#80: "I'll Be By Your Side"
artist: Sally Shapiro
album: Disco Romance (2006)
location: Göteborg, Sweden
interest: no one really knows who "Sally Shapiro" is. Using a pseudonym, she has never performed live, given real-life interviews or revealed her real name.
(1) the darkness will end / the dawn will shine
(2) all those synths!! come on 80s.
(3) that insistent 4-on-the-floor kick drum gets me every time in this genre.
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#79: "Casa Nova"
artist: Mia Doi Todd
album: Manzanita (2005)
location: Los Angeles, CA
interest: she spent some time studying Ankoku Butoh (an avant-garde dance) in Japan
(1) hip hip hurray, oh hallelujah
(2) her music is typically voice and acoustic, highlighting her muted back-of-the-throat kind of singing. so this song is a fun tip-toe into another musical genre.
(3) great horns throughout this track!!
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#78: "I Wanna Be Like Johnny C"
artist: Loveninjas
album: The Secret of the Loveninjas (2006)
location: Stockholm, Sweden
interest: band began playing live wearing ninja masks and having one member in a giant heart costume. (also has a song called "She Broke His Penis in Two" which is interesting and disturbing...)
(1) a voice that shook my body / you sing and girls go naughty
(2) the vocal delivery from 2:36 through 2:48 is fabulous! the way the vocal hangs over as the band drops out, helping to punctuate the yearning spirit
(3) for a lyric that so desperately wants to be like someone else, it's delivered very confidently. the band isn't timidly performing this track.
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#77: "Dead Meat"
artist: Sean Lennon
album: Friendly Fire (2006)
location: New York City, NY
interest: son of John and Yoko, he co-wrote a song ("All I Ever Wanted") with Lenny Kravitz at age 16.
(1) you better run out of here / i'll close my eyes and count to ten / and then I'll come find you
(2) it's a threatening song, but how can someone be frightened by that singing voice?!
(3) two chords kill me every time: during the second verse at 1:40 and 1:44. fabulous!!
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#76: "Stay Where You Are"
artist: Ambulance LTD
album: LP (2004)
location: Spanish Harlem, New York
interest: band has since split, but lead singer (Marcus Congleton) has kept the name and is writing new material in LA with The Velvet Underground's John Cale.
(1) i might not be the one, that's true / but i'm trying, don't you know
(2) the long shoe-gazing instrumental really helps this track! i can imagine the tension and excitement in a room growing as that is played live
(3) great guitar parts throughout, especially during the choruses.
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#75: "Heart Attack"
artist: Longwave
album: There's A Fire (2005)
location: New York
interest: after a (self-imposed?) three-year hiatus, the band's new album (Secrets Are Sinister) will be released on November 11, 2008.
(1) it all comes back to this
(2) the tremolo rhodes, with it's R&B vibe, that opens the song draws me in immediately.
(3) the long dynamic build keeps this song really interesting. how many guitar tracks are here anyway?!
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#74: "God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)"
artist: El Perro Del Mar
album: El Perro Del Mar (2006)
location: Gothenburg, Sweden
interest: meaning "seadog" in Spanish, behind this alter-ego is the sole member of the band, Sarah Assbring. (which I would hope isn't her real name either... must have been a tough childhood.)
(1) God knows / I've been asking a lot without giving back
(2) what a throwback sounding song! it's got that Nancy Sinatra vibe with the strings and muted drums. very cool
(3) the vocal performances are really good--maybe the background vocals are best in fact.
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#73: "Aaron & Maria"
artist: The American Analog Set
album: Know By Heart (2001)
location: Austin, Texas
interest: band recorded second album "under threat of eviction" because of complaining neighbors as they recorded in a living room.
(1) and loving you is just enough
(2) I have always loved this low-fi band. the instruments chosen really capture the indie spirit - has an everyman kind of vibe, leading one to believe you can make music like this too!
(3) the whispered vocals are really engaging! the way they are mixed in the track causes me to really pay attention to the lyric and melody
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#72: "Half Light"
artist: Athlete
album: Tourist (2005)
location: Deptford, London, England
interest: TV and movies like this band! A Good Year, The Last Kiss, "One Tree Hill", "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Diagnosis X" have all featured an Athlete tune
(1) and all that I've seen / means nothing to me / without you
(2) yes there are the guitars and accents and epic choruses, but what continues to differentiate this band from contemporary Britpop has to be the great use of synths. This track highlights their great use of that texture.
(3) the bridge (2:28 ) is so bizarre and makes me smile every time the song reaches that point. Really? A flute?!
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#71: "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me"
artist: The Pipettes
album: We Are The Pipettes (2004)
location: Brighton, England
interest: trio is backed by an all-male band, The Cassette, who never appear in interviews or photoshoots. grrrrl power!!
(1) you better hear me clear (boy) / I want you out of here (boy)
(2) so much attitude here! it's got that old do-wop vibe, but with the empowered female mindset.
(3) listen to the echo vocal during the pre-choruses (:37 and 1:27) – I picture someone peeking around her girlfriend's shoulder, throwing in an extra verbal jab for good measure.
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