edit: because some people don't know about the internet craze.
1. Canasta – slow down Chicago: You know it’s a good day when you can start your morning off with this. It’s far and away the best song off an otherwise serviceable EP by a Chicago local band. It’s a little folky, a little rock, and dueling trombones. Way to work in all sorts of Chicago landmarks, kids! 8.5/10
2. The Dead Milkmen – Plumb Dumb: Not the best song off of this album. However, I applaud the band for managing to cheat the shuffle system onto way too many of these lists. So they can have a 5/10 to appease them.
3. The English Beat – Cheated: Ooh, that’s right, let’s keep it in the 80s with some laid back, two-tone ska. A little political awareness, a dash of melody, and an excellent sax player = a successful musical movement (see The Specials for confirmation) 7/10
4. Sufjan Stevens – Let’s Hear that String Part again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard it All the Way Out in Bushnell: The song is done as I finished typing the title. That’s good because that’s about when the joke wears thin. Like the album but the song doesn’t really do anything 2/10
5. The White Stripes – I’m Lonely (But Not That Lonely Yet): It’s a pretty simple song off the new album. I haven’t quite decided what I think about it yet. I’ll give it a 4/10 as a placeholder because it doesn’t really seem to elicit a strong reaction.
6. The Wrens – Boys, You Won’t: I love these guys. They’re great live and the recorded version of this CD is always so soothing despite the fact that the CD encapsulates a lot of painful expressions (note: their live shows require them to play all songs at least 2x as fast) and lets me enjoy the melodies and more delicate connections that get lost in the show, 7.5/10
7. The Capricorns – The New Sound: What was that, you said the New New Wave wasn’t dancy enough? Then listen to this song? Synthy organ over some near-breathless vocals and some drum machine high hat. It cries out for a bass line to turn it into some kind of dance anthem, or really to complete it as a song. Oh well, have a 3.5/10 for the effort and the almost finished song.
8. Son Ambulance – A New Dress for Maybell: It’s alright. I’m not wholly convinced about this stuff (stuff = spare, folky, piano singer/songwriter) yet but I’ve got a few friends who are and they probably know better than I. So I’ll give it a compromise 5.5/10
9. The New Pornographers – Three or Four: There really isn’t a song here that you can’t like. If you don’t know what to think about them, allow me to refer you to the 3 Bulls obsession here, here or here. This song is pretty darn sweet. AC and Neko together are a potent vocal combination. The only downside is I keep thinking they’re going to break into some 80’s cover throughout the song which would be even cooler and more random (double bonus points to anyone who knows which song) It still gets a 8/10
10. The Cells – Silver Clouds: Another Chicago group with some pretty guitar-laden pop (see review here). It’s a decent song and now we end start and end with some Chicago bands. So they get a bonus point to get 7/10.
The somewhat inflated because I’m in a good mood score: 5.6
What you got?
posted by fulsome @ 10:04 AM
