Soda Fabric :: "Antonia"

An endless summer of warm guitars, Soda Fabric's debut single, "Antonia" combines both surf-pop and the angularities of post-punk. It appears, from the traffic on their Facebook page, that Soda Fabric is from Israel, though the band claims to be from "Atlantis", a winking nod to the watery hooks and thick reverb of "Antonia". Sounding a bit like a more holistic take on the coastal bombast of French Films, the band has another, even better single, "Wrong Flight" waiting in the wings, an encouraging sign for such a young group. The success of both lies in the creation of chasing melodies and shout along good-time choruses. "Antonia", finally winds up on the lyric, "she's so in love," a crashing conclusion and a few gasping guitar spikes, a shortening of days and the final breaths of summer.

Top 50 Songs of 2011 :: 40-31 [And I went down, I went down hard]

 Welcome to our annual countdown of the 50 best songs of the calendar year. Songs must be from an EP, LP or demo released during 2011, no band may appear twice. Each post contains a lyric from one of the ten songs to follow, a hint and a hook that stuck out clearly in this group. Today, we count down 40-31.

40. Milagres - "Glowing Mouth"

We make a lot of jokes about modern independent rock sounding like someone took one too many cold pills. Milagres sat just on the edge of sea sick with "Glowing Mouth" - and maybe think of this as more recovery than desire to plumb the depths - a bit of Dramamine pop, spinning, tippy and a little weird. But, the refrain, "Son, you better get used to believing in things that you can't see", a fractured falsetto, stuck out as one of the best of the year. The other side of the couplet was about things seen and said in the dark, a perfect analogy for buzzy, slow-drive pop song, all florescent lights and fog on the car ride home.

39. French Films - "Pretty In Decadence"

Even a band from Finland with a name about foreign cinema like French Films wore their influences on their sleeves in 2011. "Pretty In Decadence" cribbed style notes out of all the great post-punk pop bands, tipping its cap to Original Gangstas like Robert Smith while managing to put contemporary bands like the Drums on notice not just for plagiarism, but for bad plagiarism. The guitars were warm and bright and the chorus was a shout-along affair with a rich and meaningless edict about "stay[ing] this way baby". We figured, it's been this way since the early 80s, no one is changing.

38. They Might Be Giants - "Can't Keep Johnny Down"

They Might Be Giants were the band I came to terms with in 2011, fully admitting that they were the favorite band of my childhood. It wasn't that I had somehow forgotten all those memorized lyrics and melodies, but TMBG finally released an album that reminded me of how I felt in 1996 when Factory Showroom landed in my mailbox and I refused to take it out of my portable CD player. "Can't Keep Johnny Down" was as playful as indie rock would get in 2011 with lyrics about soiling your drawers and addressing haters as "all the dicks in this dick town." They Might Be Giants were back, and I was back with them.

37. Polica - "Lay Your Cards Out" 

When in doubt, do something dark and sordid. Polica, a Minneapolis band with an affinity for shadowy electronics and loop pedals, found a slice of utter brilliance with "Lay Your Cards Out". In essence, it was a pep talk with lyrics about "getting your head right" and the eponymous title lyric's encouragement to be straight forward. The vocal was one of the most sultry of 2011, a woman asking for honesty and telling you to get your shit together at the same time, at once entirely vulnerable and totally uncompromising.

36. Friends - "Friend Crush"

 

Friends will be the band who slays your 2012 in a way you always hoped Lykke Li would but never did. "Friend Crush" was their first proper single, a loose bass line and maracas covering a pleading vocal and a chorus about being in love with your best friend. It was murder, slowly done, a long form improvisation piece about gaining proximity by factors of half, each time getting closer and closer but never, ever getting there.

35. Jonquil - "Mexico"

Jonquil's "Mexico" rang as a slice of the tropical pop that so dominated the last few years of independent rock music. These references were more obvious; hell, the title was "Mexico" and the sound was as warm as the water would get this year. The band is set to release their full length in 2012 and "Mexico" will be on it, a hand warmer for the winter and all these spinning melodies, like some pinwheel, that only belong somewhere hot and breezy.  

