I’m heading out on a roadtrip for a few days, but before I go I figured I would give you guys a few of my favorite ‘go-to’ songs that I’ve dropped on The List in the distant past. No real rhyme or reason to how these got picked, they just kinda always end up near the top of my iTunes folder….
It’s been barely two weeks since I dropped a leak from the new Faunts album on The List, but now that Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. has come out, I really need to push my electro-homeboys from Edmonton a little harder by offering up the title track. I said then that these guys had me thinking of the first Depeche Mode album, Speak & Spell, with the frenetic synthesizers and Tim Batke’s spare, minimalistic vocal, and maybe it’s because they sound a lot like the 80’s electro-pop bands I grew up listening to, but I can’t stop playing this album. I’m sure some of you run in the opposite direction when anything resembling electronica crosses your path, but trust me…this is uncontrived, melodic and well crafted pop that deserves a look. Check out Faunts at MySpace
Just as they kick off their North American tour, Ladytron is releasing a 7-track EP of remixed versions of ‘Tomorrow’ off of last years album, Velocifero. It features some pretty diverse mixmasters doin’ the knob-twiddling…Jim Abbiss, Dirty Vegas, The Vector Lovers…and this one by Los Angelenos, Great Northern. They’ll be on the road April & May (including two nights here in NYC at Webster Hall) and for more info, head over to their MySpace page.
Since moving the Song of the Day List from an e-mail that got shotgunned out daily to a blind list of thousands to this much more efficient blog system, I’m getting asked, “How do I save the mp3’s?!!”…..OK…here ya go!
On a Mac it couldn’t be easier…simply hold down the ‘Control’ key and click on the mp3 link. This will open a window asking you a whole mess of stuff, but all you’re interested in is the option to “Download Linked FIle”…this will automatically & magically send the file into your computer to wherever you have your downloads sent to. In my case, they drop right onto my desktop and all you need to do to load them into your iTunes folder is double-click on ’em!
If you’re on a PC…get a Mac! I dunno…you can probably ‘right/click’ the link to do the same thing, but seriously……get a Mac!!!
A perfectly crafted pop song doesn’t need any help convincing you it’s good…it just is…and I got that feeling late last night when I couldn’t sleep, turned on Kimmel and saw Anya Marina perform this song…I just felt it…tight production, catchy pop beats and a sexy vocal purred by a girl who, not for nuthin’, is also pretty damned cute. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter first popped up on my radar a couple of years back when she web-released a cobbled-together acoustic number titled ‘Lindsay Goes To Rehab’ (a cry for Ms. Lohan to maybe look into getting some help for her ‘addictive’ personality)…and then again when her song, ‘Miss Halfway’, scored a spot on one of the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ compilation CD’s, a sure sign you’re going places in the Indie Music World…and I was struck by her delicate, jazzy vocals so when I heard her again last night I knew I had to search out ‘Move You’. It’s off of her second album, Slow & Steady Seduction, Phase II…and you can stream more from the album on her MySpace Page
I don’t drop nearly as much electronica on The List as I have in the past, but when I heard that Project Jenny, Project Jan are set to drop a new EP (that features a whole mess of other electro-artists, including Adam Matta, Mixel Pixel, One Watt Sun and the amazing knob-twiddlers from Brighton featured on this song, Fujiya & Miyagi), I had to search it out. With it’s fast-paced, jumpy percussion and scatter-shot lyric, this song should fit nicely onto your aerobic workout playlist. The Colors EP is out April 14th, but you can check out the Brooklyn boys right now over on MySpace
OK…I would have bet the ranch that when I sent out ‘Around The Bend’ as a SOTD back in October, that would have been the last we would hear from The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. I mean, come on…..as much fun as it was, wasn’t this one of those songs that got tagged to be some background muzak in an iPod commercial and would likely be forgotten five minutes later?!! I even half-joked that they were sure to be ‘the next best thing…”…..
I apologize!
On ‘The Sun Ain’t Shining No More’, the first leak off of their debut album, Mette Lindberg’s slinky, retro-60’s R&B vocal, the lo-fi instrumental arrangements, the decidedly scratchy recording technique and just the perfect amount of oversampling have made me a convert and as I sit here swaying back in forth at my desk, the cool vibe of the song and her cocksure delivery has me picturing an Uma Thurman-esque, Tarantino Superwoman, full-on ready to kick your ass if you don’t see things her way! I truly love all of the 60’s-inspired music comin’ outta Europe lately…and this girl’s got a lotta soul! Their album, Fruit, is set to drop in May, but until then you can head on over to their MySpace page and stream a few more songs.
Aside from the fact that they’re from San Diego, I know almost nothing about these guys. I stumbled across “Neon Jesus” on MySpace Music and got carried away by the scratchy guitars, plodding organ, force-fed feedback and the dirt-simple lyrics…”I Can’t Stand It” repeated again and again will win me over every time. A lotta what they’re doin’, especially that guitar work, makes me think of the Raveonettes, but that’s OK…I love the Raveonettes. Like I said, not much out there on the band, but if this gets you goin’, you can head over to MySpace and stream some more.
Sounding a bit like an oddball (but happy) version of Elvis Costello, but with a more frantic Weezer-like vibe, Miniature Tigers caught my ear this morning with this song off of their new album, Tell It To The Volcano. Melodic indie pop that has me humming La-La-La! They’re touring right now with Ben Folds (playing The Mercury Lounge this Sunday for all you New Yorkers) and you can check ’em out on MySpace
Damn…blogging! And I said it would never happen, but I guess as I get older, ‘never’ is a moving target. But with this site, besides letting you all read the ramblings of my underdeveloped brain, I can move the Song of the Day List from a solely e-mail based waste of time to a truly GLOBAL waste of time!
And speaking of the SOTD…here’s a test to see how things might look in the not so distant future…
Brooklynite Eric Elbogen formed Say Hi To Your Mom, recently shortened to just Say Hi, back in 2002, and over the next few years proceeded to put out a pretty impressive body of work…that just about nobody heard! A little like Interpol, a little like Gary Numan, but always compelling. Now he’s relocated to Seattle and signed with indie power-lable Barsuk, and he’s getting ready to release his sixth full length album, Ooh’s & Aahs, in a few weeks. Eric is Say Hi, recording everything himself and performing live with friends, kinda like an Emo Nine Inch Nails. Head on over to MySpace to hear more.
Once I get a few minutes, I’m sure I’ll dress the place up with a coat of paint and some new drapes, but the more important thing right now is to finish my website redesign, but make sure to tell your friends and neighbors…I wanna get my hit-count up to the point where I get bought out by Google!
Damn Ugly Photography 