It finally happened. Winter arrived. Snow fell and we woke up this past Sunday with about three inches of the stuff. I’m glad it didn’t arrive earlier, as Friday saw me at KSVR for a four hour stint of music.

The first two hours flirted with folk music and the latter half was full-on garage rock, garage pop and psychedelic pop. Much of the 10 to midnight show came courtesy Finest Kiss, who posted some great 2011 lists.

Taking a week off from radio this Friday, as in appreciated for covering Stuarto’s show on the 13th he’ll be covering mine on the 20th. Here’s the list. Get ready, it’s a long one!

“Sunset Tulips” by Night Genes off Like The Blood
“What Never Comes” by Crooked Fingers off Forfeit/Fortune
“Cavern In A Square” by Ham 1 off Let’s Go On And On And On With Ham 1

“Valhalla” by Jack Wilson off S/T
“End of Days” by Brown Bird off Salt For Salt
“Can’t You Tell” by Vetiver off The Errant Charm

“My Pillow Is The Threshold” by Silver Jews off Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
“The Stations” by The Gutter Twins off Saturnalia
“Be Invited” by The Twilight Singers off Dynamite Steps

“Sixteen, Maybe Less” by Iron & Wine with Calexico off In The Reins
“Changing” by The Moondoggies off Don’t Be A Stranger

“The Wrong Light” by Kasey Anderson and The Honkeys off Heart of a Dog

“Close My Eyes” by Ólöf Arnalds off Ólöf Sings
“Smoke Will Rise” by The Lower 48 off Where All Maps End

“Wings Won’t Behave” by Whistle Peak off Half Asleep Upon Echo Falls

“Alphabet” by The Twilight Sad off No One Can Ever Know
“The Jessica Numbers” by The New Pornographers off Twin Cinema
“Yoshi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1″ by The Flaming Lips off Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

“Here Comes Success” by Royal City off 1999-2004
“No Reply” by Giant Sand off Chore of Enchantment
“October Boy” by Mick Harvey off Sketches from the Book of the Dead

“Dance” by Astrid Williamson off Pulse

“Moon See, Day See” by The Heligoats off Live Free & Let Loose
“Golden Friends” by Leopold And His Fiction

“Don’t Wait” by Bears off Greater Lakes
“Summer Gang” by Afternoon Naps off Summer Gang 7″

“If You Choose To Stay” by The Webelos off Shadow Seasons
“(I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind” by The Limiñanas off (I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind 7″
“Israeli Blues” by Index off Black Album + Red Album + Yesterday & Today [Disc-1]

“As Times Change” by Sea Lions off Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask
“Can You Feel The Backwash” by A Classic Education off Call It Blazing
“Pretty When You Smile” by Sweater Girls off Pretty When You Smile 7″

“Pretty Ballerina” by Left Banke off There’s Gonna Be A Storm – The Complete Recordings 1966-1969
“Like Dylan in the Movies” by Belle & Sebastian off If You’re Feeling Sinister
“Conventional Lullabies” by Young And Sexy off Panic When You Find It

“Roosevelt Island” by Eleanor Friedberger off Last Summer
“Dour Percentage” by Of Montreal off Paralytics Stalks
“The Golden Age” by The Resonars off Bright And Dark

“Catamaran” by Allah-Las off Catamaran b/w Long Journey
“Malkaus” by The Panthers off Pakistan: Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976
“Where You Gonna Go” by People’s Temple off Sons Of Stone

“Invitations” by Puberty off Invitations 7″
“Shari Vari” by The Dirtbombs” off Party Store

“Tuscaloosa Bar” by Indian Wars off Walk Around The Park

“Sycamore Tree” by Crystal Stilts off In Love With Oblivion
“Raspberry Thighs” by The Mantles off Raspberry Thighs 7″
“Bad Feeling” by Veronica Falls off Veronica Falls

“Give Me Back My Man” by Boyracer off Little Darla Has A Treat For You [Vol. 24 Disc 1]
“Blowing Kisses” by Exlovers off Blowing Kisses 7″
“So High” by Ringo DeathStarr off Colour Trip

“Plastic Disaster” by Little Cuts off Plastic Disaster 7″
“I Wanna Join The Army” by Dan Sartain off Too Tough To Live

“The Start of Something” by Voxtrot off The Start Of Something

At this moment, I am watching a VH1 marathon of 100 Greatest Songs Of The 80s. Watching some of the videos, then seeing “Everyday” by Vetiver, I see a lot of similarities. Check out the clothes, the hair styles, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. (On second thought, it’s more late 80s/early 90s.) Still, it’s a bit strange, when draped around the poppy-folk melody of “Everyday”.

The storyline is great — following this outdated couple through a tumultuous fight. He ultimately gets evicted and ends up homeless on the streets (but never quite looses his roller blades). And she comes ’round to save him. There’s a completely unsexy, unsexual bathtub scene and the couple ends up dancing in a room quite reminiscent to David Brent doing “If You Don’t Know Me Now”. Then we find it’s all a dream.

“Everyday” comes from Tight Knit, out now on Sub Pop.

Vetiver: Everyday [mp3]

Vetiver: Strictly Rule [mp3]

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really care for Vetiver (MySpace) the first time I heard them; at least I thought I didn’t. At the time, they just seemed the standard folk-rock-pop artist blend, fronted by generic vocals. But Tight Knit is none of that. And after listening to it a few times, realization dawned on me that I was thinking about a different band. Vetiver possesses none of the negative terms I associated with the other V band: generic, monotonous, lacking endearment. Instead, Vetiver’s music is filled with traits that make fellow Sub Pop artists like Daniel Martin Moore great.

Opening with “Rolling Sea”, Vetiver opts to define themselves early on, blending together soft folk-pop packed with mellow, finger-plucked guitar with brushed percussion and pleasant sleepy vocals. There’s a consciousness here; yes, it may be soft and mellow and harmonious, but it’s also hyper aware… the proper term would be clear, no… clarity.

There’s a clarity to the music Vetiver packs into Tight Knit that sets them apart from the standard, the generic, the mundane. It can be heard again on track two, “Sister”, where the chiming triangle is over prominent – you can almost imagine Bruce Dickinson calling for More Triangle in the recording session, but here there’s no humor, and its effect on the song is both numbing and mesmerizing. It’s not until track three that we hear something full. “Everyday” includes a fully strummed guitar, and thus it’s fully a pop tune complimented by a folky tambourine masked by reverb. But that soon subsides back into the lighter side of things. Later, “More Of This” will pick up a similar vibe and ultimately find itself as the album’s pinnacle song.

Throughout Tight Knit, one is inundated with folk and pop instrumentation, but the vocals often fit a slightly different mold – soul. It can be heard from the poppy “On The Other Side” to the hip-swaying “Strictly Rule” to “Through The Front Door”. These are themes that flow from beginning to end, making Tight Knit just that – a tight, cohesive album filled with songs that flow well together, in a single, smooth motion. Yet they’re all different enough to make the album interesting, and thus thoroughly enjoyable.

Vetiver: Everyday [mp3]

Sub Pop [CD, 2009]

1. Rolling Sea
2. Sister
3. Everyday
4. Through The Front Door
5. Down From Above
6. On The Other Side
7. More Of This
8. Another Reason To Go
9. Strictly Rule
10. At Forest Edge