Category: MP3s

“Diamond Heart” – Marissa Nadler

Hang with this one for just a little while. Nadler sings with a distinctive sort of warble, and the song starts with her in full warble. (Nadler is often grouped with the so-called “New Weird America” and/or psych-folk movements, with the likes of Devendra Banhart and Johanna Newsom, in which unusual vocal stylings are de rigueur.) She also seems to be singing from the end of an echoey hallway; her guitar, meanwhile, vibrates with an unearthly, harp-like throb. Lyrical substance is difficult to decipher but odd prominent phrases emerge at the outset—“jezebel crown,” “reliquary eyes.” And yet somehow, quickly, the song gathers a deep, resonant beauty, like something unearthed from an ancient time with only a few scratches; even the echoey hallway ultimately adds a mysterious aural texture to what is a heart-breakingly gorgeous song. And this is folk-song gorgeous not pop ballad gorgeous (not that there’s anything wrong with that), meaning we get the unfolding gravity of timeless melody rather than a burst of hooks. By the time she reaches for the climactic words of the chorus—“Oh my lonely diamond heart”—with a sigh at-once world-weary and angelic, all thoughts of weird warbling have vanished in the presence of sheer musical wonder. “Diamond Heart” is the opening track on Nadler’s CD Songs III: Bird on the Water, which was released in the U.S. last month on Kemado Records(it had been released in the U.K. earlier in the year, on Peacefrog Records). The MP3 is courtesy of Insound.

“Radio Nowhere” – Bruce Springsteen

Hang with this one a bit also. It’s not complicated, it’s got a grinding, muddy sort of sonic sensibility, and yeah okay he’s done any number of better songs (he’s Bruce Springsteen, for crying out loud). But this song is a creeper, sticking in the head and heart after a few listens. What I like right away is that, independent of the thick rocking ambiance, this doesn’t really sound much like a Bruce Springsteen song—the melody and chord progression may be plain but they do not specifically call to mind any of the Boss’s big anthemic blasters of the past; this one even has a touch of power pop about it that strikes my ears as unexpected. I like too that it’s just three minutes seventeen seconds, as Bruce has not been known for economy of statement in recent years (or maybe ever). I love the subject matter, as the song laments the abject soullessness of satellite radio: “I was trying to find my way home/But all I heard was a drone/Bouncing off a satellite/Crushing the last lone American night.” And yes I like the music too—simple and direct it may be, but vivid and driven as well, thanks in part to his estimable compadres in the E Street Band. All in all “Radio Nowhere” feels like a reassuring rallying cry from one of our mightiest living rock legends, a guy who I might add has attempted to be a decent human being (no mean feat!) despite nearly being crushed by the “star-maker machinery” back in the ’70s and ’80s. The song comes from Springsteen’s forthcoming CD, Magic, slated for release on Columbia Records in early October (although the vinyl is coming out, actually, at the end of this month). MP3 via Spinner.

“When I Say Go” – the 1900s

Guided by a jaunty piano and sung with a Carole King-like forthrightness by Jeanine O’Toole, “When I Say Go” is a potent piece of midwestern indie pop that rewards careful listening with its inventive sense of arrangement. To begin with, this Chicago septet features three vocalists and here utilizes two of them: O’Toole is the Kingly one, singing the verses, while Caroline Donovan handles the choruses; they sound almost the same but kind of not, also. Listen as well for the careful use of strings, which intermittently lend the song a very parlor-like sensibility, other times adding the air of, almost, a hoedown. Sometimes a small touch means a lot, like the way the piano, after pounding out basic major and minor chords until then, releases, abruptly, into a somewhat thornier arpeggio (at around 1:18; sounds like maybe a major 7 chord). This may not be something you consciously note but it alters the mood on the spot, all the more so because of its subtlety. On the other hand, not subtly at all, the song breaks in the middle (starting at 1:38) for a bracing guitar solo, a scant 10 seconds of expert, squonky deconstruction that is not to be missed. “When I Say Go” is a song from the band’s debut full-length CD, Cold & Kind, slated for release early next month on Parasol Records. The MP3 is courtesy of the band’s site.

