Music

I was talking to a friend of mine about music the other day. We had both arrived at the conclusion that most of the music on the radio is utter garbage (not to be confused with the band, Garbage, which is fabulous!). The one good thing about it is that I can spend quite a bit of time "following threads", which mostly revolves around listening to a band and then looking at who's considered their influences, contemporaries or followers. It's turned up some rather fantastic bands.

Ok, ok, that and trolling myspace profiles out of boredom, but don't tell anyone. It's embarrassing.

So instead of posting a blog about how I got extremely pissed off today (pretty normal occurence, really) or some explorative musing into my current reading material (Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis), I will post some bands I currently enjoy that people may not have heard about as they don't get a great deal of radio play, if any at all.

I also apologize in advance. I don't write reviews, but I think it's kinda silly to just post a bunch of links, so you're getting links and a brief, if not very entertaining, synopsis. I also feel obligated to actually put something up as it's been a few days since I last updated anything.

Ladytron - Horrible name, but appropriate. They have a Retro Electronica meets dark rock sound. I've heard them described as "new gothic", but I don't really buy into it; not quite dark enough. I recommend their most popular song "Destroy Everything You Touch" and an interesting one "Fighting In Built Up Areas" which is entirely in bulgarian. Both of these are available on their site.

Imogen Heap - The front lady of the electronica group Frou Frou, she has a fascinating voice and uses just a hint of digitization at points to create some pretty interesting layers. My current opinion is that her solo work is much better than her work with Frou Frou. Check out "Hide and Seek". I think it's available on myspace. "Headlock" is pretty good and appeals to the minimalist in me.

Shiny Toy Guns - From the looks of it, this band is sitting just under recognition. They use a blend of rock and electronica fronted by equally talented male and female lead vocals. I think their only CD has made way too many rotations in my playlist. Their lyrics are a touch odd at times ("When They Came For Us") and they digitize the vocals in a couple places that don't make sense ("Sky Fell Over Me", a song about death), but overall, one of the few new bands I would love to see live; No Florida dates though. Song to check out is "Don't Cry Out"...actually, I recommend most any. I think there's only one song on the album I don't like and it's a remake of "Ritz".

Blue October - By all reports, these guys have "made it." I've never heard anything by them on the radio, but they're playing the Tonight Show, have done a song for a movie soundtrack, and undertaking a pretty big marketing campaign. Definitely in the rock category, the lead singer sounds a bit like Dave Matthews trying not to be such a pansy. Check out "Hate Me" and "Overweight"

The Rosebuds - Indie Rock. Jangly guitars, male and female leads and a keyboard. I first ran into them on Forbidden Planet. Catchy stuff! Songs to hear are "Boxcar" and "Leaves Do Fall", both available on their site.

Frausdots - Folksie Indie Rock with a male lead that sounds like he needs some caffiene and prozac. Songs to hear are "Soft Light" and "Dead Wrong", both available on MySpace.

That's enough for now, but I'll plug something else that I can't plug enough. Pandora Music Project. Put in a song or band and let them go. It starts feeding you "similar" music (theoretically). Registration is unnecessary for basic use, but free regardless and it'll remember your preferences. It's also a handy-dandy flash player, so no installing software necessary! Excellent for avoiding those pesky work rules for installing software.

_End_