Sunday, November 04, 2012

Pop Music

 I grew apart from pop music in the early nineties. Just lost interest in it; nothing in the mainstream appealed much to me, and I didn't manage to find what interesting music there was. A circuitous route led me from The Jesus and Mary Chain to punk and heavy metal, and that was pretty much it; with a few exceptions, like Radiohead, The Wedding Present or the Foo Fighters, I pretty much gave up on pop music and dedicated myself to the heavier stuff. I'd still identify myself as mostly a heavy metal listener, though I'm not sure it's true anymore.
 The thing is, in the early '00s I ran across the AV club website. I mostly followed them for their movie coverage, but some of the bands they covered sounded interesting. This led me to download Death Cab for Cutie's We have the Facts and we're Voting Yes, and to indie pop.

 Living in Argentina, I'd never been exposed to any of these bands - from what I could tell from the outside, most of the music I was discovering was 'hipster' music (a label I've never really understood, at least when applied to very accessible, poppy music - guilt by association, I guess). In any case, I was excited to find that I'd discarded a whole genre as prematurely dead, and managed to miss a huge number of artists who were making the sort of pop music I liked.

 I've been trying to put together a list of pop music recommendations for my sister (she asked me a few years back, but what can I say? I'm lazy). So here it goes. I'll limit this post to relatively new stuff - hopefully later I'll work my way through older stuff. I'm also sticking to the sunnier end of the pop spectrum for now, since I know that's what my sister prefers. I've included a ton of songs as links below, one per word.


 Let's start with Death Cab for Cutie, then; good time for it, since their latest CD -Codes & Keys- is excellent. Here are a couple of songs from it. Their older stuff varies, but my favorite CD of theirs is Transatlanticism.

Cloud Cult is a weird one; if I had to put a genre on it, I'd call it electro-hippy pop. Still, there's no arguing with a song as beautiful as this. The rest of that CD - Feel Good Ghosts - is pretty great, too.

 Pop doesn't come any sunnier - and guilty pleasures any guiltier - than Jimmy Eats World. You've heard them, even if you don't know them by name. They've written a lot of pop gems over the years; their best CD is Clarity, but their catchiest songs are either on Bleed American or Invented. Warning - do not listen to if you're allergic to cheese. Your credibility may be impacted if you admit to liking this band. Do not, under any circumstances, pay attention to the lyrics.

Nada Surf is another great pure pop band. Here's a few songs to try; please don't pay attention to their lyrics, they're pretty terrible. Let Go is probably the best place to start, but Lucky or The Weight is a Gift are pretty good too.

Stacey's Mom is a kind of terrible gimmick song which Fountains of Wayne will probably never live down. Look past that, however, and you'll find a really good power-pop band with impeccable songwriting and some very funny, incisive lyrics. Check this out, or this, or this. Welcome Internet Managers is the CD to get. Warning: it contains Stacey's Mom.

 In a perfect world, Shearwater would be huge. The whole of their last CD, Animal Joy, is essential - and Animal Life is probably the best single pop song I've heard this year. It's one of my favorite bands, and they've remained amazingly good throughout the years.

 Regina Spektor is a lot of fun - her first two CDs, Soviet Kitch and Begin to hope are both great - The first skews weirder, and the second has catchier songs. Us is probably her best song, but she's got plenty of great stuff.

 Andrew Bird's been around for ages, and he's put out some really great music in that time. Armchair Apocrypha and The Mysterious Production of Eggs are the ones to get.

 The National's Boxer is highly recommended. Here are a couple of standouts.

 There's no arguing with The Arcade Fire's Rebellion - a track so great I'd still consider the band great even if everything else they ever put out was shit. Good thing the rest of their stuff holds up pretty well. Of their CDs, I'm partial to Funeral, but the rest have good songs too.

 I'm not a huge fan of 80's revival bands - The Killers and Film School, for example, leave me cold. But The Editors, for one CD at least, hit it out of the park; An End has a Start has these two songs.

 Bloc Party have made two really great albums (Silent Alarm and Weekend in the City), and another one that's still pretty good but comes front-loaded with some truly horrible songs. Here's some of their stuff.

 And now, for the Scottish. Frightened Rabbit make some lovely music - a good place to start would be their Midnight organ fight CD; it's got gems like this, or this.

 Malcolm Middleton is a particular favorite, though he's definitely an acquired taste - I can't think of many musicians who write pop as acid as his; try A Brighter Beat and work your way from there if you like it; its first three songs are unbeatable.

 Finally, a band I was introduced to fairly recently - Vast. Both Nude and April are really great, chock-full of great songs. I'm really not sure why this band isn't a lot bigger.

 And that should be enough for a while!