Top of the Blogs 2/17/09

Each week (or whenever we have time) we take a listen to some of the top songs from elbows, review them and then give our selection of alternative tracks that we believe should be getting more recognition.

Bishop Allen – Dimmer

Bishop Allen – The Ancient Commonsense Of Things

Two songs by Bishop allen this week. When was the last song you’ve heard that uses the lyric “Olly Olly Oxen Free”? I can’t remember one. Not that it matters, just found it interesting. There is a purity to these Bishop Allen songs that have an innocent clarity to them. The straightforward nature of the music is disguised by captivating melodies and slight details in the music, soft musical breakdowns, and spaces in between the choruses. And how can you not like an album with the title “Grrr”.

Black Dice – Glazin

The build up in the first few moments of this song sounds warped, like a bent viny record. And you will wait for the song to break as you listen, hoping for a crisp beat to jump in, but it never does. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing by songs end. ALthough it feels a bit like filler, it is some interesting filler, it makes me want to hear more, for the music to just breakout in some noisy epic finale. It builds a little bit more by the end, but best recommend to listen to this song really loud in your headphone, it’ll make you a bit dizzy.

Black Lips – Short Fuse

I never know where to place this band, and after seeing them live at coachella last year I became even more confused. There is a lot going on their music and at the same time not much at all. It doesnt seem like anything is planned, but it’s not like they are a jam band either. It’s like they sit down and write these songs in 5 minutes and put them to tape, not even realizing themselves what they have created, never really stopping to think about their music. This song is great.

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

Maudlin: bathetic: effusively or insincerely emotional; “a bathetic novel”; “maudlin expressions of sympathy”; “mushy effusiveness”; “a schmaltzy song”.    Sounds about right. A dreamy, twinkly and fuzzy song that continues the camera obscura style of simple noise-infused indie pop songs. It doesn’t have the catchiness of “Lloyd, I’m Ready”, nothing mind-blowing but it is some good background music for a ride/walk home.

Heartless Bastards – The Mountain

I love a song that involves a simple grungy guitar rift. But what really sets this song apart are the vocals. It’s unique, rough, but vigilant.  A little of the rawness of eddie vedder and the draw out phrases of the Wilderness. Not that they share the same vocal qualities, just a similar prescence. Overall, the guy the girl knows how to put his voice to the music the band is playing.  Wow, this is a girl singer, what a rocking voice for a female. Sounds like it would be a good show.

Laura GIbson – Spirited

Some smokey music that a has evenly paced guitar line that drives it along. With slightly muffled vocals that drift frequently into the wordless chorus, this is a good song for a foggy morning or night drive.

Marisa Nasler – River of Dirt

There are a lot of these female lead bands with soft fuzzy music on top of the blogs this week (camrea obscura, TPOBPAH, this song, and the follwing Manchester Orchestra Song). They are all good songs, with beautiful vocals, but the sheer quantity of songs like this kind of drown them all out. Good sunday morning music.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Everything WIth You

Sadly I missed the band at the black cat last monday. This is music right up my alley, fitting in with that poppy shoegaze sound, like a shoegaze Belle & Sebastian, with maybe a bit of the smiths mixed in.

Thermals – Now We Can See

I was a big fan of the thermals last album. The raw formula they have comes accross as compeltely natural, is a little abrasive at first, but becomes somewhat charming on repeated listens. This new song holds up with previous material, the vocals still forceffull and agrressive and the music a mix of pop and punk.

Some songs that we think deserve some more attention:

Papercuts – Future Primitive

Ever since I saw the Papercuts open for Beach House at the G-Spot last year, I have been a huge fan, anxiously awaiting the new album.  This fits right along with the seemingly dreamy trend we have going on for this weeks top of the blogs.

Dan Auerbach – When The Night Comes

When i heard the first couple songs off the the black keys frontman’s solo project I thought “Why is this not just another Black Keys album”. But after getting the album and giving it a few listens I now see why this is solo material. It has a classic sound to it, incredibly soulful songs that are somewhat timeless in their quality. Sure, there are a couple songs on here that might as well be on the next Black Keys album, but Auerbach really shows a softer side, and this is where the album shines. It sometimes reminds me a bit of Ray Lamontagne.

Bad Liquor Pond – Autopilot (live at the 13th floor)

This is from a live show from Spetember 17th of last year at the 13th floor. They recently had a really good write-up in the city paper and have locally been gaining a lot of steam. Good psychedelic rock music that sounds incredibly genuine, like it could be from over 40 years ago. Reminds me a bit of the High Tide. It’s a formula you’ve heard before that doesn’t come across as formulaic. It’s black mountain infused with Neil Young grunge and a hometown baltimore feel.

