Maroon 5

"Makes Me Wonder"
from the album It Won't Be Soon Before Long
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Makes Me Wonder"

As Maroon 5 struggled to finish what would eventually be their new single, the band decided to go on a songwriting trip somewhere without distractions. Like, you know, Las Vegas.

"It was actually great because we were distracted just enough that we didn't think about it too much, and then we wrote this part that wound up being the chorus," singer Adam Levine said of "Makes Me Wonder."

"It's weird," he continued. "I wrote a couple parts for it a long time ago and it was one of the first demos that we had made when we were on the road. And then we put it to bed and didn't really care about it, but it kept coming up because the label loved it. So it took a lot of work and I hated this song for a long time."

Of course, Levine loves the tune now and was elated to be shooting the video recently at the California Department of Transportation building and Los Angeles International Airport with director John Hillcoat.

"It's a fantasy airport," Levine said of the concept. "John had this amazing idea to turn an airport on its end and make it sort of bizarre and surreal and sexually charged and sleek and amazing and fashionable, which are things you never typically would associate with an airport."

"Makes Me Wonder" has nothing to do with flying, but it does combine two things not typically associated with each other -- love and politics.

"It started off as a song about one of my relationships that was going horribly wrong, and then we incorporated this line -- 'Give me something to believe in/ Because I don't believe in you anymore' -- which is the refrain of the chorus," Levine explained. "It kind of had something to do with our growing dissatisfaction with things and the confusion that was in the air -- maybe not targeted at the Bush administration, but maybe dancing around that territory a little bit."

Like Maroon 5's Grammy-winning Songs About Jane, its follow-up, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, due May 22, features mostly relationship-gone-wrong jams.

"It isn't about one person, which obviously the first record was entirely, but this is still about love and relationships and the things that everyone goes through," Levine said. "You still have to write what you know, and what I still know is that I'm as confused about things as I always have been."

"I'm really impressed how Adam wrote for this record," keyboardist Jesse Carmichael added. "I listen to the lyrics and find myself crying. I mean, they're just really relevant to what anybody goes through in any kind of romantic situation in life."

It Won't Be Soon Before Long does have a few exceptions, including what will likely be the album's second single, "Wake Up Call."

"That's a pretty big departure for us," Levine said. "I think our first single is closer to what we were doing before, and 'Wake Up Call' is darker and also a song that is a total fantasy. I think it's most inspired, lyrically, by the Bob Dylan song 'Hurricane,' which was so isolated from who he was. He was just telling a story [about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter], but that was really a narrative and I thought that was amazing. So if you took 'Hurricane' and put it in a blender with [R. Kelly's epic] 'Trapped in a Closet,' it's similar, but about a double murder."

~ Corey Moss, MTV News

The Rakes

"We Danced Together"
from the album Ten New Messages
2007
iTunes

The Rakes have been threatening on their own website that Ten New Messages represents something akin to a concept album. Singer Alan Donohoe has even gone as far as to say that it’s influenced by: 'a combination of choral music, the television show 24, Bond theme tunes, World War I poets and the Sugababes’, One suspects that, pretty much like their legendary, self-mythologised beginnings, their tongues are firmly in cheeks, yet this return of the skinny London tykes does seem to have some very particular modern themes running through it.

Though the band’s musical touchstones on their debut, Capture/Release, were the Clash and the Stranglers, they’ve now gone properly post-punk (along with the rest of the known universe) and angular chugging white-boy funk topped off with stirring guitar riffs is the order of the day. One could point to their resemblance to former mentors Franz Ferdinand and also the Strokes, but this lot are so up front about their magpie sensibilities it’s impossible to use it as a complaint. They rock as well as anyone.

Produced by Jim Abbiss and Brendan Lynch, the album brims with catchiness, not least first single "We Danced Together." The songs build on the first album's themes of London leisure in the face of mind-numbing careers and endless commuting, but are here tinged with a darker paranoia, filled with references to edgy tube journeys ("Suspicious Eyes") and panic in the face of urban terror ("When Tom Cruise Cries"). The lyrics remain witty, though one can't help feeling that anyone not resident in the UK capital might feel a little excluded by their everyday tales of life in The Smoke, no matter how many references to mobile phones you cram in.

