Song of the Day
A New Song
Every Weekday
In this Series
September 5, 2008 - Silver Jews mastermind David Berman launches "Party Barge" on his new album, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. Berman isn't exactly a singer's singer, but his deep, unexpressive voice is weirdly mesmerizing if occasionally flat, and it goes well with the song's appealingly lazy beat.
The playful and inventive Brooklyn band The Epochs specializes in pop music inspired by new-school dance and old-school soul. The band's full-length debut seems equally suited to fans of The Postal Service and Maroon 5: It's thoughtful and danceable while remaining undeniably pop-friendly, especially once it gets to the album-closer "Giving Tree."
"Oppressions Each" opens sparsely, with the low rattle of a Fender Rhodes keyboard and a lightly plinking piano. Brightblack Morning Light typically crafts its music around meandering free-folk melodies, but its latest album demonstrates more purpose.
The Individuals only stuck around long enough to release a pair of early-'80s albums, but it developed up a fervent East Coast following, and its two works were recently released for the first time as Fields/Aquamarine. Much of the album deals with teenage lust, but "Dancing with My Eighty Wives" is a bit more grand and surreal in its ambitions.
Lyrics Born, an indie rapper from San Francisco, recalls a time when hip-hop was almost invariably fun, brisk, and at least somewhat lighthearted. "I Like It, I Love It" speaks to a moment when hip-hop, pop, R&B, and a sing-along hook rolled together as one.
As a performer, Gibson has a voice so naturally quiet that she almost does the opposite of projecting — she seems to sing inward, in a way that gives her music unmistakable intimacy. Though "Hands in Pockets is by far her most lilting song, that vulnerability makes her an ideal match for the Portland Cello Project's mixture of grace and gravitas.
The debut album from underground hip-hop producers Splitface and June 16th imagines that its heroes have destroyed Earth (because radio here is too corporate) and become DJs at a station on another planet. "Calm After the Storm" hits one of the album's more optimistic notes.
The Mae Shi's work is typically marked by an obsessive urge to create and destroy: It crams many catchy riffs into a single, painfully short song, but then also adds carefully timed choral screams on top of the guitar-strewn snippets, turning the mess into a frantic, joyous post-punk collage.
DeVotchKa's sound is a surprisingly potent potpourri of cabaret, spaghetti Western, and Eastern European Gypsy songs. In "Head Honcho," Nick Urata's gorgeous voice holds the melting pot together as a lone accordion intrudes upon his reverie, insistent and beautiful.
Often compared to the likes of Ben Folds, or even a muted incarnation of Queen, Jukebox the Ghost makes music that's buoyant without leaving a saccharine aftertaste. Exhibit A: the flamboyantly orchestrated "Good Day."
Great songwriters bring together two things listeners want most from music: the ability to relate to people's daily lives and the wisdom to express emotions in new and powerful ways. Young, virtually unknown Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe passes both tests in the title track from her new Even Born Again EP.
Transgender singer-songwriter Baby Dee has a rich, captivating, otherworldly voice. It soars majestically over mournful, sustained piano chords in "Safe Inside the Day" before retreating and returning, boldly and forcefully. Her voice is a force of nature, marked by dramatic outbursts and an unmistakable air of sadness.
"Nemesis" is less about being jazz or rock than it is about providing a sonic environment. Pianist Aaron Parks adds some contrasting touches: A mellotron and glockenspiel combine with piano and keyboards to create his own episodic drama. Coming from an album with the appropriate title Invisible Cinema, this is soundtrack music for a movie waiting to be filmed.
The Gits may or may not have matured into greatness, but it never got the chance, cut down during its brief ascent by the 1993 murder of singer Mia Zapata. If the band was indeed moving toward bigger and better things, "Whirlwind" would have surely helped pave the way.
Date aside, the day that Aimee Mann endures on "Thirty One Today" should have no particular weight to it. Compared to crossing over into a new decade, or even hitting a halfway point like 35, turning 31 isn't much of a milestone. And that's how it plays out.
