FEATURED SONG:  Nosebleed
ARTIST:  Maxïmo Park

This band is not a band I’ve just heard of.
This band is not a new band.  
In my description I mentioned that sometimes I’d showcase a band that, frankly, deserved a closer look.
A greater truth could not be spoken with it comes to the band Maxïmo Park.

Rhythmically they’re like New Order with lyrics like The Cure, yet their sound is completely their own. 
I was introduced to Maxïmo Park back in 2006 on the website last.fm.  I was really into Arctic Monkeys at the time (another ‘then’ recent discovery) and their sound seemed familiar.  I liked it initially and the more and more I listened, the further I fell in love and heard it’s distinctions.  The music is up beat & peppy, with a tempo I could tap to.  The lyrics and their passively aggressive edge lights you right up.  

The details: The band consists of four members: Tom English (I know) on drums, Duncan Lloyd on guitar, Archis Tiku- Bass, Lukas Wooller on keyboard, and Paul Smith on vocals.  The boys all hail from north eastern England.  Their first album “A Certain Trigger” had three of it’s singles: ‘Apply Some Pressure’, ‘Going Missing’, & ‘Graffiti’ reach the top 20 on the UK Music Charts.  Their second album ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ got up the UK Charts to #2.  
Their label, Warp Records, decided to make an exception with Maxïmo Park, and signed them on though they had never before gone with a group with their type of din.

“Static headlights glow on the flooded streets below
the TV turns to snow, gutters weep with overflow.”

Like I mentioned earlier, Maxïmo Park opens up with a recognizable sound, at first impression.  As it goes on however, you’re introduced to something completely unique.  Paul Smiths vocals were really what sold this band to me.  The lyrics and statements present themselves to the listener, point of fact.  An honest opinion, and an understated shrug for your troubles.  Why did I chose ‘Nosebleed’?  I mean a lot of Maxïmo Park’s songs are favorites of mine, but Nosebleed has always spoken to me.  The frankness of the chorus, the truth they spin you at just the right angle.  Give the truth to you with that spoon full of sugar.  I can listen to them and feel alright.  We all have those bands that just speak to you, and express your feelings when you fall short.  Maxïmo Park can sum me right up.  Maxïmo Park is one of my top ten bands, give them a listen and maybe they’ll become one of yours.

We look out upon the sea, the coast is always changing…

GENRE: Indie, British Rock, Alternative Post Punk
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Milburn, The Futureheads, We Are Scientists
FEATURED ALBUM: ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’
FEATURED TRACK: Nosebleed
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO: ‘Apply Some Pressure’, ‘Going Missing’, ‘Questing, not Coasting’, Cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s song ‘Shiver’.

FEATURED SONG:  My Muse
ARTIST: Sarah Jarosz

Oh my.  Where to begin with Sarah Jarosz?
 
I may be alone on this, but when it comes to investigating a ‘New, amazing, up-and-coming, breakthrough singer/song writer’….. 

Oh that’s right, she sings Bluegrass,
and oh…. she’s in her teens.  This Texan graduated High School, June of last year.

Another one?
Even her first name adds to that fact.  How many “up-and-coming” Sara(h)’s are there?  You got Sara Fimm, Sara Bareilles, Sarah Slean (who debuted her first album {listen to ‘My Invitation’ it’ll change your life}, at 19) all of whom debuted within that last fifteen years…. and I could go on.
Oh let’s not forget Sara Watkins, violinist of Nickel Creek and we’re in our own genre. 
I digress.  Needless to say, sometimes checking out a new artist’s work can be kind of an uphill climb.  Even to just… get started, if you catch my drift.   

Last night I left on Austin City Limits as background noise, which I need, as I looked around the web (Steve Martin plays the banjo?!) and she came on.  I thought nothing of her, but kept listening.  And kept listening, and it’s almost like Sarah Jarosz (juh-Rose) does all the hard work for you.
In typical bluegrass fashion, infused with jazz and blues along with folk and country strings on a higher scale.  A mix of instruments dancing around and sharing the melodic lead.  And Sarah is well versed, playing her primary clawhammer banjo (since age 2!), guitar, mandolin & piano.

“Each one inspires different feelings and emotions. I get into phases when I write…. If I feel like I have writer’s block, I can switch to another instrument and be inspired again.”-Jarosz

Her prowess at instruments aside—she. is. a. singer.
There is no arguing.  She delivers a tune with the slow deliverance and hewn skill as if she’s been doing this kind of thing for years, as in longer than she’s been alive.

Comfortable, confident, you feel safe in her company as she spins you a song.   

Her voice arcing around octaves with ease, nothing forced or even pushed too hard.

