Some songs
Raveonettes, Heart of Stone
I know nothing about the Raveonettes, but I heard this song on a myboytheriotgirl podcast a couple months ago and fell in love with the twangy guitar riff that runs through the whole song, as well as the airy, swoopy vocals. This song makes me nod my head and tap my toes, and the pretty “ooooh”s that kick in on the second verse make me smile. I don’t need songs to be deep or meaningful; I just need them to make me feel bright and awake like this one does.
JET, She’s a Genius
I started off hating this raucous band from Australia, and have come full circle to the point where I like nearly everything they put on the radio. This song, from their newest album, kicks me in the pants and plasters a huge grin on my face every time he sings “she said I’m nothing/but I’m damn sure it’s more than you” before slamming into the shouty, joyous chorus where you can tell he’s damn proud that the titular girl is HIS girl. Extra points for going on just long enough and then screeching to a stop. Play it loud.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Heads Will Roll
I’ve liked the Y3 song Gold Lion for years, but never got into their other stuff until their latest album It’s Blitz! came out. The lead single, Zero, got my attention, but it was this song that made me realize how much I really need to get out to a club and dance my head off sometime soon. It’s reminiscent of the best Pet Shop Boys songs from the late 80s/early 90s, while adding a decidedly girl-glam feel. As a lifelong Alice in Wonderland devotee, I can’t help but be seduced by the refrain “Off, off with your head… dance, dance ‘til you’re dead”. Can you? This song makes me bounce.
Death Cab for Cutie, Meet Me on the Equinox
My boyfriend Ben Gibbard and his buddies contribute a song to the wasteland that is the Twilight series - some surprisingly good tunes coming out of this dreck, which is nice to see. This song is vintage DCFC, with soaring chorus line and awkwardly poetic lyrics about doomed love and the universe. I love it anyway. “Everything, everything, everything ends,” sings Gibbard, blasting some much-needed honesty into teenage love affairs that we all think will last forever.
Paramore, Playing God/Brick by Boring Brick/Ignorance/Decode
While we’re talking about Twilight, I wanted to give massive props to the new Paramore record, Brand New Eyes, which surprised me with its maturity despite the young ages of the band members. They wrote Decode for the first Twilight film, but added it to the end of the album, letting Hayley Williams finish up by wailing like only she can. The girl is not only cute, but she’s got pipes and isn’t afraid to use them. Her lyrics are coming along nicely too, as evidenced on the mordant Playing God: “Next time you point a finger/I might have to bend it back/or break it, break it off/Next time you point a finger... I'll point you to the mirror”. I can’t wait to see what she does on their next album.
Melissa McClelland, Glenrio
In our “one of these things is not like the others” entry for the month, Canadian bluegrass chanteuse McClelland, who is married to and produced by the delicious Luke Doucet, joined him at a show of his that Chris and I caught a couple years ago, and she played this song, from her then-unreleased Victoria Day. This song swaggers, pouts, howls and mocks in equal measure, and I freaking love it. “I’ve got a temper hotter than Santa Fe/and faster than your sister gives it all away”, she drawls, and you don’t know whether to giggle or be offended on your sister’s behalf. This song definitely puts the blue in bluegrass.