Can't overthink this...

Well, too fucking late for that. I don't think anything will be obscure to JSP, but some of you may not know these guys, and they're worth checking out. Song titles will take you to youtube videos if you want to avoid buying the itunes version.

1) "Better Son or Daughter" - Rilo Kiley from the album The Execution of All Things.

This song was the beginning of a new phase for me where I realized I like marches and anthems and shit that makes me want to run off to war--or protest one, rather. I came across these guys by accident when I saw some video of great David Beckham goals set to it, and while Becks was bending insane kicks around Germans, I was thinking, "What's that song?" I haven't gotten as into their other stuff, but the babe lead singer, Jenny Lewis, put out a solo album last year called Rabbit Fur Coat that is excellent. She apparently was a child actress, btw, and had a bit role on Growing Pains. Don't hold that against her/them though. Or do--it's pretty embarrassing.


2) "Holland, 1945" - Neutral Milk Hotel from the album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

These guys have gotten sort of cult status in indie music circles, and after seeing their name a lot I finally checked them out a couple years ago. My first few listens through the album were a rough go--the lead singer's voice isn't up to most of the notes he tries to carry, and it's kind of pathetic and comical at first to hear him break up when trying to hold a note he never even hit in the first place. Still, I found myself popping it into the car cd player a lot, and the damn thing started growing on me. There's distortion, folkiness, grunge, psychadelica, all built around some vague concept album based on the Diary of Anne Frank. Anyway, this song is as good an intro to them as any, though the whole album is worth a listen. They're tight here, and playing hard and loud while belting strange and beautiful lyrics about Nazi occupied Europe.