The Look Back

Vampire Weekend. I said it, thus my obligation to mention them on my indie blog is complete and this blog won’t be shut down. (That is sufficient, indie music blog gods, right?) Joking aside, the album is very fun but I didn’t think anyone needed me to hit them over the head with it anymore.

Radar Bros. – Pomona

Long time LA indie rockers are getting a lot of hype for their latest release, Auditorium. This is the stand out track for me on this stellar record. If this song is a little too mellow and laid back the next two songs are for you.

The Terrordactyls (Featuring Kimya Dawson) – Devices

Yes, this probably wouldn’t have caught my attention if it weren’t for the addition of Kimya Dawson on this track. That said this is a perfect B-Side to the Juno Soundtrack. The addition of a kazoo solo half way through will get you in that spirit. Worth a listen for Kimya alone and the rest of the band has enough working on other tracks to warrant delving deeper into their song library.

MGMT – Time to Pretend

The rock star take one of my favorite lyrical themes, growing older. This is currently my go to “song to dance around the room to on a Tuesday night at 7:45pm”. I was somewhat disappointed to have missed them with Yeasayer at the Echo last week until I read a review. This is more of a big “f U” to Yeasayer so I shouldn’t fault MGMT for being on the same bill but I think I will since they are both from New York and this was LA.

Reed KD – This Coastal Town

I didn’t intend for there to be two mandatory musical genres every week on this list but it is turning out to be that way with the addition of the singer/songwriter category. While not standing noticeably above the rest, Reed KD has a certain laid back style that relaxes me without either putting me to sleep or causing me to think of lost loves. The former obviously being a good thing the later maybe not so much depending who you ask. I’ll spare you the comparisons to other artists who really sound nothing like Reed KD, again in a good way. Bedroom music at it’s best for just that perfect time of day when the sun isn’t quite gone yet you would be hard pressed to find it outside of your (sub)urban living conditions.

Iron & Wine with Calexico – Wild Horses

Yes, a Rolling Stones cover from the guy who never listened to the Stones growing up. This is one of those songs that everyone is familiar with (or at least my not so scientific poll came to that conclusion…aka I made this up but assume it to be true) yet you may not know where you heard it or, dare I say it, who originally sang it. I feel this is a fitting fifth “country” song for the mix as Iron & Wine and Calexico obviously get the steel guitar working in there and make this song something unique to their combined style. Sadly, I only caught on to the pairing in mid-2006 so I didn’t get to see their tour and hear this song live in concert as you hear it here. Someday.