The Fingertips Home Office will be closed between August 19 and Sept. 3. To avoid leaving everyone empty-handed for two weeks, I’m offering you one reviewed MP3, plus a list of five others I’ve been listening to lately. Any one of these—or none of them—may yet end up as a TWF pick; see what you think if you have the time to check them out.

“Boy With a Coin” – Iron & Wine

As Sam Beam continues to flesh out his homespun sound, he sounds better and better, to me. The strong, sure acoustic-guitar rhythm propels “Boy With a Coin,” but the electric and percussive accents—including hypnotic handclaps—add so much texture and substance that this right away feels like far more than standard singer/songwriter fare. I particularly like the blurty punctuations the electric guitar begins to make at around 1:18, and how they subsequently lead to a marvelous instrumental break beginning around 1:32. The tightly harmonized female backing vocals are another background element that contributes centrally to the alluring vibe. I’m not sure what he’s singing about but the overall effect is mysterious to the point of being outright spiritual, a sense accentuated by the droning electric guitar that haunts the background during the second half of the song. “Boy With a Coin” will be found on The Shepherd’s Dog, Iron and Wine’s third full-length CD, which is due out in September on Sub Pop Records. The MP3 is via Better Propaganda.

Vacation Special: five MP3s, minus reviews:
“Nothing Burns Like Bridges” – Penny Century
“Setting Fire to Sleepy Towns” – the Sleeping Years
“For Science Fiction” – Maritime
“From a Tower” – Love Like Fire
“100 Days, 100 Nights” – Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

As noted, you may yet read about one or more of these in an upcoming TWF update. In any case, all are worth hearing. “This Week’s Finds” will resume in its regular guise on Tuesday, September 4.

“Shade” – Portugal. The Man

While I don’t think much of the band name–inexplicable punctuation is a pet peeve–I’m finding this slinky, vigorous, genre-resistant song has etched itself slowly but steadily into whatever part of my mind that’s responsible for making songs stick in it. There’s something prog-rock-y about it–the fairy-tale-like guitar riff that opens the piece, for instance–as well as something more Led Zeppelin-y in lead singer John Gourley’s Plant-like yowl and Page-like guitar heaviness. Those synthesized strings floating in from above, and the band’s gift for unexpected, rhythmic melody? That’s a bit of Radiohead, perhaps. At the same time, the drum sounds are so up front and organic that it puts me in the mind of some classic rock track or another even as the overall vibe is good old ’00s indie rock. All in all an attractive and successful stew of sounds and vibe from this young trio from the Northwest. Gourley and bassist Zach Carothers grew up together in Alaska, of all places; they are based now in Portland, Oregon, which is drummer Jason Sechrist’s hometown. “Shade” is from the band’s CD Church Mouth, which was released last month on Fearless Records. The MP3 is via Spinner, the AOL indie music blog.

“One Man” – Eulogies

Listen to how “One Man” plays with us pace-wise. The melody proceeds in an unhurried way, very much in the range of what is (too often) called a “midtempo rocker” (Google that phrase and it comes up 10,000 times; two of ’em right here, I must add, in the spirit of full disclosure). But the rhythm section chugs along in double time, creating a briskness and vibrancy the famous midtempo rocker often lacks. Eulogies is a trio featuring the singer/songwriter Peter Walker (previously featured here in April 2006); the band in fact came spontaneously into existence as Walker realized on his last tour how well he and the two musicians playing with him were jelling. I was impressed last year with Walker’s sure touch as both a singer and songwriter, and am again this time around. I like the subtle but evocative hooks he has going in the chorus–first, to me, just the marvelous way his falsetto bends a bit before settling on the word “I” (and what a great, yearning note that is, too); second, how the melody deftly centers itself between the beats, creating this wonderful, bittersweet sense of movement. A bonus: the lyrics display the same subtle power. Walker sings: “I learned something/In the nick of time/I’m only one man”–and while the song doesn’t reveal enough detail to know exactly what he learned and why it was just in time, the wistful atmosphere suggests a complex sort of heartache, and a good news/bad news type of education. “One Man” is from Eulogies’ self-titled debut CD, due out in September on Dangerbird Records. The MP3 is via the Dangerbird site. Thanks to Largehearted Boy for the lead.

