A Baker's Dozen : Volume 10

Well, kids, who would've thought I'd have the perseverance to make it to Volume 10 of the now world-unreknown "A Baker's Dozen" series? 10 volumes over a mere 19 months. Not too shabby. But, enough waxing nostalgic. Back to what's happening NOW!

01. Lucky Soul - "Ain't Never Been Cool". Yeah, that's it, call 'em all out on this whole "cool" thang! "I heard you say what you want, say what you want to; oh, but you don't though do you?". I must admit that this here tune reminds me of an old jingle I penned back in my fifteen-seconds of glory; this one just happens to be, oh, much much better. Website. Myspace. Purchase.

02. The Lurios - "Footloose And Fancy-Free". Oh, so it's not just me? You also thinks this sounds like The Kooks? I know, it's nice, eh? But it does serve to sadly remind me that I miss those darn Kooks. Regardless, a decent little kick-out-the-brit-pop-jams unit here. Myspace.

03. The Lodger - "My Advice Is On Loan". Twee. What a scene. Fortunately this guy picked up the finer points and left the rest of that sad lot behind. "And I can't explain why you work in an office when you have a brain". Dude, I know. Be cool now... Website. Myspace. Purchase.

04. Arctic Monkeys - "The Bakery". It's like old Alex is a bit lovesick here. Imagine that. "You're slackin' love, where have you been?". Classic. Website. Myspace.

05. Novi Split - "You Got Served". Wherein my weakness for nice harmonies lands these lads from San Pedro a deserving spot. Website. Myspace. Purchase.

06. Shout Out Louds - "You Are Dreaming". So, an old high-school boyfriend of my wife called her up last night and told her (after having not seen her for a decade plus) that he still thinks about her (get lost buddy). Fortunately, my wife's response was akin to the sentiment here - "and if you still believe I'm thinking of you, you're dreaming, yes, you're dreaming". Perhaps she's still into me. :) Website. Myspace. Purchase.

07. Camera Obscura - "San Francisco Song". (1) I am eternally addicted to songs with subtle chugs like this one (with simmering organs, mind you). (2) "I send you movie stills to rid you of your ills, cause you're ill (all high-pitched voice)". (3) How perfect is this band? Website. Myspace.

08. Voxtrot - "Honey Bee". My love/hate relationship with Voxtrot continues. I love the fact that I love their songs. I hate the fact that their songs are so non-immediate. They require an investment (as do the best of things). My short-term attention spans sometimes misses out though and gets lazy. Fortunately I tend to come around. Website. Myspace.

09. Pleasure - "Out Of Love". Yeah, I know, it's total teeny-bopper pop. But isn't it just too insanely catchy? Totally. Website. Myspace.

10. The Locarnos - "Sticks And Stones". Wait a second, didn't I play this one already? No, no, that was The Lurios. This is The Locarnos. Probably some distant cousin. And another Kooks-"tribute band"? Sounds good to me. Myspace.

11. Loney, Dear - "Sinister In A State Of Hope". By now you've realized that if you just stay with me long enough, you're going to get something all epic. Well, here it is. From the cold wintery places where this stuff tends to come from these days. Website. Myspace. Purchase.

12. Helios - "Emancipation". Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. This likely works the same magic on indie girls that Al Green works on the soul sisters. Indie seduction? I know. Odd. Myspace. Purchase.

13. Sonic Flyer - "Overseas". So, disclaimer: This one goes on way too long. So, fact: I've likely played the first three minutes of this song more than anything else in the past three months. I'm addicted to it. The verse melody and instrumentation are amazing. When she comes in at 0:36 with that cool little verse melody, it's the best shoegaze moment in the past 15 years. Easily. The floor toms, that bass drone, the simple atmospherics. It just moves. File this one after that last Helios track. You never know. One may lead to the other...... Website. Myspace. Purchase.

Let's Dance to Joy Division!

"Let's dance to Joy Division and celebrate the irony / everything is going wrong but we're so happy". The Wombats are back with yet another in a seemingly endless stream of pop perfection. And apparently there is a new CD is the mix as well. Yes!

The Wombats - "Let's Dance to Joy Division". Video.
(And check out the trailer for the upcoming Joy Division movie "Control".)

And on the new singles front as well... The Cribs unleash "Moving Pictures" and Tokyo Police Club counter with "Your English Is Good". All class.

The Cribs - "Moving Pictures". Video.
Tokyo Police Club - "Your English Is Good". Video.

The Wombats | The Cribs | Tokyo Police Club

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

I had the pleasant opportunity of checking out Casiotone For The Painfully Alone live last night down at Emo's. My Father-in-Law is in town so I brought him with. I mean, how do you explain Casiotone to your Father-in-Law? Fortunately, he's a good sport and actually enjoyed the show after my lengthy "this guy is kind of like some cracked loon that you see on a street corner but a word or a phrase catches you as you pass by, then the bummedness of it all sucks you in a little deeper and suddenly you've gone from thinking 'this guy is a cracked loon' to 'this guy is a genius'".

