Miike Snow – Good, but Derivative

I’m not trying to take the piss out of anyone who loves Miike Snow.  I went to their show last night and danced my face off.  Miike Snow are extremely talented and perform with excellence.  That said, I don’t love their music.  I like it, but don’t find anything exceptional about it.  I did, however, find a few songs quite noteworthy for their striking similarities to other songs.

1. Miike Snow – God Help This Divorce / Simon & Garfunkel – The Only Living Boy in New York

Couldn’t you have at least done a different strumming pattern, MIIKE? Or maybe a different key?!

2. MS – Animal / Passion Pit – Every Passion Pit Song

Animal feels like less of a rip-off, but the first time I heard it I thought it had to be a new Passion Pit song.

3. MS – Silvia / U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday

Miiiiiike, really? The same key again?  You can sing Sunday Bloody Sunday right over Silvia.

The biggest shame about all this is how the Miike Snow near-cover songs pale in comparison to the true originals. P.S. Sunday Bloody Sunday is the only U2 song I like.

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs [2010]

Post #45.  The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.  You knew this was coming (sorry DrewDrew, you had your way last week).  This Arcade Fire album takes on a more rock spirit than their previous albums and even has a somewhat shoegaze atmosphere.  The whole thing builds and builds to the end and I can’t help thinking that AF intentionally muddied up their sound and structured the album this way to give me the feeling that I’m driving through endless suburban sprawl.

The last six songs on this are fantastic, and of course Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) is a contender for single of the year.  Enjoy!

source: pfork

Delorean – Subiza (2010)

Post #41.  Subiza by Delorean.  I don’t feel the need to make much of a case here – you’re going to like this instantly.  Delorean is the kind of music that can get old, but only because you won’t be able to stop yourself from putting it on repeat.  They have an Animal Collective Brothersporty jungle dance sound that is perfect for summer cookouts and parties.

Enjoy all but the last track on this youtube playlist.  Here’s a free download of the single Stay Close, and here’s one of their remix of Cold Cave‘s Life Magazine.

source: pfork

Bat for Lashes – Two Suns [2009]

Album post #29. Two Suns by Bat for Lashes.  I grew up listening to a lot of the mainstream Celtic music that you would see on PBS (Three Irish Tenors, Riverdance, Celtic Women, etc.).  Kind of dorky, but I bet everyone besides my buddy Fink wants to play a Bodhran.

Bat for Lashes isn’t quite Celtic, but between the minor melodies, hollow drums, and Natasha Khan’s towering voice it shares a lot in common with PBS-pop Celtic music.  It is of course much cooler!

If Khan’s music isn’t attractive enough for you to fall in love with her, just take a look at the video of the album’s single Daniel below.  She has a face to match her lovely voice. Full youtube playlist here.

source: pfork

Lindstrøm and Christabelle – Real Life is No Cool [2010]

Album post #27.  Lindstrøm and Christabelle‘s album Real Life is No Cool has sexy vocals, thick beats, and a 90s pop danceability.  The 90s element is most evident in songs like Baby Can’t Stop, the answer to MJ‘s Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, and Keep It Up, which has chimes that I swear I’ve heard in some Madonna song.  The album feels very personal to me, in part because the songs remind me of my childhood and partly because Christabelle‘s lyrics are so intimate.  The closing track, High and Low, is incredibly warm and personal.

A listening tip: skip the first minute of track 1 and all three minutes of track 9.  I can’t figure why Lindstrøm decided to break up his silky smooth album with 4 minutes of choppy backward vocals.  It really turned me off on my first listen.  I could only find 5 of the album tracks for this youtube playlist.  High and Low is my favorite track by a mile.  Be sure to also check out Aeroplane‘s remix of Baby Can’t Stop (It’s actually better than the original).

source: pfork

Hot Chip – One Life Stand [2010]

Album post #25. Hot Chip‘s fourth LP, One Life Stand, released tomorrow.  Hot Chip are some self-assumed badass white boys from Britain who love keyboards, synths, and slick beats.  They write love songs about alley cats and bass driven Escalade cruising tunes but never seem to let their pervasive humor detract from their music’s appeal.  At least not for me, even as don’t care too much for humor in music.  It seems that their goal, rather than to be jokesters, is to create fun music and show themselves through it, coke bottle lenses and all.

The first four tracks of this album are awesome!  Listen to the complete album on this youtube playlist or at Spinner for the week.  Hint: to achieve maximum enjoyment of I Feel Better, ignore the auto-tuner part in the beginning for the first few listens.  It grows on you even though you may roll your eyes at another auto-tuned voice.  The beat to that song is so fun.

source: dataless

The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa [2009]

Album Post #8. The Very Best‘s debut LP Warm Heart of Africa.  The Very Best is the name of the collaborative effort of Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit, who also team up with big names Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and M.I.A. for a couple tracks on this record.  I don’t have much to say about this electronic-laced Malawian music besides, listen to it – it rocks.

In addition to my tardiness this week, I have had trouble finding the whole album on youtube.  This playlist has 6 of the 13 songs and I have posted a few below.  Unfortunately, my favorite tracks, Chalo, Angonde, Mfumu,  and Ntende Uli are not on the playlist so you may have to do some digging of your own.

source: bsmith and jmac