“Time is a Lion” – Joe Henry

Joe Henry has one of those really familiar-sounding voices for a guy who doesn’t get a whole lot of exposure in the scheme of things. Part of the lack of widespread exposure has to do with the fact that he’s spent a fair amount of time singing songs with that voice that have been purposefully arcane, oddly cluttered, and more than a little, shall we say, difficult. He has been quoted as calling his 2003 release Tiny Voices “intentionally chaotic,” saying that it was “like a Bunuel film shown on the side of a building during a rain storm.” This time around, lo and behold, he has decided to aim for clarity and if this song is any indication, he’s at least part of the way there. “Time is a Lion” has the sort of barroom swing the likes of which labelmate Tom Waits might concoct, but where Waits tends to deconstruct and croak, and Henry previously might have piled on sounds and squeezed away the melody, he this time opts for a surface-level smoothness, even as the percussion beats out a distinctive pulse and the piano alternates between music hall chords and jazzy washes. Lyrically Henry is full of resonant pronouncements and abstract narrative of the sort Bob Dylan has specialized in since the late ’90s. Good stuff. “Time is a Lion” is from Henry’s forthcoming Civilians CD, to be released next month on Anti Records. MP3 via the Anti web site.

“Remission” – Ryan Ferguson

Comfortably incisive from beginning to end, “Remission” is one of those blessed songs with a perfectly balanced feeling between the verse and the chorus. You know how a song can have a great chorus, but the verse is like treading water to get there; or conversely, some songs have a really interesting verse but then the chorus is flavorless. Here the verse is interesting and commanding, and yet leads to—rather than overpowers–the chorus, the brilliance of which is just subtle enough, in turn, not to overshadow the verse. The hidden trick behind all of this here, I think, is the strong working relationship between the words and the music. After that emphatic opening chord sequence—nicely textured with an added xylophone—listen carefully to the lyrics and note not merely the dramatic story line (this does not appear to be another tale of relationship woes, although it might work that way metaphorically) but how uncannily well the words scan with the music–that is, how the rhythm of the music allows the words to be sung exactly how they’re spoken, without putting any stress on odd syllables. All too many pop songwriters write without much sensitivity to how the words will scan; whether accidentally or purposefully, Ferguson—previously in the locally popular San Diego quartet No Knife—emerges in this song as a master. “Remission” is from his first full-length solo CD, Only Trying to Help, set for release next month on Better Looking Records. The MP3 is via the Better Looking site. Thanks to the guys at 3hive for the lead.

“Act of War” – Owen Duff

Electric instruments are not required for a musician to create a sense of drive and urgency, as proven ably by this unsigned Briton, who prefers in fact whenever possible to play an actual piano rather than a keyboard. Although basically an unadorned piano and guitar piece (enhanced with thoughtful sound-touches along the way, however), “Act of War” shimmers with both rhythmic and melodic exuberance, underscored by a refreshing dollop of finesse. It’s common for solo performers on the acoustic guitar to go explosive rhythmically, pounding more than strumming in an effort to prove their—I don’t know: sincerity, musical prowess, emotional depth, who knows. Duff gives us rhythmic depth without pounding, and greatly enhances his offering here with a fetching, pliable melody line, using his delicate, Sufjan-like tenor with unexpected dexterity and gusto. “Act of War” is the opening track from Duff’s seven-song debut EP, called A Tunnel, Closing In, which he released last year. The MP3 is available via his web site.

