Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

What? What's with this new, different title? Where did Five Songs I'm Loving This Week go? Does Lola not love the songs any more?

Okay, I'm done asking questions to myself. Hey, if no one else is gonna pipe up, someone's gotta ask the tough questions.

I went into a lot of detail on my last post, but basically I've just been realizing that five songs every week is a lot for me to consistently post. So much time goes into research and writing the descriptions of the songs, and it's really more time than I can realistically spend. I've been unemployed for awhile now, and I aim to change that somehow. I want to spend more time with my boyfriend, and also I'd like to write more reviews. So, instead of chaining myself to posting five songs every week, I decided to change the name of the post. It'll still run every week (except for the few times a year I might take time off) and it'll still feature songs I love. The difference is I won't be required to post a certain number of songs, and by nature of the title, they won't have to be from that week.

I hope you all keep checking my blog and podcast, and I hope the quality of what I post is always as good as I believe it's been.

Oh, podcast tomorrow!

New Ruins, "Ships"

"Small Town Midwestern Gothic" is how New Ruins describe their music. I can't argue with that--I get a certain "American Gothic" (as in the TV show mercilessly cut short during the 90's) feeling from their music. "Ships" specifically has an urgent shadowiness (that is totally a word) that reminds me of interpol, with maybe some Joy Division mixed in. I definitely feel a certain dark paranoia when I'm listening to this song. Their style reminds me of being in my early 20's, trying to steady myself in barely-lit alleys behind small music venues, smoking, and listening to the muffled sounds of the heavily Joy Division influenced band playing on the other side of the wall. There's something very familiar, yet very intoxicating about this music.

Myspace
No website listed


New Ruins, The Sound They Make album cover

Dappled Cities, "Fire, Fire, Fire"

Heh heh. Okay, I'm laughing at their Myspace. The members (ha ha) have names such as Tit Tittycourt and Dirk Stronghold. The first name sounds like it belongs to a Bond girl and the second should be a character in a space opera. Hmmm...shades of Barbarella? Also, they list their page under comedy/classical, opera and showtunes. That just makes me laugh. Of course for actual (boring) names, you can check their website under "band". I prefer to think of them as a Barbarella house band.

Musically, as much as I hate the label "pop", I'm going to use it here because they say their Myspace listing says they're French pop, Dutch pop, and Italian pop (is that like Italian soda? 'Cause if so, hmmm...) I'm a little confused about international adjectives since they're Australian and what I've heard doesn't sound country-specific, but I could go with calling this pop. It's really good pop, with qualities reminiscent of the lightness and irreverence of one of my favorite bands, Bishop Allen.

Website
Myspace


The Dappled City band member in the blue jacket from doesn't seem to be in on the joke

Vega 4, "Life Is Beautiful"

Lovely song. Unlike the first song I posted, this song has no shades of darkness--it actually starts out like a lullaby and then escalates to a Snow Patrol-ish pitch, becoming a fully realized declaration of love, complete with an ending chorus of overlaid vocals. The lyrics are romantic yet raise questions that aren't very happy. The singer states "our hearts, they beat and break", and he's there to record and express every beat and break.

Myspace
(Their website is under reconstruction)


Vega 4