Download Yeasayer’s New Single “O.N.E.”

Ambling Alp Aptly Awesome

Review of Yeasayer’s “Ambling Alp”

Yeasayer’s newest single “Ambling Alp” leads the listener into a great pop song with about twenty seconds of percussive John Cage-inspired sounds. A marimba rattles through a scale, bubbling water percolates. Slowly an organ builds and the song explodes with a mechanized drum beat, a distinct snare and an extra drummer just for hi-hat work. Think “The Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel mixed with “Welcome to the Machine” by Pink Floyd. Industrial but not boring or repetitive, Ambling Alp snaps your body with jolting ups and downs.
Immediate thoughts of pop songs from the 80′s by Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins resonate with the listener. However, the songwriting surpasses the works by those artists with a projected mood that is heartfelt and serious. Chris Keating’s vocals are strong but he allows them to get slightly breathy as he approaches the end of a line. As the chorus begins, a bright and delayed guitar adds an upstroke which creates a subtle reggae rhythm. The lyrics in the chorus: “Stick up for yourself, son/ Nevermind what anybody else done,” struck me as vague and equally appropriate. The first is an obvious statement but the second is more specific, informing the listener on how to accomplish the previous via nonconformity. Overall, a very uplifting and honest sentiment expressed wonderfully through a very rhythmic song.

Purchase Here:

http://www.amblingalp.com/store.php

RethinkPopMusic Best of 2009

RethinkPopMusic’s Top 10 Singles, Albums and Videos of 2009… don’t mind our bias.

Top 10 Singles of 2009

1. Empire of the Sun – “Walking on a Dream”

2. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

3. Animal Collective – “My Girls”

4. Mumford and Sons – “Little Lion Man”

5. Florence and the Machine – “You’ve got the Love”

6. White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun”

7. Passion Pit – “The Reeling”

8. Manchester Orchestra – “I’ve Got Friends”

9. White Lies – “Farewell to the Fairground”

10. New Villager – “Rich Doors”

Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

2. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

3. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimist

4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

5. Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

6. N.A.S.A. – Spirit of Apollo

7. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

8. The Antlers – Hospice

9. Paper Route – Absence

10. Miike Snow – Miike Snow

Top 10 Videos of 2009

1. Ambassadors – “Tropisms”

1.The Aviation Orange – “Radio”

1. The Vanguard – “Both Sides”

4. Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Heaven Can Wait”

Charlotte Gainsbourg – Heaven Can Wait from Charlotte Gainsbourg on Vimeo.

5. Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

6. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

7. Fever Ray – “Triangle Walks”

8. The Walkmen – “On the Water”

9. MGMT – “Kids”

10. Miike Snow – “Black and Blue”

New Yeasayer Show Announced

May 4th Yeasayer will play Webster Hall. To purchase tickets click HERE. The password is “oddblood.”

And don’t forget you can download “Ambling Alp” for free HERE. Pretty much the coolest band website ever…

Official Video:

London Day 5

Day 5 was relatively mild compared to the others. Everyone slept in before making the hour long trip to Brixton to play The Windmill.

The temperature dropped about 20 degrees by the time we got off the tube and none of us were too prepared. The show went great and we met some amazing people. I found out that The Windmill was the very first venue Yeasayer played in London!

Needing to rest up for tomorrow’s Laissez Faire Club show we all headed back home relatively early. However, Jeremy and I did stay up until 4am arguing about music and drinking Jim Beam with the drummer from Hoodoo Scoundrels.