Leeroy Stagger

Beautiful House

Leeroy is one of those stories that's becoming more and more common in music (see Ryan Adams, Jesse Malin, and others). He started off playing punk rock, before settling down playing something substantially more twangy. Clearly displaying a love of country, he also has an ear for melody, and can write a hell of a hook. What this track doesn't capture though, is his live presence. Luckily for you, Stagger is in town every couple of months, just like fellow Victorians Hot Hot Heat used to be before they took off. Take advantage of that luxury while you can.

Beautiful House

Boompa!

April 4th sees the release of the Tales From the Back Porch EP, featuring six re-recordings of songs from Beautiful House that, in my opinion, are, not only superior, but different enough to be worth picking up, even if you already own the LP.

Saturday Looks Good To Me

Lift Me Up

Saturday Looks Good To Me made it through three decades of music without picking up anything other than Punk's DIY ethic. The rest of their influences are rooted firmly in classic '60's pop. If the Ronettes were still topping the charts, the band's mastermind (and only permanent member), Fred Thomas would be giving a Phil Spector a run for his money every Grammy night.

Every Night

Polyvinyl Records

Final Fantasy

The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead

Armed with only his violin, voice, and unstoppable musical genius, Owen Pallet is probably (and tragically) still best known as the guy who arranged the strings on the Arcade Fire's debut LP, Funeral. This song is the center piece of his solo coming out party, Has A Good Home. A very simple pizzicato riff gets paired with another bowed riff, both repeating to build the groundwork, with Pallet adding stringed flourishes between vocal lines. It's at about the two minute mark when things really start to take off, though. A series of soloing violins all seem to be circling around, almost ready to collapse on each other before everything is brought back down to earth.

Has a Good Home

Blocks Recording Club

Check out some videos of Owen performing solo at Aperture Enzyme.

Mirah

Light The Match

Mirah hit her stride on Advisory Committee, but on C'mon Miracle she upped the ante. Diverse instrumentation (this song is driven by an accordion), inventive production, her best vocal performances yet, and, of course, a great batch of songs added up to make one of 2004's most underrated records. This is the bonus track from the vinyl release of the album, meaning it wasn't good enough to make the record. Take a listen and think about that.

C'mon Miracle (Vinyl Only)

K Records

The Seconds

Say Hey

This is the side project of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' drummer, Brian Chase and the Ex-Models' Zachary Max (the band is rounded out by bass slinger, Jeannie Kwon), so unsurprisingly they sound sorta like the bastard child of the two New York bands. Frenetic, rhythmic, and dare I say, "angular." The Seconds make party music for those arty weird kids who never got invited parties in high school. P.S... they're cooler than you are now.

Y

5RC