34. Priory - "Lady of Late"

Priory's "Lady of Late" was the song I sung to myself most in 2011. The melody had that natural adhesive quality, lyrics and melody firmly stuck on the first listen. The guitars pulled from the 2004 Modest Mouse catalog, but the surging background vocals and the lyrics about some girl who absolutely kills you made these memorable moments. "I went down, I went down hard", sings vocalist Brandon Johnson, a combination of word and tone that never left your brain after you heard it. 

33. Bad Lamps - "Never Know The Difference"

Bad Lamps surged out of the gates with an excellent first single, "Never Know The Difference". It was snappy, little pop song about a "little, spotty British girl", a bit of electro-pop with a basic foundation and brilliant execution. It was simple to be sure, an insistent drum loop, a bit of guitar and an arrangement rooted in a series of three elevating chords, but, this simplicity allowed for an impressive series of hooks to spill from verse and chorus alike.

32. All Tiny Creatures - "An Iris" [feat. Justin Vernon]

All Tiny Creatures captured Justin Vernon for the hook of their delicate, spinning single, "An Iris". This collaboration might quite rightly leave you questioning: Does All Tiny Creatures really think they're Kanye West? While the band and Mr. West only shared a collaboration with Vernon in common, "An Iris" was built on a twirling guitar loop, an arrangement that recalled some of Clock Opera's original material and remix work. The directionality of the recording spun around in your headphones, Vernon and the band switching left and right channels as if in orbit around your skull.  

31. Best Coast - "Gone Again"

It was all chorus from Best Coast on one-off single, "Gone Again". A series of backing "oohs" and the imminently hooky refrain, "I know that you're gone again." The verses felt less like verses and more like B-melodies, like pre-choruses, as Best Coast singer Beth Cosentino sang about the reasons she should be happy (see: getting high) and the reasons she can't be (see: "you're gone again").

French Films :: "Pretty In Decadence"

Lead single, "Pretty In Decadence" from French Films' debut record, Imaginary Future, opens with the warmest guitars of 2011. Of the same genus as the Cure's trademarked tumbling post-punk, more recently perverted by bands like the Drums, French Films, actually from Finland, are more unique in their ability to find something new in these old archetypes. The glittering synths and pounding drums of the pre-chorus give way to a heartsick refrain with lyrics about helpless wandering and wanting to, "stay this way, baby". But, this is all semantic, the lyrical references to religion, cable television and hopeless love. You will more likely remember the sunny guitars and the infectious hook in the chorus. With a strong debut record and an excellent first single, French Films seem pleased to operate on these twin levels, catchy pop act with troubling depth beneath the surface.

Listen :: French Films - "Pretty In Decadence"

Big Wave Riders :: "Behind These Walls"

In these cheap, one paragraph reviews we all write - the scary footnote being that we historically write more than our peers - it is always tempting to delve into easy metaphors. A band called Big Wave Riders? Let's immediately trot out phrases like "wall of sound", maybe we let you make the connection, or maybe it's more obvious and we talk about being "washed away"or even more cheaply, we use the word, "crest". It's graphic in both senses of the word, but imagery of this type is as lazy as it is pervasive. Finland's Big Wave Riders are thusly not a band that remind me of anything, despite some of the obvious shared genetic material with countrymen, French Films. "Behind These Walls" features an impatient, even urgent bass line, as the backbone of crashing vocals and a soaring, unintelligible chorus. It is instantly full of hooks, a tidy pop song, shoegazing in parts, loads tougher than the Drums and more fun than anything else you'll do this morning. Unless, you've gone surfing. This is harder than it looks.

Listen :: Big Wave Riders - "Behind These Walls"

DJ Natty Heavy :: "32ft/second June/July Mix"

DJ Natty Heavy and I go back more than 10 years now. And though my career only took a weird and brief trip through the music industry, he made his life there. Currently you can find him producing a top-rated morning radio show in Charleston, South Carolina and spinning the hottest records (check his Fashion Week video above) at Charleston's most exclusive clubs. On a recent visit I asked Heavy if he'd be up for putting together mixes for the blog based on some recent and challenging songs I sent his way. Now, this kid spins hip-hop, freestyles against Common, but you're not exactly going to find the new Cults record in his whip. But he agreed to the challenge, and the first edition mixtape is hot off the decks and ready for stream and download below, along with a track list. This might be the least hip-hop thing he has ever done, and it is absolutely perfect for all your plug-and-play summer circumstances. He even threw in some extra fog horn for me. Check it up or check it down.

