TGIF! For whatever reason, it seems like this week has flown by; but don’t worry, I’m not complaining!! For this week’s selection, along with a couple of “must listen” tracks, I decided to feature some songs that I found on my ipod by listening on shuffle. I was surprised by how good they were, and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard them before I did. It just goes to show, that there is a ton of good music out there, and some of it is right under your nose; and unfortunately, sometimes it can get lost among the masses. Well, I’ve wasted enough time talking about this… on to the tunes!
Erin McCarley – Gotta Figure This Out
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_417_erinmccarley-gottafigurethisout.mp3]
I posted a song by Erin a while back, noting how her similarity to Sara Bareilles made me sit up and pay attention. Well, I never really got around to listening intently to her whole CD (sometimes, I just let things fall through the cracks), but when this track came up during one of my rounds of listening on shuffle, my interest in Erin was instantly re-invigorated. This track is sweet and the melody is beautiful. I love the backing violins and the way the song builds; all while retaining an inner softness. Thanks to shuffle, Erin is definitely going to be getting some more well deserved attention from me in the future.
Elbow – Some Riot
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_417_elbow-someriot.mp3]
I downloaded this a while ago, mainly because I kept seeing people talk about it on other music blogs. Additionally, I heard one song on BBC Radio One, and I kinda liked it, so I thought I would give the rest of the album a go. Unfortunately, it, like Erin’s album, slipped through the cracks, and I forgot about it. Well, when this haunting and enigmatic track came up during a shuffle-driven listening session, I did a double take when I saw who it was. This song is fantastic!!! I love how his vocals mirror some of the weathered despair of Morrissey with an added touch of Peter Gabriel, and I love the subtlety of his accent as well. I also love the piano, which reminds me a lot of a Nicole Atkins track. A big thanks goes out to shuffle for finding this great track that I let slip!
Matt Wertz – Everything’s Alright
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_417_mattwertz-everythingsright.mp3]
When Matt Wertz first hit my radar, I was instantly a fan. I liked his vocal style and the playful and upbeat pop-rock style that he used in his music. He reminds me a lot of fellow singers like John McLachlan; not only in style, but in this particular case, there is a big similarity in the voice. Overall, Matt Wertz released a “new” album last year, and it kind of fell off of my radar, because it rehashed several of the songs on his previous release, which led to me kind of forgetting about it. Then, shuffle brings this song up, and instantly Matt is back on my radar. This song is perfect for spring, and I am glad that it is back on my playlist.
Glasvegas – Geraldine
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_417_glasvegas-geraldine.mp3]
Sometimes, (shit, most of the time) I am a sucker for a beautiful accent. Particularly, my favorite accents are Irish and British, and definitely Scottish. Well, the thick Scottish accent present in the lead singer of Glasvegas is downright swoon worthy. I have had this song on my ipod for quite some time, and it wasn’t until it popped up during a shuffle that I really paid quality attention to it. I ended up downloading the whole album and I really like it. It quickly turned into one of those records that I wish I had of discovered last year, because there is definitely a chance it could have made my year end list. Oh well, I shouldn’t really dwell on the past, so I am more than pleased that I have it to listen to more in the future.
Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_417_silversunpickups-theresnosecretsthisyear.mp3]
Earlier this week, the delightful Silversun Pickups released their second album, Swoon. I was eager to see what they would bring with this new release, because I really enjoyed their 2006 album, Carnavas. What I like most about the Silversun Pickups, is how their use the distortion and heavy alternative influence of early 90’s Smashing Pumpkins; only they put there own twist on it, making it perfect for the here and now. This is my favorite song off of the album, which overall, is a solid, well made, and familiar release. I am glad they are still rocking hard, and making great music like this. I hope Swoon is a massive record for them; it definitely should be.
So there’s five songs for your Friday… I hope you enjoyed them. Let me know what you think, as well as what YOU are listening to. Leslie Hall pictures and concert post are coming soon, so be sure to check back for that too!
