Boy Bands

No, not a post reflecting back on the era of the Backstreet Boys. Instead, three interesting band recommendations you may or may not have heard of (don't you know, themed lists and posts are all the rage in the blogging world at the moment...) :

1) Boy Kill Boy - Their music as is good as their band name is violent. Boy Kill Boy is a high energy, pop-done-right, East London quartet. Two singles so far. "Back Again" is instantly catchy, I mean how can you not take to a song with lyrics like "Can I find some more misery?" "Suzie", to be released in the coming weeks, is another gem. Boy Kill Boy are good for their dramatic production and delivery, and almost Depeche Mode-esqe synthrock sounds. I am confident this band is going places. Their first album is set to be released in May!



2) The Boy Least Likely To - Changing pace, The Boy Least Likely To is the band most likely to have a lot of Belle & Sebastian aficionados among its fans. Another "twee" band, The Boy Least Likely To's childlike innocence and sweetness makes even Belle and Sebastian seem like a group of thugs. Their album, "The Best Party Ever" was released last year. The two tracks I've posted are "Be Gentle With Me" and "Monsters." "Be Gentle With Me" has tinges of Arcade Fire, going into a catchy upbeat chorus. "Monsters" sees friends and loved ones terrifying the narrator by "getting married, having babies" - and suggesting he'd be happier if he did, too. He bemoans the gradual shift of old friends and acquaintances to "monsters" with kids, families, and normal jobs. With its meticulous pop sounds, you really can't help but be charmed.



3) The Beach Boys - I'm aware this looks out of place. But where would we be without them? While more often than not laughed at for their over-the-top lighthearted songs about girls, surfin', and cars - they had their serious side too. Therefore, I am including "Tears in the Morning" and "Heroes and Villains" - two widely unknown and underappreciated gems in todays free downloads (plus I needed a third "boy" band.) "Tears in the Morning" off of the 1970 album "Sunflower" is a heartbreaker - "Gone, gone, you're gone forever - hope you love the baby I'll never see" - with a lovely strings arrangement as well. "Heroes and Villains" off of Brian Wilson's album "Smiley Smile" is classic Beach Boys harmonies. While the beginning is more typical, the middle section sounds like a song that should have appeared on "Pet Sounds" (and if you don't own the album "Pet Sounds" you have no idea what you're missing out on!)



Download:

Back Again - Boy Kill Boy
Suzie - Boy Kill Boy
Be Gentle With Me - The Boy Least Likely To
Monsters - The Boy Least Likely To
Tears in the Morning - The Beach Boys
Heroes and Villains - The Beach Boys

Buy:

Civilian - Boy Kill Boy (Pre-order) (Amazon)
The Best Party Ever - The Boy Least Likely To (Amazon)
Sunflower/Surf's Up - The Beach Boys (Amazon)
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey - The Beach Boys (Amazon)

George Must Go

While wasting time away on YouTube I came across this, the end of a Real Time with Bill Maher show that I thought was really well written. Its fairly old, back from the days following Katrina, but still oh so relevant.

So without any further ado, I leave you in the more than capable hands of Mr. Bill Maher:



Its really too bad we can't get him here in the UK. One of a whole, maybe, 3 things I miss having fled the states.

Does That Make Me Crazy?

Hope you all had a good Easter/Passover/Spring-celebrating religious ritual; after a long break MYCM is back!

So unless you've been living... oh I don't know, on another planet or something, you've all heard the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. In case your Spring break was to Saturn, this was the first song in history to hit #1 as a download-only single - there was no physical CD released.

For anyone who has somehow managed to not hear this song yet, I have made it available for a limited-time only download, below.



Gnarls Barkley is playing Webster Hall on May 22nd for anyone lucky enough to be in NYC at the time, tickets go on sale at noon on April 26th (thanks BrooklynVegan.) Or for anyone going to the Wireless Festival here in the UK, their only gig here in the near-future.

The rest of us will have to wait for more information to be released, in the meantime visit their official site and My Space for more information and updates. You can even listen to their entire album streamed!

Download:

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

My Humps, My Humps, My Not-So-Lovely Lumps?

So while I'm behind on posting a few concert reviews, I had to put those aside in favor of a quick inspired post about what our world will look like in 40 or 50 years.

You know how you look at the adorable elderly couples dancing to "Beyond The Sea" and other sweet old romantic 1940s songs and your heart just melts?

Well just what will we look like to our grandkids when we're in the nursing home "gettin' down" to the Thong Song at the age of 75? Will we change our thongs for Depends? Will we be setting a bad example for little Tommy when he comes to visit his grandma?

Or will this all look mild by comparison to whatever the young 'uns will be listening to by then? (What will their lyrics be about - necrophilia? Bestiality?) Maybe it will swing 180 degrees and they'll look down on us as immoral and loose, as they have a reactionary period where everyone joins abstinence groups in high school to be cool.



Just a thought.