it.

(I'm going to see that crazy eight-million-actors-playing-Dylan flick later today...)

Posted by Duff at 08:04 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

November 07, 2007

It's not just about how it sounds.

Have you heard "The Way I Am" Ingrid Michaelson? Did you not IMMEDIATELY think of "Fidelity" Regina Spektor? It's not that it SOUNDS LIKE it so much as it FEELS like it. Funky back beat, somewhat goofy twee-ness to the lyrics/vocals. No? Seriously? :)

Posted by Duff at 12:51 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

Spooky!

Did you hear The Cinematic Orchestra singing "To Build a Home" on one of your TV shows last week? (I can't remember which one. FNL I think. or DS$.)

I did...but I thought it was Antony & the Johnsons because holy crap does it SOUND exactly LIKE him.

Posted by Duff at 08:09 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

October 10, 2007

Band of Horses' new album...SOUNDS LIKE...what Explosions in the Sky would sound like if they had vocals.

This is true of more than one song on this album*, but particularly the opening bars to "No One's Gonna Love You" sound so much like Explosions in the Sky. I can't decide exactly which EitS song... maybe "Look into the Air". Such the same mood.

*also the final bars of "Lamb on the Lam"...

Posted by Duff at 01:19 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

September 28, 2007

Old Favorites Revisited...Lonely Boy Fall 05

Sometimes I get in a bad habit of only listening to the new tunes fighting for space on the iPod and conveniently forget that there are loads of playlists full of old stuff that I love and if I'm not going to listen to it then maybe it wouldn't need to be there taking up its own space... So this morning I started going through old mixes. When I listen to this now, it seems a bit more straight-out rock than I remember... I haven't listened to some of these songs probably since shortly after I first made this mix... Glad to find I still dig it.

Lonely Boy Fall 05

"Homesick" Kings of Convenience
"You're So True" Joseph Arthur
"Sending a Note" Graham Colton Band
"The Drifter" David Poe
"Cold Day in the Sun" Foo Fighters
"Strangerman" Ringside (lots of love for this song)
"How to Dream" Sam Phillips
"Eve, the Apple of My Eye" Bell X1 (...SOUNDS LIKE...Annie Lennox!)
"All for You" Sister Hazel
"Faded Beauty Queens" The Thrills
"Home to Me" Josh Kelley
"Across 110th Street" Bobby Womack & Peace (long-time fave)
"New York, New York" Ryan Adams
"Be Be Your Love" Rachael Yamagata
"New York" Richard Ashcroft
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" Everlast (cover)
"Real Love / It's Only Life" Mike Doughty (cover)
"Life on a Chain" Pete Yorn
"Let It Be" Beatles (can't go wrong...)

Try it. You might like it.

Posted by Duff at 10:15 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Mixes / Playlists, Tunes

July 31, 2007

The Magic Numbers ...SOUND LIKE... The Muppets ??

OK, call me crazy, but I SWEAR there is a sample of "The Rainbow Connection" in the middle of "Boy" from The Magic Numbers' new album "Those the Brokes".

Why else would I find myself humming "the lovers, the dreamers, and me" ? Seriously, give it a listen, I SWEAR it's there.

As to the rest of the album: Thumbs up! It's still the bouncy relentless POP of their earlier album (you really can't call this anything other than "pop"!), but there's some touches that are a little blue-sier, a little funk-ier, a little more sass-a-fras. They make such pretty harmonies, there just aren't that many people out there that can do it better than this.

Posted by Duff at 01:03 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Album, Listenin', Tunes

June 25, 2007

It's not Snow Patrol. But can you tell the difference?

The song "Life is Beautiful" by Vega4 is lovely and heart-pounding and anthemic and a real pleasure to listen to BUT it ...SOUNDS so much LIKE... Snow Patrol. And by "so much" I mean seriously, is this Snow Patrol just putting out a song under another name for kicks and giggles? Because if I were to find out that was the case, I would TOTALLY believe it!!!

Posted by Duff at 07:49 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

March 30, 2007

Old School Hero.

