all yr mp3s are belong to us

In my ongoing effort to be better about actually listening to the music that gets sent to me, I've been dutifully clicking through more mp3 links than usual of late. So here are my immediate reactions to a handful of tracks:

"London Bridges" by This Is Ivy League: I passed this on to Tom recently, as he's been searching for good summer tunes. This completely fits the bill. It makes me want to eat ice cream and ride a bike and ride in a car with the windows down.

"Dance Dance Dance" by Lykke Li: Just purely and totally delightful. A little less dance-inducing than some of her other songs, but still great.

"Mostly A Friend" by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez: Belongs in a Wes Anderson movie. My shoulders were shimmying before the end of the first bar.

"Brainless" by Sunny Day Sets Fire: The subject line of this press release broke my brain ("Multinational, multi-instrumental, multi-faceted surrealist pop group Sunny Day Sets Fire primes summertime launch of debut album reminiscent of Blonde Redhead, Flaming Lips and Architecture In Helsinki"). I don't think the horn actually adds anything to this track. Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write! It's bright and sunny and kind of enjoyable otherwise, though.

"Fantasy Guy" by El Madmo: Sounds like something you'd hear at an open mic night in a small town. That is, well intentioned and nice enough, but not terribly well done or original.

"Sun Down" by Nik Freitas: Charming in a Sha Sha -era Ben Kweller, "Hummingbird"-style Wilco kind of way. Could easily find its way into a road trip scene of a tv drama starring lots of young pretty people.

"Cacophony" by Tilly and the Wall: Not any kind of departure from the band's sound on previous albums, but I happen to like that sound. Tense and happy, energetic and a little bit uneasy. Layered vocals, unexpected turns of percussion and instrumentation. I like it.

"Javelin" by Simon Joyner: Reminds me precisely of some song I can't put my finger on. But it's somebody else that does this exact same single guitar, pained vocals thing and has a song very, very similar to this. Capps says it sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel playing Bob Dylan. If you can think of who this sounds just like, please tell me. It's kind of like a male Mouldy Peaches? But that's not what I'm thinking of.

"Mirror" by The Pharmacy: I'll try and lighten up on the reviews by comparison, but this is what would happen if Weird War and Wolf Parade became one band maybe. I kind of hate parts of it and kind of really dig others.

"John The Barber" by Biography of Ferns: It's got a lackadaisical 90s thing happening on the vocals. It makes me think of holding hands with somebody you have a big crush on. Maybe that's because it's these kinds of songs that were prevalent when I was doing that in the 90s. I think I like this.

"Hawaii" by Unicycle Loves You: I prefer Jukebox The Ghost's take on this style.

"Nothin 2 Hide" by Joseph Arthur: OK I lied. I am not going to ease up on the comparison reviews at all. This song is Sneaker Pimps meet Prince.

"Naked and Red" by Colour Revolt: Coldplay meets Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

"Pirates" by Mr Gnome: The whole breathy and bothered thing is tiresome to me at this point. However, when the song gets going it's got some rockin shades of Karen O.

"On The Beat" by the Electrocutes: I think this song will make Pipettes-loving Tom & Yglz very happy.

That's enough for one day, I think! Do you like this? If so I'll try and do it more often.