So, a spunky second showing with a dark heart for the fashionistas’ fave band. There’s more to them than just designer labels.

~ Jerome Blakeney, bbc.co.uk

Young Love

"Discotech"
from the album Too Young to Fight It
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Discotech" [right-click/save-as]



Dan Keyes has a vision for his one-man band Young Love, and it's fully realized in the opening track of his debut album, Too Young to Fight It. Following the path of artists like Bloc Party and (gulp!) Panic! at the Disco, who dragged indie-rockers out of their dimly lit bar seats and onto the dance floor, Keyes has taken the next logical step: dialing the rock down to almost nothing; a garnish for the electronic centerpiece. "Discotech" combines shrill guitars with new wave synth to make a deliciously catchy dance tune. Whereas Bloc Party's "Helicopter" might need to be remixed to fill the room, "Discotech" is pressed club-ready.

Dan Keyes wasn't always cutting up Brooklyn night clubs with his soaring vocals and infectious beats. He left his old band Recover and a major-label deal back in Austin, Texas. Their last album, the ironically titled This May Be the Year I Disappear, was released by Universal in 2004 and Keyes moved to New York shortly after to start Young Love. Keyes hasn't left all the trappings of his former Recover identity behind, however. "Tragedy," "Underneath the Night Sky," and "Close Your Eyes" are decent guitar driven songs right out of the Killers mold. While not bad, they come off stiffer than a line of old ladies dancing the "Electric Slide" next to the glitzier tracks.

It's when Keyes sticks to club-hopping anthems that everything clicks. "Find a New Way" (which combines a spine-to-glass guitar sample and a heart pumping beat), "Take It or Leave It" and the title track will have you all strutting and cavorting like you were born to do it. Keyes' vocals ascend the electronic noise, effortlessly affecting each lyric with power and emotion. Every element has room to breathe, cutting out without grating against each other. Guitars lead to beats lead back to guitars, making danceable indie-pop that doesn't make a huge mess trying to be too many things at once.

The album has its share of misses, which occur every time Keyes sings about (ironically) young love. Keyes never shows a knack for clever storytelling like Alex Turner nor does he have the dramatic flair of Brendon Urie. The entire record is filled with humdrum lyrics that are made compelling by Young Love's wicked sound, but on tracks like "Nameless One," "Give Up," and "Closer to You" the band devolves into something you can't tell from the latest remix on a Ministry of Sound compilation. Which is what I expect when I buy a DJ's record, but Young Love is billed as a band. That leaves Keyes pedestrian lovelorn tales on the killing block. Which is fitting, because partying is what early twenty-somethings are great at. Love is what you figure out much, much later.

It will be interesting to see where Young Love goes from here. This record shows promise, with a couple tracks that will be spinning at parties and in clubs for years. Whether it's in the role of classic or footnote, time will tell.

~ Kristopher Teehan, BigYawn.net

SoftLightes

"Heart Made of Sound"
from the album Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Heart Made of Sound" [right-click/save-as]



The not-so-ironically named SoftLightes are so stylistically defiant that the band’s hometown, Qatar, California, refuses to chase its "Q" with a "U." Songwriter Ron Fountenberry, bassist Kristian Dunn, drummer Tim Fogarty and keyboardist Jeff Hibshman released their Public Enemy and Sesame Street inspired debut, Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy, released on Modular People in February.

Instead of quitting music after Fountenberry and Dunn's previous group, the Incredible Moses Leroy, bricked commercially, the pair shamelessly founded the SoftLightes to fuse every song that you never want to get caught singing in your car. Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy is eleven lullabies for insomniacs. Lazy listeners might mistake tracks like "A Town Named Blue" for your momma's pillow folk at the same time that attentive cats are laughing silly over Fountenberry's hyper-jovial nonchalance.

