Blue Sky Black Death + hey willpower + Phantom Planet
more of Mateo's jukebox faves

Blue Sky Black Death
It Wasn't White + Days Are Years
Mush Records

"It Wasn't White" is the last track on this odd double album. The first disk is a normal album, but there are an additional 15 MP3 only released tracks. An interesting concept. I couldn't find a link to "It Wasn't White", but it's easily found on Soulseek (link to http://www.slsknet.org).

The first two songs in this LunaK meal are uplifting post-break-up tracks. But there is inevitably the time after you leave the club or the show and maybe you don't feel so strong anymore. That sadness is hard to shoo away with a happy song. That's where "It Wasn't White" and "Days are Years" come in.

Sad, Twin Peaks-type strings open "It Wasn't White". A syncopated and reverb heavy drum set enters to ground. The verse in this song is only spoken, through an old mic and recorded onto dusty old tape. The effect is melancholy. "Days Are Years" is instrumental. It has saw-wave bass playing that sad gospel progression, I to IV or G to C. The drum programming has a signiture super-quick hi-hat, but the beat is mid-tempo. The sampling is superb, my favorite part cuts a rap and uses it as an anticrusis at 1:56. This is a very unique use of the sound of rap as a strictly instrumental part.

hey willpower
Hundredaire
Tomlab

This is an ultra-catchy break-up dance song. It is empowering if you're someone who's been hurt, and it will make you feel bad if you're the one who's fucked up. Either way your ass will shake without your helping it.

There's something intriguing to me about the way Will pronounces his words. The slightly and masterfully elongated 'et-ch-yoo' combination of sounds in the words "Let you go", and the way they fit into the rhythm, for instance. The way Will pronounces his words is a subtle and conscience expession of pure personality, and that's something that oozes on this track.

Give Will's duet with Annie a good listen too. And look for these guys live. I imagine they're some of the most fun musicians inciting involuntary movements you're likely to find.

Phantom Planet
Our Darkest Hour
Sony/Epic

I know, they suck. And everybody hates that OC theme song. Oh well. Back in 2002, they wrote one of the best post-9/11 chouruses I've heard. I think it really goes beyond the fear of being attacked, beyond being honest about the dire circumstances that the US would surely bring upon the rest of the world in retaliation, and sees the truth that we are are a country in decline.

"Well we have got to get out of here/In our darkest hour/I think the end is near/I can feel it/we have got to get out of here/In our darkest hour/well we may not make it".

You'll have to find this one on Soulseek. I recommend a live version.

Copyright © 2006 Mateo Orillas