// Andrew Bird et St. Vincent

What can I say... this is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a very long time...
It's a long clip, but it's well worth it...

Eels

I am not sure if there are many more prolific songwriters in this world. (nope)

I honestly don't think there is very… (lame)

If you could sit with a couple of people at a dinner party, who would they be? (Seriously!?)

… you know, I sat here trying to write sentences about another one of my favourite songwriters and I could not come up with anything. My reasoning for looking back is simple, there are not a lot of prolific songwriters in the world and Mark Linkous died this week. I felt I had to go back and appreciate everything I love. Mark Oliver Everett is one such artist that I just love.

Go back, way back, and listen to Eels: End Times 

Greenland is Melting: Our Hearts are Gold, Our Grass is Blue

There are some things I will never understand. I don't concern myself with most of my misunderstandings as they are all quite trivial. For example, why women go through so much toilet paper or why "thaw" and "de-thaw" mean the same thing. I personally would never use "de-thaw" in a sentence, but still!

I digress, I also really don't understand why more bands are not taking full advantage of the genius that is bandcamp. The thought of charging what you want for your music or giving it away for free is empowering and, for people like me, it has become a wonderful resource/companion for finding new music. And, it just looks so damn slick!

Take Greenland is Melting for example. Yet another band that I would never have heard of if I was not introduced through bandcamp. The album Our Hearts are Gold, Our Grass is Blue is fantastic and available for free if you choose not to give the band any money. Come on, give 'em a few bucks, trust me they are worth it!

There is something about acoustic instrumentation and bluegrass/punk sound that is just fascinating to me. I bet you it would be a lot of fun to play live as well. The songs are so complete. They cover all grounds and pinpointing genre is near impossible which is always a sign of a great band. I hear hints of Modest Mouse in there but that's easily understood as I have been listening to Iron Horse's brilliant bluegrass take on M.M. a lot lately. All this being said, this is another album that you absolutely have to check out and, again, why not… it's free (sort of).

The songs that really stand out to me are: From City to Town, Wayfaring Stranger (great cover choice gents), and No More Sorry Songs. Honestly, every song on the album is great and I wish I could have found Greenland is Melting a lot earlier.

Get Our Hearts are Gold, Our Grass is Blue here.

Greenland is Melting - From City to Town
Greenland is Melting - The Kitchen Song

photo credit - Nicole Kibert! www.elawgrrl.com