Showing posts with label 3WTM May '09 Playlist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3WTM May '09 Playlist. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 May 2009
What's Wrong With The Mainstream May '09 Playist
As always at the end of each month I sum up the music I have been listening from various sources but mainly from other blogs. It all started from a playlist I started doing for Schonberg each month and I decided I might as well post it. In previous months Schonberg has suggested songs but this month he will even give you the run down on the few he's put in to the mix. All comments welcome, good or bad...
Can You Give It - The Maccabees
I've got a few songs off The Maccabees first album but have never really got them. I wasn't that bothered when I heard they'd got a new album out but reading on likesounds.com (I think) that it had been produced by the same guy who had produced Arcade Fire got my interest. The result is a British version of Arcade Fire, well to a point, it certainly ticks all the right boxes for me. So much so that I have now ordered the album.
MP3: Can You Give It - The Maccabees
Libre - Parker Lewis
I was introduced to Parker Lewis by Music Of The Moment and as usual with that site it's an artist I wouldn't have come across if it wasn't for them. Parker Lewis reminds me of Patrick Wolf but that's just made me realise I've never written about Patrick Wolf before. Whoops. Anyway a great catchy pop tune and even better is that you can get Parker Lewis EP free using the link below.
MP3: Libre - Parker Lewis
Percussion Gun - White Rabbits
Everyone seems to be writing about White Rabbits on blogs at the moment. I think it may have something to do with their new album release being last week. I've not heard of them before, OK that's a lie, I even have a track by them already but I didn't know anything about them.
So to fill you and me in, they're from USA, Brooklyn and released their first album, Fort Nightly, which my other track is from, back in 2007. After a strong performance at SXSW, NME, not known for hyping bands, named them as one of the top three bands to perform. If you do decide to look in to them more I recommend getting your hands on The Plot from their first album.
Oh and "It's Frightening" is the name of their new album.
MP3: Percussion Gun - White Rabbits
Pictures - Pushboxer
I was tipped off about this track by a new writer, Glyn, over at Music Liberation. Music Liberation have taken a more breakthrough bands approach after too many post take downs. It's made for a great blog, with real variety in the music posted you should check it out.
Anyway back to the track, I think Glyn's comment that Pushboxer sound like Editors is pretty spot on, so if it's the darker side of music you enjoy, this one is for you.
MP3: Pictures - Pushboxer
Social Anxiety Attack - The Magi
The Magi, a Sheffield Minimalist Punk Indie Band, well that's according to their free download site here. A little strange when they claim their influences as Pulp, Oasis, The Who and The Smiths but whatever genre or influence help them create their sound doesn't matter, I like it and that's enough.
This is the first band I discovered through Sheffield Music Scene blog, they have put together 6 volumes of local band's music, there's another band in this month's playlist but you may see more in the future.
Head to their free download site for more tunes.
Bible Thumper - Solid Gold
Another band who had a good SXSW and are set to do two smaller UK festivals later this year. I read about this band on Rock Sellout and took their recommendation to download this track. It's pretty short and if you're not careful it's over before you realise. It's got any interesting sound which I imagine a wind farm crossed with a water pump sounds like.
Brooklyn - Wakey! Wakey!
"I have made mistakes today" say Wakey! Wakey! (terrible name btw) but I say there are no mistakes just lessons learned, you can use that if you like. Or as my wife would say "I was just less right than I thought I was" or if I'm right and she's wrong "you're just less wrong than I thought you were". You can't win against women logic.
This track has a beautiful piano opening, you can imagine fingers pounding up and down a piano and then settling down as the relaxing vocals kick in. It's a real singer-songwriter type song (how that has become a genre I don't know), it reminds me of songs that would sing of Dublin, maybe because of the folk tempo of the song. Thanks to The World Forgot for the tip off.
Vive - Jumbo
I can't remember where I picked up this track but I think it's a Mexican band? I don't know what they're singing about, I'm guessing it's something to do with life or living life from the title. If anyone wants to fill me in by leaving a comment it'd be more than welcome.
As you should know by now we don't discriminate against tracks just because we don't understand them, just make up lyrics in your own language.
MP3: Vive - Jumbo
Alphabet Song - Park Brigade
This is the second band I discovered through Sheffield Music Scene blog and this track is a well written track that I'm sure someone must have tried doing before. The A-Z must have been hard to think of but they have twisted some areas around so it isn't always the word in the alphabet that rhymes "J is for the joy of a clearing mist, K is for the time we had our first kiss".
