Has anyone been feeling a particular lack of sweet summer tunes this season? Quite a letdown after I spent months last year with Miracle Fortress‘ “Five Roses” on repeat, and 2006 was a tie with Phoenix’s “It’s Never Been Like That” and “Puzzles Like You” by Mojave 3. Maybe it’s just me living in relative isolation from pop music and hipster culture, but I’m not feeling any particular surge of interest toward one artist.
Since it’s not looking like I’m going to find my summer musical blockbuster analogous to The Dark Knight, I’ve taken to sampling artists fervently and settling quickly one a decent song or two. It’s not the love affair I would like, but it’s a love-’em-and-leave-’em world sometimes. Here’s a few decent tracks:
She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
I hemmed and hawed about this track back when it was available as a live video, and I finally decided I like it. You got me, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Well, M. Ward had me at End of Amnesia….
I find this album is a bit hollow and fluffy (as Nigel would say from So You Think You Can Dance, “like cotton candy: sweet, but no substance”), but this track is slick. Yes, I quoted SYTYCD. And yes, I just used the acronym. Wanna fight?
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Buriedfed
Now, this CD with the extended moniker holds some potential for me. Soulful, dense, unique, lovely. Check his myspace.
What the hell is up with Bloc Party? After Flux (which I rather liked) came out late last year, I figured that they’d be moving in a more electronic direction in the near future. Little did I know how prophetic that was. Out comes the new single last week, Mercury. I’ve spent a few days trying to digest it, and I just can’t figure out whether I can stomach it or flat-out hate it. With a chorus consisting solely of the phrase “My mercury’s in retrograde” looped over and over, I’m left weirded out. I don’t hear a single guitar, just (presumably synthesized) horns and a cacophony of drumbeats. Perhaps I’m just baffled at how different this is from what I expect from them, but I guess we’ll see where they’re going with this in the coming months. I’m wondering if their set at VFest is going to be considerably different from the last time I saw them.
Bonjour cavacoolers. It’s been a while. I’ve been in France for a few weeks now scoping out the music scene and I have to say that I haven’t discovered anything fantastic. Well, at least nothing that I wasn’t aware of before. However, if I had to choose three songs to define my trip so far, it would be the following.
They may not necessarily be new tracks…. but they are great. Hope you enjoy them.
Oh and I will soon be posting about a little music festival I hit up last weekend. I’m lazy now though and my internet connection is…. well soon to be non- existent.
I bought Wolf Parade’s new album, At Mount Zoomer on a whim the other day because I was feeling majorly out of the loop of recent music releases. I prefer Dan Boeckner’s stuff in Handsome Furs to most things Spencer Krug has done, so be aware of my bias. (Although Shut Up I Am Dreaming is still an awesome song by any measure.) Behold, my impressions!
I have no idea what Wild Beasts are on about, but if that isn’t a catchy song title then I don’t know what is. I’ve recommended this on many occasions and no one seems as struck as me. Granted it’s not very traditional, sounding as if Tiny Tim of “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips With Me” fame took over lead vocals for the Archie Bronson Outfit. Oh, and throw in some of those coconuts banged together from Holy Grail. It just, well, goes. It’s so unusually good that I have to love it. If you like it, then check out out all ten tracks on their new album Limbo, Panto.
My favourite Labrador artists - The Radio Dept. - are back at it with a new EP: Freddie and the Trojan Horse, and an upcoming new album (titled Clinging to a Scheme) due September 10. At least, this EP was freshly released when I first started to write this post… damned summer apathy.
These Swedish sweethearts slapped us with sincere shoegaze (holy alliteration!) with their 2003 album Lesser Matters. This delicate collection of melodic pop-rock reminiscent of The Field Mice on horse tranquilizers was praised as being not only an achievement in the genre, but a gem of the year. I had a really hard time only choosing one to post. Get this album, I mean it!
Following with Pet Grief in 2006, the boys (as they were now lacking their female vocalist) changed the direction of their music by introducing a drum machine and upping the focus on 80s-toned synth. They still retained their characteristic fuzziness but I think it lacked the charm of their debut disk. Despite this, “The Worst Taste In Music” is seductive for championing the indie-sentiment that a true love could abandon their beau based on their sub-par music preferences. Ah, the indie-kid superiority complex. So cute.
“Freddie and the Trojan Horse” introduced some heavy piano and followed up on the sad-sack mentality, but I’m still loving it. I tossed the new one on here for your perusal, as well as some old favourites and the video to the EP-only “Pulling Our Weight”. As a sidenote, I think that clouds are completely appropriate for a dreampop vid.
Albert Hammond, Jr. is back with his second solo album since The Strokes farted out First Impressions of Earth in 2006. Not to diminish his credibility, since Yours to Keep was a fantastic record and a true return to Strokes form. And though this second album doesn’t have the fiery punch of guitar pop majesty that his first album had, there are a few songs to write home about, chiefly “GfC”. Don’t ask me what it stands for, maybe you can find it on Wikipedia. It’s not only the best song on the album, but also the first single from ¿Cómo Te Llama?, which comes out tomorrow.
