Lately, I've been luxuriating in the dirty-old-man decadence of SERGE GAINSBOURG. Specifically, I've been listening to INITIALS S.G. -- a 23-track collection covering the Frenchman's wink-'n'-a-leer career from 1958 to 1980. A perfect soundtrack to any respectable Friday night orgy. (Don't forget the martinis and whipped cream.)[MP3] "Marilou Sous la Neige"
[MP3] "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus" [w/JANE BIRKIN]
[MP3] "Initials B.B."
[MP3] "L'Anamour"
Those "crazy-ass socialist" Swedes, PINTO -- ANDREAS, HANNAH, LARS, and DICK -- are back again with a brand spankin' new single. This one comes just three weeks after the release of their LAST single, "Iron and Rust." These fine folks are nothing if not industrious.
The first song below has a bit of understated bump-bump in its trunk, and both tracks percolate along with that perfect pop sense I've come to expect from these guys -- not too much or too little of any one component. I mean, honestly, do they teach Pop Songcraft 101 in the public schools in Gothenburg? In Stockholm? In... um... all those other cities of Sweden?
Regardless, if you haven't yet visited the MUSIC page on the PINTO website, what are you waiting for? You'll find plentiful pop gems there, ready to meet your "right-click/save-as" needs.[P.S. Andreas told me that he would be celebrating "Lucia" yesterday. Something about children dressed in white with candles on their heads. I naturally assumed that Andreas had just been hitting the Absolut a little too hard. But, a quick trip to Googleland later... "On December 13th, one of the shortest days of winter, girls in Sweden dress up as Santa Lucia, wearing a white dress and a crown of candles. Boys carry a candle and wear a kind of white pyjama."
Ahh... charming! Except...
"In Sweden we do not wear candles anymore because girls caught their hair on fire very often."
Yikes! And then...
"The way that Saint Lucia became a saint was that there was a man who liked her that Lucia didn't like back. Lucia's mother asked her to marry the man but she refused. When the man heard about this he said he would burn her. But Lucia prayed to God to have the power to survive the fire. Because of her kindness to others her wish was granted. The man tried to burn her but she had the power to withstand fire so the man got a sword and stuck it in Lucia's throat."
All of which is to say: "Happy holidays!"
PINTO on MySPACE. ["Saint Lucia" story courtesy of KRISTIAN & NORA, grade 5, currently enrolled in Pop Songcraft 101.]
[MP3] "Here Comes the Love (Can You Show Me a Way Out?)"
[MP3] "Hard Inside the Heart"
ROSIE THOMAS is a young singer-songwriter who has made a lot of friends, traveled a lot of miles, and recorded a lot of music in a very short amount of time.
A couple of those friends? DAMIEN JURADO and SUFJAN STEVENS. The travel? Starting in Detroit, she moved to New York City and now resides in Seattle. The music? Well... she just released her fourth album in four years (THESE FRIENDS OF MINE) today on the Internet.
On this latest effort, Ms. THOMAS collaborates with songwriter DENISON WITMER and the aforementioned Mr. STEVENS on a low-key song cycle that shines brightest in its quietest moments. The fragile lullabies "Kite Song" and "Paper Doll" are prime examples of this, while the more exuberant closing title track hints at the casual nature of the recording sessions and the interplay between the musicians. Gentle acoustic guitars and piano are the norm here, with the occasional swell of understated strings helping to keep things from getting too stark and insular.
You can purchase THESE FRIENDS OF MINE at eMUSIC, RHAPSODY, or iTUNES. Physical copies will be available for sale in March of '07 through Nettwerk Records.
ROSIE THOMAS on MySPACE.
[MP3] "Kite Song"
[MP3] "These Friends of Mine"
A couple quick songs from TEXAS' 2005 album, RED BOOK. Still an import-only for North America, as far as I know. These tunes continue in the band's more recent vein -- leaning more toward dancefloor-friendly pop than blue-eyed soul.
I wrote about the band (without having yet heard RED BOOK) in April of '06, as such:
"This week's sweet, single-malt-whiskey-soaked sojourn in Scotland comes to a close with the very-American-sounding TEXAS. Fortunately, this is not some chewin'-tobacco, country-western collective from Texarkana; it's a semi-sleek/semi-soulful pop band from Glasgow. They've never seemed to get a hell of a lot of love from anywhere but the UK, and not even there so much anymore."
TEXAS on MySPACE.
[MP3] "Can't Resist"
[MP3] "Get Down Tonight"
It's often considered the height of laziness for music reviewers (or MP3 bloggers) to compare one band's sound to that of another's. I'm guilty of this on prettty much a daily basis -- in part, because I'm lazy. But also because I haven't a single shred of know-how when it comes to the technical nuts and bolts (and notes and chords) of music-making, and am therefore unable to describe an artist's work from that angle.
That said, I must admit that I don't mind the "this-band-sounds-like-ARTIST-A-crossed with-ARTIST-B" thing at all. If somebody tells me that a group sounds like RADIOHEAD, I'll probably want to give that group a listen -- even if, as it sometimes turns out, that group doesn't end up sounding like RADIOHEAD to me in the least. As much as I appreciate and envy the poetic prose of, say, SAID THE GRAMOPHONE, I often don't have a clue as to what a song or band he's writing about will sound like after reading that poetic prose. Maybe that's part of the charm; the listening experience becomes an exercise not just in discovery but in faith. But time's a wasting; I've got songs of my own to post; I've got my own (highly unpoetic) prose to cobble together and dump upon the populace. Tick-tock, tick-tock.
So... when I tell you that the L.A.-based band ROCK KILLS KID has been compared (time and time again) to THE CURE, U2, THE KILLERS, and THE BRAVERY... well... you're just going to have to cut me some slack. Led by the seemingly borderline-agoraphobic JEFF TUCKER, ROCK KILLS KID released their first full-length, ARE YOU NERVOUS?, back in May. It's a solid effort. And while these guys are certainly beholden to the artists listed above, they manage to cover a range of styles and moods within the album's ten songs. I, for one, will be very interested to hear what they manage to come up with next time around (and to see if they can put those KILLERS and BRAVERY comparisons behind them.)
ROCK KILLS KID on MySPACE.
[MP3] "Paralyzed"
[MP3] "Midnight"
I posted on THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES a week or two ago. I was putting their album to bed this weekend and got the opening, acoustic riff to the first song below stuck in my head. It took me back to my college days -- and to my then-favorite band. The second song below was written as a male-oriented counterpoint to the third song below. The fourth and fifth songs below are the fourth and fifth songs below. The river above is the Huron -- which was the river of my college days.
[MP3] THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES/"Ten Years Ahead"
[MP3] R.E.M. [w/KATE PIERSON]/"Me in Honey"
[MP3] 10,000 MANIACS/"Eat for Two"
BONUS TRACKS >>>
[MP3] 10,000 MANIACS [w/MICHAEL STIPE]/"To Sir With Love" [live]
[MP3] R.E.M. [w/NATALIE MERCHANT]/"Photograph"
