The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Late April 2009

Army Navy - "Saints"
It's really come to be that today's Indie rock was yesterday's radio hit. In another time and place, this easy California power pop number would have stood atop rock radio. Today, it's an Indie cut. Go figure. Macho men may not dig it, but it's a sweet sound to be passed around, that's for sure.

Metric - Fantasies
The first big candidate for album of the year, Fantasies proves that Metric is indeed making its mark as one of THE bands of this decade. It's one of those fine tuned affairs, well-crafted mixes of rock and dance, and it provides endless loops of melodies to treasure. "Help, I'm Alive", "Sick Muse", "Satellite Mind", and "Gimme Sympathy" are hits tried and true, "Collect Call" is the slick, sensual pop ballad to think about, and it all culminates in the anthem-ready "Stadium Love". This one will be on all year.

Knight School - "Pregnant Again"
If BBQ or Biram were into the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, this is what it would sound like. Thanks to Oh My Rockness for alerting me to this one, it's been a frequent diddy to hum these last couple months.

The National - "So Far Around The Bend"
Dark Was The Night - the AIDS charity comp produced by the Dessner brothers in the National is a large box of contemplative, impressive Indie sounds (especially the Justin Vernon tracks) but the Dessners and their bandmates run roughshod over their friends with this one amazing single that is as good as just about anything this band has produced and that is a high mark to follow.

Bob Dylan - songs from Together Through Life
"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" is really all it takes to prove that the old man is still living high off his Time Out of Mind rebirth as a bluesman.

Funeral Party - "Car Wars"
Remember a band called the Music? This band sounds just like that band. You'd have thought the 80's dance-pop revival of the last couple years would have kept the Music in the scene but they turned rock with "Freedom Fighters" and then disappeared. These guys also sound like the Rapture. Remember the Rapture? I miss those guys.

The Redwood Plan - "Something to Prove"
A deliberately cheesy anthem song made special by an oddly-voiced female who enunciates every word so succinctly, she sounds like a quaint woman not really involved in the rock scene but discovering the inner Joan Jett inside her.