This love is getting the best of me

I’m a few days late but I’m finally getting around to posting this week. Truth is, it’s been another difficult choice. I knew it would be something off the Sounds new album, Something to Die For. But I didn’t know what—there’s too many good songs to choose from (not that that’s a bad thing).
How could I not love the Sounds, a blond female-fronted New Wave indie rock band? (It could only get better if she played the tambourine!) I loved their first album, Living in America. And the second, Dying to Say This to You, was almost as good. I saw them live at Irving Plaza and they were energetic and amazing.
However, their last album, Crossing the Rubicon, was a bit of a disappointment. I couldn’t get into it, and it got lost in the shuffle. I never even bought it…I just “acquired” it online, which says a lot. So with trepidation I listened to Something to Die For, but it instantly clicked. It mixes the right amount of fuzzy guitars, pop hooks and a surprising dance influence on the first half of the album.
Which leads me to “The Best of Me.” The Duran Duran-style bassline caught my attention first, and the pleading lyrics (“Our hearts are still warm but they are getting colder”) are right up my alley. But I kept listening because I couldn’t figure of what else it reminded me, until one day walking to work it hit me: It sounds like a Coldplay ballad, sped up. I can picture Chris Martin playing this at the piano, and it makes me love it even more. There’s no video, as it’s just an album track, but here’s a link.

Uht Uh That's Not A Plane That's Me

I didn't wanna like it. I hid him on Facebook (instead of deleting him which makes no sense but whatever). But I scrambled to download it. A new Owl City song...WITH A RAP? Sure this Shawn Christopher fellow isn't hardcore, but nevertheless, rap isn't really my thing. That being said, I think the rap is maybe the best part of the song. I love it. Definitely reminds me of the remix of Pet Shop Boys "Liberation" ("Yeah, I though love was kinda dumb, now I know I gots to get me some"). And here we have my Song Of The Week, from the forthcoming album, "All Things Bright And Beautiful" (where I also have a great downtempo track called "Lonely Lullaby") Owl City featuring Shawn Christopher "Alligator Sky."

And for good measure, here's 12 minute version of the PSB track Liberation with that rap I do so well in my car.

Feed The Hungry WIth A Fish

Unlike Robb, this week was an easy one for me. I guessed it the minute I heard it, which does happen alot, only to have me find a ANOTHER song that I like EVEN MORE. Yet, this one made it thru. I discovered it Tues AM as I was trolling thru itunes JUST RELEASED section for the week. And there it was....a new Robyn tune. Well, new for her at least. The song itself isn't THAT new, Featured on the Teddybears' last album "Devil's Music", the song "Cardiac Arrest" was recorded with some rapper chick named Mapei. Not Much has changed from one track to the next except that instead of sounding like some butchy Brooklynite is singing, Robyn has fucking made this one another of her own. It's quirky. It makes no damn sense. It's great. It's really like 90's era Fatboy Slim's big beat style, and I love it - Jason

Teddybears 'Cardiac Arrest' feat Robyn [Audio]

I know what I am chasing...

I had a tough time deciding this week. Not because it was a lean one (there are many, when it's difficult to find anything that piqued my interest) but because this week had an embarrassment of riches in terms of great songs (some Pet Shop Boys b-sides, the new Human League single, err...Avril Lavigne's new album). But by far, the soundtrack to the past seven days has been R.E.M.'s excellent new album Collapse Into Now.

As anyone with a radio knows, R.E.M. spent the 2000s struggling to connect with the American audience they enthralled in the '80s and '90s. After the departure of drummer Bill Berry in 1997, they released the quirky but low-key Up; the poppy Reveal, an album I quite like; and the charm-free Around the Sun. The rocky Accelerate had them sounding revived in 2008, something that Collapse Into Now expands upon.

This is their best album since Monster, and each day this week had a new favorite. Originally it was the harmony-laden "Mine Smell Like Honey" (terrible title, but best Mike Mills vocals since "Texarkana"), then the furious "All the Best." But I've settled on "ÜBerlin," the video for which has garnered a lot of blog press for its video with actor Aaron Johnson (no idea who he is—I've never seen him in anything) dancing through city streets. The melody just keeps worming its way into my brain, and the vague (of course) lyrics seem hopeful, embracing change. Here's hoping it gets R.E.M. back on top.
—Robb

Boys

It's amazing how an acoustic version can totally change the feel of a song. Take for instance my song this week, Solo's cover of "Boys" by Sabrina, the 80s Italian pop singer. Solo (Michiel Flamman) is a Dutch musician and this was a cover he did for a radio station concert. Check him out at solo.bandcamp.com.

Here's a live version of Boys with some guy named Reyn on piano.




Known for getting her tits out (that bikini top is no match for her nips) Sabrina was basically the Italian Samantha Fox, but with a worse voice and a dubious grasp of English.

Arling & Cameron "W.E.E.K.E.N.D."

George Michael - True Faith (complete audio song)

Getting Started

So Jason and I have been keeping track of each other's Song of the Week since January 7, 2001. We finally decided after years of writing this on paper that we should move into the 21st century and do this here blog thing.

Incidentally, our selections that first week: "W.E.E.K.E.N.D." by Arling & Cameron for Jason and "It's the Way You Make Me Feel" by Steps for Robb. Talk about a shameful week.

Here's a fan-made video of "W.E.E.K.E.N.D.", a song that brings me back to living with Jason in our tiny two-bedroom apartment in Astoria with the small living room, giant kitchen and the best skylight in the bathroom. Not to mention the rubber ducks. Also, we used to sing a song about pizza to the tune of this. And that was before Jason drank. Imagine what we'd have come up with if he was drunk on margaritas.





And here's the VERY 2000-sounding Steps single (still an embarrassing favorite of mine) with its terrible video (ugh those period costumes! Lisa Scott-Lee's braces! Faye Tozer's nasty blond dreadlocks!)

Jumping right in

Any of you who know us, know that Robb and I have been doing this for years and years. We just have never ever taken it to the interwebs.  Who knows if we will be able to keep up with the arduous schedule of posting one song a week every Sunday. A daunting task indeed, but maybe we are up for it. After many embaressing youtube listens, we have my Song Of The Week, heretofore referred to SOTW, for this March 13th 2011. George Michael doing a cover of New Order's classic "True Faith." It's all vocoder, which, back in the days of "Believe" I was all about, 8 million years later, I'm not so sure. But, he's wormed his way into my brain (maybe this is an opportunity for a glory hole joke or something but I'm not sure) and I kinda love. Yes, I wish he just sang it regular, but I will deal. -Jason