here they are:
"Brill Bruisers" by The New Pornographers: If you're familiar with the "Brill Building" movement of the early '60s (which included mostly "girl groups" like The Shirelles, The Ronettes, and The Chiffons), then "Brill Bruisers" actually seems like quite an apt way to describe the innocent on the outside, snarky on the inside sound of a group like The New Pornographers. Don't be fooled by their risque sounding name, it's merely based on how someone commented on how music is the "new pornography". That squeaky clean "ba-ba" dominated harmony in the beginning of "Brill Bruisers" pretty much sets the blueprint for the song. It's a somewhat punchy, yet still enjoyable "feel-good" song like many of The New Pornographers songs are, and that's pretty much what makes the song enjoyable. Aside from the filler words uttered in harmony during the song, it's a bit hard to make out what the lyrics are at first, but it seems as though music matters more to The New Pornographers than lyrics do. After all, these are the same guys who did "Sing Me Spanish Techno", a song that even the group themselves has no idea what it's about!
"Call Me the Breeze" by Eric Clapton: Back when Lynyrd Skynyrd made this song famous, they really emphasized the rock 'n' roll element of what was originally more of a laid-back blues-y country song by J.J. Cale. Almost 40 years later, it appears that guitar hero (and avid J.J. Cale fan) Eric Clapton has come back to do Cale's song justice by sticking to the blues-y, yet still mellow sound that the song originally had. Lynyrd Skynyrd fans may disagree with me, but I personally think that "Call Me the Breeze" sounds better as a Clapton cover than as a Skynyrd cover!
