The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Mid-June 2009

Action Painters
The kids put out a self-titled collection of new and old and new-old stuff, including a snappy cover of "Money Changes Everything" and a revamped, smashing version of their own "456".

Zee Avi - "Bitter Heart"
She sounds like the Ditty Bops and Norah Jones all rolled into one.

Death - For All The World to See
This actually belongs in one of the earlier playlist posts but the day I stop playing "Keep on Knocking" is the day I concede to being wrong about something, anything.

Fanfarlo - "The Walls Are Coming Down"
Like Beirut but happy.

Finding Fiction - "Them or Me"
Another good anthem rocker for the year.

The Pains at Being Pure at Heart - The Pains at Being Pure at Heart
This could have been posted anytime this year but it is really in the last month or so that I have come to fully appreciate this remarkable debut record, particularly songs like "Young Adult Friction" and "Everything With You". Along with the Metric and Camera Obscura records, this may very well complete the soundtrack to the summer.

Suckers - "Easy Chairs"
I saw these guys many moons ago when they were nothing. They made a fine impression. But who knew they would become such raves?

Honorable Mentions: The Evening Rig, Miike Snow, Peaches, Viva Voce,

The Blacks are Here...and They Were at Union Pool

Amazing Baby; The Blacks; Suckers
@ Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY - August 16, 2008

Amazing Baby were a neo-hippie mostly psychadelic, slightly old time metal big band. If you like the genre, they got the job done.

So I had the write-up for the Blacks all planned out, see? It was going to begin with "You gotta give credit to this band just for taking the most oft used adjective in band names in this, or maybe any, decade, and turning it into a right proper noun. Take that Angels, Halos, Hollies, Keys, Lips, Mountain, Rebel Motorcycle Club, etc etc etc!" But lead singer and guitar player Louisa Black went ahead and said it all herself at the gig, post-performance, thereby ruining my set-up. Dammit.
Anyway, the Blacks are tremendously good. They have a very distinct source for their matieral: No Wave. Louisa and her two cohorts have a slight whiff of Teenage Jesus & The Jerks and a more contemporary flair for early Yeah Yeah Yeahs but at the same time, they rely on grinding out concise, sharp, pure rock n' roll melodic mayhem. JDK Blacker plays a tambourine like no person ever before in the history of time. And this is a good thing. And he wears a white suit well. Gavin in the back is exactly the kind of drummer people will be talking about. All put together, this is a new, exciting band that also reminds us of all things we've liked about music this decade and a couple decades back. Take that! Period!

Suckers are not as nondescript as their name suggests. Led by a very potent voiced, powerful bluesy singer, the band dabbled in a little bit of everything tonight, from the aforementioned blues to dance-pop to distortion-rock. It worked very well pretty much overall and this is yet another band to keep an eye on.