here they are:
"I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You" by The Hold Steady: Where Bruce Springsteen romanticized city life, The Hold Steady expose the seedy underbelly of city life. "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You" is basically meant to frighten you, at least lyrically it is. It's a woefully angry tale of Craig Finn's current life breaking into shambles before his very eyes. The passionately grungy sound of the song recalls similarly themed life-gone-wrong, downward spiraling songs, like The Afghan Whigs' "What Jail Is Like" and Goo Goo Dolls' "Long Way Down". The Hold Steady are clearly not holding steady!!
"Let's Be Still" by The Head and The Heart: While seeing The Head and The Heart in concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, I got a taste of this song before I reviewed it! "Let's Be Still" is a very calming song, as its title implies. It is probably one of the best contemporary songs to meditate to, for both its soothing melody and for its message of trying to find a blissful escape from the fast pace of the modern world. The vocal harmony of the song flows quite well with the spiritual harmony of the lyrics.
"Three Headed Woman" by Boy and Bear: For Boy and Bear to even come up with a song title as bizarre as "Three Headed Woman", they are probably more eccentric than the quaint folk-rock group they appear to be. The title is only mentioned at the beginning of the song, when Dave Hosking sings about how he "had one of those dreams where you were a three headed woman". What this means is anyone's guess, and Sigmund Freud would probably have a field day with trying to figure out its meaning! As for the song itself, it seems to be about being caught between loving and hating one's object of affection.
"Work It Out" by Knox Hamilton: Don't be fooled by the name, Knox Hamilton are a quartet, not a single person. You should also not be fooled by the gentle "Mr. Rogers"-ish chime of the xylophone in the intro of the song, as it is does not define the song, and it is also not used in the rest of the song, which is one of many alt-pop songs that I have come to label "new new wave" (using an anthemic contemporary pop/rock sound in which guitars and synthesizers are both dominant instruments). Not a whole lot of particularly memorable substance in the song, and the chorus of "I know we can work it out" is nothing new. Sure is catchy, though!
