The Three Songs I Just Bought...

...are all pretty awesome, but I'm not exactly the first one to say it. Still, it was a good use of the four dollars of credit I didn't know I had on iTunes.

Rill Rill - Sleighbells
We Own the Sky - M83
Statue of Liberty - XTC

The first two are electronic-ish, the first being upbeat and the second a lot slower, and the third is good old-fashioned indie rock.

Since I haven't gotten any other new music lately, so this is all I've got. More whenever I can!

United State of Electronica

U.S.E. has been around for quite a while, and I've seen them in concert a few times - mostly by accident - but I'm still on a plodding path when it comes to actually getting their music. It's not that I don't like them or that it takes a while to get into them, because neither of those things are true. They're really upbeat, all of their songs and remixes that I've heard are great, and I would love to grab an album or two. However, I can say that about so many bands right now that it loses its meaning, so all I can do is add them to some playlists on Hype Machine and Playlist.com, and write about them here. Emerald City and It's On are the best songs I've heard from them, but that's no indication, so go listen to them yourself!

Best song around right now (part 2)

King of Spain! I've written about this song a little bit before, or at least mentioned it as a good summer song, but right now it really is my favorite. It isn't on my iPod (there's a long post that could be spend describing my incredibly janky iPod, but since it isn't something I actually like, it isn't terribly suited for this blog), so I can't listen to it as much as Come on Mona. All the same, I just picked up the new Tallest Man on Earth album that has this on it, and it's fantastic.

King of Spain, like most of the songs I love, tells a story. It talks about how the singer dreams about being the titular King, and asks the lady who he is singing to - since she can "redefine him" as her lover - to make him as such. He both describes his hypothetically ideal life as the monarch in question and questions her relationship with him.

The song is centered around the singer and his guitar, and the two blend seamlessly. It's really fantastic, a fast and upbeat song that lends itself to a range of interpretations. Go listen to it.

Best song around right now

Off the People In A Position To Know sampler CD (the origins of which I'm going to need to go into in another post) comes a fantastic track from a band I've never heard of. "Come On Mona" by Mona Reels is a bright, almost twee track with a solid piano back. In fact, listening to the song I'm unable to hear any guitar, just the piano and drums, with a few bits of harmony thrown in among the singing. Speaking of the singing, the lyrics are fantastic: "I found her very smart, she said 'you're just too dumb, and that's going to be the only time I tell someone'" is just one of the better bits. Despite a line like that, it's still an incredibly upbeat number. Check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/themonareels