Song of the Week

Belle & Sebastian Write About Love. Of course. Over the years, Stuart Murdoch and his Glasgow faithful have written a churchful of wry, literate, and spiritually-satisfying pop songs--and almost all of them are about love, incarnate or otherwise. Recently, fans from all over the world responded in kind with little love letters. How many artists inspire this kind of artful participation?

"Come on Sister," the second track from the new album, is as delightful as anything the band has played before. Have a seat and enjoy the polished sheen of the band's latest vibe.

Thirteen Random Songs To Listen To Before Halloween

The rain has settled in and the clouds are downcast. The leaves are falling and the trees are gold. The week before Halloween is the perfect time to listen to the right music. Any of the songs below, culled from the last several years, would be perfect for your party mix-tape; you could avoid the usual fare without giving up any of the atmosphere.

• "It Ended on An Oily Stage" by British Sea Power. Drenched in proper Anglo-Saxon pop theatrics.
• "Get On, Me" by The Brother Kite. Yep, it's the guitars.
• "Tyrant Destroyed" by Twin Shadow. From a killer album hot off the press.
• "Of Montreal" by The Stills. Arguably the best song from Logic Will Break Your Heart.
• "Moon and Moon" by Bat for Lashes. Check. And check.
• "Bleary Eyed" by Annuals. Guess you'll have to buy their debut.
• "The Last Broadcast" by Doves. May as well play the whole album.
• "Munich" by Editors. Is someone going to complain if this makes your mixtape?
• "Hunters Map" by Fionn Regan. The End of History is a fine album. This is a great all-hallows track.
• "Central and Remote" by Grizzly Bear. Arguably the sound of late October.
• "Halloween" by Matt Pond P.A. Okay, may as well get literal for one song.
• "Special" by Mew. Most of this Danish band's oeuvre would make the cut.
• "Cemetary Lawn" by The Rosebuds. Scary with a backbeat.
• "Shade and Honey" by Sparklehorse. Can I tell you how much I love this song?
• "Island, IS" by Volcano Choir. Played this last Halloween while driving home. Perfect.

Song of the Week

"Futile Devices" is the gorgeous introduction to Sufjan Steven's intergalactic apocrypha, The Age of Adz. The D Man thought he should share the 25-minute, five-suite closer "Impossible Soul," but he understood that your workplace perusal would not allow for such high adventure.

Words are futile devices. Yet somehow Stevens fleshes out the longing that we feel for someone so close to us, be it mother or lover. Its been a long time since I memorized your face . . . and don't say "I love you" without saying it out loud. Enjoy the fan video below.

Five Things

The D Man is back after some serious legal training. His trial team won a large (imaginary) verdict and The D Man brought down the house with a stirring closing argument. ("Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"). Unfortunately, all of that heavy lifting ultimately left The D Man in the throes of pneumonia. That's right, good old-fashioned pneumonia. Wish me well, but the music must go on.

• The Dewars opened up for The Drums and Surfer Blood last week. They may be the worst opening band I've ever seen. We wanted to punch them in the face, and the Rizzo got out a few well-timed cat calls that they definitely heard.
• The Drums needed to turn down the reverb on Jonathan Pierce's vocals. Otherwise, cool band with some serious potential. Jacob Graham's washed-out guitar playing was definitely the highlight.
• Surfer Blood sounded excellent with a no nonsense performance. Played some new tunes that were very promising.
• This song came on while celebrating the end of a long week, straight from the jukebox in the hotel pub, and made my entire night. In a perfect world, that should happen much more often.
• "Lemonworld" is a great track from High Violet. Found this live performance. And "Modern Man" from The Suburbs seems to be a first cousin.

Song of the Week

Still listening to the loose, propulsive, and serious "Ready to Start" from Arcade Fire's excellent third album. Indeed, The D Man has been living in The Suburbs all week. October is a great time to be there. Sometimes it is a wise decision to shelve a new release until the initial reaction has blown over and your first listens are entirely your own. Plus, The D Man knew this was absolutely not a summer album. Another good call.

Band of Horses

Highlights from the Band of Horses concert. Rip, Rizzo, Whit, Kate, J, and Viwe all took in the show with The D Man as their shaman guide.

• "We're Band of Horses. And we're from America." Best greeting ever. Still pumps The D Man up.
• After declaring "this one will surprise you," Ben Bridwell and company opened with "The Great Salt Lake." As if that was not enough, the band ripped into "Is There A Ghost" for the 6-4-3 double-play. J commented that it may have been the best opening combination he'd ever seen, and who was The D Man to argue?
• The band refused to come down with ringing versions of "Weed Party," "Islands on the Coast," and "Ode to LRC."
• Bridwell mentioned that his voice had been struggling the past few days. But he said it was better to press on than cancel the show. Thank goodness. A few songs in he started to get into the groove, and by the time he hit open-throated anthems like "No One's Gonna Love You," he was in full stride.
• Ben put down his guitar and lit one up for the breezy lovelorn road-trip "Laredo." That decision was probably not going to help any voice problems, but he sure looked cool.
• Other set-list highlights included the large-sounding "Factory," the downright happy "Older," the rarely-played live "Dilly," and the guitar-heavy "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands."
• The look of the line-up is perfectly constructed for the band's sound and style. The two key characters, after Bridwell's rural hipster vibe, are easily Tyler Ramsey and Bill Reynolds. Tyler is a hulking but peaceful bearded giant, while Bill is Kip from Napolean Dynamite, complete with a foam hat, cut of t-shirt with impossibly skinny arms in tow, and a large feather hanging out of the end of his overwhelming bass guitar. Watching Bill make sweet love to his instrument was as entertaining as it gets.
• Torched a massive version of "The Funeral" right before the encore. One of the twenty best songs of the new millenium.
• The encore consisted of a bass-heavy "Our Swords," a swirling master-class "The First Song," and a delightful comedown "Monsters."
• Viwe Xozwa, my dear South African friend and longtime reader, enjoyed his first true American rock experience. He gave it a "7," which is high praise for someone who loves Janet Jackson, hails from KwaMagxaki, and clicks when he speaks.
• The band sounded expansive and clearly had a good time playing for the crowd. Just knowing that Band of Horses are on the road playing each night makes The D Man feel good. Three albums in, we are lucky to have them; a quintessential American band that successfully blurs the boundaries of indie-rock, folk, and country, and continually makes some of the best open-road music of our day.