The vocals on Guggenheim Grotto's "Wonderful Wizard ...SOUNDS so much LIKE... Leonard Cohen! At his drollest.

Posted by Duff at 02:19 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

March 13, 2007

Not the Same. But Reminiscent.

In the (beautiful, btw) song "Waterfall" by Griffin House, there is a moment when he sings "Hold on to your love, it might not be coming back..." that ...SOUNDS so much LIKE... when Sarah McLachlan sings "It's a long way down, to the place where we started from" in "Ice Cream."

Something about the downward progression of the melody and the timing/rhythm of it is just sooooo similar.

Wow, I don't think I've listened to Sarah in a year or two. Definitely took a while (and some serious Pod investigating) to figure out what song I was humming...

Posted by Duff at 09:43 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

February 16, 2007

"High Society" ...SOUNDS LIKE... "I'm Not in Love"

Thank goodness for Carrie and Monica as I was THIS CLOSE to getting really fucking crazy just now trying to figure this out.

Listening to "High Society" by The Bees (U.S.) and the chorus starts with "Ooooo, high society...." "Oooooo, notoriety..." and it ...SOUNDS JUST LIKE... "Oooooo, you'll wait a long time for me...." from the song "I'm Not in Love" which was apparently a hit in the '70s for some group called 10 CC (?) and covered in the 90s by Will Power (?).

Don't know which one it is that I know, but that song was playing clear as a bell in my head, yet a) I couldn't figure out what song it was and b) I was singing the words wrong (I was singing "oooo, been a long time for me"). But then I called Carrie and she said "I don't know what it is but here's more of it" and started singing "I'm not in love, so don't forget it..." then we conferenced in Monica and two seconds later, she was playing it for us! Woot!

My friends kick ass. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by Duff at 11:03 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

January 24, 2007

First Impression: Shins "Wincing the Night Away"

Like it. LIKE it.

Edgier / less positive and bouncy than their previous outings. More of a downer (more what I like, really). Not until about "Red Rabbits" (song 6) does it start to bounce...and then only momentarily. Don't get me wrong: I love the Shins, bouncy or not. The general feel of this one is less that way.

p.s. and "Girl Sailor" ...SOUNDS LIKE... the Smiths (and Morrissey)! Bonus!

Posted by Duff at 08:33 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Album, Listenin', Recommending, Tunes

November 09, 2006

Takin' me back, back, back in the day...

"Nice Day" Persphone's Bees ...SOUNDS LIKE... "Riding on the Metro" Berlin.

Not throughout but in a few places you hear the same vocal progression.

Posted by Duff at 09:08 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

October 13, 2006

All Beck, All Day.

Realized this morning that less than half the Beck I own was on my iPod. (Eh?) So I had to bring a stack of CDs in to work today to get primed for the concert tomorrow.

I forgot how much some early Beck ...SOUNDS LIKE... late 60s/early 70s Stones. Sassy lyrics and tone, guitar licks, jazzy blues feel.

Odelay-hee-ho.

Posted by Duff at 08:54 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

July 27, 2006

I offered her chocolates and some beer...

"Tonight Let's Dance" by Elefant ...SOUNDS LIKE... David Bowie. Musically at least. But not Bowie-like lyrics.

Posted by Duff at 10:34 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

July 10, 2006

What's the story, morning glory?

The Subways "No Goodbye" ...SOUNDS LIKE... mid '90s Oasis.

Posted by Duff at 10:01 AM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

July 05, 2006

Chicago (and Nanders-specific) Flashback

The intro and refrain lyric of "Corvette" by Golden Smog ...SOUNDS LIKE... something from Figdish's album "When Shove Goes Back to Push."

Posted by Duff at 02:44 PM | Say What? | filed under ...Sounds Like..., Listenin', Tunes

June 30, 2006

Glimmer Twins Shout Out

The chorus of Bishop Allen's "The History of Excuses" ...SOUNDS LIKE... "Street Fighting Man" Rolling Stones.