Whomadewho – The Train

A spacious rocky riff drives this song as the deep dirgey vocals compliment the sound. The breakdown makes the song unique with an electro-bass line coming through for a few seconds before drifting back into the sharp drum beat followed by an out-of-nowhere piano bridge.  Really great song. The train will come.

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February 17th, 2009 | by brent

Top Of The Blogs – November 6, 2008

Each week (or whenever we have time) we take a listen to some of the top songs from elbows, review them and then give our selection of alternative tracks that we believe should be getting more recognition.

Sebastien Grainger-American Names
former drummer and singer of Death From Above 1979 puts out this solid energetic rocksong. He finds a good screaming/singing middle ground that lifts the song up from jsut being standard fare.

Crystal Stilts-Shatteredshine
Really liking what I have been hearing coming from this band. It’s fuzzy with a monotonous droney singer that works perfectly with the music. It has a little jingle & jangle that reminds me of a more affected Byrds, and has a timeless quality to it… the harmonica is a nice touch.

Designer Drugs-Zombies!
Gratuitous mid-90’s rave music.

Kanye West-Coldest Winter
Kanye West-Robocop
Two Kanye songs this week? What is this? 2007?.  He has good beats but his lyrics get worse and worse. You used to have to read into his lyrics, now they are dumbed down and overly literal. But I guess still a good listen if you don’t feel like thinking that much.

Lily Allen-Everyones At It
More of the same from Lilly Allen, you might think with the opening astro-sounds that this might be a little different than her usual, but it doesn’t take it far. I feel like she uses the same vocal melody for every song, this is definitely standard pop music.

Mos Def – Life In Marvelous Times
I love how most people hate actors/actresses turned artists/musicians but musicians turned actors are usually ok. Mos Def is good on both fronts, but I must say that although this is a strong song, rap lyrics are pretty boring these days. I rarely am surprised by what comes out.

Of Montreal- Id Engager
Fun Fun album for the adult’s with ADD crowd. Very sexual and good party music.

Pallers-Humdrum
This starts out promising with some good downtempo night music, but it gets generic throughout. The electronic style is something you have heard many times before and the singing (although it fits the music) is somewhat monotonous.

Plus Minus-Snowblind
Caught these guys opening for the National a couple years ago in DC and they put on an excellent show. Since then I’ve grabbed a couple of their albums but haven’t put in much listening time. It’s a solid song with a little bit of that Postal Service minimalist electronica going on in the background (in the soft vocals as well). Once the drums kick in it gets a whole lot better.

Some songs that we think deserve some more attention:

Grails – Predestination Blues
The new Grails album Doomsdayer’s Holiday is outstanding and probably deserves a post to itself. If you enjoy your music with Indian guitar scales laced in psychedelic drone and grunge then you are going to love this. The places they take these songs are mind-blowing.

Wax – Ridiculous
Since there is a lot of hip-hop on TOTB this week I think it’s worth mentioning this up and comer. Hometown Baltimore, now living in L.A… with each album he gets exponentially better. Talented musician as well, used to play in the band McGregor.

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November 6th, 2008 | by brent

Top of the Blogs – September 17th, 2008

Each week (or whenever we have time) we take a listen to some of the top songs from elbows, review them and then give our selection of alternative tracks that we believe should be getting more recognition.

The Kooks “Kids” (MGMT Cover)
Pretty mediocre cover. It’s interesting to hear this song on just an acoustic guitar, lets you know that it works without all the spacey stylings of MGMT, but when it comes to covers, this could be anyone… the artist of the day at Potbelly, or local coffee shop guitar palyer.

Justice “Planisphere” (part 1)
Justice “Planisphere” (part 2)
Justice “Planisphere” (part 3)
Justice “Planisphere” (final)
The Justice 4 part set from the Dior Homme Summer 2009 Fashion Show.The entire set comes in under 20 minutes, so it’s not a long listen, perfect for when you are at work trying to drone out everyone else and get something done. Part 1 begins with some airy spaceyness and then a great robotic bass riff comes in to start it all out. Butter Team has an interesting post on how this might match up with Interstella 555… but Justice is like Daft Punks crazy younger brother, so really anything they does can be somewhat similar.

Jenny Lewis “Acid Tongue”
Mmmmm…. this is some good Jenny Lewis, she almost sounds like Loretta Lynn on this track in some parts, only more folky than country. The backing vocals in the chorus add just enough to this simple song.

Deerhoof “Offend Maggie”
Never been a Deerhoof fan, it’s all been a little much for me to take in and I can’t say I have given it much of a chance. This song, I could be wrong, is more accessible than anything I have heard from them before and might be a good place to jump in before going back to listen to the older stuff.