“Run-Away” – Super Furry Animals

The nutty Welshmen are back, singing in English this time, and kinda sorta just in time to provide hungry American pop fans with what is surely one of the summer of ’07’s spiffiest–albeit nuttiest–summer songs. The fuzzy background sound and Beach Boys-esque melody rockets us straight back to 1965 or so, with a side trip through the Twilight Zone, and our job is to hang on and enjoy the ride. Two keys to this song, to my ears: the two distinct drum patterns (modified Phil Spector beat in the verse; smoother, cymbally pulse in the chorus); and that swoony chorus melody with its wild dips and rises (I love the two notes you hear from about 0:41 to 0:43 in particular–a startling but perfect, Brill Building-y interval). I can’t make out the lyrics too well but the moral of the story is crystal clear: “Those who cry and run away/Live to cry another day.” The Super Furries have been making their loopy, psychedelic-ish pop since 1993. “Run-Away” is a song from Hey Venus!, their eighth CD, which is due out digitally and on vinyl near the end of August on Rough Trade Records. (The album will not be released in the U.S. on CD until 2008, apparently to coincide with the band’s U.S. tour.) Thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear for the head’s up. The MP3 is via Beggars Group, which just last week acquired Rough Trade.

“Elouise” – Maps

Buzzy, expansive, and richly melodic, “Elouise” is the work of shoegaze-inspired one-man band James Chapman, doing business from his Northampton (UK) home as Maps. But get this: unlike most if not all 21st-century bedroom rockers, Chapman developed his music entirely on a 16-track recorder in his apartment. Meaning he doesn’t use computers. That knowledge will change how you hear this one, as the drones and beats and keyboards which drive the evocative, anthemic “Elouise” were all laid down the old-fashioned way, not manipulated by a laptop. (Note that the strings were added later; the album ended up being produced in Iceland by Valgeir Sigurdsson, who has worked extensively with Sigur Rós and Björk.) I’m loving the chorus in particular, with its simple but memorable descending melody line, and then–I’m a sucker for this move–the addition of those two extra beats in the measure beginning at 1:18 (the lyric when he first mentions “Elouise”). Listen too to how the guitars drop out in the chorus, adding to the lushness of the sound there. Chapman churns out humming, atmospheric music that forces everyone who writes about him to mention My Bloody Valentine, but to my ears this song has a lighter and more accessible feel than, by and large, the music that seminal band produced in its day. “Elouise” is from the CD We Can Create, which was released in the U.S. in June on Mute Records. (In the U.K., the CD came out in May and was last week one of 12 albums placed on the short list for this year’s Mercury Prize.) The MP3 is available via Insound.

“Sinking Ships” – the Archibalds

Friendly, strumming acoustic guitars lead us into a good-natured, back-country rave-up with an unmistakable zydeco flavor, minus the accordion. And lookee here, as unlike as this one is from the Maps song above, the zydeco feel is responsible for one distinct similarity: the measure with the two extra beats, which you can hear here as soon as singer Joey Thompson opens his mouth (at 0:23, as he sings “Hey there, Mister Boll Weevil”). And once Thompson opens his mouth, extra beats or no, I’m hooked–as a singer, he’s got one of those round, personality-laced voices that brings Ray Davies to mind, and as a songwriter he’s got a casual, John Fogerty-like knack for neighborly, classic-sounding melodies. A quartet from Austin, the Archibalds play with the real-time gusto of a band that records live (whether they do or not); “Sinking Ships” is a song from the band’s debut CD, O Camellia, which was released in March, jointly, by Breakfast Mascot Records and Austin’s Superpop Records. The MP3 is courtesy of Breakfast Mascot.

“Horse and I” – Bat For Lashes

And it has inadvertently turned into Mercury Prize week, as Bat For Lashes, like Maps above, is one of the 12 finalists for the U.K.’s Mercury Prize for album of the year, as announced last Tuesday. As with Maps, Bat For Lashes also sounds like the name of a band but is one person–in this case, 27-year-old Natasha Khan. Building off an unadorned, almost awkwardly plain keyboard riff, “Horse and I” unfolds in an unhurried manner. Khan enters, singing, after half a minute; a ghostly synthesizer joins in shortly thereafter; and then, intriguingly, about halfway through, a military drumbeat takes on the rhythm of the keyboard riff, which now makes further sense in retrospect. Khan by the way has a marvelous voice–breathy and vulnerable in the lower register, achy-urgent in the upper register. The song has a fairy-tale vibe (horses, woods, destiny, etc.) that might be a bit precious were it not for the formidability of the music and arrangement. I’m especially taken by the juxtaposition of the other-worldly synthesizer and the martial beat–it’s a combination I can’t recall hearing simultaneously before (the short duet between the two sounds at 1:24 is an oddball highlight here). “Horse and I” is the lead track from the debut Bat For Lashes CD Fur and Gold, which was released last September in the U.K. on Echo Records; its U.S. release is scheduled for next week, on Caroline Records.

