I don't know the reason but I
was totally flooded with emails yesterday. Normally, I would wait and
spread the goods out over the rest of the week and in the podcast, but
tomorrow is SOTO's one year anniversary and I'm thinking about then taking
the weekend off. That would put me behind and I would never catch up,
so I picked five of the best and placed them below for your listening
pleasure. Enjoy.
:Imperial
Teen - Shim Sham:
I saw this veteran act live for the first time at this year's SXSW and I
thought they were fantastic. In fact, I've been meaning to go from
causal follower to devoted fan since then, so maybe this fun number will
finally get me going on that. Anyhow, the band's sure-to-be fantastic
album arrives in stores on August 21 and is called: The Hair The TV The
Baby & The Band. In addition to it, what other albums from the
group do you think I need to explore?
:Good
Shoes - It's Impossible:
These guys apparently just recently released their debut, Think Before
You Speak, but this is an internet only track. My guess is that
it's suppose to conjure up a little extra interest in their album, which I'm
fully expecting it to accomplish with a problem. After all, it's super
catchy and chocked full of various garage pop elements that would make even
the most casual fans of the genre take notice. Just give in and love
it like you should.
:Monster
Bobby - Beyond The Reach Of Arms:
I had a little blurb about this guy in my podcast a month or so ago, but for
those of you who don't remember: he is responsible for forming the Pipettes.
For me, that automatically catapults him to hero status, but for the sake of
being a little objective we will ignore that glorious little detail and
rightfully recognize this creative piece of electro pop as something all on
its own. MB's debut, Gaps, is currently out only in the UK.
I'd say it's worth importing.
:Athlete
- The Outsiders:
This UK band's debut album, Vehicles And Animals, was crucial in
convincing me to seek out more indie music (more on that subject tomorrow),
so I've always kept an eye on what they're doing. Unfortunately,
nothing they've done since that first release has had the same effect on me.
Still, the crisp production and the crafty songwriting shown in this gem do
more than get me a little excited to hear their upcoming disc, Beyond The
Neighbourhood.
:180
Gs - Christianity Is Stupid:
Yeah, I think this is easily the most bizarre song that has ever been sent
to me by a an actual promoter. It comes from a bonus CD of
Negativland's special reissue of 1983's A Big 10-8 Place. I've
never heard the album, but supposedly it's pretty amazing and is widely
considered to be their best effort. At any rate, I'm thinking about
picking it up just so that I can hear each of 180 Gs' doo-wop covers.
Never mind the rest of that other brilliant material.
-
John Laird -
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