Here they are!!
"Burning the Bowery" by Jesse Malin: Seems like "going electric" has become somewhat a trend among indie-folk-rock artists, particularly those inspired by the one who started it all (a.k.a. Bob Dylan). My Morning Jacket and Ryan Adams have already done so, and Jesse Malin and his band, The St. Marks Social, are the latest to jump on to this bandwagon. It sounds a little like My Morning Jacket's "I'm Amazed", which seemed like their big "going electric" breakthrough, and probably the hardest-rocking MMJ song that I know of. "Burning the Bowery", similarly, has ended up being the hardest-rocking Jesse Malin song I've known of (though perhaps that shouldn't be as surprising to me considering that Jesse got his start in the cleverly named punk band "D Generation"). This might not be the same Jesse Malin as the one in folk-rock-y songs like "Mona Lisa" and "Don't Let 'Em Take You Down", but it's a fun song to rock out to (and jam to) so check it out!
"Change of Time" by Josh Ritter: Unlike Jesse Malin, Josh Ritter has remained loyal to his acoustic roots, and perhaps even more so on this song than most of his other material. The first half of the song is entirely acoustic, and wistfully so, in the manner of the typical Nick Drake song (only slightly more optimistic). Despite the fact that an electric guitar gets added into the mix of instruments during the second half of the song, it still manages to sound like a pleasant, winsome song. Lyrically, "Change of Time" is also interesting, particularly in that in each of the song's three verses, Josh "has a dream" that he describes in great detail that ends up sounding adventurous, as though the listener is listening to a story more than he/she is listening to a song. This is the type of song I oughta write someday - a song that's compelling enough for listeners to get lost in both the music and the lyrics that tells a story!
"Spinning" by Malea McGuiness: Nobody seems to know who Malea McGuiness is so far (even me!!) After listening to "Spinning", however, I feel like people oughta know who Malea McGuiness is. She seems to be filling what has long been a void in adult alt. music (and alt. music in general). Malea takes after that class of female musicians who both rock out and have vocals and lyrics that are expressive enough to deliver poetry through their songs, ranging from Patti Smith, Liz Phair, Alanis Morissette, Chrissie Hynde, and everywhere in between (though Malea seems to add more "traditional" elements such as '70s-style organs in her music). Although musicians like Feist, Regina Spektor, and Joanna Newsom are excellent, charming, clever musicians, their music (for the most part, at least) is rather benign and gentle in comparison to people like Smith, Phair, Morissette, and Hynde. Malea McGuiness seems like she might just be next on the bandwagon of artists who seemed to have gone either missing, underrated, or changed in format (in the case of Phair and Morissette in particular) in the 2000's. Girl rockers might just finally be makin' a comeback - let's hear it for them!!
EXTRA BONUS FUN TIME!!! I almost forgot - since I reviewed The Black Keys' "Tighten Up" last week (or, rather, 2 weeks ago) and talked about its hilarious music video, I thought y'all might want a link to the video...so here it is!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNXwicxlsvI
Enjoy!! Oh and please feel free to comment on it! :)
