Ex-Boyfriends - "Private D": "This song reminds me of everything I loved about indie rock in the 90s. Not unlike the-dear-to-my-heart Superchunk, this song is melodic, it rocks - and dammit, when they harmonize with all their lungs while singing "...like a private detective!" in the chorus, I challenge you not to sing along with them. Hell, once you know it, you'll sing along with the whole chorus. It's like pop music wrapped in crunchy rock and filled with heart."
M83 - "Couleurs": "I first heard this song two months ago and I'm still obsessed with it now. PLAY IT! PLAY IT! PLAY IT!"
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - "Falling Slowly" - "This song won the Oscar last night for Best Song and I couldn't be happier. It's a beautiful and heartfelt tune that was far less calculated than its competition in that catagory, yet far more emotional. I only hope that a whole new audience will discover it now."
Killing Joke - "Love Like Blood": "This awesomely Goth-ish (Goth-esque? Avant-goth?) Brit-rock number shows just one of Killing Jokes' many faces, proving themselves here both dark and danceable."
Pino Donaggio - "Body Double (from Body Double)": "I watched Body Double the other week for the first time, while I was home sick. It had its moments, despite being a pretty brain-dead take on Vertigo and other Hitchcock, but this 'song' from the score stayed with me. This is the tune they play every time the male lead watches a mystery woman do a private dance - through his telescope. The synths are pretty 80s Euro-cheese - as are the breathy female vocals - but it's catchy anyway."
Jane Wiedlin & Sparks - "Cool Places": "Jane Wiedlin and Sparks' Russell Mael's low-key interplay makes them sounds like dorks trying to party...but that still makes them cool, doesn't it? New wave gold."
The Posies - "Coming Right Along": "I'm not really familiar with the Posies, but Rhapsody put this song in my (user-responsive) Personal Playlist and I was immediately fascinated by the dirge-like, ominous tune. There's something about the minimal presentation that plays up the dark, eerie qualities of the instrumentation. Heavy."
The B-52's - "Mesopotamia": "A warped history lesson featuring Fred Schneider, the B-52s walked like an Egyptian before the Bangles did, complete with the Kate/Cindy vocal harmonies that made their songs so glorious."
Beck - "Deadweight": "Lazy insects buzzing over South-of-the-border swaying winds up sliding down backwards behind sticky falsetto and fumbling Hammond organ fingerings. A great Beck tune that you can really get lost in."
Tsunami - "In A Name": "Wow, I haven't heard this song in so long. This is from the time that my best friend was turning me onto all this indie rock and noise pop, a lot of it female-fronted bands anywhere from Belly to The Frumpies. Tsunami was part of this group and it wasn't long before I was ordering 'how-to' guides on starting a record label from their label, Simple Machines. (Not that I started one, in the end...)"
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