When her debut album Songs Up in Her Head was released last year both critics & well wishers turned their heads.  
One of the interesting things about Sarah is that she’s been playing for locals and festivals around her hometown Wimberley Texas, that her surrounding community has really been her ‘biggest fan,’ buoying and lifting her up to nationwide attention.   
Her voice described: “With subtle use of colors and effects, she inhabits her songs the way a fine actress does her role,”  and “She’s more than just a pretty voice, although she’s got that going for her too.”

If you like what you hear in the featured track, take a few more minutes and watch the video below ‘Edge of a Dream’.  Some of her spellbound consists in seeing her in action.  If it’s your kind of thing, Jarosz will do the work for you.  Sometimes investigating a new artist can become a bit of an uphill climb.  But at least, as it is with the case of Sarah Jarosz-the view of the future of folk n’ bluegrass will be outstanding.   

GENRE: Folk, Bluegrass, Americana
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Jen Woodhouse, Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss
FEATURED ALBUM:  Songs Up in Her Head, though ‘My Muse’ will be release on her upcoming second album
FEATURED TRACK:  My Muse
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO: Tell Me True, Edge of a Dream, and ‘I Can’t Love You Now’.

FEATURED SONG: Intriguing Possibilities 
ARTIST: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

UPDATE 2/28/11** OH & It’s now got an Oscar for Best Score!

So this months post is a little different than my usual as this is a review of the soundtrack from The Social Network which opened just this last weekend.  
 The movie follows the story of Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, and some of his unfortunate associates.

Now movie review aside (movie was great!  Misogynistic themes aside {women and people of ethnicity can’t do anything but sex favors}) this movie’s score review can be summed up with just one word: “Surprise!”

In fact during the film- towards the first 10 minutes certain things were said:
“Huh…. this sounds familiar.”
My friend Cam leans forward and whispers “It’s Trent!”

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has created a mesmerizing score for David Fincher’s latest work.  It’s a scratch reel that plays out in a way that can be paralleled to the film’s plot line.  A simple idea established, which gathers layers and speed until it’s intricately detailed and massive- while still offering that simple addictive idea/melody.
The collection of overlapping layers are apparent in tracks ‘On We March’ and ‘Intriguing Possibilities’; where a simple piano descendant can be heard, slowly being added upon with a reverbing distorted guitar.  This guitar’s thread creates a rift to place it’s own melody through the clear piano’s theme. 

Trent Reznor’s “partner in crime” Atticus Ross who he partnered with on the album With Teeth, joins him again for this album.  Reznor’s score is also said to sound like a natural extension of NIN’s album Ghost I-IV, where the style is a kind of ‘one bit, two bit’ adding upon of different themes, melodies and elements until you find the ending melody quite accidentally.  

So- main purpose for this post- give this movie a looksie, but more than likely the music won’t be so obvious during the actual viewing as it really serves the function of the storytelling- but do take time to take it apart and really deconstruct what you’re hearing.
Don’t let this one just slip by onto the next track. 

GENRE: Industrial, Electronic, Ambient
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels, Sonoio, Unkle
FEATURED ALBUM: The Social Network OST
FEATURED TRACK: Intriguing Possibilities  
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO: ‘We March On’, ‘Eventually we Find out Way’, and ‘Hand Covers Bruise’. 

FEATURED SONG: Cold Days from the Birdhouse
BAND: The Twilight Sad

It’s been awhile and I’m writing to remedy that- and for tonight’s post we have a real winner.

Let me start @ the beginning with this band, I first heard this group referenced through a play.  It was ‘08 and I was studying theatre in London when we attended the National’s production of Harper Regan by Simon Stephens.  The trendy rebelling teenage daughter character mentioned listening them under an overpass.  I being curious of new bands, wrote down the name in my theatre journal.  Went home & found a song, the song was ‘That Summer I Had Become the Invisible Boy’ my second favorite of the band now.  I liked the sound- but it was a long time till I finally got my hands on the album.
A month ago I slipped the CD into my car player and listened…
it only took me within the first ten seconds of the first track to realize I loved it.  I literally said out loud in my car”

“Now that’s a band- about time!”  I thought, as this band smoothed out their music and casual conversation type lyrics to me like Irish Cream…. even though their from Glasgow…. hmm.

 ‘The Twilight Sad’ have a large possibility of being overlooked.  Another ballad pumped, heartstring swagger, scottish lager band trying to sing above loud guitar rifts and accordion pumps- but they’ll surprise you.  This album ranges in style, from pleading lyric filled sarcasms and nostalgic looks @ adolescence but not in a way that makes you want to stab your eyes out rather than relive… to more ambient instrumental ‘Sigur Ros’ type songs that grow & echo on their own volume- songs like “Talking with Fireworks/Here it Never Snowed”.  Lead singer James Graham voice is undiluted and lovely, switching from calm articulated descriptions with a clear defined accent of a scotsman—to more of a ‘throat-shedding’ wail.  
 

