by Sam Mantell
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And here's some of the oldies that just made me want to go for a drive and cry a little bit:
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I can’t tell if it’s a funny thing to do, to compare music with a season. I’ve never seen anything written about that connection, but there are plenty of articles out there I’ve never read. Anyway, it’s fall here in the Northern Hemisphere and fall has become a most compelling season since college began for me (for us). Of course, attending a beautiful institution like Marist, in a beautiful area like the Hudson Valley can do that to you. After all, it’s hard to ignore a million leaves ablaze with a million different hues. Fall is here, and there’s a certain mischievousness in the air. It’s the scary season. Jack-O-Lanterns may still be aglow somewhere. The breeze, more noticeable now that it carries lower temperatures, brings to my nose the smell of rotting leaves and dew drying on the grass.
Sure, it’s not a strong smell of leaves. And maybe the grass the dew dried on didn’t actually grow where it stands. But it’s enough to call up memories, in my mind, of a time and place where seasons actually occur. Truthfully, fall isn’t much different than spring in Los Angeles. Although this is the first time I’ve lived here through the autumn months, it’s the second time I’ve lived through this temporal setting. And that’s got me a little depressed, which is fine because I’ve got lots of things to cheer me up. Pumpkin spice tea, Trader Joe’s pumpkin flavored granola, football, college football, and a fantastic collection of mournful-yet-endearing bands to sort through.
Yes, I’ve finally gotten to the point! If you’re still with me, here are my top bands for the fall. Initially, I was going to do a write up of each one, but there's a few on here that may make my Top Ten (coming soon!) for the year, and two write ups in a two month span is just super ambitious. So I've stuck with a list and a smattering of my favorites. Enjoy!
These bands and albums flavored my fall this year:
Dumbo Gets Mad- Elephants at the Door (2011)
F eist-Metals (2011)
Girls- Album (2009); Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011)
Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation (2011)
And here's some of the oldies that just made me want to go for a drive and cry a little bit:
Other years:
Brand New - The Devil and God Raging Inside Me (2006)
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (2008), The Orchard (2010)
Gayngs - Relayted (2010)
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
Vampire Weekend- Contra (2010)
Alright there's those, and they're not to be listened to without some sort of second layer on and a bit of gray in the sky. Now, stay tuned for more information that you were never looking for. I'll leave you with some appropriate lyrics by the very interesting Tony Joe White:
"I wanna talk to you about the time of the year we call it the fall
It's a time when you can feel a change coming
Like sometimes late in the evening
You can feel a little brisk air nipping at the back of your neck
Kind of make you wanna scrunch up your shoulders
And put a blue jeans jumper up around you
You can feel it in your bones, you know a change is gonna come
A litte change never done nobody no harm
It's the time always makes me think about
Old hobo's sitting out around the camp fires at night
Fall and some more coffee in an old tin can trying to keep warm
Listen to them
But it is also a time when I get a restless feeling
Makes me wanna just get on a freight train and ride somewhere
Like there is something somewhere
Saying come see about me and check me out
You can feel it in your bones oh yes you can
You know a change is gonna come
A little change never done nobody no harm
It's a time if you go out in the woods
You can see the turning of the leaves
And a kind of smells good to you, yeah, but it don't last long
For you know it winter's come clamping down on you.
And you are hovering in your coat, trying to keep yourself warm
But it's a good time, it's a good thing, it's a change
You can feel it in your bones, you know a change is gonna come
A little change never done nobody no harm. "
Vampire Weekend- Contra (2010)
Alright there's those, and they're not to be listened to without some sort of second layer on and a bit of gray in the sky. Now, stay tuned for more information that you were never looking for. I'll leave you with some appropriate lyrics by the very interesting Tony Joe White:
"I wanna talk to you about the time of the year we call it the fall
It's a time when you can feel a change coming
Like sometimes late in the evening
You can feel a little brisk air nipping at the back of your neck
Kind of make you wanna scrunch up your shoulders
And put a blue jeans jumper up around you
You can feel it in your bones, you know a change is gonna come
A litte change never done nobody no harm
It's the time always makes me think about
Old hobo's sitting out around the camp fires at night
Fall and some more coffee in an old tin can trying to keep warm
Listen to them
But it is also a time when I get a restless feeling
Makes me wanna just get on a freight train and ride somewhere
Like there is something somewhere
Saying come see about me and check me out
You can feel it in your bones oh yes you can
You know a change is gonna come
A little change never done nobody no harm
It's a time if you go out in the woods
You can see the turning of the leaves
And a kind of smells good to you, yeah, but it don't last long
For you know it winter's come clamping down on you.
And you are hovering in your coat, trying to keep yourself warm
But it's a good time, it's a good thing, it's a change
You can feel it in your bones, you know a change is gonna come
A little change never done nobody no harm. "
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