In the band's fetal stages circa 2004, the SoftLightes got a major push from Roots crew affiliate Cody ChesnuTT, who introduced the boys to Modular People head-honcho Steve Pavlovic.

~ Chris Faraone, Spin.com

Wilco

"What Light"
from the album Sky Blue Sky
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "What Light" [right-click/save-as]



Wilco have always been generous about giving away their music, and this first free track from their forthcoming album, Sky Blue Sky, not only continues that tradition, but also addresses it. "What Light" is musically as pleasant and sweet as its counseling lyrics. More sweep and feeling than hooks and melodies, the song sways back and forth on acoustic guitar and piano. Jeff Tweedy's advice is simple: "If the whole word's singing your songs/ Just remember, what was yours is everyone's from now on."

~ Jessica Suarez, Pitchfork

Land of Talk

"Speak to Me Bones"
from the EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss
2006
iTunes

MP3 - "Speak to Me Bones" [right-click/save-as]



The Montreal-based three-piece Land of Talk unfortunately missed the boat two years ago when the French-Canadian city was praised as a new musical hotbed. Canadian bands like Arcade Fire, the Dears, the Stills, Broken Social Scene, and Metric received all the hype and attention, while Land of Talk's first EP, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, just debuted this month. But, better late than never, as they deserve just as much recognition, maybe even more, for not jumping on the bandwagon.

Fronted by singer Elizabeth Powell, Land of Talk is one of the few female-fronted bands of Montreal and it's her piercing, PJ Harvey-esque voice that makes Land of Talk stand out in the first place. Musically, the band is very similar to their counterparts, which is sort of the point of the whole Montreal obsession. But it's Powell who can make this band sound as though it's from anywhere (maybe wherever the Land of Talk is) and garner plenty of Applause.

~ Jamie Murnane, Chill Magazine

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

"Weapon of Choice"
from the album Baby 81
2007
iTunes

Audio streams of "Weapon of Choice": WM | QT | Real

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has christened its fourth album Baby 81 and will unveil it May 1 via RCA. The 13-track set ushers drummer Nick Jago back into the fold after he sat out the majority of the band's 2005 album Howl.

"Things open up and break down within the songs, a lot," guitarist Peter Hayes told Billboard.com in October. "There are some songs that are kind of groove-oriented, not so blues- or country-influenced [as Howl]."

"When he came in for the last record, there were two songs we did with him that we left off," he added of Jago's return to the band. "We knew they'd be for this one. We used those two songs as a starting point for what this album was going to sound like, and we stuck to it, for the most part."

Baby 81 features BRMC's most epic track to date, "American X," which runs more than 9 minutes. Hayes previously enthused about the songs "All You Do is Talk" (which utilizes 12 different guitar parts), "Am I Only" and "666 Conducer" (which he described as the most even blend between Howl and 2003's Take Them On, On Your Own).

BRMC will begin a U.S. tour in support of "Baby 81" directly after the album's release.

~ Jonathan Cohen, Billboard.com

Midnight Movies

"Coral Den"
from the album Lion the Girl
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Coral Den" [right-click/save-as]



L.A. dream-pop quartet Midnight Movies formed in 2002 via the rock-honored tradition of the alt-weekly want ads and were quickly embraced by a local scene that apparently can't get enough woozy female-fronted rock acts (Giant Drag, the Like, Rilo Kiley). Vocalist/organist Gena Olivier, guitarist Larry Schemel, and keyboardist/bassist Ryan Wood supply the swoons while drummer Sandra Vu keeps the beat.

Midnight Movies validate their nom de guerre by trafficking in a strain of the same type of late night eeriness that underlines classics like Eraserhead and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Their sophomore album, Lion the Girl, produced by Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Pell Mell) and slated for an April release, is an alternately floating and driving affair. Schemel and Wood manufacture My Bloody Valentine-lite soundscapes that range from ominous and fractured to lazy and lilting. Olivier's ghostly vocals always suggest an altered consciousness; it's just not clear if she's having a good dream or a bad one. "You saved me from the bats in the chimneys / I guess I should thank you again for that," Olivier sings on the album's closer, "Two Years."