Tracks:
1. Cults - "You Know What I Mean"/Common - "The Corner"
2. The Vaccines - "Norgaard"
3. French Films - "Convict"
4. Gauntlet Hair - "I Was Thinking"/Lady Gaga - "LoveGame"
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - "An Ugly Person On A Movie Screen"/ Tupac - "Changes"
6. Coldplay - "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall"
7.Theme Park - "Milk"
8. Tom Vek - "A Chore"

Natty Heavy - "32ftsec July 2011 Mix" by 32feet

French Films :: "Convict"

French Films only release new music on the eve of summer. Now, rather than explaining what makes latest single, "Convict" so compelling - the backing vocals, the rollicking bass line, the fuzzy vocals, I could go on - I will make a few dying, seasonal metaphors. These will all boil down to the simple fact that in the northern hemisphere, it is getting warmer outside and isn't this just the perfect song for (fill in the blank) the million different things you'll do under such temperate circumstances (insert reference to rooftops or sunsets here)? Of course, this will be no good without a cursory reference to other bands that play similarly summery music, and here I suspect calling French Films a "mod-squad version of the Drums" would suffice. None of this would remove the simple fact that "Convict" is an obliteratingly perfect song for summer. But, I would be remiss if I didn't at least provide a second layer of meaning: a criticism of the analysis recast as the new analysis. Got it? Now, if you're doing your job, you'll reject such bifurcated meta-bullshit and listen to the five kids out of Finland who make music like the sun is never going to set on the rooftop of your perfect summer afternoon.

Convict by French Films

Top 50 Songs of 2010 :: 20-11 [My heart hides in a cassette tape]

20. Owen Pallett - "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt"



The big news this year was Pallett stepping out from behind his old moniker, Final Fantasy and becoming, in no uncertain terms, himself. And then he released a nearly perfect concept record about bipolar farmer, Lewis, and the problems of his magically real universe. Pallett's signature strings come on like a storm, building and menacing at the edges before washing over the arrangement with a fury and taste for renewal. The lyrics, beautiful and delicate, end up settling on single edict, "I'm never gonna give it to you." It is beautifully oppositional, independent and wholly itself.

19. Fang Island - "Daisy"

A 2010 reviewer called Fang Island the sound of "everyone high fiving everyone." On "Daisy," an explosive, decentralized rock song, the band traffics in nonsense lyrics and chord resolutions so big they pull the plane out of the nose-dive, reset the financial markets and, yes, organize a six billion person high five at the apex of an arrangement built to crest. In a year with too much anxiety for too many people, Fang Island took this gospel of freedom on the road and to the people: Less worry, more hand slapping.

18. Band of Horses - "Dilly"



Band of Horses did the crossover this year, making more money than ever before and managing to frustrate some of their loyalists. The record was too pop. It was being sold in Starbucks. It was built for sync. "Dilly" cut through the hype and the criticism to divine one of the great choruses of the year. Modulating between three pitches and settling on easy rhymes and platitudinous lyrics, "It took a tall one to see it/two to believe it/three to just get in the way," made it instantly memorable, singable and infectious. In 2011, this will be the soundtrack for some dreadful movie trailer. The crossover is dangerous, but it works.

17. Computer Magic - "Running"



We have a certifiable music crush on Danz from Computer Magic. Her string of one-off singles dominated 2010 in intervals of her choosing and with shocking consistency for an artist that admits she's only been making music for a few months. On "Running," uneasy synths swirl and sway in the ether, as her voice sheds pretension and asks the simple, if fleeting question, "And I'm running all the time/Can you catch him before I go?" No one is making better laptop pop anywhere right now.

16. French Films - "Golden Sea"

It was a year dominated by the surf rock of the Drums and the Weezer-beach vibes of Surfer Blood and the stoned summer of Wavves and Best Coast. Amongst all this coastal music, everyone missed the Finnish upstarts French Films and their buzzing and propulsive "Golden Sea." Track one of the Golden Sea EP, one of the best of the year, the song of the same name takes us to the water, but there is a trick. The slurring lyrical delivery sharpens around the final chorus, "It was only a dream," as plinking synths erupt like children let out for recess, proving the best beaches are the ones we go to in our minds.

