[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds, Oct. 15-21

From: "Jeremy Schlosberg" <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:52:40 -0400

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THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/this_weeks_finds.htm>
week of Oct. 15-21

"Eyelashes" - the Panda Band <http://thepandaband.com/eyelashes.mp3>
Loping along with a kitchen-sink variety of sounds and musical moments,
"Eyelashes" is a song that I think will satisfy both those who enjoy
songwriting craft and those with short attention spans. After a three-second
introduction, we are thrown right into the middle of the song, as the chorus
comes first. Just as I'm getting acclimated to the expansive soundscape,
featuring an unnameable wall of sound that doesn't appear to be any
particular instrument or background vocal, the song pulls back to a quieter
section, but even that shifts quickly, as the singer and acoustic guitar are
joined first by a cheesy organ (I mean that in a good way) and some
skittering electronic percussion, leading us soon enough into an engaging
instrumental section. The song isn't quite a minute old yet. And, as it
turns out, the instrumental interlude, too, keeps moving and keeps us
guessing--the 24-second break beginning at around 54 seconds in itself has
three different sub-sections, including one of the coolest (and oddest)
guitar "solos" I've heard in a while (check it out starting around 1:06,
after the flurry of electronic twittering--it's pretty low in the mix, and
for all of its alternating dissonance it almost doesn't sound like somebody
playing an instrument). Even as the song can be parsed into these
semi-describable chunks, the impressive thing is that "Eyelashes" holds its
ground with great panache, offering a rollicking musical adventure in a
concise space. The Panda Band is a quintet from the large but remote city of
Perth, Western Australia. This song is from the band's debut CD, *This Vital
Chapter*, which was released in Australia this summer, and given a U.S.
release last month on the Filter U.S. label. The MP3 is available via
the band's
site <http://thepandaband.com/>.

"The King is Dead (But the Throne Is Not Ours)" -
Causa<http://www.causarock.com.ar/media/mp3/Causa%20-%20the%20king%20is%20dead.mp3>
Mysterious and restrained and yet also fast-paced, mixing electronics and
guitars with Radiohead-like aplomb. The melody urges the song forward and
upward against a particularly appealing beat; I like how well-articulated
and almost minimalist it is, achieving a satisfying complexity without
simply piling on the digitally-manipulated sounds. The Spanish lyrics add to
the enigmatic feel, thanks to the complete failure of my high school Spanish
to rescue more than one or two words from the flow. And talk about great
guitar solos, this one, beginning at 2:09 and closing out the song, is
probably what ultimately sold me here; it's a repetition of nine basic
notes, but yanked out of the instrument in an itchy, urgent, and
increasingly freaked-out way. Love it. Causa is a quartet from Buenos Aires,
Argentina that has been around since 1999. "The King is Dead" is a song that
has not yet appeared on an album of theirs; it's available as an MP3 via the
band's site <http://www.causarock.com.ar/>.

"Fearful" - Beat
Radio<http://www.beatradio.org/The%20Great%20Big%20Sea/08%20fearful.mp3>
Part lullaby, part benediction, "Fearful" is one beautiful and tender song,
yet possesses not an ounce of sappiness, which limns its sturdy truthfulness
in clear, almost breathtaking strokes. Most love songs, let's be honest,
defeat their own intentions through mawkish exclamations, both musical and
lyrical. Somewhere in the interplay between Brian Sendrowitz's vulnerable
vocal, the subtle but progressive tension of the acoustic instrumentation
(listen to the drumbeat, for instance), and the rock-solid melody, the song
achieves a luminous clarity that doesn't have to rely on bromides or
histrionics. "Fearful" is from the band's debut CD (they call it an LP, god
bless 'em) *The Great Big Sea*; the MP3 is available via the band's
site<http://www.beatradio.org/>.
As a matter of fact, the entire album is there to be listened to and
downloaded as free and legal MP3s (god bless 'em). A New York City
four-piece, Beat Radio has been written about all over the place, but I
noticed them first only recently via the
Sixeyes<http://sixeyes.blogspot.com/>blog
.


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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds, Oct. 15-21

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