Stu Pot! f. Gossip Girl, Stan Rogers, and Hot Licks

Zack started up the Stu Pot a little while ago, and it's perfect for today's post.  I've had a bunch of songs bouncing around my computer for a while that I haven't had a great place to post.  I want to share them, though, so here we go!

Apparently this first song was on Gossip Girl last night - no matter, it's been spinning through my iTunes for a few months now.  I can't get enough of it, really.  It just builds so nicely that it's basically uncontrollable.  It starts off with kind of an old-school Travis type feel before ramping up the action to a pretty emotional open-voice climax.  All without really changing dynamics, simply through instrumentation and passion changes, which is pretty impressive.  Besides, who isn't desperate to connect?

Gotye - Hearts A Mess

Update:  Thought the Gotye track was approved for posting, but it's not - so go buy it, it's worth it!  And in the meantime, check out the pretty sick video that animator Brendan Cook made for the song:

 

On the topic of tunes that I've been listening to for months (or better yet years), here's an old classic from Stan Rogers.  He's not your typical indie-rocker.  In fact, he's not an indie-rocker.  He's an old-school folk singer with a gristly voice.  But he's also a great story teller, and this song is amazing.  I hope you appreciate it as much as I do.

Stan Rogers - Athens Queen (YSI) (filesavr)

Finally, another great tune that doesn't really fit in anywhere.  It's called "I Don't Want Love", and it comes from Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, an amazingly fun band.  I heard this song once on a car-ride and had to listen to it four times in a row.  I mean, seriously, the lyrics include "If love makes you give up steak and potatoes, rice, corn, chitlins and tomatoes - if love makes you give up all those things, I don't want love".  Dynamite, I love this song.

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks f. Brian Setzer - I Don't Want Love (YSI) (filesavr)