SOUNDTRACK: GROUPLOVE-Tiny Desk Concert #166 (October 11, 2011).
With a name like Grouplove, I expected a certain sound–I imagined a dancey, funky, R-rated kinda of band.
But when I listened to this set, I realized that I knew the first song, “Tongue-Tied” and I loved it–it’s incredibly catchy and poppy and with a title that belies the common refrain “take me to your best friend’s house….” I love the two vocalist and that lead singer Zucconi’s voice strains bit still sounds good. There’s a middle section that reminds me a bit of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ “Home” with the two lead singers having a call and response section. I only wish she was a little louder (he’s very loud). But the rest of the song sounds nothing like that and is definitely is his own thing. Special attention should be paid to the bassist who throws in some great lines. I also like that the xylophone is used for percussion in this song.
speaking of the bassist, his cowboy hat bumps into something on the wall and the drummer mocks: “I’m from England I’m going to come back and get revenge.” Bob asks for more about ths development, but the drummer continues, “He’s just bitter about the War of Independence.” The bassist mutters, “It still hurts.”
When they released this song/album they’d only been together for a year and a half. Hannah Hooper and songwriter, singer and guitarist Christian Zucconi met the other members of Grouplove — Sean Gadd, Ryan Rabin (son of Trevor Rabin) and Andrew Wessen on the island of Crete at an artists’ retreat.
Turns out I also knew “Itchin’ on a Photograph” (most notable for the way he sings (with a aching falsetto) “itchin on a photograaaaaph.” Some more great bass lines here too. Zucconi’s voice has got to hurt at the end of this song
Their final song is “Colours.” Hooper’s harmony vocals are great on this song, and I really like the echoing electric guitar.
It’s hard for me to believe that “Tongue-Tied” is five years old, as feel like I’ve been hearing it on the radio still. The band has only put out once album since this one but they’ve been writing songs for all kinds of movies and TV shows. I’d like to hear if they kept up their success of writing super catchy pop songs.
[READ: April 22, 2016] “A Shrinking World, An Opening Sky”
This story is a look a dementia (see, I said the two stories in this month’s issue were dark). What I found most interesting about the way it was written was that it was from a close third person. It got inside the demented man’s head but it wasn’t a first person account, so the confusion was presented objectively–a delicate balance, for sure.
It begins from the old man’s wife’s perspective. She feels that her husband has lived long enough (she won’t say this to her family members, of course). A while back he’d had some bad days. There were some good days sprinkled in, but it has been steadily bad ever since.
This story is not set on his last day, but the narrator recounts his last few days which have been much the same. (more…)
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I really only know one Grouplove song (“Tongue Tied”) but I have heard that their concerts are a ton of fun. I tried to go to one last year but I couldn’t make the date.
I Just Read About That... 