SOUNDS LIKE A GOLF COURSE... OR A CEMETERY

IDLEWILD

Idlewild's latest CD, Warnings/Promises, has been available in Europe for months now, but September 6th finally saw it land on U.S. shores. Overall, it pretty much follows their last effort in the further de-noisification of these once rocking Scots. This led me, upon early listens, to think that these guys may have become a bit too subdued for their own good, but now I'm not so sure. The thing has grown on me. And in listening to the band's back-catalogue to extract a few extra tunes for uploading, I was surprised at how much the older stuff made them sound like an American emo-pop band. Not that there's anything wrong with American emo-pop bands, but, well, you know....

So here are some favorites of mine from the band over the past half-decade...

[MP3] [left-click] "El Capitan" [from the LP Warnings/Promises, 2005]

[MP3] [left-click] "As If I Hadn't Slept" [from the LP Warnings/Promises, 2005]

[MP3] [left-click] "Tell Me Ten Words" [from the LP The Remote Part, 2002]

[MP3] [left-click] "Mistake Pageant" [from the LP 100 Broken Windows, 2000]

[MP3] [left-click] "There's Glory in Your Story" [100 Broken Windows b-side, 2000]

YOU COULD HAVE IT SO MUCH WITH

FRANZ FERDINAND

Well, everyone and his uncle seems to be leaking tunes from the new Franz Ferdinand CD, so who am I to fight the tide? What follows are my two favorites from the new one, plus my favorite from the last one...

[MP3] [left-click] "You're the Reason I'm Leaving"

[MP3] [left-click] "Walk Away"

[MP3] [left-click] "Jacqueline"

AUGUST EVERAFTER

A FISTFUL OF AUGUST

And here again I highlight a handful of tracks that pleased me most mucho in the month most recently retired. I list the Stellastarr* track first because I spent some real high-quality time two Saturdays ago hitting the repeat button on that particular song until the cows came home. Granted, at that time, I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour (as Morrissey might say), but so be it. I love the damn thing. It takes me back to the '80s in all the right ways - dumping the Cult, Dead or Alive, and the B-52's in a blender and punching "puree." Instant ecstasy. And with or without the assistance of alcohol.

Also, I resisted posting the Death Cab for Cutie song earlier because it had already permeated the MP3 blogs to such a degree. But so be it with that as well. It remains my favorite song on that album by far, and perhaps it's that R.E.M./New Order vibe that it has going that yet again transports me to my '80s teens. Ah, nostalgia. It's a dangerous, painful thing. And thus I drink....

[MP3] [left-click] Stellastarr*/"Sweet Troubled Soul"

[MP3] [left-click] Death Cab for Cutie/"Soul Meets Body"

[MP3] [left-click] JJ72/"Take from Me"

[MP3] [left-click] The Magic Numbers/"Love Me Like You"

[MP3] [left-click] The High Dials/"Sick with the Old Fire"

THE ROALD NOT TAKEN