Posts Tagged ‘Ben Lee’

The Friday Mixtape: 5/15/09

I said I wouldn’t do it. I was called out, however, and if there’s one thing I’m not, that’s a punk. All my neon green hair fell out a long time ago. —Dw.

Ben Lee – Catch My Disease from Awake Is the New Sleep (2005)
Bleu – Could Be Worse from Redhead (2003)
Calexico – Ballad of Cable Hogue from Hot Rail (2000)
Devo – Devo Has Feelings Too from Smooth Noodle Maps (1990)
Fischerspooner – Never Win from Odyssey (2005)
Jethro Tull – Wond’ring Aloud from Aqualung (1971)
Kino – Holding On from Picture (2005)
Otis Redding – My Girl from Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
Robert Vaughn & the Shadows – Love Came Falling from Love and War (1985)
RPWL featuring Ray Wilson – Roses from Live: Start the Fire (2005)
Sean Watkins – Summer’s Coming from Blinders On (2006)
Spoon – The Fitted Shirt from Girls Can Tell (2001)
Super Furry Animals – Lazer Beam from Love Kraft (2005)
Tammy Faye Bakker – The Ballad of Jim and Tammy from the 12-inch single (1987)
Terry Scott Taylor – Writer’s Block from John Wayne (1998)
Vanden Plas – Phoenix from Beyond Daylight (2002)

Dw. Dunphy On… Ben Folds

SilvermanInstincts run hot and cold, depending on who is relying on them. Some artists go against the grain and it works out fantastically for them. Some make last-minute choices that, while not haunting them forever, certainly don’t help them a hell of a lot. Ben Folds runs somewhere in the middle.

His biggest successes came early on as the namesake of the Ben Folds Five trio. That first eponymous disc was eminently buzz-worthy, whipping indie kids into a frenzy much as we’ve seen with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys and, more recently, Vampire Weekend. The second disc, Whatever And Ever Amen, made a strong case for the resurgence of piano pop, and indeed we hadn’t heard something so pretty (and at the same time vitriolic) since Joe Jackson’s punk period. It didn’t hurt that “Brick” suddenly became an unexpected hit. After one more studio disc and a b-sides/live cuts compilation, though, the three in the Five were reduced to one. (more…)