January 2009 Archives

This is just something off the top of my head: a regular weekly entry that I'm tentatively naming List Addicts Fridays (this might change, who knows?). I'm doing this so you guys know you've got something new to read every week and maybe have something to look forward to.

In my attempt to be relevant, in the next few weeks leading up till the end of February, it will be all songs about love. Why? Well, why not? Aside from the obvious reason that February houses Valentines day, all songs in general, (in my opinion) are all about love - all the more easier for me to compile a list  ( it's also a huge allowance for the month after, when I have to go all out, be creative, and find more subjects and songs to feature).

I know I've covered love in the past entries - and I've also covered the perfect love song to serenade a girl by. I still maintain, the Loveninja's song 'Do Me' would be the perfect song to serenade a girl (mostly for the added punchline in the title) - but subduing my kooky side to choosing love songs, I'm not including it in this list. I am however, itching to have Weezer's El Scorcho or Cake's Short Skirt and Long Jacket and toss it in the 'perfect songs for wooing' list, but then again - I'm making way for my more romantic side to pick my top five this week.

This Friday's list brings you a couple of song ideas for a serenade, given you know how to play a musical instrument (guitar preferred) or maybe round the guys up to play backup as you sing.

1. The Maccabees - Toothpaste Kisses ( Buy at Insound )

 

I won't deny, I've been addicted to listening to The Maccabees for the past couple of weeks. The boys from Brighton sure know how to bring out passion through their songs.

While 'Latchmere' gave me the sudden urge to move to Battersea just to check out Latchmere's wave machine, their semi-acoustic song 'Toothpaste Kisses'  left me totally smitten. Sure, it sings about getting hickeys and doing the nasty, but translated in beautiful Maccabees-style lyric, it's getting 'heart shaped bruises' and 'doing things that lovers do'. If you're the cheeky type, but want to come across as sweet, this song is the right mix of bold yet sincere. Pucker up your lips though, as whistling is a requirement.

2. Guillemots - Made-Up Love Song #43 ( Buy at Insound )

 

Didn't I just feature this song before? This song is actually *that* good to merit another mention here. What I love about Fyfe and the gang, is that they're excellent at making romantic love songs which make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. 'Made-Up Love Song #43' captures all the explosive emotions that come out of love. This is a made-up love song after all - extemporaneous, with lyrics that sound like they just sprung from the heart. Also, its feel good chorus begs you to want to sing all out - yes, yes indeed - 'the best things come from nowhere' 

Brownie points as well, if you can try to recreate the Guillemots Take-Away show for the object of your affection.

3. Slow Club - Apples and Pairs ( Download at Moshi Moshi Records )

 

If you live in Canada, you might notice these two familiar voices from that Ritz commercial. Apples and Pairs might not be their popular ad song, but it's one of their most heartfelt ones. It's a simple song, an acoustic duet, that brings out the imagery of a relationship from the beginning to end. What I like about it is how it describes little bits and pieces of being a couple and looking back on how you felt about it. This song might be something for those who are already in the relationship, to make your girl (or guy) love you more with a sweet cute tune. Not a complicated song to sing, you just need a guitar and maybe someone to do the glockenspiel part (and trombone too if you want to go all out). It's a song to spice things up, reminisce on all the good old times and probably the perfect addition for that mixed tape you were planning to give on Valentine's Day.

4. Wolfman featuring Pete Doherty - For Lovers ( Download at eMusic )

 

Pete Doherty might be a scary looking crazed out junkie, but he sure knows how to sing a love song. Pete Wolfe (the Wolfman)'s collaboration with Pete Doherty might be one the greatest classic indie love songs to have come out in the past 20 years.

Tickle the ivory and croon out with your slightly husky voice like Doherty. There's something oh-so-romantic about running away with the girl of your dreams and singing about it. If you're going for classy and sauve, this would be your best bet.



5. Jens Lekman - And I Remember Every Kiss ( Download at eMusic | Buy at Insound )

 

If you want to profess your love in a big way - Jens Lekman's 'And I Remember Every Kiss' would be the perfect song. You might need to hire a small orchestra though, to get that full effect. No one beats kettle drums, a couple of violins and a fanfare of trumpets playing in the background as you swear to never kiss anyone who doesn't burn you like the sun. Truly, that kind of declaration would be incredibly romantic. You'll definitely have it in the bag with this one. 

It's been a while since I put in an entry for site updates...and it's long overdue.

Now, I can proudly say, all site features are fully functional. None of those messages to check this space in a couple of days . Nope! We've got brand spanking new things to explore - like the search page for example. We've got it there for whatever quest for information that you wish to undertake. Of course, information is still limited to the stuff that I've put in, though, feel free to peruse our search with a new option for finding videos (another new thing up on the site!).

If you guys haven't visited in the last couple of weeks, in the artist pages, I now have a blog feed bar on the right side for up-to-date info about your favorite indie artists, as well as a newly renamed Misc. section that houses Media (photos and videos). I've linked to pictures available in trusty old Flickr and I'm hoping everyone else can help me gather videos up (embeddable ones in particular).

So yeah, no more little sections that are under construction. Though, that doesn't mean we're not adding more to the site - there's still more to come! As always, I'm all ears to suggestions and will welcome, with open arms, any contribution for artist information that I can add to the site. (Hint, hint - demos, ep's and singles send 'em to me, I'm always up for new music).

Of course, my blog post wouldn't be complete without some music to feature. Since I've been in the mood for retro-pop the past few days - here's a nice little tune from Denmark's 'Junior Senior'.

'Move Your Feet' seems like something that the Jackson 5 collaborated on - it's all loads of fun, and of course, happy :) What can you expect from a group from the happiest place on earth?(and, no it's not Disneyland).

