The Other Blog

[ad]In light of the fact idol is keep karaoke hacks on instead of great performers, it is time to bring you music that didn’t cost more than you will ever make to produce and twice that in marketing to tell you it is good. Every weekday NPR has a song of the day usually by some lesser known indie artist and this week packs a great variety of people into it.

I am starting with last Friday’s (4-4-08) since I somehow missed them. The Kill’s Last Day of Magic is an aggressive sound that reminds me of classic B52’s whose new album isn’t to be missed either.

Aly, Walk With Me, by the Danish duo Raveonettes, has some late sixties psychodelia mixed with grunge reverb and distortion. I will be downloading the rest of this in the very enar future and if the rest of the album is as good you can guarantee yourselves there will be a full review.

Hurricane by Britsh musician Ben Waters is Jerry Lee Lewis, meets The Stray Cats, meets We Didn’t Start the Fire, and would find itself just as at home at a political rally, piano bar, or on Dr. Demento.I feel another music purchase coming on with this one.

“Employing ethereally layered vocals and the ultimate girl-group qualifier, the tambourine, (Natasha) Khan and company describe the heartbreaking reality of extinguished love” in What’s a Girl to Do What’s a Girl to doby Bat For Lashes. They have made themselves into a modern day Shangrilas with a distinctly modern sound and if this song is anything to go by I will certainly be downloading some more tunes. I give the song a 4 out 5 with the only thing lacking is my connection to it as a guy.

Silver Moon by Blitzen Trapper is a song I have had to listent o a few times to get out of my system and is already making its way higher up on my ipod’s play list. There really isn’t anyone I can compare them too which would be accurate because every time I think I have the sound pinned down, I have to take a step back and say did I hear that right.

Am I Just Fooling Myself, by Eli “Paperboy” Reed is a great bluesy number with serious soul, that screams Wilson Picket, Percy Sledge or Brother James. Little more can be said better than Mark Silver already said whne he presented them this morning on Song of the Day. “NPR.org, April 11, 2008 - Just who does Eli “Paperboy” Reed think he is? The reincarnation of the wicked Wilson Pickett? A skillful James Brown imitator? Winner of the Austin Chronicle’s award for “best Otis Redding impersonation by a 23-year-old Jewish boy from Massachusetts”?”

If you like this feature either my recap or NPR’s coverage, please remember to donate to your local NPR station since programming is supported by its listeners.