Modernage :: "Creatures"

We're packing up the car and heading up the coast. The gang is getting rallied together from all over the northeast. We'll be spending one of the last weekends of the summer in a one-story house tucked in a neighborhood where people park on their lawns and burn meat in their backyards. When in Rome ...

1,500 miles to south, in Miami's buergeoning (yes, kind of) indie-rock scene, Modernage will be playing "Creatures." It's a sort of warm, sort of dark, sort of angular rock song. It chirps and moves and finally settles into a simple, catchy chorus, "we should have made things better/we should have stayed together/I should have been more clever." As guitar riffs peel off and vocals sail, the lead singer finally insists, "I want to know if you miss me." It's the kind of bridge that could end your summer. We know how we'll end ours. And we'll play Modernage all the way up 95.

Listen :: Modernage - "Creatures"

Bloc Party :: "This Modern Love" [Live on La Blogotheque]

Bloc Party, 'This Modern Love' - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Sebastian Grainger :: "Love Can Be So Mean"

Sebastian Grainger used to hit the drums for Death From Above 1979. Let's just get that out of the way early. Now no one has to waste a whole paragraph talking about the historiography of dance-rock and how this solo effort shows that he hasn't lost a step, and oh yeah, by the way, he's signed to Saddle Creek and shouldn't we all fall over in our sleep at how amazing all of this is? Can we just deal with this as an individual.? I'd hate to waste the space.

"Love Can Be So Mean" is the song The Killers should have released as the third single off Hot Fuss. It doesn't matter that they didn't write it (or that it would be four years before it was written) or that "All These Things I've Done" is a far better song. It just sounds like it should have been one of the featured songs off the album. It's tight and fuzzy and it explodes into a chorus that will push the limits of your personal BPMs. Maybe more simply, it is glam as hell and I mean that as a compliment. So set your cruise control on a million and let the neon lights of your major American city blur. You'd hate to miss a minute.

Listen :: Sebastian Grainger - "Love Can Be So Mean" (via Sixeyes)

Empire Of The Sun : "Walking On A Dream"

Empire Of The Sun sounds like it should come directly after a colon and the words "The Mummy 4." Actually, they're another synthed-out (potential) waste of space, throw-back. I mean, at what point are we going to get sick of all this 1980s revivalist shit? No matter how well it's being done now, it's definitely been done before. Duran Duran was awesome. We already had Human League. I already like Depeche Mode. What's your policy of truth?

Problem is, this song rips. Really, really rips.

Like a cut out of Phoenix's early career (there are shades of "If I Ever Feel Better," although that is insulting to both parties), Empire Of The Sun have strung together as effervescent a song as you'll hear this year. It glides over, above, and sometimes through its own arrangement with a propulsive hum, hiding just at the back of the mix. Simple synth-resolutions end up giving the quality of a heaving chest. By the time we come to the lyrics, "we are always running/just for the thrill of it (the thrill of it)," it's decided. You'll drive the car until it runs out of gas and then you'll get out and sprint until you pass out. It's that kind of motion - sea-sick with color and completely out of oxygen

Listen :: Empire of the Sun - "Walking on a Dream"