New Music Monday

Last week I was a major slacker in the new music arena.  I have more than made up for it this week.  I originally intended to listen to Green River Ordinance for today so I made a little nighttime playlist of their songs to that end.  However, I made the mistake of putting Matt Nathanson, Ryan Schmidt, Aaron Tap and Carbon Leaf in front of them on the playlist.  As a result, I only got through a few of their songs, but I did add a couple Carbon Leaf songs to this post.  So you get more variety!

"Life Less Ordinary" - Carbon Leaf
This song, from their album Indian Summer (an album so good that I bought a copy even though it was originally given to me for free) is one of the best songs I've heard in a while.  When I walk around the house singing a song and my husband goes, "Who does that <insert random lyric*> song?" and I tell him and he replies with, "That's a good song", then I know it's a keeper.  That happened with this one tonight.  I already knew of its awesomeness, but that just sealed the deal. 

"What About Everything" - Carbon Leaf
Another very cleverly written song by Carbon Leaf.  (Pretty sure I'm officially a Carbon Leaf fan at this point, which is cool)  The first time I really listened to this one, the line "What about that midnight phone call, the one that wakes you from your peace" actually made me tear up.  One too many of those midnight phone calls, I suppose.  Either way, they officially got to me with that line and I was hooked.  I highly recommend you give them a listen, you won't be disappointed.

"Dancing Shoes" - Green River Ordinance
This song, off their EP The Morning Passengers is the first song I ever heard by them.  Having no preconceived notion, I assumed they were a country band based on this song.  I mean, come on, between the harmonica, the mention of Emmy Lou Harris and sitting on the front porch - it pretty much is a country song!  As a general rule, I'm not a fan of country music, but I'm also not a fan of labels and I like this song, I don't give a shit what genre it sounds like.

"Come On" - Green River Ordinance
The next one on the playlist, this one is from their 2009 release Out of My Hands.  "Come On" has a much more rock music feel to it than "Dancing Shoes".  It's kind of Daughtry-esque, but much better somehow.  It's pretty much just a catchy little rock song about sticking it out and making a relationship work.

"Out of My Hands" - Green River Ordinance
The last one of theirs that I listened to enough this week enough to have an opinion on, "Out of My Hands" is another good song and it sounds entirely different from the first two I listened to.  But that's kind of where they're losing me, I think.  All of their songs (I've been through them all at least once) are good, I don't have any complaints about them really (except for the way he pronounces "girl" in "Endlessly"...argh) but they all sound so different from each other, I'm having trouble pinning this band down.  Variety is good, no doubt, but it's almost like they're struggling for an identity.  I'd be hard pressed to describe their sound, even in the most general terms.  But they're good, I like them and right now, that's enough for me.



*the random lyric in this case was "took the bones of me"