Forgery League

A lot of this stuff I’ve discovered thanks to Epitonic: The Decemberists, New Pornographers, the Shins and Metric, to name a few. I’d known about a lot of them before, but having a track or two to try out makes so much difference.

The Shins : Got a very ‘60s jangly garage guitar pop sound, with some really striking melodies. Singer’s voice reminds me of Flaming Lips guy, but I like their tunes and lyrics way better.

Hayden - Elk Lake Serenade
Bob Drake - Little Black Train : Just rediscovered this one. Rusty, broke-down country-prog. It feels like one of those albums that solo multi-instrumentalists do. “Same Old Story” has a heavenly intro that always sticks in my head.

Stevie Wonder - “Superstition” : Holy shit, that horn line. - dat - dat - da da ba baïãa ba dadap... the trills!

The Roots - The Tipping Point : Has its fun moments. Reviewers have been somewhat disappointed. I’ll have to check out their earlier one, Phrenology.

Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

The New Pornographers “The Laws Have Changed” : Power pop with an absolutely winning chorus, pitting Neko Case’s soaring vocals against a Beach Boys-ish “do do do”. And curious but not disagreeable lyrics about a Pharaoh.
Blonde Redhead “In Particular” : I’m not that into Blonde Redhead - the vocals are a little too preciously ‘indie-rock’, for one thing… I’ll have to listen to some more to decide. But “In Particular” has the most beautiful pulsing guitars, and the hypnotic quality continues over into the vocals. It never quite bursts out into a frenzy as you might expect, just remains, tense and beautifully understated.