This is probably going to be the shortest song in the history (or future) of the Five Song Friday. This energetic track clocks in at just under 2 minutes, but the entire two minutes are a fun filled, dancey romp that is too great to ignore. You probably hear the sampling of Billy Joel’s Sleeping With The Television On, that makes the song somewhat familiar, and perhaps, even more lovable. They have been playing this song like CRAZY on BBC Radio One, and I have to admit that I crank the radio up and dance every time I hear it. This song is MASSIVE, which is funny because it is less than two minutes long! I can’t wait to see what else Marmaduke Duke has in store on their upcoming release, Duke Pandemonium. 
When I first heard this song, one question filled my brain, “could this possibly signal a triumphant return of the boy band?”. Well, of course, only time can tell, but V Factory have an undeniable resemblance to another boy band, 5ive, who were pretty massive in the UK in their hay day. Also interesting to me, is that V Factory shares not only a sound similarity to 5ive, but also that the V most likely stands for 5, and as such, the two are even further, and more inexplicably linked. I am curious to see what V Factory will follow this fantastic pop track up with, because if it anything like this, then we may have an answer to the aforementioned proposed question: hells yes!
Remember the amazing Blu Cantrell and her ‘it’s over’ anthem, Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)? Well, I do, and this song instantly reminded me of that fabulous hip hop track; but not because they sound similar in any way. Tina Parol uses the same subject matter of Blu’s break-up track, but instead of a tell off fit for a hip-hop diva, Tina steers more towards the pop-rock/Avril Lavigne-angsty rock in her delivery. In doing so, she has made another ‘you screw me over, I’ll take your money’ kiss off track that is radio-ready music to my ears. There’s something about an angry girl, exacting revenge on a bad boyfriend by hitting him in the wallet, that makes a great subject for an empowering ‘it’s over’ song; whether it be a hip hop anthem with a blasting beat, or in this case, an angsty, and energetic rock-pop track. 
Initially, this song really didn’t hit me as hard as it probably should have, because the beginning is a little weak. However, at about one minute in when the violins take you to the first crescendo, it really soars. Paula’s sweet vocals remind me a lot of fellow female artists like JoJo and Christina Milian, and with this song, Paula really shows that she belongs on the charts right there along with her pop peers. This is one of those songs that gets better with each listen, and I am really glad that I gave Paula another chance; she’s got a great little pop ballad on her hands with this one.
Finally today, I wanted to bring you something a little bit more subdued than the other tracks featured today. I have been enjoying Bat For Lashes’ most recent release Two Suns (which was released on Tuesday) all week, and this is my favorite track from the CD. The ethereal nature of her voice and the beauty of the arrangement of this track really brings up memories of my favorite Feist songs, and as such, really makes me glad that I gave Bat For Lashes a listen. The rest of the album is quite diverse, at times going from what sounds to me like old Fleetwood Mac, and other times, going all of the way to the other side of the spectrum, invoking a bit of Bjork for some unexpected electronica (or folktronica, as I believe it is called). Overall, the entire album is a great listening experience. This is one of those “hey, you’ve heard of her right? Isn’t she amazing!?!” artists, and I am extremely glad to spread the word about how much I have been enjoying Bat For Lashes. NOTE: Yes, I have seen lots of reference to Kate Bush with regards to similarities; however, believe it or not, I have never listened to Kate Bush. I will try to remedy that, but I make no guarantees; I just wanted to acknowledge that I have heard their are similarities between the two. 
First up today is the amazing Angel Taylor, who I posted about a 
Now, I have heard of Bon Iver before, and I have seen the insane amount of hype surrounding this fella. I didn’t get it. I didn’t see it. However, I was watching Monday’s episode of Chuck, and this amazingly beautiful song was playing in the background as Sara took Chuck to find his father. This was that song. At first, I thought it was a really depressed Coldplay song, because Bon Iver sounds EXACTLY like Chris Martin with a dash of Mat Kearney, but I came to find out that it was actually Bon Iver, thanks to the amazing power of the internets. Thank GOD for websites that post this type of information, because I love this song, and I had to have it immediately. It is beautiful! I can definitely say that I have a greater understanding of some of that hype for Bon Iver now. I guess I can thank the producers/music coordinators (?) of Chuck for including it!
Today has turned out to be rather folky, hasn’t it?! Oh well, let’s continue down that road, because after all, I really do love the softer side of music. This song struck me instantly with it’s sweet country-alternative sound, smoky vocals, and toe tapping rhythm. I really liked what M. Ward did with Zooey DeSchanel in the group She & Him, and he doesn’t disappoint on his own either. This is a really beautiful song, and really sparked my interest in his recently released solo album, Hold Time. I love how distorted and weathered his voice sounds, and I especially enjoy the simplicity of the arrangement of the song. 