“Deep Frieze” – Chris Letcher

Smartly put together and sharply produced, “Deep Frieze” offers a gratifying union of acoustic, electric, and electronic sounds, linked beneath rich, almost choral-like vocalizing. A crisply strummed acoustic guitar lies at the heart of this midtempo rocker, but other rewarding guitar sounds come to fore as well, along with a battery of good-natured knob-twiddly noises. I like how this song feels so ornate without actually wasting a whole lot of aural space: it sounds very layered and yet you can easily, at any point, pick out and label everything you’re hearing—which isn’t often the case when bands aim in this sort of baroque direction. Chris Letcher is a South African musician now based in London, and studying composition at the Royal College of Music, no less. In South Africa, he was part of a successful ’90s band called Urban Creep. “Deep Frieze” is a track from Letcher’s CD Frieze, which was released in March on the Sheer/2 Feet label. (In South Africa, it was out in November 2006, while in Europe, release is slated for September; globalization in music is sometimes very complicated.)

“Dancing Behind My Eyelids” – Múm

So this one takes a little while to get going: one minute of slow and quiet noodling, 20 seconds of a bit more activity, then a good half minute of engaging rhythm and instrumental melody, leading surely into…well, oops, there’s another 20 seconds of quiet noodling. The singing starts at 2:30, which is bizarrely late, especially in song that’s just about four minutes long. All in all a recipe for the kind of thing I don’t have patience for, and yet in this case, I find myself rather charmed. Why? I’ll tell you: I’m not sure. Maybe it’s the happy tone of the noodly notes—those are very friendly-sounding synthesizers offering that reverie of a duet: the staccato pulse of a bass-like sound below and a chimey companion playing a smeerier sort of pulse up above. A drum at 1:00 breaks the trance and sets up a full-out breakthrough at 1:21, a wonderfully engaging bit of driving but melodic electronics, enlivened by starbursts of synthesizer glissandos. At this point it sounds like everyone’s having so much fun—Múm is seven members strong—that the singers perhaps have forgotten their cues. There is a reprise of the noodly part with a friendly animal sort of noise added to the mix. Then the singing, and it’s a strong ascending melody line we get from two singers who are not in fact the baby-voiced Kristín Valtýsdóttir, who has left the band. The melody line repeats four times, with—still!—instrumental breaks and we’re through. Is this even a song? Not sure. But it will be on the Icelandic band’s mysterious new CD, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, scheduled for release in September on Fat Cat Records. MP3 via Pitchfork.

“She’s In Love” – Fourth of July

From semi-avant-garde not-quite-song-writing we go to pure easygoing indie pop. What makes this a killer track, however, is that underneath the goofy-peppy sound is a genuinely poignant tale of love gone awry. So yes we’re in the land of “happy sound, sad lyrics” that is one of pop music’s special gifts to the world. The endearing, vaguely sloppy vibe here belies the precision of the song, from the well-placed, more interesting than you might realize “ba ba ba” background vocals to the short-story-like quality of the lyrics. Singer/songwriter Brendan Hangauer utilizes the slick trick of opening and closing the song with the same lines: “She’s in love with a photograph/And the idea things could last/Goddamn, I never thought of that”; and when you hear it the second time your heart kind of breaks. Fourth of July is a six-piece band from Lawrence, Kansas that came to life in 2001 as Hangauer’s solo project. “She’s In Love” is from the CD Fourth of July On the Plains, released in June on Range Life Records. The MP3 can be found on Lawrence.com.

