the only girl i've ever loved was born with roses in her eyes

You have probably felt this feeling before: the vague nudging in your mind that what you are reading or hearing is trying to convey something * important*, but it is simply too abstract and eccentric that figuring out what it exactly is about would be an exercise in futility. Whether this is good or bad doesnt really matter in such cases though, for sometimes the eccentricty overtakes the actual intent of the subject and one is mystifically satisfied without actually understanding what it's all * exactly* about.

' Holland, 1945' is a lot like this. It is supposed to deal with the death of Anne Frank, and wait for it, the reincarnation of her as " a little boy in Spain/ Playing pianos filled with flames". Don't ask. If you can figure it out tell me too. Anyway how this startling claim is revealed speaks more for the song than the lyrics do, the musical turn to a carthatic intensity exactly at 0.26 a near perfect counterpoint to the noise rock that came before. This again is repeated at 1.20, and for some reason these always sound fresh and amazing to my ears every time I play this song.

I suppose the reason why I'm putting up this song is that sometimes, a song has to taken in it's overall stucture and texture in order to be fully appreciated. Uh I just realized that that sounds a lot like PC for lit, but nevermind. All in all, a very unique song, what with it's interesting tinny horns, tumbling drums and obscure-but-somehow-one-feels-they-are-important obscure lyrics. Enjoy.

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL - HOLLAND, 1945

a fan made myspace site, give " King of Carrot Flowers pt 1" a listen if you can:

there's twenty seven shades of blue

I cannot say I know much of the music in the 50s/60s, but somehow this song reminds me of what I would like to think that period exemplified: the pop goodness of Dusty Springfield comes to mind. If sunshine could be distilled, it would probably be in the form of the gorgeous melody here, at home in a soaring resigned-to-heartache of an epic epic glazed with Ali Howard's ( the blonde songtress in the picture below)clear and luscious vocals singing lyrics enough to get you through and dark night.

As did I, the song may strike you as a little too sacharrine and sweet at first. Partly due to how unique Ali sounds. But give her a chance, her voice really did start to grow on me as I realized every single nuance and tinge in her uniqueness was sheer warmth and sincerity that was not artificial at all in anyway.Actually, me merely describing this tight timeless tune is not enough to do it justice, so let me quote Lucky Soul's guitarist and songwriter Andrew Laidlaw words that pin down what they wove into the song in a way that I am simply unable to express with mere adjectives.

“ It’s like a big, luscious happy-heartache, like watching the sun go down, getting dumped and patting a dog at the same time. Soul music by small town dreamers who don’t pretend to come from the Deep South; Beautiful and self-effacing, bittersweet. Like romance, it seems superficial but runs deep. It doesn’t try to be clever: your guts aren’t clever.”

So there you are.

LUCKY SOUL - LIPS ARE UNHAPPY

Shimmering, super-melodic, heartache and charm on myspace:

And anyway, in the words of music blogger thetorturegarden.blogspot.com: "I'm sick of describing bands by comparing them to other bands. Ok. Unashamed joyous dancing in the street sixties 'Grease' infectious heartfelt sweet motown girl-group wall-of-sound-stealing lovingly written Bacharach-adoring hand-clap clapping utterly enrapturing very very good."

This is a song that has to be carefully played though. Dont put it too often or it will lose its magic..

It starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy, something inching past the edge of the reserve

Yeh it does start out like that.But woah does everything bursts out in a blazing powerhouse of indelible bliss soon...

The above may apply to many things, but only sometimes in a song so brashly sparkling. ' Here It Goes Again' exemplifies Ok Go's modus operandi of tirelessly energetic rock pop, razor sharp sarcastic wit, and just simply a complete sensibiltity for unforgettable hooks and harmonies with killer electric guitars. And all these neatly packaged into three minutes of charming energy.

Like all good things too, this song really only starts after it has started. Dont understand what I mean? Right forward the little bar to around 0.50 of the tune, and let it go from there.
And you discover the song could just as well had started from there without the prior gem of a pre 0.50 and still remain good. But what raises the song above merely *good* is that the whole energy and passion of the start never dies down but instead, against all expectations, actually not only builds up but morphs into a steady tightly controlled house fire.

But that's not all. The video too.

Pure low budget ingenuity that manages to flip a finger right up to so many other typically flashy expensive big MTVs! Just goes to show that sometimes all anything needs is a simple yet memorable premise and there's really no need to make it all so fuzzily complicated.

OK GO - HERE IT GOES AGAIN

be sure to check out their myspace,

here's another of their videos. It's traditional but still unique. Maybe I should just leave you with their own description:

Video for OK Go's new single, Invincible. Directed by the band, it features OK Go dragging things into a room and blowing them to pieces. This video is popular with people who like a) explosions; b) music; c) both.

it's not so much the way you hurt me/ it's more like the way you make me want to hurt myself

Tentatively giving a first listen to ' Hellodrama' will be a welcome surprise to a ear that is rather sick of hearing songs that tend to repeat themselves rather quickly. Apparently it seems What Made Milwaukee Famous believe in not one, nor even even three, but at least eight different verse seperations in a song.

Yeh yeh quality over quantity and all that, but no worries WMFF has lots of that too in spades. Combining unique keyboards in their sound and a fun yet serious tone to their lyrics, this song is of the just so likable and accessibly catchy but yet still 'indie' sounding enough sort ( whatever that means) that OC kids would like to hear. Which is good. or bad. Depending on how you look at it. But I admit watching the OC is a guilty pleasure lalalala. Anyway it's a long shot but I hope Singapore radio would play more summery pop songs that have such originality and smoothness like this.

Instead of more repeats of that im sorry but, #$&@& irritating dingdingding DINGDINGDING-DING dingdingding bloody theme song of a certain recent movie.

WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS - HELLODRAMA

on myspace,