Having listened to their MySpace site I think their other songs sound a bit like The Libertines crossed with The last Shadow Puppets although this track below doesn't show any signs of that.
Seventeen - Marina and the Diamonds
I think I've posted everything that's been made available from Marina and the Diamonds. This track is being offered by the record company to promote her latest EP that's out today. I was disappointed to see it was only available as an LP but with a little investigation I have found it on iTunes. Why the record company didn't mention that I don't know. If it's anything like the tracks she's put out already it'll be awesome.MP3: Seventeen - Marina and the Diamonds
90MPH - Tom Williams and the Boat
Tom Williams and The Boat are back with a new single and are making it available for free, to you all. I didn't sense its merits until after a few listens but now I really like it. Try it, you might like it as the old advert used to say. If you like it you can't part with some cash on iTunes from June 15th.MP3: 90MPH - Tom Williams and the Boat
Dogshit Street - Tom Allalone
OK, going from one Tom to another. This track starts out like a mellow Oasis track written by Liam Gallagher. Singing about a character called Emily, Tom tells the story of what has happened to her since he knew her at school. I love the line "a small girl who is sober is hard to win over" - we've all been there although I don't think that's quite in the context it was meant. Read Rocksellout's article about Tom Allalone and The 78's here.MP3: Dogshit Street - Tom Allalone
Return of the White Rabbit - Ash
and the return of Ash. After releasing their last album (which I thought was a tad disappointing) Ash said they would no longer release albums and just release singles. I thought we'd get a single ever now and again but instead the band have done an A-Z and are releasing a single every two weeks for the next year. This is their first offering which they are giving away free.
Eyes As Candles - Passion Pit
Why does it keep taking me so much time to "get" the Passion Pit tracks? Everyone else in the blogosphere is all over them like a rash and I'm here playing catch up all the time. I was painting my hall and kept coming back to my iTunes thinking "I must add that track to this months playlist" only to find it was again the Passion Pit track and I'd already added it. On first listen you think there's not much to it but then you keep hearing it and thinking, I like that, who is it.
Let it wash over you and see what you think. Everyone including the mainstream media seem to be loving the album, it's great to see a blog go to record company to mainstream success in what seems like twelve months. I'm sure it was a lot longer process than that but WOW!
MP3: Eyes As Candles - Passion Pit
Stranger - Sunny Days Sets Fire
I wasn't so lazy with this band and looked up their site. Listening to their 2006 release Brainless I think they sound like an upbeat Cloud Cult, on other tracks Wilderness, they sound a bit like the Beatles and a bit Beach Boys. Their debut album was released in the UK in February this year but I've just looked for it on iTunes and can't find it. The only track available is Wilderness. I recommend listening to Brainless at their site.
The track below is more along the summer vibes of Wilderness and is certainly suitable to the current hot weather we're having in Britain at the moment.
I'm Going To Kill You - Philadelphia Grand Jury
This popped in to my inbox earlier this month and has been eating away at my subconscious for a while. The problem with short tracks, this weighs in at 2:32, is that if you're not concentrating they're over before you know it. This is a pop song that's already been used in a car chase in a TV series in Australia (as far as I can work out).
What amazes me is that bands promote themselves to you by email but don't tell you their web address or MySpace site. I'm sure I could find it but I'm lazy...
Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
On first listen, it seems that Grizzly Bear are here to take the Americana indie banner from Fleet Foxes, but on further investigation we seem to have Brian Wilson fronting Arcade Fire - Beach Boys melodies with rich guitars and piano and percussion giving a deep folky feel. This is the first offering from their new album, "Veckatimest", the third full-length album in a career that now spans 5 years.
Angela - Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis is back, and better than ever (in my humble opinion). The first single off his new album, "Further Complications" is an ode to a massage parlour girl called Angela - a classic Cocker subject for this delightfully sleazy but rocky number. If you haven't checked out the new album yet then do so straight away. It's full of fantastic observations from the bard of Sheffield (my current favourite is 'Homewrecker') and deserves to get as much play as Pulp's Different Class.
Toe the Party Line - Panama Kings
There's an Arctic Monkeys-style buzz around this new band from Belfast. When it comes to pigeonholing them, you'd have to say they sound like a marriage between ¡Forward Russia! and Does it Offend You, Yeah?, with a honeymoon in Manhattan staying with The Strokes. This particular track can be downloaded free of charge from The Panama Kings website (you have to subscribe to the mailing list) but if you like what you hear then check out their new single 'Golden Recruit'.
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