![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/irivers7_shuffle_sc018.jpg\" "\\"irivers7_shuffle_sc018\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We recently read an interesting article in Under the Radar<\/strong> entitled “Houses of Hype?: <\/strong>Music Blogs and Websites Race to Find the Next Big Thing.”<\/strong> In the article, the authors observe that in this post-Pro Tools world there are untold numbers of\u00a0 unheard new (and old) artists and a buzzillion blogs and websites competing with each other to be the first one to hype\/break these artists and\/or their songs.\u00a0 Then the article gets to the heart of the inquiry:\u00a0 “In the race to find new bands, are too many bands being hyped up? Once something is hyped up on one notable blog\/website, all the other blogs\/sites pick up on it and the thing goes viral.\u00a0 But what about the listeners who can only listen to so much music and can only afford to buy so many albums? How do they filter through all these new bands being hyped?”\u00a0 And, we would add, after the initial hype of a band, what do the listeners and the hyped-bands do when that band’s second or third release doesn’t get the continued huzzahs and hype from the media (in certain instances despite qualitatively deserving continued praise, but in other instances because the band’s talents and creativity have played out)?\u00a0 The net result may be disservice to listeners and the hyped bands alike (we can’t wait to read the blogs when the next record by the over-hyped, undeserving Sleigh Bells comes out–we predict the silence and\/or derision will be “deafening,” so clap your hands and say buh-bye Bells).<\/p>\n These are conundra that currently confront every music lover and band.\u00a0\u00a0 For the music fan specifically, how do we find the new music we must have to maintain our souls and sanity now that the old musical levees have broken and the metronomiacal floods are upon us (which reminds us of the appropriately-named UK blog “Drowned in Sound”)?\u00a0 And how do we do this with so many demands on our attention and time in this digital age? Some give up and beach themselves, bloated on familiar musical shores where the soundtrack consists only of music they grew up with (Sinatra, Presley, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Marley, U2, Nirvana, Death Cab–pick your particularly pleasing audio anodyne).\u00a0 While we agree that there is much great old music that merits re-visiting and re-examining (or, for the youngers and uninitiated, discovering for the first time), we hope that you won’t sink beneath the floodwaters or become beached and bloated while the new musical shooting stars flair all around us and go unseen\/unheard against the brilliant and burdensome backdrop.<\/p>\n Come on!\u00a0 Continue the quest.\u00a0 Don’t give up the fight.\u00a0 Untold rewards await.<\/p>\n Having said the foregoing, we confess that we may have been guilty of rushing to judgment and raving on these pages about a new song by one new artist or another, but then later (given more time and a more thoughtful assessment of the artist’s output) we have cringed after realizing that the artist’s long-term artistic prospects were on par with, oh say, Flock of Seagulls, The Buggles, A-ha, or some other one-hit hacks.\u00a0 So we hereby resolve to not rush to judgment and renew our vow to only tout the best music that will stand the test of time.\u00a0 At the same time, we vow not to praise a band and ignore their subsequent praise-worthy efforts.<\/p>\n To this end, the following are songs that have stood the test of a couple of months at the top of our playlist, but seem to have gotten lost in our year-end shuffle.\u00a0 We hope you find them worthy of your attention and limited time.<\/p>\n First up is yet another song, Queen Black Acid, <\/strong><\/em>from Menomena’s fine album “Mines” (causing us to regret not including it in our Top Albums of 2010 list).\u00a0\u00a0 This is a beautiful, but harrowing, pop song replete with Justin Harris’ world-weary lead vocals, a perfect, intriguing\u00a0 bass line, a majestic chorus,\u00a0 and seriously dour lyrics (set forth below) to match Harris’ vocal.\u00a0 Given the band members’ recent personal histories and the personality-histrionics within the band (Brent Knopf just quit the band to focus on his side-project, Ramona Falls), the lyrics convey the weight of a relationship, whether regarding a lover or band member.\u00a0 Long live Menomena.<\/p>\n “I get so caught up in my ways you bring me down<\/p>\n I walked right in through the rabbit’s door I don’t know how I missed the signs I walked right in through the rabbit’s door you bring me down Menomena–Queen Black Acid<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/01-Queen-Black-Acid.mp3|titles=01 Queen Black Acid]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Another band that has proved its worth repeatedly is Athens, Georgia’s Deerhunter, who are fronted by savant terrible, Bradford Cox.