The Wombats- Let's Dance to Joy Division (Download Link) This track comes from my guest on the show this week, Spencer. The song has a bit more elements of punk to hit than what I normally play, but not too much so it makes for a good, upbeat indie rock track.
I LOVE THIS SONG SO DAMN MUCH. I would have used it as the track of the week without a doubt if it didn't swear in the song. Don't worry though, it contains explicit content but really is just a solid indie song. It does not come across as vulgar at all.
So since I couldn't play it on my show. I'm going to go ahead and give it to you here to download anyways.
Nada Surf is an indie rock band that has been around for a decade and a half now, first releasing their debut album High/Low in 1996, "Popular" is actually the single from that first album. They've changed a lot over the years, they started out with a much more alternative sound, and now have developed into a much lighter indie rock feel with songs such as "Always Love" coming from them in recent years. I do enjoy their newer stuff more, their last 2 albums have been released under Seattle's own Barsuk Records and one of them even being produced by Death Cab For Cutie's lead guitarist Christopher Walla.
This song, even though it was recorded in 1995, is still classic to me. Not only is it super catchy but it is easily relate able to anyone who has been through high school.
As mentioned on my show. Whether you're trying to get over a past significant other or not... This list is actually really strong and better yet provides downloads to all the songs!
Hey Marseilles is a band out of Seattle. Sound Magazine ranked their album, To Travels & Trunks, as the 23rd best Northwest album of 2008. They're still pretty small, but apparently they were the opening act for the "Bumbershoot Music Lounge" at Bumbershoot... they also have a Wikipedia page so they're on their way to living large.
Also, their album came out last year on December 13, which is my birthday and so that decision provides even further credibility to the band.
Jamie T is from the UK and crosses hip-hop and indie rock genres. For those of you that listened to me filling in for a hip-hop KZUU radio show from 10pm-12am, I opened with a more rap sounding song by Jamie T. In this song the sound is similar to a mix between the Kooks and the Arctic Monkeys. Most commonly I find that he sounds like a mix between the Arctic Monkeys and the Streets (a British rapper). This song is from his 2007 debut album, but he also just came out with a new album entitled "Kings & Queens" last month which I enjoy even more than the first album (but contains more explicit content so I couldn't play it).
This beat was made by Illfonics, which is the guys that produced the "Enter Galactic" track, and given to Cudi last year. Apparently Cudi really liked the beat and said he was going to use it on his album... but I guess they never made a track using it that made the cut. I think the beat is really sick, I'd love to hear a studio track around it.
I know most people that check this site (however few that may be...) are probably here for hip-hop, so I try to keep hip-hop related posts to a minimum. But this just made me laugh because Kid Cudi is obviously totally baked here. I love towards the beginning of the video when he tells his friend that "Imma bout to get Too Short on this motha fucka" and his friend responds "ohh biaatch", because for those of you who haven't heard Too Short, he's somewhat famous for how he says "biaatch"
SORRY IT'S LATE!! I had it saved as a draft post last night but didn't want to post it until my show, I know a person called in and asked for the address again so they could download the song... I forgot to say that I hadn't posted it to the blog yet!
Barcelona is an indie rock band from Seattle and released their album "Absolutes" in 2007. They played at Bumbershoot in 2008, and just this year they have been signed to Universal and did a re-release of the "Absolutes" album, so with a big label budget behind them, maybe Barcelona will cross into the mainstream in the future.