"We recorded our latest album in a haunted studio in Seattle," Schemel told Spin.com. "It was built underground with granite walls in a house over looking the ocean, and it was the last place Kurt Cobain recorded music."

~ Amos Barshad, Spin.com

The Virgins

"Rich Girls"
from the EP The Virgins
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Rich Girls" [right-click/save-as]



Mixing unruly early rock n' roll with contemporary elements, The Virgins sound is not as much defined by a singular sonic influence as it is by their geographical location. Informed not only by the city but also by all that call it home, from Kiss to RUN DMC, The Virgins have created a sound that would be envied by most bands. Having gained exposure without actually trying, their "fame" -- well let's call it "notable recognition" for now -- is in part thanks to being signed with aNYthing Records, an off-shoot of aNYthing, started by A-Ron the Don. Admittedly, It's not rare for fashion and music to be paired together, but having stemmed from something as simple as a friendship it is an appropriately natural base upon which the band can grow. Evet Jean of nownow.com.au spoke to bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman about their formation, their live show and the potential for a city to shape a band.

What were some of the catalysts that drew you guys together?
I think mutual friends had a lot to do with it. We all met through various close friends, which was big because it meant we all sort of came to each other with vouchers saying we were normal and reasonable people. The other big thing is similar taste, we all love the same stuff and have a like-minded take on the world.

So, how does being in a band fit in your world? What is a typical week for you with The Virgins?
We practice every day in a big decrepit building of rehearsal spaces called The Music Building in midtown Manhattan across the street from the Port Authority bus terminal. We spend most of our time there; then usually we end up at my house and sit on my couch and fart around. Our friend A-Ron (aNYthing founder) is a partner in a bar called 205 that we go to a lot and my roommate also co-owns a bar called Anchor where we DJ on Fridays.

New York, more than most cities, seems to have the potential to really shapes bands, how much do you think the city has influenced your music?
A lot. New York is such an idiosyncratic city, with such a specific point of view. When you grow up here I think it's impossible not to absorb a degree of "New York Attitude" even without intending to. I think that we relate to New York bands because we're New Yorkers; we're from the same village. No matter how different the artist, be it Lou Reed, The Ramones, even Kiss or Run D.M.C, they're all SUCH New Yorkers! And I guess we must be too.

The role aNYthing has played with The Virgins seems very organic, how did the relationship between the band and aNYthing form?
Donald (the singer) and A-Ron (aNYthing) are very close friends and I think they'd been eager to work together on something in some capacity before aNYthing and The Virgins ever existed.

Being from the New York, how do you view the scene over there right now, is it in a decline or on the rise again?
It's hard for me to say because it doesn't seem to me like NY has one definitive scene right now. There's more people and venues here than ever before and I think that there must be dozens of scenes living parallel to one another. There's definitely a bunch of bands and artists and people here that we love and have relationships with; but there also must be a shit load of bands and artists and people here who we have no knowledge of. So many people move here and try to get something going; after a while who can keep track? When you're from here I guess you kind of stick with one another, so maybe that's our scene.

How would you describe your sound? And what influences your sound?
Our specific influences are pretty wide-ranging and always changing. We don't consider ourselves to be this or that "type" of band influenced by this or that "type" of rock music; so I would describe our sound as us trying our best to play a collection of the musical ideas that we'd most want to listen to. In other words: We listen to a shit load of rock music, and that combined with our abilities/limitations as musicians is the biggest influence on our sound.

So, how would you describe a live show for The Virgins?
Short. We try to get in, play a few songs, say hello, and then get the hell out. Our feeling is: who wants to see a new band playing music they've never heard before for an hour and twenty minutes? We play a tidy little eight-song set and split. Lately we've been covering "Up the Junction" by Squeeze as a little encore.

What have you got coming up?
We'll have an EP out with aNYthing in the spring and we'll be touring a bit beginning in March at SXSW. Right now we're just mixing the EP.

