i’ve recently discovered i’m a sucker for the fueled by ramen label - they carry a lot of the bands i enjoy, either guiltily or not guiltily. the verdict is in your hands. a long time ago, a guilty pleasure of mine that has recently blossomed into a full on enjoyment, panic at the disco, was on tour with the hush sound, and although i didnt go see them, i found the hush sound’s album and loved that they were straddling big band swing and emo song structure along with some sort of… slinky nightclub act.

so i’m a big fan, because my first real fandom of music was swing - i learned the dance and all that, and then ska followed and now im just a music enthusiast i think. and maybe you little rabbits are too. maybe we should all just be big music fans and stop saying the things we like or don’t like, because then guilty pleasures wouldn’t be guilty, they would just be pleasures, and you could crank up that volume knob and everyone could come into your room and dance the night away.

that was a tangent.

anywho. the hush sound. the song’s called “love you much better.” it’s the post chorus lalala-ba-ba-ba breakdown paired with an overly reverbed handclap that get me. that make me listen to this song nonstop and put my ipod earbuds in other people’s dirty, dirty ears. (i recently started swabbing mine with alcohol swabs when i realize how much i do this) and then all of that comes together for the final verse-chorus amalgamation and you just want to clap. and guess what? the band is proud too. they clapped themselves after that one.

the hush sound - love you much better

enjoy. leave something in the comments. see you tomorrow.

hello little pumpkins. you know what i love? bands that make indie dance music. i like the pairing of casio beats with triple tracked vocals and lyrics in the vein of justin timberlake… these are the things that make me a happy little dancer. perhaps i will tap on my jeans as i walk, or even be driven to do a fairly bad version of the robot.

perfect band to do this too: hey willpower!

if you don’t believe me check this:

hey willpower! - hundredaire

not only does this band come from a long line of favorite bands of mine that use an exclamation point in their name (the go! team, los campesinos!) but they are shamelessly copping their style from justin timberlake; and yet they keep it real. this is not low rent j-tim, this is what justin timberlake wishes he sounded like on his demos before timbaland comes and does his supersonic magic. the “oh babies”, background “heys”, nearly meaningless verses and silky canned strings mingle so kindly with one another. like a 3rd year college party where they are only serving red wine.

hundredaires indeed. they also dare to undersell themselves at 2:56 - “i’m only just a piece of @$$.”

no you aren’t, hey willpower!. you’re empowerers - daring untanned indie kids to dance all over.

hate in the comments. more soon.

a long time ago, no one knew who phantom planet was. there was a rumor going around that they met doing a gap ad. I think that might be true, but probably not. i do know they all wanted to be actors at one point. they were even in donnie darko.

it took a long time between their last, kind of bad album, and this new, kind of good album. i don’t know what happened between, but i know that one of them at least dated a member of the like. and the rhythm guitarist’s gf did the “gimme gimme”s for weezer’s beverly hills.

so… i dont know where i’m going with this. im just saying, phantom planet is big in the type of music i really like. and this new album is their best since the guest, absolutely. it may even be ultimately stronger than the guest. this song features a really, really dirty sax doing upbeat blasts with some of the most interesting lyrics they have written since “turn smile shift repeat”. in my personal opinion, sax should always be dirty as heck. you should have borrowed a street performer’s beat up saxophone and it should be reedy and low. otherwise, it will always always sound like kenny g.

just… that’s how i feel. that’s my view.

phantom planet - ship lost at sea

i don’t think this song is going to win any new fans. but it’s a good song anyway. what do you think?

hate in the comments. more soon.

i am going to compare it to eating. so everyone really likes an excellent meal. something with taste and blending of aromas and little surprises and excellent sides. sometimes accompanied with white linen and attentive service. say… a spoon song. or jens lekman. their songs are like trips to a good restaurant, and you feel fulfilled afterwards, like you just spent the evening enjoying a finer side of life.

but sometimes, it feels good to go get a hamburger. admittedly, there are hamburgers that are better than others. panic at the disco, say, makes a better hamburger than ashlee simpson. but that doesn’t mean that every once in a while, you turn on the radio just to see what’s on, because it’s convenient, and there she is. “singing”.

but for some reason, embedded seven tracks into her newest album, is the title track, complete with handclaps/snaps, a smoky organ line, and a sweet chug-walk of a guitarline. and her voice sounds halfway to okay, thanks to a nameless chorus of men and woman singing lalas and bolstering the chorus. this is bona-fide sunny day music, for the moments when your ipod is busted and you turn on the radio (because it’s convenient) and you’ll have something at least filling (if not cultured) to listen to.

to sum up:

ashlee simpson = hamburger

ashlee simpson - bittersweet world

yum yum yum. listen to the song and hate in the comments. more later.

ladies and gentlemen! boys and girls! bloggeurs of all ages!

good morning and good luck. i sincerely missed writing about music even though about 25 people read this every few millenia. regardless, i thought it was time to start anew.

this is a blog of music i like. i hope you like it too!