When Kelly finally released a very commercially viable single after years of trying to escape the depressed state that My December painted her into, I was all for it. I have been a big fan of Kelly’s from the beginning, and I knew that if anyone had it in them to burst back onto the pop scene, unscathed, it was her. Well, her recent release may have a few duds (3 in fact) that I would have preferred that she just left on the cutting room floor, the rest of the tracks are definitely strong, and all highlight the Kelly I fell in love with back with Breakaway. This track takes the energy of My Life Would Suck Without You, and revs the engine and slams down the pedal, sending you on a fast spin around the track. I absolutely love her vocals on this track, and can’t get the chorus out of my head, no matter how hard I try. Welcome back Kelly! (Note: I know that this song was written, at least in part, by Katy Perry, and while I can’t stand her, this song is just too pop perfect to ignore because of the stuff that she has done; plus, she didn’t sing it!). 
For me, Ciara really will never do better than One, Two Step. It isn’t her fault, because that track is literally hip hop-pop perfection. It is a song that, no matter how many times I hear it, it always gets me dancing. However, that love didn’t translate into following much else that she has done, but when I saw that she was coming out with a new CD, I will admit that I was curious to see if there was to be another One, Two Step-like track amongst the bunch. Well, this song, which is a duet with Justin Timberlake (and which is something that usually turns me off instantly), is definitely a dance floor filler, and while it may not have the staying power of One, Two Step, I am definitely enjoying it more and more with each listen. I will say, that after seeing the video, I want to know who in the hell choreographed it, and especially who the wardrobe person was. They should be fired on the spot! She wallows on the floor most of the time, all while clad in a very unflattering animal print unitard. It was not the video I would have expected for this song, and I really don’t think that it does anything flattering for either Ciara or the song. Oh well, I guess you can’t win ’em all. 
I feel like I have been singing Adele’s praises for ages now, but honestly, I don’t think that I could ever sing them enough. After seeing her last week, I have been flying high on this amazing Brit’s debut album, 19, and I wanted to post one of my absolute favorite songs of hers. This song is full of emotion, drama, feeling, and power. I love how she makes her voice crack, which really represents the broken heart that she is singing about. She performed this song flawlessly in concert, and if you still haven’t gotten on the Adele bandwagon by now, this is just me shaking you, again, and telling you to get with the program. Adele is amazing!
I’m not normally a big fan of country, and while I used to only listen to it back in the day, I attribute that to being mostly a product of my environment *cough*hick from North Carolina*cough*. I remember when Carrie won American Idol, and I was really excited, because she was one of the first ones that had pipes as amazing as Kelly Clarkson’s, and even though she was country, I just knew that her amazing show stopping version of Alone by Heart would grace her debut. Well, it didn’t, and instead of making me happy, she went full tilt country, which, while it does serve her voice beautifully, it just didn’t “do it” for me (also songs like Jesus Take the Wheel just make me want to roll my eyes… no offense). Now, let’s cut to last week when she appeared on the Idol stage again to sing this Randy Travis remake; I’m not going to lie, I fucking wept. This song is beautiful, and her voice gave me chills all over. Country or not, this girl can SING, and she sings this beautiful song amazingly; both live, and on her Carnival Ride CD. Note: I didn’t post the version she re-released with Randy Travis (also last week), mostly because Randy is just so outshone that I felt a little bad for him. I LOVE this song, and I am glad that Carrie chose to cover it.
This is another fantastic discovery that I can thank BBC Radio One for; they have been playing this song for a couple of weeks now, and I have found myself liking it more and more with each listen. The neo-soul guitar strumming, and popping beats really compliment the lead singer’s sweet voice (which has a resemblance to Eartha Kitt; without the kitty growls, of course). This infectious track has the upbeat sensibilities of the Ting Tings, and while it is a bit repetitive lyrically, it isn’t enough to turn me off. I can’t wait to see what the new Noisettes album will be like; if it is anything like this fantastic track, I am sure that I will love it.