To all you lovers of funky dance music, here's Move Your Feet - ( Buy at Insound )

Good music will always have a way of coming back and reviving itself every couple of years in the form of remakes and samples. But what I like the most is not the occasional emergence of my favorite songs from the past (like the umpteenth remake of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time") or a snippet of familiar music embedded in a rap song (take your pick, there's tons of them). It's the new music that pretends that it's not. It's those period themed tracks from artists that just can't let go of the past. Luckily, the indie music scene has a great selection of such, and what I have here for your listening pleasure, is my five top tracks - a good sampling of great music inspired by the 50's to the early 80's.

1. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes ( Download at eMusic | Buy at Insound )



The Pipettes follows the 1950's girl group model of three female singers performing with matching outfits, backed up by an all-male band. In this case their backing band, The Casette, also follows the same naming convention of having their band name begin with a 'The' . If not for the subtle hint of a record scratch, you'd think 'Pull Shapes' was something from your grandma's record collection.

2. Lucky Soul - Lips are Unhappy ( Download at eMusic | Buy at Insound )



This 2006 single from Brighton's Lucky Soul sounds more like it came from the 1960's . An upbeat track about being heartbroken, it's is far from giving you the ache of missing your love. Instead, you get a mental image of Gidget and her pals doing the 'Shake-Shake-Shimmy-Shimmy' on the beach with Moondoggie. For girls, go-go boots and mini-skirts are a must when listening to this track.

3. Broadcast - Before We Begin ( Buy at Insound )



Before We Begin comes from the other side of the late 60's going on to a bit of early 70's influence - the era of trippy movies like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls or the equally far out Public Service Ads about drugs . Sweet, with a mix of psychedelic pop, Broadcast's 2003 single, 'Before We Begin', is a lovely acid trip that won't leave you screaming about murdered hotdogs.

4. Feist - One Evening ( Download at eMusic | Buy at Insound )



Yes, Feist dabbled in retro-pop - and this is the result. 'One Evening' is amazingly true to it's 70's roots that you'd think it was originally from that era.It'll remind you of soft rock 1970's ballads and even slightly of the BeeGees. Always a plus, Feist shows her whole range of dancing skills, up close, in the music video.

5. Sally Shapiro - I Know ( Download at eMusic | Buy at Insound )



Now we come to the early 80's. Disco is ripe, and this is where Sally Shapiro draws her inspiration. 'I Know' gives you the best euro-disco that you can find in the early 2000s. Heavy on the electrobeats, this Swedish act gives you a hint of Abba and early eighties eurovision. 

 

For this post, I've decided to veer a bit, and post a shout out to a film. It's a film that begs to be recommended to everyone you know, just because of it's sheer intrigue factor. It's about the undying, yet complicated love, between a vampire and a human - a movie called Twilight. Well..no. Actually, Twilight and sheer intrigue factor don't equate, nor would I be so excited to blog about that movie enough to make me veer away from my standard blogging procedures. Though, I may be blogging about a film now, two things still haven't changed - I'm still raving about something Swedish, since it's the Swedish vampire flick "Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)" and also about music, as the film's title is based on Morrissey's song "Let the Right One Slip In".

For the music inspired prose part, the movie is actually based off the book of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, a devoted Morrissey fan. With this bit of trivia in mind, you can expect that the story is anything but uplifting and optimistic, with underlying themes of loneliness, depression, lovesickness and a touch of black humour (surprisingly a great mix, which produces something that's thoroughly entertaining). It'll give you the same feelings that you get listening to a barrage of The Smiths songs, only this time, you get it in horror film form.

The plot revolves around 12 year-old Oskar, quiet, timid and often bullied. He gains interest in his odd and mysterious new next-door neighbor, Eli, who turns out to be a blood-sucking creature of the night. The book borrows its title from the context of this one line in Morrissey's song: "I'd say you were within your rights to bite", referring to the age-old belief that vampires can only come into your home (with the rights to bite), if invited. In the film, this turns out to be quite true and becomes one of the most engaging scenes of the movie. Here, we find out what happens to a vampire who comes in uninvited:

It's the start of the new year and I've got this song stuck in my head. I'm thinking, this year is up to a great start. :)

I was lamenting on how pathetic my database is, with just 50 or so odd artists listed, an occasionally updated blog, and some parts of the site unfinished. So I went ahead and added some artists, since you know, this is not just a blog, but a so-called Indie Music Database. If I actually took note of my average time to put an entry in - I think it would be 2009 and I wouldn't have gone past the 200 mark. The fact is - the music junkie that I am, I can't help but listen to the songs each artist has. I'm like a kid in a chocolate factory. For every box of chocolates that I pack, I'd probably sample half the amount. So, I got sidetracked and listened to a bunch of songs before I finished putting an entry in - and lo and behold I fall in love with one of them.

The Rumble Strips 'Boys and Girls In Love' is a song some of you might be familiar with, since it was featured in two major films - 2007's Run, Fatboy, Run and most recently Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (the screenplay penned by my favorite Pete and Pete creators). If you're living in the UK, it's also the song playing in the Crown Paint adverts, promoting their new breatheasy paints  (the paint with no lingering smell!). If you ask me, had they left the opening lyrics in the advert, "Just so you think it, don't make it so", it could've definitely made it a bit more interesting, marketing-wise.

Listening to this song actually gives me a sense of purpose . Before I die, I should learn the piano bit and do an impromptu performance of the song, with friends or strangers joining in to accompany me. Checking out the video, I wish I was that burly skinhead playing the piano - he just makes piano playing look so macho.