Tourist Trap

Here's a quick musical snapshot from my vacation:::

Payphones are My Best Friends: A Playlist to Montreal and Back

Stars and Boulevards- Augustana (A plinking piano tune wrapped in mellow guitar repititions and a beat soft but structured enough to lend a spine to the rock ballad that intensifies with each verse.)

Memory Lane-Elliot Smith (There's something very "Toy Story" about this song, which illustrates a fictional town of memories in an almost S and G way)

What Sarah Said- Death Cab for Cutie (As mellow as it is, I would proceed to bawl if this song landed itself on a "lite" music station, however, I would be equally confused if I heard it on a heavy rock station. It belongs somewhere in the middle, on a cool sweeping sorrowful piano alternative station. Do they have those?)

Cicrle Square Triangle-Test Icicles (This is one of those too-"cool"-for-those-mainstream-clubs frustration rock-dance songs. Why frustrating? Because if you are driving for five hours, there's no way to get up and succumb to the dance urges.)

I Got 9000 Friends-Demetri Martin (A comedic and sadly true emo look at Myspace).

Sun (Acoustic)-Mae (Some songs are just bad acoustically. In this case, the bittersweet lyrics, light acoustics, and tender beats may be even better than the original hyper rock version.)

Insanity-Liz Phair (Liz Phair's no-crap-from-anyone attitude spears this tune and she vents her frustration with a clear voice and straight lyrics.)


In other news, Subpop has confirmed rumours of Iron and Wine's forthcoming release, The Sheperd's Dog, which will come out this autumn. So that should be pretty great.

Another artist to check out is Mica Penniman, a Lebanese Londoner who goes by the stage name of Mika and creates hypersweet rock that will satisfy any exploratory sweet tooth. Below is the video, Grace Kelly, a song which Mika explains is about frustration (more frustration, yes!) with record labels that wanted to "change" his image and sound. As a rebellious child and teenager, Mica felt he could never conform and began writing songs like "Lollipop", "Relax, Take It Easy", and "Grace Kelly". Enjoy-



More later,

Kit

P.S. Albert Hammond Jr.'s new album is quite the kick ass debut. Quite expected from a Stroke, his "Yours To Keep" has been released in the UK and Mexico and will be out in America in March.

P.P.S. Bright Eye's "Tourist Trap" is fantastic.