I may make a few enemies with this one, but hear me out; YES, the original version is awesome, amazing, and several other praise-worthy words. It won an Oscar. See? I agree. However, this version, which harnesses the amazing vocals of Miss Pussycat Doll herself, Nicole Scherzinger, is just too perfect to ignore. A.R. Rahman’s Oscar-winning song gets the English treatment, and instead of being a “replacement” for the original Indian hit, I think that this version will just get more people interested in the original. I personally LOVE this song, and love that I can sing along with Nicole, because, call me crazy, but I like listening to music that has lyrics that I can actually understand; catch me catch me catch me!!! So again, the original – fantastic; and so is this version, which I cannot stop playing and dancing around to!!
To end today, we are going full tilt gay. We have covered a lot of ground today(soul, country, bollywood, now disco!!!), but this is disco bananas, and it is fantastic. Alcazar are a Swedish dance group that have been around for a decade, and recently, they released a massive double disc album that is chock full of dance floor fillers. This is my favorite song from that album, which is appropriately called Disco Defenders; because if anyone is going to successful in advocating for the fabulousness of disco, it’s definitely these guys. This song is upbeat, happy, and throw-your-hands-in-the-air dancetastic. Songs like this make me want to dance all night long, and HOW can that be anything but great?! Sometimes, it’s nice to just have a little fun, isn’t it? Well, that’s definitely something you can do by listening to Alcazar!
This is one of those songs that came on the radio, and I wanted to change it, but I decided instead to see where it would go. Then, the riff of the chorus cut in, and I was instantly glad I stuck around; it is brilliant!! White Lies reminds me a lot of fellow Brit rockers, the Kaiser Chiefs, the lead singer’s voice sounds very similar to Julian Hamilton of the Presets. This fast paced post punk rock track is just a lot of fun, as I mentioned, it was that jangly guitar riff that reeled me in, and I can’t get enough of it. I listened to the rest of their album, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the rest of the tracks are quite good as well. This song was a great random find, and I am excited to be featuring it this week.
I will be honest; when I found out that this was the new Peter Bjorn and John song, I was extremely disappointed. It was almost annoying, and is a real departure to their uber-catchy previous album (which made my year end list for 2007). However, I couldn’t seem to escape this track, because it kept coming on the radio, and as such, I got pulled in by the pops and claps, and slowly, I really warmed up to this song. After seeing the silly video, I was sort of hooked. It was almost like a light switch in my brain; I hated it at first, and now I am listening to it on repeat. It’s weird how that works sometimes, isn’t it? I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album, which should be out soon; I only hope that it is something that I will enjoy instantly, and if not, something worth giving the time to get into it properly.
Based on the type of music that I typically post, I bet that it would surprise many of you that I used to listen to dance music almost exclusively. I was a DJ in college, and I had pretty much every hot dance track that came out, and kept my insatiable appetite for new, hot dance music afloat by having several friends (and another DJ) who were into the same club pounding beats. I attribute my constant hunger for dance music to the fact that I used to go dancing a lot, but as I have gotten older, my time at the clubs as diminished. I still love dance music, and still have a LOT of it on my ipod, but it isn’t the only thing I listen to anymore (which again, is evident when you look at my music suggestions here on this blog). However, I still know when I have heard something amazing, and this is one of those songs that just gets me moving. I heard it on BPM earlier this month, and I am glad to have discovered this track, so that I can add it to my massive and wonderful dance music collection. We all need to dance every once and while, and with great dance music like this, it’s hard not to!
Perhaps this will further lend insight into my all-dance music, all-of-the-time previous listening habits. I first heard this song when I was in Europe in the winter of 2000, where it was climbing the charts, and being played everywhere I seemed to be in London. Well, I bought a great mix compilation (they have so many GREAT ones in the UK… why don’t we have any good ones here?!) that had this song on it, and I literally played it on repeat for months. I have been talking about how I have been going back through my massive music collection in an attempt to pay well deserved attention to many of my “forgotten” favorites for a few weeks now, and I remembered this track, and recently threw it back on my ipod. The UK Garage beat of this track is what I was attracted to, and is a type of dance music that I am surprised never caught on over here in the US. It is fast, fun, and totally dance. I love some Posh Spice, and for me, this is definitely one of the best things she has ever contributed to musically. 