They (he constantly referred to 'the band' in the plural, which I loved, even though it was just him) were relatively awkward live. The utter anti-thesis of your cliche David Lee Roth-era Van Halen supershow. Rather, here was a guy (well, 'them') with glasses off (and you could tell), hunching over his machinery, microphone occasionally over shoulder while he tinkered with the knobs, busy delivering his tunes with more impact than you can find on the recordings. From the opening notes of "Cold White Christmas" through to his set-ending Springsteen cover of "The Streets of Philadelphia" (which you'd swear was a Casitone song if you heard it live), he was sometimes charming, sometimes painfully shy, mixing cleverness and bummedness in a seamless stew.

If you are new to this, dig deep. Casiotone come highly recommended. Enjoy.

CFTPA - "Toby, Take a Bow".
CFTPA - "Calloused Fingers Won't Make You Strong, Edith Wong".
CFTPA - "Jeanette, If You're Ever In Portland (Live Daytrotter Session)".
CFTPA - "Tonight Was A Disaster (Live Daytrotter Session)".

Website | Myspace | Daytrotter Website

Windmill

Bands that I've never been into: Modest Mouse. Built to Spill. The Flaming Lips. The Polyphonic Spree. Bands that Windmill remind me of: Modest Mouse. Built to Spill. The Flaming Lips. The Polyphonic Spree.

Be grateful for inconsistencies in taste and the fact that Windmill takes the (overly) established falsetto-voiced, thrift-clothed, US indie-boy schtick and serves it up with a wollop of pretentionless emotional ambition (wherein my musical taste perks up).

I know I throw the word "genius" around a bit, but in this case I'm (once again? haha) spot on. Windmill = one Matthew Thomas Dillon. Dude must use the word "epic" in every sentence it seems to come so naturally.

"Replace Me" snagged me from miles away. "I missed you a lot today, the paper chasing and office tied you down and messed with your ambition". This is the kind of song that makes you feel like day jobs and every other non-grandiose ambition that nickels and dimes your time to nil are as draining/useless as they sound (and yet the kids like food, so balance it all out). Regardless, it's a tune that always makes me feel like it's the "downside" (if there is such a thing with Saturday morning on deck) of Friday night. Goodbye to the city lights and back home to a sleeping baby and a re-run or two of The Office. I'm sure some people consider it "melancholic". Hopefully in only the best of ways. Enjoy.

Windmill - "Replace Me".
Windmill - "Ashmatic".
Windmill - "Plastic Pre-Flight Seats".

Website | Myspace | Purchase

Girls Girls Girls

Plain and simple, there are some girls that have been killin' it lately. In swarms. These are the girls that are currently shaking my tree.

M.I.A. : If you've spent more than a minute near a music blog in the last few months, then you know M.I.A. While I liked her first release a couple of years back, it's "Kala" that has me going. "Paper Planes" sails in on The Clash's "Straight to Hell" riff and works in the first gunshot-chorus that's ever caught my attention. Then there's the 12's remix of "Boyz" which is my "walking into the house party, feeling good" tune of the month.

Brooke Wagonner: Cross the street for an entirely different sound out of Brooke Wagonner. String swells and a nice piano bounce (not to mention the Fiery Furnaces-esque middle eight) drive home the transcendent beauty of the lyrics to "Hush If You Must" ("because I'm not very adequate, not very merry, oh i try; not very tempting, and not very pretty, but I'll get by...").

Taken By Trees: Next, my "I'll take anything that sounds remotely like Camera Obscura" obsession continues with yet another Swede. Now that I've completely worn myself out on the original version of "Lost And Found", the Tough Alliance remix has pumped new life into it for me. Regardless, I'm a real sucker for the subtle plod of this one.

Kate Nash: Lastly, it's the "new Lily Allen" (thank the UK press for that one, though her "Foundations" did go to #1 there) of Kate Nash that is my tune of the week. Her debut LP "Made of Bricks" has some real gems, including the perfect "We Get On". To the degree that I understand "how girls are" (using that term loosely and it's a 3rd-grade education at best), I think this song utterly realistically and poetically captures the rollercoaster of an unrequited crush (and, guys, how often have you, in your incomparable egotism, thought that you and some girl that's never looked twice at you would "get on"? yeah, exactly). "I conducted a plan to bump into you most accidentally, but I was walking along and I bumped into you much more heavily than I'd originally planned; it was well embarassing...". And the "clincher" (delusional?) lines for me: "I don't ever dream about you and me, I don't ever make stuff up about you and me, that would be considered insanity; I don't ever drive by your house to see if you're in, I don't even have an opinion on that tramp that you're still seeing; I don't know your timetable, I don't know your face off by heart; but, I must admit that there is still a part of me that thinks that we might get on...". It's genius. Seriously, it is.

M.I.A. - "Paper Planes".
M.I.A. - "Boyz" (The 12s Remix).
Brooke Wagonner - "Hush If You Must".
Taken By Trees - "Lost And Found" (Original).
Taken By Trees - "Lost And Found" (The Tough Alliance Remix).
Kate Nash - "We Get On".