here they are:
"Little Numbers" by Boy: Their name might be "Boy", but they're actually two women! As for the title of their latest song, "Little Numbers", it is quite a fitting title for a song whose music video features children clapping and dancing along to the beat of the song, and the members of the band being silly and playing on a giant chalk keyboard with each other. "Little" and "numbers" are both words that bring my childhood to mind, and perhaps many childhoods (esp. the word "little"). The song's clap-along beat and sugary (but not TOO sugary) harmonies are yet another peppy aspect of it. The song itself is about a relationship, but it has no "downer" lyrics, from what I can tell. In case you are curious to know what the music video for "Little Numbers" was like, here is a link to it. Enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsyjS_vJfkw
"San Francisco" by The Mowgli's: With a band name that brings to mind that kid in "The Jungle Book" who hung out with a talking bear and roamed about in red underwear, it's no surprise to me that The Mowgli's have such an upbeat, friendly sound! Like the previous song I reviewed for this week, "San Francisco" has a cute video to go with it, featuring paper cut-outs of a boy and a girl that probably wouldn't have been too out of place on an old episode of "Sesame Street". With its irresistible rhythm, insanely catchy melodies, and "doot-doo-doo doo"'s punctuating each verse of the song, "San Francisco" is the perfect song to make the kid in you come out and dance!! The music video can be viewed with the following link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZThM8lhg0eU
"Tightrope" by Walk the Moon: For a band who named themselves after The Police's "Walking On the Moon", Walk the Moon definitely seem to follow in their mentors' footsteps in terms of their energetic, new wave-based pop/rock sound! I don't think Sting and the boys ever created a music video like the one for "Tightrope", though! Yes, here is yet ANOTHER song for this week with a creative music video! It's what you'd probably get if you crossed the gaudy, exotic costumes from "Cats" with the quirky puppetry from "Sesame Street", and put them both out in the woods at dusk! Without the music video, "Tightrope" is a funky, danceable song as well, but the video makes the song worth listening to, in my opinion. The link can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPedH9B8AAE
"We the Common" by Thao with The Stay Down Get Down: If Bjork had a more folks-y, bluegrass flavor, she'd probably sound like Thao, one half of the indie-pop duo Thao and Mirah. Lyrically, "We the Common" sounds like a protest song, but I don't think I've ever heard a protest song sound this both this folk-y AND this funky, which makes "We the Common" quite a memorable song for my ears! "We the Common" can be summed up in the following three terms: Bjork-ish vocals, banjo, funky beats. An unlikely combination, but I say, the more unlikely, the better!
"Wild Country" by Wake Owl: This song (and the one that comes after it) for this week are probably the only two songs listed in this entry without a sense of relentless energy to them. Songs for quiet time can be quite peaceful, though, and "Wild Country" by Wake Owl can certainly be defined by words like "peaceful". "Melancholy" is a word that can describe both the mood and the lyrics of "Wild Country", with its lonesome vocals, sighing violins, and lovelorn, sorrowful words like, "Never gonna chase something, it's a total waste running". "Wild Country" is anything BUT "wild". It's a song that's as precious as it is fragile, and one that I hold dear to my heart!
"You Never Need Nobody" by The Lone Bellow: Having never heard of The Lone Bellow before, I decided to look them up on a music website, which compared them to bands like Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, and The Civil Wars. I knew from this that I'd probably fall in love with their music, and I did! (Though Wake Owl are better, in my opinion). Still, "You Never Need Nobody" has a quaint, down home-y vibe to it that's hard to resist. It sounds like the kind of song you might play near a campfire right before you go to bed, or maybe one that you'd play outside on a porch of a log cabin. In any case, though, "You Never Need Nobody" is a charming song with a wistful melody, and is another great addition to the ever expanding folk-rock catalog of the 2010's!
