The song of the week is premature this time around. Why, you ask? Because tomorrow I am headed out for yet another adventure. Tomorrow, instead of sitting at my desk writing my musical musings to all of you, I will be visiting the fair city of Gary, Indiana! Never heard of it? Doesn't surprise me.
Gary is known for severe urban blight, vacancy, high crime rates, arson, a dilapidated economy, a broken school system and a major outflux of population. What a fun summer holiday! Other than all the negative things it is infamous for, one thing that can never decline or go away is that it is the birth place of the one and only Michael Jackson. It may not have much, but it will always have the King of Pop.
To celebrate such a landmark, I am sharing a song that I had not heard in years. It's not my favourite Jacko song, hell it's not even in my top 10, but it does bring me back to my childhood and tugs on some heart strings. Hopefully it does the same to you. That poor whale.
Good lord. I've slipped into a deep pool of cotton candy flavoured rock 'n roll waters. I've spent the day swimming in this blissful sea of fantastic new tunes. There is no way for me to possibly select one of these dandy's for the song of the week. So you, my beautiful friends, are getting a packed house.
Now, as I said, I'm offering up a number of groovy tunes to satisfy your ears, but if I was FORCED to pick one for the song of the week, it would be from the filthy garages of
Chicago. At the forefront of an emerging scene, this catchy, raucous
track by The Orwells has me very excited to visit Chicago next week. Punk enough to be a lot of fun, melodic enough to be very catchy. Just a gem.
The Orwells - Other Voices
If you like Tame Impala but wish they had a bit more edge, look no further than their good mates Pond. Somehow they've put out a whopping 4 albums without anyone outside of music nerds really noticing (might be a different tale down in Oz from which they hail). Now album number 5 is about to hit us (Aug 2) and this tasty teaser suggests that great things are a brewin'.
Pond - Xanman
Next up we have Milk Music. Hitting us with a fuzzy guitar'd anthem titled Illegal and Free. You can probably imagine what it's about. And it's great.
Milk Music - Illegal and Free
Want something a bit more fun and summery? Well, this catchy number will get your Friday night a bumpin'. Known for catchy riffs and fun choruses, the Family Rain is here to put some jump in your step.
It finally feels like summer. Sleepy, sleepy summer. Of course, I am sitting in an air-conditioned office drinking hot tea, but I can tell that it's nice outside. So what excitement has summer brought us? Well, my good friend Ruari and I know of one thing that should get hearts a beating - the new Kings of Leon tracks. Sure, they are hard to watch/listen to as it's typical, terrible quality cell phone footage, but you can sense that they might have regained that sneer, that swagger, that dirt that they had so much of in their youth. Of course, it's only two songs (Super Soaker & It Don't Matter) but that's enough to get me excited. Can they ever recapture the glorious super-tight-pant, belly-shirt, mustached, drugged-fueled days of their youth? Of course not. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Whatever your opinion, keep your eyes peeled. From what I've heard so far, we are going to have whoooooole lot of naysayers (all you who turned your backs - still can't believe how popular it got to dislike these guys) eating their caps.
Onto the business of the day. What's been draining my ipod for the last two weeks? Well, first and foremost, it would have to be the new National album. Simply put, it's fantastic. But The National's sombre melodies aren't fitting my Friday-afternoon-in-the-sun sensibilities, so I'll have to pass it on to what's been getting the second most play. For that we will have to look to Isaac & Co. Here is the very first song that made me fall in love with Modest Mouse waaaaaay back in 1997 (was released on the Interstate 8 EP in 1996)...
It finally feels like summer. Sleepy, sleepy summer. Of course, I am sitting in an air-conditioned office drinking hot tea, but I can tell that it's nice outside. So what excitement has summer brought us? Well, my good friend Ruari and I know of one thing that should get hearts a beating - the new Kings of Leon tracks. Sure, they are hard to watch/listen to as it's typical, terrible quality cell phone footage, but you can sense that they might have regained that sneer, that swagger, that dirt that they had so much of in their youth. Of course, it's only two songs (Super Soaker & It Don't Matter) but that's enough to get me excited. Can they ever recapture the glorious super-tight-pant, belly-shirt, mustached, drugged-fueled days of their youth? Of course not. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Whatever your opinion, keep your eyes peeled. From what I've heard so far, we are going to have whoooooole lot of naysayers (all you who turned your backs - still can't believe how popular it got to dislike these guys) eating their caps.