Your Listening Pleasure
The Virgins, Hard-Fi and Devendra Banhart chime in this week.
Devendra Banhart – Samba Vexillographica [MP3] - The unofficial ringleader of the freak-folk movement is back again with a blend of old and new. While "Samba Vexillographica" (roughly translating to "flag design samba") retains his signature fingerpicking guitar style and eccentric crooning, he adds in a bit of influence from the Brazilian Tropicalia-era artists like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The track, sung in Portuguese, starts off with a two-chord bossa nova riff, and slowly builds with layered vocals, an egg shaker, flute, snare drum rolls, whistles and more.
The result is a breezy track that makes you wish you lying down at a tropical beach, sipping coconut milk and watching the waves instead of sitting in front of your computer. Curse you, Devendra.
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon is out now on XL Records.
Hard-Fi – Suburban Knights [MP3] - Rock bands in the vein of Bloc Party or the Kaiser Chiefs coming out of Britain are a dime a dozen these days - but Hard-Fi takes the best elements of their contemporaries as well as groups like The Clash. Playful offbeat guitar riffs meld with keyboards, sing-along background vocals and even violin breakdowns combine into a statement about the boredom and ultimate futility of suburban life. But boy, it sure is catchy.
Once Upon A Time In The West is out now on Atlantic Records.
The Virgins – Rich Girls [MP3] - An unlikely group of NYC white boys making soulful, funky pop music under an even more unlikely name. Taking their cues from Franz Ferdinand and LCD Soundsystem, the bass-line driven track oozes with sexuality, while the 4/4 hi-hat heavy disco beat keeps the groove going. Donald, the vocalist, delivers his lines not unlike Tokyo Police Club or the Arctic Monkeys with words like "who's been wearing what with who/hey, what's going on?" Try listening to this one without shimmying around in your seat. I dare you.
Their self-titled EP is out now on aNYthing Records.
Posted by Jason Prechtel on Oct 02, 2007 @ 12:00 am
