Decadeology: Listening too long to one song!

I really like all of the New Pornographers' output, you really cannot go wrong if you were to choose only one of their albums to spin. That being said, I think Twin Cinema is a really, really great power pop album. For me, Sing Me Spanish Techno is the focal point of that album. It's an incredibly catchy, driving pop song with great singalong-ability. If you have heard the song, then chances are you know what I'm talking about (and possibly agree with me). If you haven't heard it, I honestly think you're missing out and you can give it a chance here.

The New Pornographers > Sing Me Spanish Techno

Pop Molecule

Just as an FYI, I've been spending a bit of time over at Pop Molecule. It's a collaborative blog that arose out of a random conversation. Stop by, drop us a line and add us to your RSS reader. It's a pretty cool group of peeps. It's mostly a stuff-we-like type of blog, but a couple mixes have already been posted that I think will be worth your time. Check it out.

http://pop-molecule.blogspot.com/

Decadeology: I must above all things love myself

Grinderman's No Pussy Blues starts off with a tapping typewriter and the nervous click of a hi-hat, while a bass drum keeps time like a heartbeat. It reminds me of someone sitting at a table, drumming their fingers while waiting for bad news. The voice of Nick Cave comes in to tell the tale of how he's aged and how he's not taking it so well. He meets a girl at a gig and, try as he might, he can't seem to maneuver her into the sack. He lets out his pent-up frustration and shouts out "DAMN!" as the song explodes into a screeching fury of guitars, banging drums and crashing cymbals. This song takes everything down to base levels. Drums, guitars and bass. Dude just wants to get laid, is that so wrong? Easily one of my favorite songs and albums of the past decade. Not to mention it was an absolute treat to see them live at such a small venue.

Grinderman > No Pussy Blues

You can't deny

Just listening to the new Sweet Trip album, You Will Never Know Why, and my jaw is on the floor. Loved it so much I just ordered it from the Darla site. Healthy doses of shoegaze, c86, electronica and Stereolab are all over this wonderful album. So nice to have a late entry to fave albums of 09 lists, and perhaps even those decade lists upon which we are all working so hard. This track, Pretending, has really caught my ear. I've been repeating it quite a bit so far.

Sweet Trip > Pretending

Decadeology: Bleed you dry

I only recently came across the Twilight Sad, perhaps around summertime. I had liked what I heard from Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters, and then I read that a new album (Forget The Night Ahead) was gonna drop this fall. The first single, I Became A Prostitute, hit sometime in August; it completely blew me away and quickly became a favorite. I love the noise, I love the singer's thick Scottish accent and I love the darkness they conjure up. This song is devastating.

The Twilight Sad > I Became A Prostitute

Decadeology: It's the gift that you're given

Curve's Gift details a controlling relationship. Toni Halliday's voice is as cool as ice as she tells her lover to "do it to please me". The "gift" in the song is the one that she gives to him. She is basically the gift, and she expects him to act accordingly. Do it to please her. I love this song because it's about some totally dysfunctional relationship (as most Curve songs seem to be), to which I can relate. Musically, the song walks in-between electronica and rock. The guitars are fiery, the beats are aggressive and the vocals are coolly detached. I think you might be able to describe a lot of their songs as such. This one is one of my favorites in their catalog, and also of this decade.

Curve > Gift

Decadeology: I close my eyes and I let go

Kaela Kimura's Ground Control is ridiculously catchy. In a perfect world, this would be a worldwide #1 hit. It's the sassiest song of the summer you've ever heard. I almost wish she sang it in Japanese, but it's so much easier to sing along with in English. I love the flow of the song, it's so seamless and perfect. I also love the "HEY!". To me, it's just a song about how someone can send you into orbit and also be your tether to the real world. It never sounded like so much fun. Easily one of my faves of the decade.

Kaela Kimura > Ground Control

Decadeology: Go and come back

A slightly less well known band, Fleeting Joys were recommended to me by a friend. We both share a love for shoegaze and noise pop, he mentioned to me that the Fleeting Joys' album, Despondent Transporter, was reminiscent of Loveless era My Bloody Valentine, which is right up my proverbial alley.

This song, Go and Come Back, is gorgeous. It's like floating on a cloud, while passing in and out of brief thunderstorms. I love the wispy, ethereal vocals; the noisy and vibrating guitars. Yeah, it's a lot like MBV, but but who cares when it sounds this good. They just come off as a band who loves this particular genre and they do it well. Alternatively, it could be that I love this sound so much that I'm probably being a bit forgiving, but hey, it sounds good to me.

Fleeting Joys > Go and Come Back