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“These Are My Twisted Words” |
| Radiohead | ||
| Radiohead’s twisted words are stunningly wrapped in their twisted sounds. Thom Yorke’s vocals float effortlessly over the disorienting, hazy soundscape, creating a painfully beautiful portrait of loss. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Help I’m Alive” | |
| Metric | ||
| “Help I’m Alive” combines Metric’s signature catchy pop with Emily Haines’s dreamlike vocals and dynamic, carefully-crafted lyrics (“Hard to be soft, tough to be tender”). Canada’s premier synth-rock crew don’t disappoint in their long-awaited return. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“Everyday” | |
| Vetiver | ||
| Vetiver’s used everything that’s great about wholesome pop/rock love songs to create this acoustic track about longing for the love you miss. The infectious rhythm and relatable lyrics will have you bouncing along instantly. | ||
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-Chad Helminak
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“Island, IS” | |
| Volcano Choir | ||
| Multiple rhythmic pieces interlock to form a lush mosaic of sound, an intricate bed for Justin Vernon’s characteristically ethereal vocals. The end evaporates away, gently bringing the listener back from a beautiful sonic retreat. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Cornerstone” | |
| Arctic Monkeys | ||
| Alex Turner goes looking to replace a lost love in this dreamlike odyssey through bizarre drinking holes, returning with a song as exquisite as it is strange. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“Pulling on a Line” | |
| Great Lake Swimmers | ||
| There’s a carefree and pleasant feeling you get from listening to “Pulling on a Line.” Led by Tony Dekker’s unstrained vocals, the Great Lakes Swimmers project folk sound in a refined but very honest way. You don’t have to dig very deep into this Canadian group’s repertoire to understand why they have been steadily gaining recognition and a dedicated following around the world. | ||
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-Chad Helminak
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“Laughing With” | |
| Regina Spektor | ||
| Sobering piano chords begin Spektor’s candid reflection on the Almighty, a simple and honest contemplation of humanity’s relationship with God and the guises imposed on Him. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Little Secrets” | |
| Passion Pit | ||
| Right away the electronic keyboard sets the rhythmic tone for this feel-good anthem. Visions of circuses, balloons, pogo sticks, and other random yet enjoyable summer activities flood the mind while nodding to the ever-lasting pop-techno beat. The inclusion of a simple chorus sang by child like vocals adds another element of youthful happiness. | ||
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-JoAnn Schinderle
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“For You” | |
| Sharon Van Etten | ||
| Musically little new ground is tread on “For You,” but that is no complaint with a voice that sounds as gorgeous and real as Sharon Van Etten’s. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“The Ruminant Band” | |
| Fruit Bats | ||
| If Supertramp and Led Zeppelin wrote a song together, it would probably end up sounding a lot like “The Ruminant Band.” The lighthearted, summery ’70s sounding folk-pop song is the perfect soundtrack for carefree summer drives with plenty of time and no destination. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“I’m Confused” | |
| Handsome Furs | ||
| Hair band-esque guitar riffs wailing over a robotic drum machine beat you’d swear is straight from an ’80s casio keyboard might at first make you, well, confused. But as with most things you just don’t get, you’ll probably feel compelled to try and figure it out. So one listen leads to another, and then another, and then you’re not so much confused as convinced. | ||
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-Litzy Everson
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“Oscar Wilde” | |
| Company of Thieves | ||
| The Chicago trio comes off sounding more LA than IL on this sunny alt-rock song. Wilde would be pleased with the bookish lyrics that invoke his wit and wisdom in decrying self-conscious superficiality. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Panic Switch” | |
| Silversun Pickups | ||
| Boasting an almost mischievious flow, “Panic Switch” plays perfectly to the band’s strengths. Featuring the pent-up anger of a jilted lover, the song builds slowly until it explodes with a devastating tempo switch and a sublimely catchy chorus. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“Swing Tree” | |
| Discovery | ||
| The electronic hook immediately makes “Swing Tree” feel like part of the soundtrack to a 8-bit video game, but its soothing groove and ever-advancing drum beat helps move this song past any cliche. The thoughtful lyrics are well-placed and perfectly complement the uplifting, floaty feeling you get as you bob your head to the beat. | ||
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-Chad Helminak
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“Young Adult Friction” | |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart | ||
| Somewhere between Belle & Sebastian and My Bloody Valentine fans lies a wasteland of disaffected musical youth waiting for a certain melancholy message to assure their love for both twee pop and dream pop. “Young Adult Friction” is just such an intimate sort of pop song, but one that makes even the most jaded hipster want to give up PBR and American Apparel for a night in with a loved one. The Pains try very hard to look like they aren’t really trying at all and that’s the kind of low-key anthem “Young Adult Friction” provides — kind of like a speed-walking victory lap. | ||
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-Andy DeLoach
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