A Baker's Dozen : Volume 16

Thirteen tunes that have entertained my ears over the past few months. Burn it to a CD and play it loud in your car. Enjoy.

01 - Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land".
02 - Pet Lions - "Propeller Plane".
03 - Turbo Fruits - "On The Road".
04 - Jose Vanders - "Puppets".
05 - Mr. Little Jeans - "Angel (RAC Mix)".
06 - Johnny Foreigner - "Criminals".
07 - Frankie Rose - "Thee Only One".
08 - Faces On Film - "Indicator Indicator".
09 - The Rifles - "The Great Escape".
10 - The XX - "Basic Space".
11 - Doug Burr - "Slow Southern Home".
12 - Danny Malone - "Sailing".
13 - Jonsi & Alex - "Boy 1904".

Good at Songs, Bad at Fidelity: Lo-Fi.

If you follow new music at all, you've surely run into the trendy "lo-fi" movement by now. Now, if you are old like me, you will remember the "lo-fi" movement of the early 1990's courtesy of bands like Sebadoh and their four-track recorders. Well, the old trusty four tracks have been upgraded to GarageBand and the like.

As with most genres, there's a ton of copy-cat junk out there now, but there are always some gems as well. As the Internet Forever tag line goes - "Good at Songs, Bad at Fidelity" - these are great catchy tunes buried in intentionally minimalist production values (hence, "lo-fi"). And, for the most part they come off like a fun new party.

01 - Big Troubles - "Freudian Slips". This one definitely leans to the "indiepop" side of things (check that Pains of Being Pure at Heart influence) with a great bounce and guitar hook.
02 - Fluffy Lumbers - "Cruisers". I love the chug of the rhythmn here.
03 - Beach Fossils - "Daydream". A sinister guitar riff buried in reverb and muck.
04 - The Babies - "Meet Me In The City". Upbeat glory to get the party going.
05 - Gentle Friendly - "Clean Breaker". I'm cheating with this one as it's honestly not terribly "lo-fi", but the aesthetic isn't really that far off. Love it.
06 - George Washington Brown - "End Of The ...". Reminds me of my old loves Boyracer. Great tune.
07 - That Ghost - "Never Have Fun". Slacker rock is back. This is like Wavves without a distortion box.
08 - Internet Forever - "Cover The Walls". This trio make Casiotone For The Painfully Alone sound downright overproduced. Harmonies and hooks galore. Check out the entire catalog.

Surfer Blood - "Catholic Pagans"

"When I met you, I broke the mold.
I fell apart and combed my hair."

Surfer Blood - "Catholic Pagans".

Titus Andronicus - My Time Outside The Womb

"I learned to play the guitar in the seventh grade in order to convince everyone I was a renegade.
I couldn't fool anyone.
I couldn't even fool myself.
I was just another book on the shelf."

Titus Andronicus - "My Time Outside The Womb". Buy here.