15. The Naked and Famous - "Young Blood"



It was the wanton hopelessness of the central lyric, "fall back in love eventually," that kept "Young Blood" from being one of those blind anthems of youth. The Naked and Famous explored the concept of unfettered younger days with a hint of the despair that always creeps near the edge of such meditations. Fact is, lionizing youth is a losing battle, every day the romance a little less intense, each moment a little less pure. It was those words, "fall back in love eventually," that gave a certain, hopeless and hopeful finality to these breathless, sparkler-holding, bleeding-from-the-arm, jumping-in-the-deep-end days of miracle and wonder.

14. Frightened Rabbit - "Nothing Like You"



The next move is never clear for a band who made their name by being miserable and now, against the odds and better advice, are happy. So it was not by choice that Frightened Rabbit fostered a different sense of pathos on 2010 release, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. The band was famous now, and the lead singer was in a relationship that he repeatedly and fondly referenced on stage. The only thing worse than being happy is trying to fake misery. So, Frightened Rabbit angled to describe how they got happy. The pointed and furious "Nothing Like You," took the romance of the platitude in the title, turned it entirely around, not as a compliment but as an accusation. The most damning line is the first one, "This is a story and you are not in it," before offering a shovel for this previous love to bury herself.

13. The Radio Dept. - "Heaven's On Fire"

On the cusp of super-stardom, Sweden's the Radio Dept. released their best record, Clinging To A Scheme in 2010. Sunny single, "Heaven's On Fire" hid something darker, a perfection inflamed, maybe by an arsonist, from just one look at "you." The power of this significant other - and here we mean this literally - is not unidirectional; its capabilities both productive and able to destroy. Over bouncy keys and lighter-than-air drums and guitars, the vocals belay this danger. One of the best songs of the year, hiding in plain sight, ready to light your perfect world on fire.

12. Magic Man - "Monster"



Boston's Magic Man released one of the best truly independent records of the year, Real Life Color, a twinkling bit of electro-pop that made no apologies. On "Monster," a nearly six-minute epic, there are three distinct movements, each colliding into final marching orders, "Find your monsters, don't tell you friends," turning human psychology into a gigantic internal game of Manhunt. As for the outside world, they tell us to, "leave the world in a jar but come back to it." We are reminded of the great frontier inside, of the terror and beauty that lie within us, and of the stunning little keyboard band in Boston.

11. Blair - "Hearts"

It was a little guitar record from a girl in Brooklyn that grabbed us by the throat in 2010. While at times it was reminiscent of a twenty years later Exile In Guyville, this wasn't so angled against love or at sewing up a busted heart. If anything, Blair's Die Young, and its most seminal track, "Hearts" is about being in love with youth, what she calls the yearning and aching of young life. In her fortune cookie wisdom, Blair confides, "my heart hides in a cassette tape", one of the most subtle and winning lyrics of the year. The final minute finds a spinning conclusion with the hyperventilating title lyric recast as texture. We never had this song on cassette, but we spent most of the year hiding in this digital record, a new, modern love.

Interview :: French Films [8.9.10]

Finland's French Films, a certifiable hit-in-hand with single "Golden Sea," shot us some emails about the fate of their future record, where they got their name and how they would rather die together than live apart.

32feet: Top 5 Desert Island Records?

It's so unfair to pick just five but maybe we could survive for some time with these classics:

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psycho Candy

We know "Golden Sea" is a perfect summer single, but when can we expect a full length LP?

Our debut LP will be out (hopefully) early in 2011. We're releasing an EP soon, though.

If your band was stranded on a sinking ship and there were only two life-jackets, who gets them and why?

We would sink proudly with the ship.

Explain the name for us: lovers of French cinema? Lovers of alliteration? Lovers of subtitles?

Joni is a fan of French cinema, but it ain't the reason. We just thought French Films would make a decent name for the band. Simple as that.

What is the one thing people should absolutely remember about your band?

All the good times they had while listening to our music.

Listen :: French Films - "Golden Sea"

French Films :: "Golden Sea"

French Films, a brand new five-piece from Finland, released one of the more promising singles we've heard this year. Titled, "Golden Sea," the band compares themselves to The Drums and Wavves but with a flair for the dramatic out of the catalogue of post-post-punk acts. Angular, beachy guitars compete with soaring vocals and shimmering keys. It will be in your head for days like the haunting, chanted lyrics of the chorus, "It was only a dream/it was only a dream."

Listen :: French Films - "Golden Sea"