\u00a0 Their latest record, “Halcyon Digest,” dominated the Top Albums of 2010 lists, and for good reason.\u00a0 The record is filled with varied and dense pop songs.\u00a0 In addition to the ubiquitous pop of\u00a0 Helicopter, <\/em>the sax-infused Coronado, <\/em>the heartfelt, driving lament of He Would Have Laughed <\/em>(written for the late punk-genius, Jay Reatard), and the chiming jangle of Revival, <\/em>there is the great psych-rocker, Desire Lines, <\/em>which simply defines the album.\u00a0 We love how the guitars take over the song at minute 3:00 and take the song to another level, reminding us a bit of seminal band, Television.\u00a0 Magic.<\/p>\n Deerhunter–Desire Lines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong>[audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/06-Desire-Lines.mp3|titles=06 Desire Lines]<\/p>\n Speaking of bands that were unfairly cast adrift by the blogs after their much-hyped first record, Tapes N’ Tapes<\/strong> deserved much better.\u00a0 They recently released their third record, “Outsider,” and it is further proof of this band’s worth.\u00a0 Following their debut, “Loon,” they lost some media momentum, but bounce back strong with aggressive songs on the new record, as evidenced by Freak Out.<\/em><\/p>\n Tapes N’ Tapes–Freak Out<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong>[audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tapes-n-Tapes-Freak-Out.mp3|titles=Tapes ‘n Tapes – Freak Out]<\/p>\n But we have to also keep trying new bands and their songs, and the following songs by newer bands have also stood out on our year-end playlist.\u00a0 If they continue at this quality level, we will continue to sing their praises.\u00a0 If not, we will dutifully warn you.\u00a0 Check ’em out.<\/p>\n Austin’s Voxhaul Broadcast have followed up their 2008 debut, with a great, driving song, Leaving on the 5th. <\/em>Bodes well for their future.\u00a0 Time will tell.<\/p>\n Voxhaul Broadcast–Leaving on the 5th<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Voxhaul-Broadcast-Leaving-On-The-5th.mp3|titles=Voxhaul Broadcast – Leaving On The 5th]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n England’s Stornaway brings its folk-infused Brit-pop to the world with its latest record, “Beachcomber’s Windowsill.”\u00a0 The band falls somewhere between James and Belle & Sebastian, leaning more to the latter.\u00a0 Check out the horns and delivery on their catchy song, Zorbing.<\/em><\/p>\n Stornaway–Zorbing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/zorbing.mp3|titles=zorbing]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, we give you St. Louis band, Jumbling Towers.\u00a0 The Towers mix the vocal sounds of Destroyer’s Dan Bejar with a melodic, electronica wash to great effect.\u00a0 Though the jury is still out on this band, their EP, “The Ramifications of an Exciting Spouse,” has been on repeat the last month.\u00a0 Amongst our favorite tracks is Typecasting in Eugene, <\/em>with its allusions to “Oregon shores,” and lyrics telling of a “vintage store that Melanie owns, she’ll give you a job, you can manage the floor.”\u00a0 While the song states that “It all feels right to dream, it’s your dream, a dream you had since you were 17,” we’re not sure if this is designed to comfort or deride.\u00a0 Time will tell about the composition and the band.\u00a0 We wish them well.<\/p>\n Jumbling Towers–Typecasting in Eugene<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Typecasting-in-Eugene1.mp3|titles=Typecasting in Eugene] We recently read an interesting article in Under the Radar entitled “Houses of Hype?: Music Blogs and Websites Race to Find the Next Big Thing.” In the article, the authors observe that in this post-Pro Tools world there are untold numbers of\u00a0 unheard new (and old) artists and a buzzillion blogs and websites competing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nsometimes I overlook the simple plains
\nI feel like certain times in my life
\nare met with certain times for pain to thrive
\nyou’re five foot five, not a hundred pounds
\nI’m scared to death of every single ounce
\nand worst of all is when it’s calm
\ncause I know the sea won’t be calm for long<\/p>\n
\nand walked right into the rabbit’s hole
\nI made myself an open book
\nI made myself a sitting duck<\/p>\n
\nI must have passed by them a hundred times
\nyou barely notice what I say
\nyou’re busy looking round the room instead
\nI get so caught up in my ways<\/p>\n
\nand walked right into the rabbit’s hole
\nI made myself an open book
\nI made myself a sitting duck
\nI’m walking down this rabbit trail
\nmy feet grow heavy with every step
\nI stop to eat and take a nap
\nand now I can’t find my way back<\/p>\n
\nso down.”<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"