Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Just a reminder: I will not be posting next weekend. I will be in Atlanta, wearing what I hope will pass for a Renaissance-style costume, and possibly stalking Claudia Black.


The Lodger, "Let Her Go" (From Audiofile)

Pop music is considered trifle in the U.S. by more "learned" people. I will say that I hate most American pop (I.E. manufactured crap), but British pop music mostly isn't manufactured (exceptfor the kind that's made with spice). It's organic, self-sufficient and usually born out of someone's flat--in this case someone else's flat, hence the name of the band. This is what I would consider good pop music. Yes, it'll lodge in your head, but it's much better for a good song to lodge itself in your brain rather than a crappy one (any song made by one of the dozens of American pop princesses). Of course the danger with even good pop music, is that occasionally the songs can sound similar. I listened to a few other songs of theirs before I played "Let Her Go", and when that song was done, my boyfriend turned to me and said "you know, that song was less annoying the third time you played it". I started laughing when I told him I'd only played it once--the songs he'd heard before had all been different songs.

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The Lodger

The Rentals, "The Man With Two Brains" (from their Myspace).

I wish I could've posted all of their songs,because they're all great. Unfortunately, I only found one legal download, so I was limited. However, the radio station WOXY posted the full version of The Rentals in-studio session. I wanted to post "Last Romantic Day" because it sounds like The Lightning Seeds doing a Ballboy song, but that can be streamed on Myspace. In fact, I made it the song on my Myspace page. I was happy that "The Man With Two Brains" was available for download, though. It's eerily creepy in all the right places. It's got a robot-y, space-agy new wave synthesizer and deadpan, quasi-speaking vocals that make it sound like a Borg-assimilated rap song.

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Nobility, The Halleluiah Chorus (from their site)

Well, this song is positively rousing. I listen to a lot of music that could be considered "energized" (as well as music that could be considered coma-inducing), but this is one of those rare songs that actually make me want to get up and do something. Maybe clean the apartment (okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves), or just move around in a frenzied manner meant to imply dancing. I don't know what, but it makes me want to do something. It makes me want to whistle. Seriously. Too bad I can't whistle (or maybe that's the way it should be, for humanity's sake).

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The Nobility point the way to the nearest fruit juice stand. They didn't bring any water, and biking is exhausting work.

Videos for songs I couldn't get MP3s for:

The Editors, "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors"
The Editors live on KCRW

Jen Chapin, "Let In Show"

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Bonus:

This group of singers, Trio Mediaeval, is so awesome it's indescribable. I couldn't find any mp3s for their songs, but you can listen via Amazon.