Amazon is having a pretty good sale on indie music, with some fantastic albums priced below $8. Check it out here. Don’t do this while under the influence. Hail to Ozzie Guillen for making baseball seem like a reality show. On to the tunes…
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[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/dav-sou.mp3]I’ll start this Sunday off with some classic Bowie. Off the well known The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, this song is often overlooked by some of the more popular songs such as “Starman” and “Ziggy Stardust”, but Bowie has the perfect blend of jazz and rock in this masterpiece over his infamous edgy vocals. It’s ironic that the songs length is 3:33 as well.
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[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/fie-ist.mp3]The Field is the alias for Axel Willner, an electronic experimentalist who uses countless numbers of samples to create something truly vivid and unique. “Istedgade” is straight off of their 12”, Sun & Ice. You can clearly hear some elements of dance in the dreamy synths over a loop of the repeatitive vocal sample. I am surprised that Willner dragged the song out to over four minutes, but it proves surprisingly effective and their new 12” is certainly something to check out if you are a fan of the genre.
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[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/ass-nev.mp3]In 1983, The Assembly was a synth-pop supergroup of sorts that never took off and broke ties shortly after the release of their successful unrequited love ballad “Never Never”. Vince Clarke was at the forefront of The Assembly, as is shown by the clear catchiness and arrangement. Eric Radcliffe, who was involved with Depeche Mode and Erasure, was also involved. The noticably unique vocals belong to Feargal Sharkey, the Irish singer who was the frontman for The Undertones. Originally Clarke wanted to have a different vocalist for each track, but The Assembly ended up only releasing two tracks, the other one (“Stop/Start”) being an instrumental. Though their life was short lived, this track is memorable and highly enjoyable.
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Elvis Costello – Accidents Will Happen
[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/elv-acc.mp3]Elvis Costello is one of the top five songwriters of all time. You could argue, but it wouldn’t be much use. If you have heard a length of his discography, you would realize what I mean. Combining insightful and entertaining lyrics with brilliant music is just one of his trademarks, and it is especially shown in “Accidents Will Happen”, which is the opener on Armed Forces and is one of Costello’s best known songs, and the first second of the song is such a great opener to the album as Costello’s strong, “Oh, I just don’t know where to begin,” is sung with such force laden with eventual hook after hook. Costello has been releasing great albums for thirty years and continues to do so.
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The Paddingtons – Kiss ‘N’ Let Go
[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/pad-kis.mp3]“Kiss ‘N’ Let Go” is actually a b-side to the single ’50 2 a Pounds’ off of their debut album, First Comes First. This is just a fun little catchy song from a youthful band that has quite a bit of potential. Nothing really different or unique here, but the band is fun, energetic and enjoyable as the vocals and music both are clearly of determinable youth.
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Team Doyobi – Wheels Of Anterion
[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/p6/tea-whe.mp3]Team Doyobi is a band creating glitch IDM music that will make any one who ever played classic Nintendo feel nostalgic. While their music is certainly more complex than the 16-bit days of Super Mario, they certainly have fun elements and aspects that make the average twenty year old listener aware of their childhood. “Wheels Of Anterion” is off of their new 7”, Wheels Of Anterion. The band is not very well known at this point, but they can hold some comparisons to Tujiko Noriko and Autechre. This song is definitely only for fans of IDM and glitch, but those who enjoy it will find this track very fun.
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Back when I wrote for Stylus, I wrote a review for The Rosebuds’ Birds Make Good Neighbors. To read my review, click here. In it, I found the husband and wife duo’s album to be quite good, particulary the song “Boxcar”. It’s just catchy as hell with hooks galore from the opening guitar riff to the end. My review on Stylus is long enough though, so go ahead and read that.
I have to disagree with your comment calling Elvis Costello one of the top 5 American songwriters only because he is an Englishman.
thanks for the correction. I’ve been tired as hell lately… don’t know where that ‘American’ part came from. 😛
Sorry guys but you are both wrong! He is actually an Irishman born Declan Patrick macManus and is THE greatest songwriter of all times (well, Imay be a bit biased there)