Jonquil :: "Mexico" [Fort Romeau's Graceland edit]

Jonquil came late to the world music meets indie rock party. Arriving after Vampire Weekend, after Local Natives, even after Lord Huron and so many others, the band's tropical pop could quite reasonably have been lost in the collective shuffle of post-Graceland bands. Unless, of course, the band wrote songs with barbed hooks and choruses that skittered around like a runaway piece of ice on your kitchen floor. "Mexico," a song described by at least one close friend of mine as, "so close to being terrible while still being awesome," has here been reimagined by Fort Romeau with the winking Paul Simon reference, "Graceland edit." The warm horns come on in waves, the original song deconstructed and then built piece by tactile piece: First, thumping kick drum and a flirty high hat, then bongos, and, finally, horn punches cribbed right out of "Boy In The Bubble" notebook. Then the deconstruction begins anew, Fort Romeau stripping the arrangement down to its studs and building it again, the sort of creative destruction that make people imagine lasers in the jungle or distant constellations dying the corner of the sky.

Jinja Safari :: "Head In A Blender"

Afro-pop turns beautifully glossy in the hands of Sydney, Australia band Jinja Safari. A blend of Mumford and Sons harmonies, Jonquil's Graceland affectations and the holier-than-thou elevation of bands like Lord Huron and Local Natives, Jinja and "Head In A Blender" aren't only the latest to do this type of miasmatic world music, but they might be one of the best. With a string of one-off singles on their Soundcloud page that are as unexpectedly charming as any band since Fanfarlo's debut demos, the band channels a pleasant tribalism as unoriginal as it is entirely satisfying, the kind of thing that reminds A&Rs why they have a rolling office chair to push back from their desks. "Head In A Blender" features an austere little guitar line behind layers and layers of vocals, a marching beat setting the stakes for a sort of journey where there are stories in the soil and where the lyrics "got caught up in the bloody pursuit of truth" mean absolutely everything. The final movement swings and sways before hurling itself out into the ether, chimes and echos left to sort out the details.

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").

Jonquil :: "It's My Part"

Oxford, England quartet, Jonquil made our list for bands who would almost certainly break out in 2011. Well, lists are subjective and despite a thoroughly well-received CMJ, the band hasn't exactly cracked AAA-radio, even with recent single, "Mexico". Still, the band might just be squaring up 2012 as their year to breakout and crossover as we look relentlessly into the future while only casually addressing the present. Things we know: the album will be called Point Of Go and will be released on March 5, 2012. Lead track (actually track three) from the record, "It's My Part" is another piece of the band's signature angular, glittering pop. Ebullient and unrestrained, this has a darker hue - it could be the title lyric and chorus - but a back-beat and dancing shoes to match lines like, "I decided that I would fear the world." Sunny guitars chime with all the heedless yearning of some young, stupid, unrequited love story. "It's My Part" is only the beginning, to be sure.



Listen :: Jonquil - "Mexico"

Jonquil :: "Mexico"

The keyboard bumps are warm enough to melt the ice in your glass. The condensation on the outside a reminder of both the cold within and the heat without. In one of those bursts of optimism that accompany the new year, we picked Jonquil as a band to watch in 2011. Their debut EP, 100 Suns was by far the best of a 2010 crop of sunny bands, a focused, unacademic version of the afro-pop that Vampire Weekend provided the Spark Notes for four plus years ago. On, "Mexico", a one-off 7-inch single, the band washes their typical cascading guitars with backing vocals that tumble in time. But, it is those keyboards, and the drums once they kick in, that provide the vaguely syncopation, the poly-rhythm so unconscious of post-colonial politics that it somehow doesn't feel ripped off. These modern trajectories are curious; white kids from Oxford, England playing a style of music revived by kids from Columbia University who were accused of stealing it from Paul Simon who was accused of stealing it from the entire nation of South Africa. It brought us here, a small dose of the Southern Hemisphere called, "Mexico", melting by any means at all.

Listen :: Jonquil - "Mexico"

Jonquil :: "Fighting Smiles"

Jonquil are preparing to make their descent on US shores in extremely poppy and nonthreatening fashion. This, of course, says nothing of the excellent One Hundred Suns EP they'll be supporting or the fact that as a signer to Dovecote, they're poised to be one of the break out bands of SXSW and 2011. On lead track, "Fighting Smiles", a lofty series of sunshine guitars dart around each other before (is it pan flute?) keys sail away like little drops of mercury fallen on the surface of a table. The track eludes simple architecture, leading necessarily to the sense that you are both never quite outside of a perpetually occurring chorus. The final two minutes distill this style, blending verse and refrain in explosion of hooks and melodies meant to be sung and memorized. As the title suggests, it is that moment where, despite your better judgement, you smile anyhow. They cite Paul Simon and I offer a British Vampire Weekend demo from four years ago. It's both semantics and a compliment. Jonquil play the Knitting Factory and Mercury Lounge next Sunday and Monday, March 13 and 14.

Listen :: Jonquil - "Fighting Smiles"

[Elevator 2011] :: Bands On The Rise

As is the custom in the indie rock universe in this coming second decade of the 21st century, it is not simply enough to know about something, you must know about it first. Furthermore, you must make outlandish predictions regarding the future success of said thing. In this case, it is music. In this case, it is 2011 and our predictions for the bands and artists who will be taking off wildly in the coming year. After the jump in no order, with regard for your future listening and the wisdom of the crowd, your Elevator 2011 bands.