Chad Van Gaalen “Willow Tree”
I listened to this entire album last weekend and am really loving it. I think it is an improvement upon his last, which had some good songs on it but didn’t hold up throughout. The first single, the haunting “She’s Going To Kill You”, set the hype and now this gentler song shows the overall tone of the album. His voice has this strange quality to it that I can’t touch on, but it sticks in your head, comes close to piercing your ears when he gets loud but still has a good aftertaste.

Bloc Party “Talons”
What happened to Bloc Party. How could a band that puts out Silent Alarm have so much of a downfall in the span of two albums. Everything they do now might as well just be one person in a studio tweaking knobs. The lyrics and production are completely over-the-top and synthetic. This song is a little more bearable than the other album songs from Intimacy, but they’ve lost it imo.

Annuals “Confessor”
We posted about this song earlier this month and people seem to be enjoying it. I am skeptical of the Annuals because their first album had a couple good songs on it as well, but I never go back to listen and, if they hadn’t put out a new album, I would have completely forgotten about them. judging by the two songs so far it’s worth a chance (album cover is niiice as well and I love to judge a book by its cover only to be disappointed later).

Some songs that we think deserve some more attention:

Smal Sur “Ohhhhh pt 1″
Bob (Small Sur) had a little concert at his house this past weekend. We were catching the tail end of a hurricane. The raindrops hitting the windows created the perfect atmosphere for the beautiful music this guy creates. It’s a lullaby, it’s therapy, it makes you remember to move a little bit slower.

The Music Tapes “Majesty”
This album has such a great organic quality to it, which is to be expected from Elephant 6 and Neutral Milk Hotel member Julian Koster who has always given us a sound that is different but still something you know.. it’s like the traditional song stripped down, fed some amphetamines and thrown into a forest with just a guitar and a pellet gun for shooting squirrels.

Kings of Leon “Closer”
I almost didn’t put this on here because I will probably be sick of it in a week, but although this album is cheesy arena rock, although it has bad lyrics like “I’m a dancing machine”, although the Kings of Leon have completely changed from their first couple albums, despite all the bad reviews this album is getting, it somehow keeps sticking with me. I listen to it and cringe at a lot of parts, so I can’t really place my finger on what it is that keeps me coming back… it could be the hope that the Kings still have something going for them, or maybe I’ve just been working too hard and need some good mindless rock music. Either way, the first three or four songs of the album are all worth a listen.

High Places “From Stardust to Science”
It’s too dreamy to pass up, one of those “cute” songs that makes you zone out at your desk while your co-worker is trying to talk to you, it’s weird enough for you to be listening to something “experimental” but has enough of a melody so maybe your pop-loving girlfriend will like it when you try to play it in the car.

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September 17th, 2008 | by brent

Top of the Blogs – August 7th, 2008

Each week (or whenever we have time) we take a listen to some of the top songs from elbows, review them and then give our selection of alternative tracks that we believe should be getting more recognition.

Cold War Kids – Something is Not Right With me

The Cold War kids are gradually starting to impress more and more. Their first album Robbers and Cowards was one of the most listened to of 2006, and this might be one of the most anticipated albums of this year. Judging by this song, they have gone a little more raw in the production and let the knots come a little untied. The vocals are forced and harsh adding to the feeling of desperation and anxiety that comes through in this song. I saw them perform this at coachella and they really got into it.

Calexico – Two Silver Trees

Very sparkly and shiny song about two silver trees. People don;t write enough songs about silver trees anymore.

Tricky – Past Mistake

Tricky brings it back to something sounding more like Maxinquaye or Pre-millenium Tension.  It’s not a disappointing return nor is it very memorable either, just kind of there. It brings back memories of sitting on my couch at the wee hours of the morning listening to “Hydroponic” or “Christian Sands”, it’s good for moments like those.  This song could also easily be off a Portishead album circa 1995.

Conor Oberst – Danny Callahan

Chloroform/Thunderstorm, Controled Chaos/Confused Energy, Weather Charts/Playing Cards, System/Guarantee — Wilderness/Cosmopolitans, Science/Astroplanes, Stops/Astronaut, Drifting/Explain —- Miracles/Electrical, Sickness/Modern Joy, Western Medicine/ Danny Callahan, Bone Marrow/Little Boy… etc, etc.

Conor Oberst serves up some really well written songs on his new solo album and this is one of them. There are some definite duds too, like the “boots” song which I have to turn off immediately every time I hear it, very cringe-worthy, but the songs that are good are some of the best he’s put out.

Kings of Leon – Crawl

Kings of Leon continue on their evolvement towards a heavier brand of their previous southern rock n roll with this song. Fuzzy guitars, sharp drumbeat, and a harrowing bass line really make this song move. They are a good live band, and every new album they put out I expect to be disappointed but end up enjoying them even if I still like the first couple albums the best.

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August 7th, 2008 | by brent