Awesome Song Of The Week! "Everything Beautiful is Far Away" by Grandaddy

Sup everyone! It's time for:

AWESOME SONG OF THE WEEK!!!

This week's awesome song is by California indie band Grandaddy and is entitled "Everything Beautiful is Far Away." Yes, the title is absolutely terrible. But give the song a second chance.

When you first start listening to this song, it seems rather unremarkable. The first seven seconds of random electronic noise are probably enough to make most people skip to the next track, and even people who make it a little farther in will probably be unimpressed by the generic indie guitar chords, nasal vocals, and angsty lyrics about an astronaut stranded on a distant planet (because there's never been a song about that before). If you haven't listened to the song yet, or if you only listened to the beginning of it, you may be asking "Jake, how could this possibly be the awesome song of the week?" Keep listening, readers. Keep listening.

Things start to pick up around the end of the second verse (around 0:30), where we have a really hooky melody with some really tight harmony. The second verse is very similar to the first, but with the addition of little electronic flourishes that, in my opinion, add so much to the song. At the end of this verse we have some tight harmonies again, and things are starting to look up.

Around 1:20 you'll realize why this is the awesome song of the week. This song lacks a chorus and instead features a beautiful instrumental part played on the synth that's incredibly layered and beautiful, blending wonderfully with the texture of the drums. Once you've made it to this point, just lay back and let the music wash over you. It's synthesized perfection.

Just for some background info, Grandaddy were an indie rock band from northern California that blended geek rock, synth pop, new wave, and electronic noise into really dense, textured, and incredibly catchy songs. If you've seen 28 Days Later or the TV show Screenwipe, you've heard their most famous song. Grandaddy broke up a few years ago, but released a few awesome albums (Under the Western Freeway and The Sophtware Slump are my favorites), and their lead singer and songwriter Jason Lytle is releasing some solo stuff (which isn't quite as good).

What will the next awesome song be? Check in next week to find out.