The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Spring 2011, Vol. 2

Songs (cont.)

Keren Ann - "My Name Is Trouble"
Keren Ann has always piqued my curiosity and I've always said "I'll get into her on a steady basis" but while that hasn't materialized, there was room for this charmer.

Buffalo Tom - "Guilty Girls"
Confession. I've never heard of Buffalo Tom before I heard this song. After learning my lesson (via a comp tape found on Ave A), I got all caught up. They've redefined themselves as they've regrouped, and now Buffalo Tom may have hit a stride with this Americana rocker, a perfect burst of rock n roll.

Anna Calvi - "Blackout"
Anna Calvi has a lot of buzz. This song is near justification. What else I've heard...total justification. I will let you know after the Summer.

Crystal Stilts - "Through the Floor"
A band I think I once vowed to dislike since I was sick of distortion pop and bands with Crystal in their name. Oops. This song is fantastic.

Generationals - "Ten Twenty Ten"
I didn't expect Generationals to come back after "When They Fight, They Fight" two years ago but boy have they ever with this peppy prance.

Porcelain Rift - "Tip of your Tongue"
A sweet sounding, slightly fuzzy pop song.

Shrag - "Tight in August"
I HATE the vocals on this song, especially the female vocal. At least the male vocal sounds like a less-over-feminized version of Fred from the B-52's. And yet - in spite (or because of?) the incongruent vocals - the song works. The composition is made for a radio hit and that organ is irrestible.

UNKLE with Nick Cave - "Money and Run"
You tell me how UNKLE sounds. All I know is, anytime that I hear Nick's vocals now, I immediately feel like Grinderman is surrounding me. That's a good thing, just so you know. It may not, however, be a good thing for YOU.

The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Rest of the Summer 2009, Part 1

Bat for Lashes - "Daniel"
Natasha Khan's first waves as Bat for Lashes came off a little creepy and bizarre and inaccessible without really being any of those things. This time around she's right up front in being inviting and charming. The pop sensibilities of this 80's style dark dance song make it easily digestible.

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
I've liked this legendary band for awhile but only in drips and drabs from what I heard over the years. I finally decided to give them a solid listen this summer and I wasn't let down. The solos. My god, the solos. And the riffs are nothing to sneeze at either. And it's not like Barlow and Murph aren't holding up their end of the bargain. The new LP, the second with the reformed original trio, is a solid display of the band's more accessible later period. Not sure how or why but Mascis's guitar skill seems to exponentially magnify in greatness as he gets older. "I Don't Wanna Go There" has the solo of the year.

Flamin' Groovies - "Shake Some Action"
What?! This isn't new! Doesn't matter. Thanks to Bob Boilen picking it as part of the All Songs Considered special on great record labels, I discovered the greatest song I never knew about before that moment.

Free Energy - "Dream City"
70's AM Gold lives! At least the good versions of it. I dare you to dislike this.

Benjy Ferree
I heard an archived performance of this joker at WOXY and "Big Business" alone was enough to make me a fan. I don't get...HIM...but I'm enjoying him.

Generationals - "When They Fight, They Fight"
Great title, excellent sounding Indie song. This is what Grizzly Bear should sound like.

Great Northern - Remind Me Where The Light Is
The follow-up record to Trading Twilight for Daylight is no fluke. Great Northern are THE great unsung band of Southern California. Eat it, Silversun Pickups! Go on tour with them, Airborne Toxic Event!

Hatcham Social - "So So Happy Making"
I haven't been bothered or have had the time to look up anything about the act behind this song but this 80's revivalist pop number is a pleasant romp.

Dave Matthews Band - "Why I Am"
It's sadness over the loss of Leroi Moore that's behind some of it, but there has been a re-embracing of DMB around these parts lately. In no small measure there is this insatiably catchy tribute to the Groogrux King that harkens back to those 90's hits where this band was something special.

Phoenix - "1901"
This is what a band this decade, OF its decade, should/would sound like. It's gleaming pop backed by steady rock-n-roll ethics. Phoenix won't leave a mark the way the Strokes did back in the early half of this decade but this track picks up the mantle.