Matty's Playlist EPs vol. 5

I realize it's been awhile since I last posted a playlist, but I hope it's been worth the wait. I will now, whenever possible, be posting a link to where you can stream the playlist online at Grooveshark. I must thank Rob Campbell of Ameris for this suggestion. He told me he enjoys these posts and said that a link would be great. And who says I never listen to people?

'Everlasting Light' - The Black Keys (Brothers): The Black Keys are one of my newer discoveries and after my friend Anton introduced them to me with this album, I was pretty much hooked. I love this song because it's a bluesy stomp with gorgeous falsetto soul vocals. I also love the female background vocals, which fit the song perfectly. I feel like the best way to describe this song is 'swamp soul blues'. That probably makes no sense, but I'm going with it.

'Spellbound' - Doves (Kingdom of Rust): This song is just flat-out catchy, with big Brit-Rock shimmery guitars playing a very simple, but catchy riff set to 6/8 time. A must listen.

'Black Eye' - Jeff Tweedy (Sunken Treasure - Live in the Pacific Northwest): Originally, this song appears on the album March 16-20, 1992 by Jeff Tweedy's orignal band, Uncle Tupelo (he of the now far more successful and innovative Wilco). I like this live version better than the original, just Tweedy and his acoustic guitar. His lovely fingerpicking and the fragility of his voice have definitely brought me to tears more than once. It's a very sad song and I've never really thought about the lyrics, but the phrasing of them is so incredibly mournful and tender. Gorgeous.

'Let's Stay Engaged' - The Tragically Hip (Trouble At The Henhouse): Most people are well aware of what a big Hip fan I am and I must say that this (virtually unknown) song of theirs is one of my absolute favourites. The Hip are seldom funky, but this song has got a funky beat and a catchy riff. My favourite part of this song is the drumming: really simple, but I enjoy all the fills in between the verses and the chorus. I have always loved the lines "See the dead art and you see your reflection/Fear no art and you fear no reflection/But don't look at me, I'm not the artist in question." I love Gord's delivery of those lines and then the funky fill that follows after the next line. Great stuff off of a great album. Even if Allmusic panned it.

'Flags' - Brooke Fraser (Flags): I don't really know where to begin about this one. The very first time I really paid attention to the lyrics, it made me a think of a loved one who has suffered some extremely heartwrenching circumstances and so I feel very strongly about the song as I've walked with them through some of the fallout from that. Ultimately it's a song about justice and perseverance and how our lives sometimes seem to "blow about like flags on the land." The song just builds to a huge climax and then breaks like a wave (though they don't sound alike whatsoever, it reminds me of Pearl Jam's 'Given To Fly' in the way that it crescendos and crashes like a breaker). Brilliant, beautiful, epic, and truly heartfelt.

Listen to this playlist here.