“Intelligentactile 101” – Jesca Hoop

There’s a Björk-like friskiness enlivening this song, from its invented-word title to Hoop’s somewhat pixie-ish delivery. At the same time, this Northern California-born, LA-based singer/songwriter exudes a laid-back cool that’s far more akin to a young Rickie Lee Jones than to the Icelandic wonder (Björk may be a lot of things but laid back isn’t really one of them). “Intelligentactile 101” springs along with a finger-tapping boppiness, and in the boppy course of things Hoop rather casually gives us a generous array of melodies (there seem to be four distinct sections: verse, bridge, chorus, and something else) to capture her trippy lyrics, along with a winsome assortment of percussive accents, from clacky to tinkly to whirry. The opening melody has a particularly lovely lilt to it, but she slyly withholds its full effect until the song is more than half over: listen to how the same melody that opens the song (0:10-0:16) sounds later on, fleshed out ever so slightly with an elastic bass and spacey keyboard, enough to open our ears to the chord progression that lay latent beneath the tune. “Intelligentactile 101” is a song from Hoop’s forthcoming debut CD, Kismet, scheduled for a September release on 3Entertainment/Red Ink, a Columbia imprint.

“White Dove” – John Vanderslice

Another slice of harsh reality served up with passion, precision, and beauty by one of his generation’s leading, if under-publicized, singer/songwriters. Driven by fuzzed-out guitars, “White Dove” nevertheless leaves a lot of aural space in and around its attack; there are quiet sections, the acoustic guitar remains central throughout, and there are moments where the silence in between instruments is used as its own sort of beat. This approach strikes me as the musical equivalent of a movie that terrifies more for what it doesn’t show than for what it does. Here, a horrible story from the past is retold, along with its lingering effect on the present, suggesting the pointlessness of expecting anything resembling peace here in the human realm and yet also, I think, the necessity of holding on to that dream. Or maybe that’s just my personal addition. “White Dove” is a song from his new CD, Emerald City, due out later this month on Barsuk Records. (Emerald City by the way is his caustic way of referring to the Green Zone in Baghdad; no, we’re not in Kansas anymore.) MP3 via the Barsuk site.

“Rootwings” – the Sheds

Popular music’s internet age has given birth to a whole heck of a lot of indie-rock duos—the duo being the most DIY-ish way of being a band, I suppose (less equipment, fewer people to pay, etc.). What they tend to possess in spirit and productivity, however, duos seem commonly to lack in songwriting acumen—a fact which makes Burlington, Kentucky’s premier contribution to the field of indie-rock duos so unexpectedly wonderful. The Sheds feature a croony but homespuny vocalist, simple but personable arrangements, and truly rewarding music and lyrics. Also, female backing vocals when you least expect it. “Rootwings” is both short and truly sweet, and one of a number of nice songs from the band’s latest CD You’ve Got a Light, which was self-released this spring and available, in its entirety, via free and legal download on the band’s web site.

“Kidstuff” – Tenderhooks

This song wallops me with its late-’70s new wave vibe but I can’t put my finger exactly on why. Put early Elvis Costello, the 1977-79 Kinks, Television, and the Undertones in a blender and this song maybe pours out, with its ringing guitar line, observational wordplay, and solid pop melody. The production quality has a strong whiff of past glory about it thanks to those driving dual guitars and the enveloping rhythm section but again the sensation is vague rather than specific. The closest correlation I hear is with singer Jake Winstrom, whose high, sandy-warbly voice brings the legendary Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey to mind. But what of that unglued guitar break, beginning at 1:55 but becoming deviant by around 2:10? There’s nothing late-’70s about that at all; while some may call it “shredding” (a term for the superfast playing style that arose out of heavy metal and prog rock), I hear something more aural than pyrotechnic about it–as if guitarist Ben Oyler is trying to make a cool sound rather than merely to sound cool. Like a good band in any era, this Knoxville quartet—often billed as alt-country but this song has nothing obvious to do with that genre—appear to be adept students and willful experimenters, so that in the end, the pieces of the past you hear become part of a vivid and present experience. “Kidstuff” is from the band’s Vidalia CD, which is slated for release this week on Rock Snob Records.

