Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The 11 Best Songs By Iron & Wine

The big news in the music world yesterday was that Trent Reznor (the voice and force behind Nine Inch Nails) was nominated for an Oscar.  A freaking Oscar.  I was surprised when Eminem and Three 6 Mafia were nominated and won...but this is even stranger for some reason.  Eminem and Three-6 were nominated for song, and although this is a category usually reserved for Celine Dion and the Alan Menken mafia, their songs were pivotal to the story-telling.  Trent didn't do a song...he did the whole freaking score.  The music, mood, and atmosphere is one hundred percent being controlled by the paranoid delusion of a man who once bought Sharon Tate mansion, where the Charles Manson murders occurred, because it was musically inspiring.  Is this a sign that the mainstream media is becoming more excepting of eclectic artists or am I just getting old?

It has always been baffling to me that Iron & Wine never joined the ranks of rock stars turned Oscar-nominations.  With two extremely pivotal tracks in the movies Garden State and In Good Company, they should have been backstage with Celine, snacking on organic vegetable platters.  Maybe their new poppy turn will get them the cinematic recognition they deserve.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Iron & Wine:


1. Jezebel (Woman King EP)
2. Cinder and Smoke (Our Endless Numbered Days)
3. The Trapeze Swinger (In Good Company)
4. Woman King (Woman King EP)
5. Resurrection Fern (The Shepard's Dog)
6. Upward Over the Mountain (The Creek Drank The Cradle)
7. Such Great Heights (Garden State)
8. Bird Stealing Bread (The Creek Drank The Cradle)
9. Love Vigilantes (Around The Well)
10. Boy With A Coin (The Shepard's Dog)
11. Free Until They Cut Me Down (Our Endless Numbered Days)

Buy the new album now...Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This guy is a classic song writer. Hard not to be an Iron & Wine fan. Not much bad can be said about this band. Nice list of tunes.

Brian@bothsidesofthecoin said...

Gotta update it and include Me and Lazarus from his new album. Good list though. It's hard to pick songs from his albums for a list cuz they're all so good.

http://kelderspeaks.blogspot.com for a review of his new album, if anyone's interested.