                            So you make it your own….
                                           but this is where your arm can’t go

“Twilight Sad, so loud, are ironically kind of like the silent kids in the corner—you have to be around them awhile before you know what part of them is speaking.”  They came through to SLC a few weeks ago, & I had the pleasure of listening to them.
Poets to the extreme, this is a band that wears their hearts on their sleaves, communicating loneliness, childhood, acceptance and a call to repeat.  
Not only that- but a song or two to put on repeat as well.

Give these boys a listen… 

GENRE: Shoe-gaze, Scottish, Indie Rock, Post Rock, Neo Emo
SIMILAR ARTISTS:  Frightened Rabbit, Maps, We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Boxer Rebellion.
FEATURED ALBUM:  Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters 
FEATURED TRACK:  Cold Days from the Birdhouse
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO: That Summer I had became the Invisible Boy (Same Album) 

FEATURED SONG: Bulletproof

“Woah man.  This one takes me back to all the house techno when I was going to dances in B.C.”
I’m aware that said previous statement is quite self-indulgent especially for those who will listen to this reprisal of eighties synth and be taken way father back!  
A friend recently turned me onto this NEW synth duo from the streets of London, Elly Jackson & back burner Ben Langmaid are right on the heels of their sister act Little Boots- all on the chase after Lady Gaga’s custom’d heels.

Burning Bridges, shore to shore
I’ll break away for something more
I’m not to, not to love until it’s cheap. 

Each track is synth’d to absolute bliss!  La Roux is definitely an artist that does not shy away from her powerful powered-on falsetto.  Educated by her co-conspirator and low-profile partner Ben Langmaid, who seems to have educated her early on with a proper dose of Eurythmics & Depeche Mode which you can hear distinctly in each track.  It’s doused in it!

There is a style currently for women, which don’t get me wrong it has it’s place, but it tends to be… as far as females are concerned it’s either bubblegum pop or jazzy ‘I sing at the piano’ pseudo-soul debutants.  Again- don’t misunderstand me, has it’s place- those chicks are on my iPod- but there certainly is a place for (and a rapidly expanding place might I add) La Roux.

I chose ‘Bulletproof’ as the song to showcase on today’s blog because it was the first song introduced to me and that initially floored me.  Also check out ‘Fascination’ where her airy tones are infinitely put to the forefront.  It’s an eighties revival with modern synth, bouncy, and sweet & low reverb:)
I read somewhere that 2009 will be the year that woman finally took over the rock world.  If that’s true- La Roux is definitely rivaling contender.

GENRE:  Synth-Pop, Electropop, indielectronica
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Little Boots, Ladyhawke, La Tigre, Royskopp 
FEATURED ALBUM: La Roux
FEATURED TRACK: Bulletproof
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO: Fascination (Same Album) 

FEATURED TRACK: The Verb

Glen Hansard & Marketa Inglova first debuted back in 2006, already with a strong history behind them but quite a way to go in their musical and personal relationships.  The Movie & the music compilation Once came out later that year.  The story line revolving around two floundering musicians falling in love (with each other or the music the other inspired {debatable})- and in ‘life imitates art/vice versa’, during the making & post production of the film Marketa & Glen did themselves become lovers.  While no longer a couple, a schism in their relationship that in no way affected their ‘working’ relationship as they still go strong with their band ‘Swell Season’.  In fact- this rift may be what gives Swell Season what few artists have been able to obtain.  Swell Season’s new album Strict Joy leaves in this no exception.

The great thing about this band- is that their relationship is mirrored in their music and the story moves on.  If Swell Season/Once compilation was their ‘break up’, Strict Joy is definitely the evaluation.  One of my favorite cloudy ballads on the album is Irglova’s “Fantasy Man”- in which the feel reminds me of a mixture between Fleetwood’s Stevie Nicks & Emiliana Torrini.  A few of the tracks seem to disappear however, “Low Rising” & “Love that Conquers” though good songs, are more recognizable in their rhythms and seem to be passed over.  I chose “The Verb” as the single to show, because I believed it did the best job showcasing the duo’s dedication to lyrics and how they can blend together in their unquestionable chemistry.  Swell Season does erie haunting ballads like no one else to me.  Lyrics that connect right to what ‘you wish you coulda said’.  Marketa & Glen weaving through their lyrics the two fighting sides of a struggling relationship.  The ‘Stars’ are another one of those bands that just seem to offer both sides of the story in a relationship- and then let the listener decide what to take from it, instead of the usual “you burned me- I blame you- cry me a river.”

 I’ve heard it best said- that an artist that is unforgettable delivers something that is honest to them.  It’s the appeal of a great song, an honest one.  
“Swell Season… they sound honest, and an honest love song is hard to resist.”  This band always does it right by me.  Let’s see where they go next.
 

GENRE: Alternative, Indie, Acoustic
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Alexi Murdoch, Damien Rice, The Frames
FEATURED ALBUM: Strict Joy
FEATURED TRACK: The Verb
ALSO LEND AN EAR TO:  Fantasy Man