“Trouble” – Over the Rhine

As the noisy part of today’s music scene is dominated almost fascistically by those obsessed with what is bright and shiny and new, there fortunately remain many musicians to listen to who are not simply brand new, thank goodness. To think of the depth and richness we would lose if we really were only listening to the latest MySpace and Pitchfork sensations—but no worries, we’re not, and never will. Because some of the best new bands will stick around and hone their art in fruitful and unanticipated ways over the years, just as some of today’s most wonderful not-new-anymore bands themselves once gleamed with the newcomer’s glow. Long-time Fingertips favoriteOver the Rhine are a categorical example of how impressive musicians can become as they have the chance to mature and write and perform together. Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist have had a particularly enriching path as a married couple making music together; the connection apparent in their performance is a wonder to behold. Sly, engaging, and timeless-sounding, “Trouble” is a crisp and catchy tune that is one part cabaret, one part tango, one part orchestral pop, and all parts Bergquist, whose voice is as sultry and idiosyncratically alluring as ever. “Trouble” is a song from the band’s forthcoming CD, entitled The Trumpet Child, to be released in August on the band’s Great Speckled Dog label.

“Move = Move” – Wheat

And this one oozes the ramshackle charm of 1967-or-so Rolling Stones (the melody to my ears partially echoes “Sing This All Together Now”), without any of the silly bad-boy posturing. And yet “Move = Move” likewise feels rooted right here in the indie-rock-saturated ’00s, with its sculpted sound and stray electronic lagniappes. There’s a real looseness on display that I find totally wonderful in such an otherwise brisk and focused tune, epitomized by the almost haphazard way the harmony vocals weave in and out of both awareness and alignment. Wheat is a thoughtful duo from Massachusetts that began life in the late ’90s as an art project; “Move = Move” is a song from the band’s loquaciously titled CD Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy and Made a One-Inch Square, their fourth, which was released last month on Empyrean Records. The MP3 is courtesy of Spin.com.

“Elusive” – Scott Matthews

Tense, fragile, emotional, and intelligent. Listen to how the verse develops over an intriguingly minimal guitar accompaniment–he plays not chords, not a standard finger-picking pattern, but something more resembling a bass line. Vague keyboard washes add deep atmosphere, particularly as we get to the chorus. While not sounding specifically like Jeff Buckley–Matthews’ tenor seems more constricted, and pretty much lacks Buckley’s famous vibrato–there’s still something Buckley-like in the air here in the strong yet delicate melody and the sense of dramatic vulnerability suffusing the song. Matthews is a British singer/songwriter and this song has already been a big sensation in the UK, from an album called Passing Stranger that was released there in October 2006. “Elusive” recently won a major UK songwriting prize, the Igor Novello Award; Passing Stranger is now being readied for U.S. release on Universal Republic, probably in the early fall. MP3 via Stereogum.

“Always on the Telephone” – the Ladybug Transistor

Evocative minor-key 21st-century folk rock, with saxophone. Although here, for sure, is a band with its roots deep in the 1990s–associated with the storied Elephant Six Collective, the Ladybug Transistor in fact released its first CD back in ’95. The personnel has changed over the years and it’s a bit of a loosey-goosey outfit to begin with; it taxes me beyond my breaking point to determine, via all available press materials, who precisely is in the band at this point. (I do know that the band, tragically, lost their original drummer, San Fadyl, in April, to a fatal aesthma attack.) Through the years and the lineup shiftings, the band’s sound remains ever centered around Gary Olson’s sensitive baritone and his lovely capacity to convert something vaguely ’60s-like into something vaguely contemporary. I’m taken this time by the unexpected entrance of the saxophone (only, um, now I guess you’ll expect it) at 1:47–a sharp, lonely sax it is, its achy street-corner wail unlike anything one normally encounters in ’00s indie rock. “Always on the Telephone” is the lead track from the band’s new CD Can’t Wait Another Day, which was released on Merge Records earlier this month. The MP3 is via Spin. Veteran Fingertips visitors, do you remember the band’s previous TWF pick, in December ’03? Refresh your memory.

