Summer Music Picks 2010
Here's my list of 28 songs that have gotten frequent rotation on my radio show & in my Zune player over the Summer of 2010. All of the songs are available for free download at my Media Fire page. See the end of my post for details on downloading songs.
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I'll Keep It With Mine- Dean & Britta Great cover of a Bob Dylan song most identified with Nico who performed it on her classic
Chelsea Girls debut album. It appears on Dean & Britta's latest album
13 Most Beautiful: Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests.
Round & Round- Ariel Pink's Haunted Pink Graffiti- Even if Ariel Pink has crafted a more accessible sound & widened there audience with the release of
Round & Round, the band remains stubbornly quirky & unconventional. This band is worthy of the lavish praise by music opinion makers.
Boyfriend- Best Coast- The Best Coast is an unapologetic primitive garage band that will win your heart with their ragged low tech soundmix & their earnest simplicity.
Praire Mussettle- Black Prairie Black Prairie is a neo-traditionalist folk group founded by three members of the Decemberists. They play an odd mix of swing, French cafe music, bluegrass, pop, and blues. Most of the album is instrumentals but their fresh approach to the folkways is joy to behold.
Dancing With the Mentally Ill- Club 8 A dark & mysterious offering from
The People's Record by Club 8, everybody's favorite Swedish indie pop of the moment.
Memories- David Guetta & Kid Cudi Memories is from David Guetta's latest,
One Love a sublime set of dance oriented electronica from the Parisian club deejay.
Go Back To School- Get Back Guinozzi! Carpet Madness by the French/British rock electronica project is one of my favorites of the year.
Rayuela- Gotan Project Ruyuela is from the Argentinian electronica/tango fusion group's third album
Gotan Project 3.0.
Balloon Girl- Hungry Lucy Hungry Lucy is darkside electonica group that has made several sublimely beautiful albums that have gone unnoticed. Balloon Girl is from Hungry Lucy's latest & best album
Pulse of the Earth.
Feast of the Heart- Jesca Hoop Ms. Hoop's latest album the idiosyncratic
Hunting My Dress is my favorite of the year so far. She has an experimental approach & she reminds be of an English language version of the brilliant Argentinian singer/songwriter Juana Molina.
Golden Virginia- Jj The oddly named Jj offers off kilter pop on their latest album
Jj No3. This band requires a learning curve to appreciate & one can only fully appreciate their deconstructed after several listening sessions.
Madame Van Damme- Lightspeed Champion Lightspeed is a black musician who's hard to place in a single category because he's equally comfortable singing & playing R&B, rock & roll, folk music & even cabaret & Broadway show tunes. He does a version of
Flesh Failures from the Broadway show
Hair that's a revelation.
Madame Van Damme almost sounds like a 70s glam rock song.
White Heron- Mountain Man Mountain Man is another neo-traditionalist folk group that has three female vocalists with haunting otherworldly voices. Despite the low tech, 4 track sound Mountain Man's
Made In the Harbor is a mesmerizing musical statement.
Dog With A Rope- Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno Dog with A Rope is title song from the new album from QPFI the versatile Caribbean music ensemble that plays everything from dub reggae, to mambo, to Trinidad style socca. Most of their music is bathed in crashing waves of dubwise echo effects.
I Am a Child- Red House Red Horse it part neo traditional folk, Americana & indie rock. This beautiful cover of the classic Neil Young song is from their self titled debut album.
Funk De Umbigada- Saravah Soul Saravah Soul is a muscular Afrobeat jazz ensemble that recalls the blazing riddims of Fela & King Sunny best moments. Their new album
Cultura Impura is one of the best of 2010.
Hold Tight Jamaica- Ska Cubano Ska Cubana is versatile Cuban band that is equally at home playing ska, Afro-Cuban styles, mambo & South American cumbia dance music. Their album
Mambo Ska is essential to fans of ska or Latin dance music.
King of Spain - Tallest Man on Earth Tallest Man on Earth is Swedish folk singer Kristian Matsson who writes music & sings music that sounds like a lot like Bob Dylan circa 1963. His latest album
The Wild Hunt has gotten critical nods and expanded his cult of followers. I think Matsson is on the tipping point of a big career break.
Struck Dumb- The Futureheads Originally produced by the Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill the Futurehead still retain much of their revolutionary fervor & post punk edge on their latest album
The Chaos released 6 years beyond their stunning 2004 debut album.
The Queen of Lower Chelsea- The Gaslight Anthem This band reminds me of a UK version of Springsteen's E-Street Band in 1973. A lot of the song themes & music are similar.
Narcissus in a Red Dress- The Like An all girls garage band that often sounds like one of the early Phil Specter girl groups.
The Video Department- The Radio Department Elegant electronic fused pop from another promising Swedish band.
Black Smoke- Tindersticks Tindersticks are the old soldiers of early 90's chamber rock movement. What amazes me about
Falling Down a Mountain, Tindersticks' latest album is bands rarely make 10th albums that are this good. This album is way too good for a band that's been at it for 20 years & I hope they reach a wider audience with this stunning album.
Causers of This Thing- Toro y Moi Causers of This Thing is the title song from the latest effort by Chaz Bundrick a South Carolina bedroom studio musician who plays dreamy electronica pop. He's been compared to other electronic rockers like Cut/Copy, Neon Indian, & Washed Out. I know very little about Mr. Bundrick except that I really like his stubbornly individualistic musical vision.
Single's Bar- Tracey Thorn Tracey Thorn vocalist for the popular electronica pop group Everything But the Girl has spent most of the decade raising children and has said she doesn't intend to go on the road with her latest solo release
Love & It's Opposite. It's too bad because her latest set of songs rival those of Elvis Costello for keen eyed observations & bittersweet commentary on the nature of contemporary adult romantic relationships. Tracey is proof that rock music is still a continuing career option at age 48.
Live In Dreams- Wild Nothing Yet another Swedish indie pop group but their album
Gemini is my favorite of the half-dozen or so Swedish albums I've reviewed for the Summer of 2010.
You can listen to and download all of the songs I've reviewed for the Summer of 2010 at my Media Fire web space at
Gavin B @ Media Fire There are 28 songs on two pages & I did few test downloads & got a quick and effortless download of each file in under a minute. If you're having problems accessing the page or downloading the songs, let me know on this thread & I'll help you out.