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| My First Earthquake... And a Star-Spangled Rotary Phone |
- "Talking Science" by You Can Be a Wesley -- Awesome indie girl-fronted rock at its finest. Sounds a little bit like Vivian Girls or Best Coast, if you've heard any of their stuff. Intelligent lyrics that remind me of early Rilo Kiley stuff. Definitely a feel-good song with a solid drumbeat -- the "do--do--do-do" background will get stuck in your head, though. Just a warning.
- "Breathtaker" by Viola -- Finnish Synth-pop? Mmmm, yes please! The vocals are a scratchy, high tenor that sound very adrogenous at moments and the singer's english must be pretty good, because I can't even hear an accent. Melacholic lyrics -- the song fades out with the line "It's not who you are." Reminds me of 80s stuff, especially when they delved into the electronica-sub-genre that evolved into darkwave.
- The Steelwells -- I downloaded two songs by The Steelwells -- "El Capitan" and "This Dance Is Out of Your Hands"--and loved them both. The titles -- and the lyrics that accompany them -- are metaphorical. The frontman/singer, Joey Winter was going through a divorce when he wrote them, so the real meaning hidden beneath stories of sinking ships. A California Beach-alt band with nautical leanings, the sound can go from fun and light to beautiful and wistful in a heartbeat. It's that sort of range that will hopefully make you fall in love with them too. "This Dance...." is simply gorgeous, being bittersweet without sounding angsty.
- "Romanticore" by The Speed of Sound in Seawater -- Don't you just love these indie band names? Admittedly calling themselves geek-pop, the band reaches out to combine fantastical imagery and dreamy rock with lyrics that incorporate math and science references. Oh, and there is heavy xylophone usage. At least, I'm pretty sure there is.
- "Haunted" by Rouge Fonce -- Ah, my new favorite Australian Dark Cabaret band. This track starts with a great baseline which is --stop me if this is too expected -- haunting. The drumline sounds vaguely tribal but celtic tribal as opposed to native american or aboriginal, if that makes any sense to any one. The guitar introduces that lonely western sound that I'm always referring to, the simplicity of the chords being what makes it sound so mysterious. I know a song that going to be on my Halloween playlist this year....
- "Clamoring for Your Heart" by Princeton -- Loved this because I'm touched in the head for anything that sounds even remotely The Smith's influenced. It's odd, because the band doesn't even list them as one of their inspirations. You can really hear it in the vocals -- I'd peg this guy to be a Morissey impersonator if I didn't know any better. These guys have opened for quite a few big names -- Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend -- so you might've even seen them live. I'll have to listen to some more of their stuff to be sure, but I think I like these guys.
- "Cool in the Cool Way" by My First Earthquake -- This songs lyrics are serendipitous since I was just ranting about being a hipster earlier in the day and this song is about not being cool enough to fit in with the cool kids. Ironically, this band is from San Francisco which, from what I understand, is up there with Seattle and Portland for the hipsters. Other song topics include zombies and soup. Yeah....they are pretty awesome. For sound, think the Ting Tings mixed with a little Tegan & Sara. Look for this band as a Song du Jour sometime this week.
- "Little Lie" by Lindi Ortega -- Growing in Arizona gives a taste for country--it's inevitable and futile to fight it. I like this song because he doesn't hide it's country roots by dressing it up with pop fluff. Lindi Ortega sounds like the love child of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe -- a little breathy, a little bluesy, and sexy in all the right places. The music sounds like something we'd hear from Nancy Sinatra if she was reincarnated so that she'd be hitting her stride right now in 2011.
- "White Elephant" by Ladytron -- Ethereal, surreal, and dreamy, I enjoy Ladytron so much. It's like Enya, but with a Mod-ern edge and more angel dust. This particular song sounds like Goldfrapp crossed with the electronic stylings of Walter Meego. Ladytron is on tour, if you're interested in more. Oh yeah....and there is some heavy triangle action in there for ya.
- Kind of Girl -- Hmmm, Danish Synthpop? Let's give it a try...I found three songs by Kind of a Girl -- "Strange and Wonderful," "Poetry boy," and "Need you" -- and I'm not gonna lie....this is the kind of music flock towards. Sounds a little like Metric with a more alto voice. On their last.fm page, similar artists include some other goodies from this list -- My First Earthquake and the Steelwells...although I would disagree with The Steelwells, as Kind of a Girl definitely leans more to the electro side of indie. "Need You" is a lovely instrumental track that plays like something an old movie....not too old, though. Maybe just late-70s-early-80s.
- "The Cure" by Dev -- I don't purport to be an expert on rap -- in fact, I'm horribly underqualified to have an opinion -- but I know when something is good and this is good. The writing is incredibly intelligent and it conveys anger at The Man without resorting to cussing....I mean it, there is no curse words at all in the entire rap. Don't get me wrong -- I am far from being against cussing but it really impresses me when you can write something amazing that has a lot of feeling behind it and not fall back into the refuge of "f*ck" and "b*tch." The background music is equally unexpected...a standard beat with what is either a soft piano or the high-end of a xylophone. Or polyphonic bells...nah, I don't think so. Best Line -- Never understood humans/Never liked the specimen/'Cause they like to play this game/That I know I'll never win. That's deep, man. This will be a Song du Jour sometime this week, so be ready.
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