Winter Family — “Garden”
A song likely to inadvertently release any pent up emotion you didn’t know you had. A haunting piano lays the backdrop to a double-track love story – one spoken, one sung – by the Israeli duo who probably owe me a box of tissues.
PJ Harvey — “Written On The Forehead”
For the first single from her forthcoming Let England Shake record, Harvey has moved away from brooding vocals to something that sounds, in the best possible way, fitting for an Emo beach party. Her pitch has moved up a few octaves and it fits nicely. A blog recently described it’s sounds as being “In step with everything happening in sub-basement indie rock right now,” and I’d say that’s pretty spot on.
Mountanaka — “Lights Divine”
A powerful grunge track by a Canadian garage band I’ve been lucky enough to see a handful of times in bars and living rooms around town. It’s unlikely you’ll stumble up upon their EP in your local record store though, so here’s a link to their rarely-updated, low-on-tracks Myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/mountanaka
Patti Smith — “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
One raspy howler covers another. This version is brilliant. Smith has taken the grunge anthem of the 90s and turned it into something reminiscent of what you’d imagine a disturbed carnivalesque desert party sounds like.
Tom Tom Club — Tom Tom Club (Sire)
A super fun New Wave album from 1981 spawned by Talking Heads husband and wife duo Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. Songs like “Wordy Rappinghood” and “Genius Of Love” have a sound reminiscent of the 80s decade, but could easily find a place on any modern dance hall playlist.
Kaki King — Junior (Rounder)
A master guitarist with a relatively new album about espionage and Russian spies. Great if you’re into guitar technique and extended melodic explorations.
Tame Impala — Innerspeaker (Modular)
A Lo Fi psychedelic ensemble from Australia who call their style “hypno-groove melodic rock,” with a sound I’d say will take you back to the era of Flower Power.
Beirut — The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing!)
It happens all the time. A great talent puts out a great album, tours relentlessly, exhausts him or herself, and drops off the radar keeping the fans hungry for more. Zachary Condon, the main man behind the cacophony of strings and horns that is Beirut seems to have fallen into this category but this 2007 release is enough to keep the folk palette satisfied until he decides to resurface again after the bungled release of his 2009 EP.
UB40 — Signing Off (Graduate Records)
Before “Red Red Wine” ruined their appeal for me, there was this very decent recent album which just celebrated it’s 30th anniversary.
The Temper Trap — “Science Of Fear”
The Australian troupe are making waves on the indie circuit since the release of their Conditions record. This is a tense track, one of the handful of songs that stand out on the album.
