Belgium/Holland
Gepetto and the Whales - Duquesne's horse
Didn't make the top three in Humo's Rock Rally like everyone anticipated, but they're now two good radio singles ahead of the pack. Slight Fleet Foxes-feel with the gang vocals, but less 'campfirey'.
Marco Z - Endlessly be together
Haters gonna hate. I can't object to anything this catchy.
De Hoop - Sapjes overal
Don't miss Marieke Dilles playing around with fruit and juices in this video. No more (intentional) grammatical errors like in the last single, better danceability, more intended lyrical puns.
Faberyayo - Een echte
Who knew Faberyayo from De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig fame had it in him to produce a radio-friendly, genuine love song? That's the power of love for you, right there.
Balthazar - The oldest of sisters
'Applause' by Balthazar is one of my favourite Belgian albums of the last years, so I'm looking forward to the new full-length 'Rats' coming out sometime before the end of the year. New single prominently features some brass parts (which band member is gonna play those?), and the bass is mixed to the background, which makes it less groovy than the 'Applause' tracks. Still hoping for some groovy tunes on the new album.
Across the border
The Killers - Runaways
Brendan F. exchanged the feathery shoulderpads for a leather jacket and the band seems to reconnect with the Sam's Town era both lyrically and musically. Perfectly suited for arena-sized venues.
Azari & III - Into the night
Azari & III still succesfully bringing back the nineties house vibes. Strongly recommended!
Passion Pit - Took a walk
Ultra-catchy track by the Masachusetts band, although the lyrics aren't as happy as you'd suspect from the melody.
Walk The Moon - Anna sun
Hard to resist, upbeat single. The vocal delivery reminds me of Jimmy Eat World a little.
Frank Ocean - Pyramids (part 1)
"Set the cheetahs on the loose". Frank Ocean single-handedly revolutionized the soul genre and all it took was one good euro-dance break. Oh, and maybe the whole coming out thing.
Jessie Ware - Wildest moments
Sober video to accompany this classy track.
Santigold - The Keepers
Just like previous single 'Disparate youth', this is an highly effective track by Santi White
The XX - Angels
The XX are back and didn't tinker with the winning formula. The dreamy guitar intro reminds me of Beach House, but Romy's hushed vocals do not miss the emotional spot.
Lianne La Havas - Is your love big enough?
Charming new artist, think Corinne Bailey Rae, but more extravert/extravagant.
JD McPherson - North side gal
The whole retro hype is going to be over some day soon, but JD McPherson is hopping the bandwagon.
Django Django - Storm
I could've sworn it was Lou Barlow singing this track. These Scots had an unsuspected breakthrough hit, but are struggling with a mediocre live reputation.
Graffiti Six - Free
This one's for the ladies; slightly raspy voice: check, good-looking fella: check check.
Miike Snow - The wave
These Swedes have such a good record when it comes to making radio singles, I almost take them for granted.
Purity Ring - Fineshrine
Nice little (and slightly eerie) elektropop tune, with some macabre lyrics "Cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you". Album's pretty good though, and they got a pretty rad live setup.
The Vaccines - Teenage icon
I like this new single by The Vaccines, can't say the full album was able to win me over on my first listen, however. Had to laugh at the Foo Fighters elevator music nod in the video though. To save you guys the Wikipedia adventure, Frankie Avalon was a teenage icon from the sixties, starring in several "beach party" themed movies.
Ellie Goulding - Anything can happen
This new single actually isn't half bad, but the media coverage of her romance with brostepper Skrillex is trumping whatever career she has at the moment.
Cat Power - Ruin
Happy to hear some Chan Marshall on the radio waves again. She's still a stunner at forty years old, short haired women = winning!
Grizzly Bear - Yet again
Didn't get the Grizzly Bear hype last time around, and this still does utterly nothing for me, I must say.
Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep alone
These Irish lads are still aiming for world domination, and they're getting closer one step at a time.
Isbells - Elation
Of course, the Bon Iver resemblance is all too obvious, but having a good Belgian clone around can't hurt now, can it?
Foo Fighters - Back and forth
The Foos doing what they do best.
Metal
Obituary - I'm in pain
Favourite metal track of the last months, Obituary nailing the mid-tempo death metal sound on the opening track of 'The End Complete' album. "the darkness falls beyond the grave!"
Mastodon - Oblivion
Admittedly, hopelessly overdue (mostly because never really got into the first single 'Divinations'), but I finally checked out the 'Crack The Skye' album by Mastodon.
It's no great departure from previous album Blood Mountain (which will probably always be my favourite), and with 7 songs above the five minute mark, probably not a good starting point for people that aren't familiar with the band. Listening to this album, I now have a better understanding why they decided to walk a different path with the 'The Hunter' album.
First song 'Oblivion' is probably the most radio-friendly single they had (before 'Curl of the burl' anyway), although the length of the guitar solo might be trying for people that aren't into metal.
Wikipedia trivia, apparently, this band was formed at a High On Fire concert in some basement. If that's not cool, then I don't know what is!
Misc
Kitty Pryde - Okay cupid
Hopelessly puberal but ever so hypnotic and addictive! Been vibing to this on endless repeat recently. Losing all my comic street cred right now, but I had to learn from Wikipedia that Kitty Pryde is a character from the Marvel universe. "I don't care how long it takes to get you after me I wrote our names on my binder/And everybody laughed at me/But it really doesn't matter, you are radder and cooler/A hooligan and my flattery makes me look like a fool again/You are a tool again."
Cher Lloyd - I want u back
UK X-Factor participant Cher Lloyd scoring a hit in the US, something her X-Factor mentor Cheryl Cole hasn't quite succeeded in yet. US and UK have a different version (US rapper Astro strangely only appears on the UK version) and even a different music video. Even though the US video seems to be more leggy, I'm leaning towards the UK video.
UK version
USA version
Carly Rae Jepsen - This kiss
Carly Rae going for gold with the follow-up for smash hit 'Call me maybe'. The single and video aren't even out yet, you heard it here first, folks! (Save yourself the trouble of trying to find a good live performance on youtube, they're all underwhelming at best.)
Overlooked
Dogs Die In Hot Cars
These Scottish five-piece had a string of radio singles back in 2004, but seems to have been forgotten ever since. A shame really, hearing back their only full length 'Please describe yourself', I still like it as much as I did back then. Jumpy rhythms, distinctive voice, and lyrics that try to deal with real subjects. Can't really put the finger on why they never went on to bigger things (the awkward band name? the hardly impressive live performances? ...)
'Lounger' (with the 'I get up when I like/wear anything I like/don't keep up with the cool/I'm making my own rules' chorus) used to be my unofficial personal anthem, and embarassingly at thirty-one, it kind of still is.
