Quickie

While driving to and from Columbus the past few days, I got around to listening to some old favorites that I had forgotten about. The band that I appreciated the most this morning at 6 am was Rilo Kiley. Rilo Kiley is a pop alt band led by sultry vocalist Jenny Lewis. Their 2007 album Under the Blacklight is a relatively short album but it's packed with great tunes. My absolute favorite is the jazz inspired "15". The most popular track off this release is "Silver Lining" and "Dreamworld" is also worth a listen. As I'm sure you can judge by these tracks, the album is very diverse but is all around really solid and definitely worth a listen.

I just got the new Gold Frapp and She & Him CD's today so I'll be posting key tracks from those respective artists later in the week as well as talking about Radio Moscow.

Stuck at the airport

While stuck at the airport, I could give you some kind of cliche song, but instead will get you excited for MGMT's upcoming album with a couple of links I found on Stereogum while surfing the web trying to waste time. First is a slowed down cover of "Time to Pretend". It's not nearly as good as the original, but is definitely an interesting take.

Also on Stereogum was an review for the new MGMT album. Congratulations comes out April 13.

Lastly, props to Southwest Florida International Airport for providing free Wifi. I wish more airports would follow suit ( ahem Cleveland Hopkins).

Vacation

The jam of the week for vacation is "Fallin and Flyin" by Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell from Crazy Heart. Although it's country, it's a great tune and a pretty sweet movie as well.

Julian Casablancas

Julian Casablancas was/is the brainchild behind The Strokes. Last year he released his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young, which is quite remarkable. The song I haven't been able to get out my head recently (and thus is my jam of the week) is "11th Dimension". This song has a great beat and an synth-induced dance vibe, but the lyrics are pretty insightful. The whole collection, this song in particular, mirrors the title of the album. He's trying to be the voice of his generation and impart his wisdom on others to open their eyes. The other really great song on this album is "Out of the Blue".

If you like Julian, check out more of The Strokes and Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.

Also, I'm super excited about Band of Horses announcing their new album will come out on May 18th and they're opening up for Pearl Jam in Cleveland on May 9th.

Plastic Beach

The Gorillaz new album, Plastic Beach, comes out on Tuesday. I've listened to it a couple times through so far and it's fantastic. A couple songs that you should check out before you purchase it are "White Flag", "Rhinestone Eyes" and my favorite so far, "Superfast Jellyfish". It's pretty much a rap collaboration album with cameos by Mos Def, Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, but it's by far the best rap collaboration I've ever heard. Plastic Beach and the very similar Broken Bells album should keep your ears should be very happy this week.

Heartless Bastards

What's up everyone, hope you're all doing well on this Wednesday evening. Tonight I want to tell you a bit about a band from beautiful Cincinnati, OH, The Heartless Bastards.

I first heard about The Heartless Bastards from my sister friend, Walt. Walt was in charge of all the design elements of the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati where this band headlined. By the way, Walt is a bad ass designer (check his stuff out here) and a great guy, to boot.

Although The HB have released three albums, I have only listened to their most recent, The Mountain. The influences of classic rock are pretty evident through the rustic, heavy sound of their guitar, while I find their melodies to be similar to mid 90's pop/rock bands like Collective Soul and Deep Blue Something. The lead singer, Erika Wennerstrom, has an awesome voice and is pretty cute as well (pictured above). My favorite track off of the album and today's jam of the week is "Sway", but "Hold Your Head High" and "The Mountain" are great tracks as well. Other songs worth a listen to off this album are "Out at Sea" and "Early in the Morning".

Bands that you should listen to if you like The Heartless Bastards are labelmates The Black Keys and Dan Auerbach.

Photo from: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/6JJO-cDirqf/2009+Points+West+Music+Arts+Festival+Day+1/hfzT71VGDdl/Erika+Wennerstrom