Friends :: "Friend Crush"

Samantha Urbani, singer and force behind Friends, wails, "I wanna ask your advice on the weekdays/I want to plan something nice for the weekend." She outlines the shape of one of those blighted friendship romances, so close to love and so painfully not. Worse, this is not love from afar, the kind of silent sit-behind-you-math class crush. This is close-up, see-you-all-the-time love, slow, obvious and static. Tape fuzz and a stomping snare provide the framework for a melody that would be at home on a Lykke Li record, a certain wistfullness contributing the sonics to this slow disaster. For Urbini, the voice behind this concoction, the "Friend Crush" is the best and worst kind. As for the band, new Lucky Number label-mates with Darwin Deez, they won't be unrequited for long, upgrading your like to outright love.

Listen :: Friends - "Friend Crush"

Free Energy :: "Free Energy"

About 60% of the time I write things that are aimed at specific people I know. Sometimes I name them but mostly I don't. Mostly, those unnamed people know who they are. And rarely, I'll listen to something that applies to a group of people I know and like a great deal; all my friends. "Free Energy" by Free Energy is that last type of song. You plural are great.

They say that youth is wasted on the young. In your case, I suspect they were incorrect (this is sourced material). Pack up your belongings and move to Thrash City. You've been receiving mail there for years anyways. There's an apartment building full of everyone you know and the rooftop looks at something dramatic.

This weekend alone you were in New York and San Diego and Los Angeles and Boston and Texas and San Francisco and Germany. I am leaving places out. You slept in your cars and jumped the gaps between roofs. You said goodbye to some people and met others. You climbed trees and stayed up too late. You went north. You laughed at stupid catch phrases and shared new ones. You beat the game. You let yourself have fun.

We might be seperate but this song makes me think of you plural.

Listen :: Free Energy - "Free Energy"