Saturday, September 20, 2008

Use What's Been Given To You

Two rarities bring this post to you. 1 - Actually liking an iTunes free music download and 2 - Falling instantly in love with an entire album.

Last week iTunes featured Lenka's The Show. Very nice estrogen-powered power pop. It made me realize that there aren't that many female power pop artists. Lenka's voice immediately reminds me of The Sundays' dreamy-voiced Harriet Wheeler.

But a listen through the album and it's a cornucopia of musical influence. There's emo angst, 80's pop, rock, guitar hero, and the all-too-overused Jellyfishesque. Have a listen to Bring Me Down and tell me it doesn't sound at least a tad big Jellyfishesque. It's a sugary sweet power pop adventure.

Every song on the album is great. I haven't put it down since I bought it a few days ago. If all you have is $4, buy: Bring Me Down, Live Like You're Dying, Knock Knock, We Will Not Grow Old. But hell, you might as well spend $4 more and get the whole album. You won't be disappointed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I may look into this one. Might I suggest another female poppy singer-songwrite who rules?

Emma Pollock. "Watch the Fireworks" was my favorite album of last year. (Radiohead's "In Rainbows" was my second.)

She was part of the Delgados. Preview her songs on itunes if you haven't already. Please. She should be much more famous, especially since she's on 4AD records.

-Warren in PHX

Anonymous said...

Heh, that should say "singer-songwriter".

I would say that Emma Pollock is a bit less twee/upbeat than Lenka. If you have only $4 my fave tracks are "Acid Test", "Paper and Glue", "Adrenaline", and "Here Comes the Heartbreak".

Unfortunately, the amazing chorus to "Paper and Glue" is not part of the preview clip at itunes.

-Warren in PHX again