~ nownow.com.au

Arctic Monkeys

"Brianstorm"
from the album Favourite Worst Nightmare
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Brianstorm"

"Brianstorm" is the stomping opener and first single from Arctic Monkeys' eagerly awaited second album Favourite Worst Nightmare, a breakneck journey through screwball punk and guitar-fueled dance floor heroics. As usual Alex Turner's wit is on top form as he sings "Some want to kiss, some want to kick you/ There's not a net you couldn't slip through." Favourite Worst Nightmare arrives in April.

~ gigwise.com

Marnie Stern

"Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
and Then Watch That Basket!!!"
from the album In Advance of the Broken Arm
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Put All Your Eggs..." [right-click/save-as]



Yes! It's hard to muster a more nuanced response to Marnie Stern, a previously obscure shredder and yawper who has just released the year's most exciting rock 'n' roll album. True, there are 10 months left, but you could spend at least half of them puzzling your way through In Advance of the Broken Arm, her riotous debut.

Ms. Stern builds her songs by pecking and slashing: she often taps out staccato patterns on the fret board, overdubbing fuzzy power chords to give these skeletal lines weight and force. She is joined by the jumpy drummer Zach Hill, from Hella, and by John-Reed Thompson, who adds some bass and other instruments. But this music feels, in the best sense, like bedroom music, homemade and meticulous. When Ms. Stern sings (the album's gnomic first words are, or seem to be, "I am a vibrational match/ In the water/ We line up/ Off a beach"), she sounds as if she's singing to herself.

Somehow these songs pick up momentum as they twitch: within those crosshatched guitar lines, the rhythm keeps shifting and tugging, and she peels off so many notes that you can't possibly hear them all. In "Every Single Line Means Something," she slows down to a punk-rock strut, snarling and intoning the lyrics as those multiplied guitars divide and reunite and divide again.

This raucous, wriggly music will certainly make Ms. Stern a cult sensation, and no doubt she's not expecting anything more than that. But don't imagine that this album is some sort of endurance test: it's too joyful, and too pretty, to be considered difficult. One song, "Grapefruit," starts off with scrabbling guitars but swiftly evolves into a scrambled variant of 1970s hard rock. (One pictures Ms. Stern windmilling on an arena stage, triumphant.) Another, "Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!!!," revolves around a singsong refrain and a grand, descending chord progression. In an alternate -- and better -- universe it's a hit. Or, to quote a different song from this extraordinary album: "Yes! Yes! Yes! The answer's yes!"

~ Kelefa Sanneh, The New York Times

David Vandervelde

"Jacket"
from the album The Moonstation House Band
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Jacket" [right-click/save-as]



Michigan singer-songwriter David Vandervelde began recording The Moonstation House Band three years ago, when he moved into ex-Wilco keyboardist Jay Bennett's Chicago studio at the ripe old age of nineteen. True to its groovy title, The Moonstationn features reverb-drenched roots rock driven by Vandervelde's shaggy vocals and guitar. He manages to be both highbrow and homespun: "Can't See Your Face No More" is a plea to win his girl back from her "crooked lover," Jesus Christ; "Nothin' No" is a porch-rock ode to booze and summer love. Vandervelde does better with uptempo tracks like "Jacket" than he does on heavy-handed snoozers like "Corduroy Blues" and "Moonlight Instrumental," but this house band deserves a residency -- or at least a follow-up album.

~ Nicole Frehsee, Rolling Stone

Bright Eyes

"Four Winds"
from the EP Four Winds
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Four Winds" [right-click/save-as]



This EP from the prolific, megatalented Conor Oberst is the kind of thing you suspect he could turn out every month or so: one hot single and five relatively good B-sides, all from the same sessions that birthed Bright Eyes' forthcoming LP. Soundwise, it's no great departure from his earlier work. Oberst lays his typically solid melodies and heartfelt croak over both lovely acoustic stuff and rocking back-up, including the Crazy Horse guitar attack of "Stray Dog Freedom" and the mishmash of upbeat country and strings on "Tourist Trap." The standout is the title track, a fiddle-laden romp where Oberst drops agitated spew and abundant catchiness (plus a W.B. Yeats reference). Though ninety-five percent of American songwriters might wish they'd written any of the other five songs, they're Oberst's B-sides for a reason -- hopefully because he's saved the killer stuff for the full-length.

