Rilo Kiley

Certain Songs #1927: Rilo Kiley – “Portions For Foxes”

October 5, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: More Adventurous
Year: 2004

. . .

And then there’s “Portions For Foxes,” one of the greatest songs of the 21st century, a soaring ode to self-loathing, bad relationships and casual sex that once again piles hook upon hook upon hook.

Over a ringing guitar and a straightforward beat, Jenny Lewis sets the scene:

Certain Songs #1926: Rilo Kiley – “It’s A Hit”

October 1, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: More Adventurous
Year: 2004

. . .

Just after the turn of the century, Rilo Kiley put out a pair of well-regarded indie albums — 2001’s Take Off and Landings and 2002’s The Execution of All Things — that are no doubt remembered as classics by Millennial indie kids. I think that they’re both fine, but except for the massed chorus over acoustic guitar, glockenspiel (and handclaps!) at the end of “With Arms Outstretched” , none of the songs fully hit me.

Certain Songs #1925: Rilo Kiley – “The Frug”

September 30, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Rilo Kiley EP
Year: 1998

. . .

While “The Frug” was the opening track on Rilo Kiley’s first self-titled EP, I first heard this song on the rkives compilation that came out in 2013, where it was the last song on the album, a nice piece of business, to say the least.

However, with a reissue of that first EP — also confusingly re-released in 2001 as (also out-of-print) The Initial Friend EP — coming out this very week, I might as well point folks to it. And point out that the original EP was financed by fellow Replacements fan Dave Foley, putting some of that sweet sweet Newsradio money to good use. (And I’m now fighting hard to not do a bit matching other Newsradio actors with the indie bands they initially funded. The point is that you should stop reading right now and watch a Newsradio episode instead.