A buzzin’ track which gives me an evolved Regina Spektor feel. Marina and the Diamonds is an artist on the Chop Shop Records label, of music supervision notoriety.
The embedded player also features the richly mellow track I Won’t Let You Down. 2 really solid tunes by the group Inspired Flight, who is new to me. What gets me about them is that they blend several genres and scoff at convention. I mean, they mix Indie Rock, Pedal Steel and Hip Hop? Ben and Jerry would be proud.
Make sure to click the last part of the episode (around 35:40) to go straight to the performance.
Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs a song from his solo release Phrazes for the Young. He is pressing the music “fashion” forward with a breakbeat and arpeggios behind long drawn vocal notes. Coolio.
A soulful piano ballad with potent lyrics from a songstress well-versed in her art. Sarah Slean creates a great example of vocal and lyric focused songwriting, where the lumbering and tearful piano chords complement so well. What’s interesting to me about the song is that she is the woman of the affair, the recipient of the affection, and yet she scorns her lover as a liar and a coward.
Also, I must direct you to a biopic on Sarah, which introduces and shows her interesting self, while summing up what many songwriters may feel as their challenge amidst music academia.
A unique voice – vocal timbre – is so important in order for an artist/group to stand out in a sea of forgetful tunes. Dougie from The Temper Trap has such a voice, a high resonate soothing falsetto sound, with a pleasant groove in support.
Chase and friends have crafted an authentically 1960s record, replete with refreshing melodies and backing chorus harmonies. Quite good.
Pretty cool dance tune behind a mysterious video with seemingly druidic imagery.
The Golden Filter – “Thunderbird” from The Golden Filter on Vimeo.
I enjoy the arrangement in this song… with the whistling matching the piano, and the falsetto boy-girl harmonies. It could have easily been on the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack.
My apologies for the pre-roll commercial, but this was the embed-able video i found after a quick search. Hey, someone’s got to pay for free content, right?
And here’s a link to the MP3 – Blood by The Middle East.
Tegan and Sara are paramount pop songwriters. A great single from their latest release, Sainthood.
Tegan and Sara – Hell from Nick on Vimeo.
and a behind the scenes making of the video…
Behind the Scenes of Hell from Tegan and Sara on Vimeo.
Perhaps the title of the song is a double homage to both The Rolling Stones (Gimme Shelter) and Spoon (Gimme Fiction).
Metric serves up a solid album and is known as one of the hardest working bands in the business. You can check out the acoustic version (low key, intimate) or the album version, with the synth backing and harmonies. “Sick Muse” is another track in the album playlist. Don’t you just love widgets? Everybody wins!