here they are!
"Always" by Junip: Nick Drake and Damien Rice fans rejoice! Singer-songwriter extraordinaire José Gonzalez has a new band!! José has always had a knack for turning electro-pop tunes into heartbreaking folk-rock songs, such as The Knife's "Heartbeats", Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and Massive Attack's "Teardrop" (and in return, bands like Zero 7 have covered some of his own tunes, like "Crosses"). "Always" sounds like an attempt to mix José's signature neo-folk-rock sound with the electronic(a) acts he frequently seems to cover, with its mixture of acoustic guitars and its synthesizers backing it up. It's also the first José tune I've known to have a rhythm section (though perhaps I should have expected that, after all it is his BAND, not José by himself). Despite the newly added instruments, "Always" still manages to be as charmingly soothing as the typical José Gonzalez song!
"Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and The Machine: A bit of a late entry, considering this has been out since early 2010, but some major adult alt. stations, such as Sirius XM's the Spectrum and WRNR, have JUST started playing this, so I thought I'd review it now. Having just listened to this song, I get the impression that female indie-popsters like Cat Power and Feist might be accurate comparisons. "Dog Days" actually seems like the perfect candidate for some of the increasing amount of car commercials that feature indie songs (Phoenix's "1901" and Airborne Toxic Event's "Wishing Well", to name a few), because of its bright, bouncy melody and clap-along chorus. The mandolin-like instrument that seems to function as the central instrument of the song only adds to the cutesy-ness of it. With all that being said, Florence and The Machine have officially won my heart over with this song!
