Playlist

Telefon Tel Aviv: instrumental, sort of techno-ish/electronic but not the crappy dance-kind.  Dreamy... sometimes slow and soothing, sometimes lots of crazy alien sounds for no apparent reason.  Somewhat like The Postal Service.  You can listen at telefontelaviv.com (which unfortunately is offline at the moment).  Update: looks like they’re back online.  In their "Listen" section, check out the tracks from the album Fahrenheit Fair Enough; the other stuff is cool too, but so far I’m liking FFE the best, I think.

Rainer Maria - Long Knives Drawn: this is their newest album, and I just got it... it’s so rock and roll.  As time has passed, RM has gone from a dual-vocal format to just the female vocalist, and she is amazing.  I can’t get through many of the songs on this album without bursting out in song, and one of them is "Long Knives."  At first, this song makes no sense.  I mean I think it has verses and a refrain and even a bridge, but they just make no sense... the guitar is crazy on the verses, the drums are crazy on the chorus, and the vocals the whole time are just... like, repeating the same word/phrase a few times in a row almost spokenly... and her inflections are just very unique.  So anyway, after the first listen, I was like, "what?"  And after a few more, I’m in love.  This song rocks, it’s just different.

Emery: this is a pretty new band (I think).  They’re "another one of those" indie rock bands whose sound is highly dynamic, with intense screaming parts followed by pretty mellow parts.  But I like those kinds of bands, so I like these guys.  Similarish to A Static Lullaby, and maybe a little bit to The Juliana Theory.  Listen to almost the whole album at theweaksend.com and a couple songs at purevolume.com.

Freemartin: they just relased a new EP that’s unstoppable.  They are punk rock + emo, I guess... mostly fast but with slow and pretty breakdowns.  Their sound is really tight, with incredible drumming.  (Update: I forgot a sounds-like.  Sounds like... sorta like old Get Up Kids stuff, especially the vocals, but way faster.)  Listen at freemartin.com.