cut copy - where i'm going

Don't fight it.

You want to tap your toes to it, you want to bob your head a little bit. You want to crack a smile when the refrain kicks in and "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Woo!" rolls through.

It's synthpop with one of those magical chord progressions that just makes you feel good, just makes you want to dance a little bit. It'd probably be one of those embarrassingly bad dances you do when no one's watching, just because you felt like it.

You know what I mean.

So go get happy already.

sigur ros - olsen olsen

Before I start, I'll say that this song is best enjoyed with a good pair of headphones in a quiet, comfortable place. This is a song to be immersed in.

I first heard about Sigur Ros back in high school, about a year or so after the album "Olsen Olsen" is on - Agaetis Byrjun - was released. I was an impatient kid, and not being able to understand Jonsi Birgisson's Icelandic/Nordic/invented-language crooning in a pitch higher than humans should really be able to comfortably hit didn't make Sigur Ros an instant favorite of mine. It took a little while for their music to grow on me.

So, when I came back to Agaetis some years ago, I was trying to start fresh, start from a clean slate of more patient listening. I wanted to give it a fair shake, considering how well-reviewed the album was.

If you're tired, this song is great to fall asleep to. While you're awake, it's a fantastic exercise in imagination. Layers of sound, backed by a bass line that's reliable but never intrusive once Jonsi, the drums and the synth come to the party.

Really, this is a song you don't want translated. At least, I don't, anyway. I don't really want to know what's being sung about. It just seems so wistful yet fond, anthemic and triumphant (especially by the song's crescendo) that whatever the subject is, it's probably best-served never being converted to English.

The finale, after a chorus of brass stumbles over itself into a fade of people talking - a town square? A big family dinner? I'm really not exactly sure - and a lone tin whistle chirps the melody back before fading into nothing itself. It's sort of symmetrical with the very beginning of the song, where Jonsi's reverbed vocals lead into the song's bass line. One neat little package.

The song is a story. It has its beginning, middle and end, plus the bonus of a happily ever after in the form of the whistle. It's a rare kind of story, where you don't need to hear or understand the precise words to just know everything's going to be all right.

the tallest man on earth - king of spain

Sometimes, it can take a song time to grow on you. This is usually the case with just about every song by The National, but in sporadic cases, a particular song can lie dormant in your library, waiting to truly be discovered for the first time.

I can't remember the first time I listened to this song, but whenever it was - shortly after having it recommended to me by a friend - I wasn't immediately impressed. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, didn't like the sound of Kristian Matsson's voice, or was uncomfortable with just how emotionally raw the song is. It's Matsson and a guitar and a whole lot of wanting. Maybe he just wants to impress someone (maybe just himself).

Whatever it is, you can tell he means it. He's shooting high, and doesn't want to settle for second-best.

ratatat - wildcat

It's that music you hear in the background of that new NFL Network commercial where the guy keeps morphing his TV into a phone into an iPad and back into a TV while the NFL Network plays on each. It's kind of a nifty commercial, but as with any commercial that plays backing music from artists I know, I spend more effort listening to the backing music than the product being advertised.

Small sample, ad execs. Keep playing the good stuff.

Point is, this song is catchy, and it doesn't even need words. It morphs into as many forms as the TV in the NFLN commercial. It ebbs and flows from groove to rock, then finds a way to weld both together. It's a nifty tune that, honestly, I'm glad to see get some national airplay.