Crushes

Time for another installment of crushes. I heart these songs and their albums a lot. The Bomb The Bass record Future Chaos has lodged itself firmly in the disc player. Black River is fortunate to feature the velvety smooth croon of Mark Lanegan, a man who could sing the phone book and make it sound gorgeously dark and moody. Tim Simenon constructs a great backing track, all clicks and whirrs and humming backing vocal riffs.
Land Of Talk are Canuck friends of Broken Social Scene (who they're touring with right now). Their new album Some Are Lakes is very good indie rock. Singer Elizabeth Powell is reminiscent of Metric's Emily Haines, but the music is grittier, less new wave and less polished than Metric.
Kaiser Chiefs have enlisted Mark Ronson to produce Off With Their Heads and I like it. It helps that they've got a bunch of super catchy songs like Good Days Bad Days, and Ronson doesn't muck up their sound too much - a dab of funkiness here and there but still very Kaiser Chiefs.
Poni Hoax are my Roxy Music for this new millennium. Their album Images Of Sigrid will be in my top ten of the year for sure. Produced by Joakim, it is equal parts rock, dance and electronics with more than a hint of original new wave and post-punk flavor. These Frenchmen deserve to be heard by a much wider audience. The Bird Is On Fire rides a taut beat and bumping bass line, features some nice skronky sax and scratchy guitars and gets me moving every time. Delicious.
Dungen are Swedish, and they deliver an intoxicating blend of psychedelic rock, folk, prog, classic and indie rock on their new album 4. Main man Gustav Ejstes writes and plays virtually everything you hear, and it is as if he stepped out of the late '60s/early '70s. It is as authentic as anything from that era, and is expertly played and produced. I don't have a clue what he is singing about but with music this good who cares?

Bomb The Bass - Black River (feat. Mark Lanegan)
Land Of Talk - Give Me Back My Heart Attack
Kaiser Chiefs - Good Days Bad Days
Poni Hoax - The Bird Is On Fire
Dungen - Det Tar Tid

(Orange Crush image provided by Darren Beckett of Threemagination, Inc.)

Crushes

The premise is a simple one; these are some tunes that I'm seriously crushing on. The Very Sexuals are Dutch indie poppers who are giving away their album for free at their website. It is really good - it might remind you of Moonbabies or Joy Zipper.
Stars have a new digital EP, Sad Robots, where they continue to remind me of Prefab Sprout and Thomas Dolby. Mmmm mmmm good.
Ladyhawke is all over the blogosphere with her new self titled album - think Missing Persons/Til Tuesday/Blondie. Very '80s, and some of it I'm not too sure about, but Crazy World has a dreamy melody and a killer hook. By the way, Gary Numan called and he wants his synths back when you're done.
David Holmes has decided to start singing, and it is not a bad thing. His shoegaze-y new album The Holy Pictures will remind you of The Jesus & Mary Chain and Primal Scream, with a few choice instrumentals like Melanie scattered in between.
Former Beta Band-ers The Aliens are back with Luna and it is filled with great, sunny psychedelic rock of typically British pedigree. Theramin is a gorgeous bit of boom bap folk with horse-y clip clops.
The Stills' latest Oceans Will Rise doesn't seem to be garnering the buzz of their first two records. Tis a shame, because I actually think it is better than the last one, and closer in spirit to their debut.

The Very Sexuals - Wrecked This Century
Stars - Undertow
Ladyhawke - Crazy World
David Holmes - Melanie
The Aliens - Theramin
The Stills - Snow In California