There's nothing like finding gold within the rocks hard and cold.

Given my previous foray into music I love intensely, I've decided to bring back an old feature I used to do here - Smiling Like I Mean It. The last entry under that tag was a full two years ago!

Smiling Like I Mean It

[songs that make me smile no matter what]

07 Kick Drum Heart - The Avett Brothers

This week I've been listening to one of my favourite albums from last year, I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers. (Most of my post titles this week are Avett Brothers lyrics!) And whenever it gets to "Kick Drum Heart" I can't help but smile and shimmy. Or, wanting to shimmy. It has the similar kind of silly charm as "Wishbone" by Architecture in Helsinki, but "Kick Drum Heart" wins in a matchup. If you know me, drums are usually my fave part of a song. I air drum, I don't air guitar at shows. And this song likens a heart beat like a kick drum!

Mah-mah-my heart like a kick drum!
Mah-mah-my heart like a kick drum!
Mah-mah-my love like a voice!

Other lines I tend to say (or at the very least mouth) out loud when walking down the street:

Always surprised to find more!

&

It's me following YOU!

You can buy the song's mp3 at the title link above, but I say you buy the entire lovely album by those brothers, also linked above. I just happened to post the song on my tumblr today if you need some convincing to buy the song/album - if it doesn't make you smile at any point, I don't even KNOW what. I mean, if it doesn't charm you into a smile, it has to make you laugh because it's so silly, right?

I LOVE IT. What do you think?

Changed my whole life to make some room.

Smiling Like I Mean It
[songs that make me smile no matter what.]

6. "Everyday is a Holiday" - Esthero featuring Sean Lennon. This song puts me in such a good mood whenever it comes on! It's got "la da das" and horns and when I'm walking down the street I want to break out in song like I'm in a music video. It's such a great walking-in-the-city song because there are lyrics like, "hopped on the metro, and I'm on my way home, but I can't get him out of my mind." Which (obviously!) reminds me of Jesse, WHICH may or may not have made me include it on my last mixtape (playlist, whatever) to him.

---

Sidenote: I've decided to make one of those muxtape things I'm hearing so much about, and I'll be linking it here soon! It's just a playlist you can listen to over the computer without downloading or anything - it's pretty brilliant, in my opinion. It even works on my work computer, which never plays anything on youtube or song-wise because of the company firewalls. Check out Erica's HERE! And if you have one, let me listen to it :D

Okay, in two last snippets of music news:

1. My dad e-mailed me this morning because he heard the New Kids on the Block were going to perform on the Today show Friday. My obsession as a kid was pretty fierce. Not gonna lie. Even my dad remembers!

2. Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville is being re-released on ATO Records, slash Dave Matthews label. Also, she's now signed to the label and her next album is due in the fall. Mr. Matthews, I don't loathe you so much as your fans (no offense), but well done, well done. I didn't much like Liz's last fare into recording, but damned if I don't listen to whitechocolatespaceegg at least once a month. Fingers crossed.

Take this pink ribbon off my eyes.

Smiling Like I Mean It
[songs that make me smile no matter what.]

5. "Just a Girl" - No Doubt. I don't think this song will ever get old to me. I remember jumping around in my room to this when I was in middle school. Who can forget that bouncing guitar that starts the song? It's the only song I will do karaoke to. In one of my graphic design classes in college we had to take the first thirty seconds of a song and translate it into a magazine spread - I obviously chose this song. Also, hearing this song live gets me every time; Gwen tends to sing, "Fuck you! I'm a girl!" near the end and it's always my favorite moment of a No Doubt concert (um, yeah, I do that in my karaoke rendition, too, whatever). And when my iPod is on shuffle, and I hear this song, I just want to start singing at the top of my lungs. It just makes me so happy. Sometimes I want to start jumping up and down wherever I am. Trust me, it's hard not to.

FYI: get fucking stoked because No Doubt's coming out with an album in 2008. Just sayin'.

Tighter than J.Lo in her jeans.

Smiling Like I Mean It.
[songs that make me smile no matter what.]

4. "U.R.A.Q.T." - M.I.A.

You! Are a! Cuuuuuuuuuuuu! Tee!
Is your dad a dealah 'cause you're dope to me!

'Nuff said.

And I want life in every word.

Smiling Like I Mean It

[songs that make me smile no matter what.]

3. "Clark Gable" - the Postal Service. I had my iPod on shuffle during this harrowing Monday* just as I was walking out of work. Having stayed late and pushing past the tourists surrounding Central Park, the song came on and as soon as those beats started right out of the soft intro, it took me back to the end of my sophomore year of college.

People, places, things triggered by a song...

My classmates and I had a month off to do what was essentially a senior thesis...in groups. I think it was two am and we piled into Evan "SOLOTRON" Solochek's car (there was seven of us!) at the end of our 45 page report, replete with quotes and appendices about the debate of goverment-sanctioned torture in a ticking time bomb situation. We were all fucking exhausted. We'd been working for a month straight, and we still had to make professional copies of it and defend our argument to a jury of professors. But in those wee hours of the morning, Evan, ever the Death Cab enthusiast, played us something he just got - the Postal Service. Most of us had diverging musical tastes, but we all agreed this was good stuff. We were all just so happy to be done, and the music commemorated the moment.

It's weird, because sometimes I'll listen to the same song and smile for entirely different reasons (hello, it has hand claps and my name is Jessica!), but today, I thought of this.

Hm. This was long. Here's a picture to pacify your shock at the abundance of WORDS.


* seriously, there's a cycle at work that culminates in End-of-Month which is basically one week of overworking hell - as in, my job gets its period.

I cried a lot and then we spooned.

Smiling Like I Mean It

[songs that make me smile no matter what]

2. "Antonia" - Motion City Soundtrack. A love song with an unfolding narrative that balances obscure details and the big picture. And it's those details that make me smile, and the revelations that make me swoon.

My lonely heart it falls apart for you to mend!

"Up in Arms" by the Foo Fighters always puts a silly grin on my face. I need to start compiling a list of songs that do that.

1. Up in Arms - Foo Fighters (grin begins when the drums kick in. Makes me want to jump on a bed in a teenage-like riot of joy and pretend to know how to play the drums.)

This has been the first installment of "Smiling Like I Mean It."