Listening Assignments 4.30.07

1. Doves - Snowden - Another mixtape favorite, Doves are simply epic melodic rock in the vein of Snow Patrol. Ok yes, maybe some Coldplay. Get over yourselves, people! [from Some Cities|buy]

2. Ticonderoga - Snakes - This was one of my original assignments over two years ago, when maybe 5 people listened a week, but it remains one of my favorite songs. It's got one of the best building sequences in music, adding layers on layers of unexpected sounds and melodies. It's really a song like very few others. [from The Heilig-Levine LP|buy]

3. Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger - One of my absolute favorite i&w songs, which is saying a lot. Beautiful melody/harmony combo with haunting lyrics pounded home by repetition. [from In Good Company Sdtk|buy]

4. Tobias Froberg - Grace - The piano progression sounds like "Easy" by the Commodores, but on the whole, this is just an overly pleasant ballad by a silken-voiced Swedish crooner. And seriously, I "awwww"-ed at the album title. [from For Elisabeth Wherever She Is|buy]