“Rain” – Bishop Allen

Punchy, precise pop from the punchy and precise Bishop Allen, the Brooklyn-based band best known, in the web world, for releasing 12 separate EPs last year–one each month, each named for the month, each with four new songs (except for August, which had 14 live tracks). A band this productive has probably mastered the art of writing songs about more or less anything; this one appears to be, rather simply, about a rainy day. Between the snappy-clappy beat, the spirited, uncomplicated melody, and Justin Rice’s high-pitched yet appealing voice, “Rain” is charming from beginning to end. I like how the lead guitar enters about halfway through (1:38) with a squawk or two, as if it was literally waking up, just in time for a recalcitrant sort of anti-solo. “Rain” is a track from the forthcoming Bishop Allen CD, The Broken String, slated for release next month on the Dead Oceans label. The MP3 is via the band’s site. Bishop Allen is another band with a previous TWF appearance in the semi-distant past; unfortunately, the song selected back in March ’04 is no longer available.

“Speech Marks” – God Love You For a Liar

A continually engaging, skillfully constructed song from an unknown, unsigned UK band. Nice chords, indecipherable time twists, hardy melodies, intriguing lyrics, multiple hooks—“Speech Marks” packs it all into four and a half minutes, while adding a bit of goofy 10cc-like pop drama for good measure (I’m referring to the “phone conversation” segment, beginning at 2:26; and don’t miss the answer given to “Do you believe in God?”). Vocalist Gareth Moss has a pliable tenor that suits the shifty music well, sometimes veering towards David Byrne-like rubberiness, sometimes doing a bit of crooning, but not for long, since he’s not afraid to leap back and forth into his falsetto. I’ll admit my eye was caught by this band before my ear was—they describe themselves as “owing as much to Kate Bush as they do to The Smiths,” a claim that does my heart good in a “maybe the world isn’t going to hell in a handbasket” sort of way (I mean, four guys in a rock band calling Kate Bush a major influence? Only in the 21st century.) The band by the way exchanged a ’90s-style name (Plastik) for the much ’00s-ier God Love You For a Liar within the last year, when they expanded from a trio to a quartet. “Speech Marks” is a song from their first CD, How Much Is Enough? that is not only available for free online at their web site but is genuinely good.

“The Underdog” – Spoon

So check out the handclaps (0:58) in this one: probably the most difficult-to-clap-along-with handclaps in the history of rock’n’roll. Knowing how meticulous Britt Daniels, Jim Eno and company are, this can’t be an accident, so it strikes me as a good-natured if inscrutable joke in the middle of a good-natured if inscrutable (not to mention crisp and punchy) song. Launching off a relentlessly strummed, one-chord acoustic guitar riff, “The Underdog” features Spoon’s characteristic sense of instrumental restraint—however many or (more often) few sounds are combined at any given point, one can always hear all of them distinctly—and yet delivers it in an easy-going, shuffly musical setting. This creates a wily tension throughout; even when the horns arrive, they don’t cut loose but keep their distance, never overpowering either the acoustic guitar or Eno’s precise percussion (he refuses to hit or shake too many things at once). The one excessive thing you’ll hear—also no accident, I assume—is that repeating guitar chord (G major, if I’m not mistaken), not only in the beginning but in the middle (where it extends for 10 measures, blatantly two measures “too long”) and then at the end, where it persists an almost excrutiating 18 measures before it sounds like someone has shot the guitar (or the guitarist). If you like this song even a little, I encourage checking it out within the context of the whole CD, in which it sounds mysteriously irresistible. The CD—entitled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (yet another good-natured if inscrutable joke?)—is the band’s sixth; it’s scheduled for release next month on Merge Records.

“Perdu” – Watoo Watoo

As breezy and refreshing as a mojito in the shade by the beach on a hot day, “Perdu” disappears as quickly, too: the song’s just a hair over two minutes long. With its melt-in-your-ears keyboard and brisk, semi-boss-nova-y groove, the song might fall into the “pleasant but generic” rut but for its immediately captivating melody, thirst-quenching chord changes, and the pure, breathy voice of Pascale, the singer. The French lyrics add measurably to the allure. Watoo Watoo is a husband-wife duo who live in Bordeaux and go by first names only (his is Michaël). They’ve recorded in an off and on sort of way since 1997. “Perdu” is from their new CD, La Fuite, which was released today on Letterbox Records. I’m pretty sure that this song will sound all but perfect on almost any mix you feel like putting together for yourself for the warm weather to come. Remember to thank Letterbox for the MP3.