Kwaping! Music » indie

RJD2 – “Find You Out”

Kwaping — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:05:15 +0000

I recently described this artist to my wife as “Girl Talk, but jazzy”. While not 100% accurate, it’s pretty close. If you’ve heard the Get Shorty soundtrack (highly recommended), you have a good idea of what RJD2‘s latest work sounds like. It also reminds me a bit of some Propellerheads songs.

Find You Out, from the album Your Face Or Your Kneecaps, has some nice vocal samples in Spanish, laid over a jazz-lounge beat. One of RJD2′s signatures is horn samples, and he has plenty of them here. Fortunately, I love horn samples, so count me as an instant RJD2 fan. In fact, I liked this song so much, I went out and purchased one of his (many) other albums, Magnificent City Instrumentals. That will probably be reviewed in another post in the near future.

Camera Obscura – “French Navy”

Kwaping — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:42:29 +0000

“French Navy” by Camera Obscura

Similar in concept to much of Zee Avi’s music, Camera Obscura‘s “French Navy” features a female lead singer and feels like it should be a very old song when in fact it’s brand new. However, where Ms. Avi has a jazzy acoustic/island-girl vibe from the 40′s, “French Navy” is more like a 60′s song. To be honest, I’m having quite a hard time describing it – it’s very hard to define. It’s upbeat, has a great hook, and some nice violin work.

Some might call it a girlie song, and it does have mass female appeal, but I think guys like it too. Strangely enough, I heard it playing in Home Depot lately! That was definitely a surprise.

The rest of Camera Obscura’s new album, My Maudlin Career, is pretty good, but this is the standout single for me.

Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

Kwaping — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:50:08 +0000

Today’s Song of the Day is actually a whole album, because it’s a continuous mix. The album is Feed the Animals [Explicit], by Girl Talk. If you don’t know this one-man-band already, he is one of the best of the mashup genre. He takes multiple disparate songs and mixes them together into new ones that are more than the sum of their parts. He rarely creates new material for his songs, which some people disrespect, but I am okay with.

A note to those with sensitive ears, the explicit version of this album is the only one I’ve been able to find, so don’t be surprised if you hear some curse words or sexual references.

Enjoy!

Cold War Kids – “We Used to Vacation”

Kwaping — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:26:30 +0000

Cold War Kids is one of those bands that you hear a lot about, but don’t know their songs. At least, that was the case for me, up until recently. My wife and I caught them as an opening act for Death Cab For Cutie (along with the excellent up-and-coming band Ra Ra Riot) and they blew us away. The best I can describe their music is a male Alicia Keys on the piano and a kick-butt indie rock band backing him up. Oh, and they REALLY like maracas.

They have a popular song out right now called “Hang Me Up To Dry“, but I’ve chosen the first song off their new album Robbers & Cowards for this Song of the Day. That song is called “We Used to Vacation” and it’s a great representative of the rest of the album.

You can take my word for it, or listen to the full song for free over at Last.fm. Enjoy!

Happy Mother’s Day! The Bird and the Bee – “Love Letter to Japan”

Kwaping — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:59:16 +0000

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I’d make my wife’s current favorite song the Song of the Day. “Love Letter To Japan” by The Bird And The Bee is four minutes of sugar-pop fun. It has a great video too. If you’re looking for some upbeat, lightweight listening, this should do the job.

Late of the Pier – “Broken”

Kwaping — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:29:41 +0000

Today’s song of the day is “Broken [Explicit]” by Late Of The Pier. This song has one of the best intros I’ve ever heard. The rest of the song is pretty good as well, but it’s pretty different from the rockin jam at the start. This song often gets lodged in my head, which isn’t a bad thing.

Phoenix – “Lisztomania”

Kwaping — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:53:56 +0000

One of my most recent purchases is Lisztomania by Phoenix. This song has quickly become my latest obsession. It’s extremely catchy and appeals to a broad audience – both my toddler son and wife love it. One of the things that’s particularly amazing to me is that Phoenix is from France. They write English lyrics better than most native speakers! I can’t wait to see these guys live someday. Their new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is scheduled for release on May 26, 2009. I’m very much looking forward to it!

Here’s a link to the video so you can hear the full song. I don’t think the video is that great, but the song is good enough to overcome that.