Tilly and the Wall

My friend, Danielle, introduced me to a band about a million years ago called Tilly and the Wall. I didn't really listen to them very much until about... a week or so ago. I'd only heard a fewof their songs ("Bad Education," "Rainbows in the Dark," and "Night of the Living Dead") but looked them up on YouTube to see if they had any music videos or live performance videos. And this is how I found out about the coolest thing about Tilly and the Wall.

Their percussionist is a tap dancer.

Which is only the single most unique thing I've ever heard of or seen from a band. Ever.

I was watching this video and I was like, "Wait a second..." And now I'm totally a slave to Tilly and the Wall. I have found that I have a broken record in my head that can't play anything besides "Bad Education" and "Rainbows in the Dark." Not that I'm complaining.

Tilly is a pretty unique band. The vocals aren't the most masterful. They sound kind of like a mix between Bright Eyes and vairous indie pop bands (which isn't surprising, given that they are signed to Conor Oberst's label, Team Love, and they were in a band with Conor before he went BIG TIME as Bright Eyes). Their lyrics and melodies are catchy and fun to sing along to (if you can figure out the words in time). It's easy to listen to their songs on repeat because they're so fun and loveable.

Their video for "Sing Songs Along" is probably a perfect example of how bright, bubbly and fun Tilly is. They are wearing bright colors, jumping around with a bunch of kids in a gymnastics studio and smiling, smiling, smiling! I think they are, overall, a pretty feel-good band, perfect for this emerging spring and up-and-coming summer.

Super High Me

There is a movie, coming out just in time for 420, called Super High Me. It is being made by High Time's Stoner of the Year, Doug Benson. I have a very strong urge to see this movie. It's a spoof off Super Size Me, in which that guy ate only Fast Food for 30 days. Instead, Benson is smoking pot and being high all day, every day, for 30 days.

Now, despite the illegality of marijuana and the obvious health side effects, I think this movie (or would it be a documentary...?) is going to be a joy to watch. Doug Benson is a pretty funny guy, being a professional comedian and all. I'm wondering, however, how much of the film is going to be humorous filler and pot-talk and how much will be professionals talking and (boring) factoids we have probably learned through our school's drug education program. Given that this is sort of a parody documentary, I am pretty sure that it will be mostly bullshit the whole way through. We'll see, however.

The movie is doing "grassroots screenings" all over the country on 420 but I can't find a REAL release date. You have to be 18 in order to organize a screening and get a (free!) DVD sent to your house. Which is a shame. Because I'd totally love to see it ASAP because I could do with a good laugh - especially this weekend, after the heavy homework load this week has bestowed upon me.

But here is a trailer, as I always post videos. Tell me what you think.

As Tall As Lions

Every once and a while, I like to go to the homepage of Purevolume and look at their featured bands. Normally, I can't really find any bands that I like. But a few days ago (okay, so more like a week ago) I went onto the Purevolume page and found the profile (?) page for As Tall As Lions. I have been listening to this band for days on end, seriously.

I downloaded the free songs from their Purevolume and bought their self-titled CD. I burned all the songs onto one disc of happiness, joy and wonder. Probably half of the songs on the 14-track CD are considered favorites of mine by this particular band. The songs are all different and the same at the same time. They have intensity of emotion lurking behind the layers of instrumentation and vocals. The lyrics are very abstract and storylike and, with the "Ambient / Indie / Rock" influences (thanks, Purevolume!) it makes for an overall enchanting album.

The one thing that has been bothering me through this entire obsession with this band is that the lead singer sounds A LOT like another singer but is obviously a different person. I cannot think of who it is. Sometimes, he sounds a little like the singer of Keane, but then I'm like, "No..." And then he sounds like the singer of the band The Juliana Theory, but that isn't right either. I also considered that he and the singer of Meriwether sounded a lot alike, but I'm not too sure about that either. But listening to songs over and over to try to solve this mystery is only a weak excuse for listening to As Tall As Lions as much as humanly possible.

Some of the songs I highly recommend are:
A Break, A Pause
Ghost of York
Stab City
Song for Luna
The Carousel (which is on their Purevolume profile)


Video for the song "Love, Love, Love (Love, Love)":