~ Christian Hoard, Rolling Stone

Delta Spirit

"Streetwalker"
from the EP I Think I've Found It!
2006

MP3 - "Streetwalker" [right-click/save-as]



I'm seeing these guys on Thursday night in Madison, opening for two of my favorite bands from last year -- Tokyo Police Club and Cold War Kids. I'm not very familiar with them yet, but based on this song I have a feeling that will be changing very quickly.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

"Bomb.Repeat.Bomb"
from the album Living with the Living
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Bomb.Repeat.Bomb" [right-click/save-as]



Indie pop-punk kingpin Ted Leo's sixth album with his band the Pharmacists is as taut, smart, and toe-tapping as anything the Thinking Man's Punk has done. Songs like "Bomb.Repeat.Bomb" show the group has no plans to either slow down or water down their politically charged messages. The guy can write an anthem with the same acuity and attention to pop hookage as Alex Chilton or the Bevis Frond. Musically, Living with the Living tilts toward soul, though in a subtle way that's in tune with his prior releases; it's not like he just formed his own update of the Style Council (though that would sound rad). The Pogues-y tune "A Bottle of Buckie" even shows a rootsier side, while "The Unwanted Things" finds Leo working in the time-honored "world" music of choice for punkers, reggae. As eclectic as the record is, it never strays far from what Leo does best: wiry anthems that mix the personal with the political. It almost seems like Leo couldn't make a false move if he tried.

~ Mike McGonigal, Amazon.com

And when the crying starts
You won't have to see their bloodshot eyes turn red
And when the dying starts
You won't have to know a thing about who's dead
This is your mission
Pretend it's television
Where the good guys always win.

!!!

"Yadnus"
from the album Myth Takes
2007
iTunes

MP3 - "Yadnus" [right-click/save-as]



Get ready to groove to the beat. The octet known as !!! (commonly pronounced "chk chk chk") are still making songs to dance to, but the band's dance-punk influences have taken a backseat to funkier rhythms on their latest album Myth Takes.

While there are still political overtones present, on the whole, Myth Takes seems less confrontational and aggressive than previous albums, instead adopting tunes that have more universal hip-shaking appeal. The result: Even more dancable anthems.

"Must Be the Moon" has a heavy bass line and subtle electronica elements that make it the ideal track to spin at a club, perfect since the song is a narrative account of a one-night stand after a night out. The title track, with its hushed vocals and steady beats, would be at home as the sound track for an underground hipster den.

!!! tastefully creates dance music that even those who do not enjoy the genre can appreciate due to the band's catchy electronic beats. However, unlike previous releases Myth Takes stands out less and has nothing really new to offer.

The album is mostly redundant; some tracks sound like they could have been created by another band in the same genre. "Sweet Life" channels LCD Soundsystem a little too much, and while both bands share some members, other tracks on the album show that both groups have the potential to display two distinct sounds. "A New Name" sounds like any number of songs circa 1985. Even the electronica elements couldn't bring this track into the modern day.

Although each track on Myth Takes is definitely full of pop hooks, the album lacks a cohesive collective sound. "All My Heroes are Weirdos" is full of manic energy, with its psychedelic guitar licks and crazed drum sounds. However, on a completely different spectrum, "Infinifold" is a slow ballad that is out of place among the other beat-driven tracks.

And if the variance between those two wasn't enough, "Yadnus" is a '70s rock song with a little Cure thrown in. It's almost as if !!! took advantage of the fact that its music is often labeled as experimental on this album, and the band used any song it could create on the album regardless if it flowed well or not.

Unfortunately, this makes Myth Takes the musical equivalent of a roller coaster, but instead of being a smooth ride, the changes can be hard to handle and more than a little nauseating.

Still, with Myth Takes, !!! has released quality sounds for the masses. If you're not dancing already, it's time to get back on the floor.

~ Michelle Castillo, Daily Bruin