The Lemurs :: "Blackspot"

Nothing is quite as foreboding as the term "black spot." If there's a black spot on your lung, you might only have a few years (weeks) to live. Were all the Marlboro Reds worth it? If you're a black spot on your major metropolitan area, it's probably because you've committed a series of felonies or have tried to sprint down Fifth Ave. with a life-size cardboard stand-up of Joba Chamberlain. Was the police line-up worth it? If you have a black spot on your face, it's probably because someone pulled the old, "hey, can you look through this telescope" when secretly they'd already rubbed charcoal all over the eye-piece. Pranks. God, we're funny.

The Lemurs aren't pulling anything on anyone. They're just a dance-rock band out of Austin, Texas with two small EPs to their name. Maybe unimpressive. But, "Blackspot" proves to be less of a death sentence, less of a case of misdemeanor larceny, and less of a prank than anything described above. It's simply a frantic dance-rock anthem that deserves to be played in the left-hand lane of most American highways at 85 miles-per-hour. Something to add a little urgency to your laconic, overly thoughtful Friday morning. Leave the Marlboros and Joba out of this. No one is laughing even thought it's hilarious.

Listen :: The Lemurs - "Blackspot"

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

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

The Secret Machines :: "Atomic Heels"

The Secret Machines are down one member, done with a double-digit number of shows at the Annex (to figure themselves out or something), and back with new material. It's been about three years since they hit us with "Alone, Jealous, and Stoned," the inexplicable first single ("Lightning Blue Eyes" was twice the song in half the running time) off their second LP Ten Silver Drops.

"Atomic Heels" has a hint of hidden explosivity in its title. If there was something vaguely nuclear in your footsteps, you couldn't help but get in your spaceship and blast off. Or, in a different mood, you couldn't help but stomp down Ludlow St. laying waste to hipsters and poorly-lit bars with the split-fusion force of an heavy eye-linered wink.

The sound is just as big as always - albeit a little less transformative. There's no gigantic second movement. There is no shifting into a higher gear. There's just a churning drum beat and a muddled pysch-rock arrangement that might make you think of Ambulance LTD's most fuzzed out moments. There's some missed potential here. But, I guess that's the point. Until you lift them up and see what's beneath your atomic heels, you'll just. never. know.

Listen :: The Secret Machines - "Atomic Heels"

Heartsrevolution :: "Ultraviolence"

What could be cooler than lumping two words together into one word? Notmuch? Heartsrevolution are from the furthest parts of downtown New York and by that I don't mean the financialdistrict. I mean that dark, synth-heavy place where people dance like no one's looking and they love like it's never going to mean snorting pills. You know? The place where bars don't have names and everyone is borderline hostile and borderline attractive. If everyone had angular hair cuts to match the synth-stabs, you find yourself at the corner of "Ultraviolence." The electro movement has officially gotten out of hand. Don't act like you care and don't act like you don't. I don't like this air. That doesn't mean I'll stop breathingit.

Listen :: Heartsrevolution - "Ultraviolence"

Nothing new but that doesn't mean it's not important

Today, we are at the center of the universe. Today, everything we say matters. Today, our exhale causes hurricanes and our footfalls earthquakes. We spit gravity and speak in tornadoes. Today, we are almost divine.

We are in between days for two close friends turning 26 and tonight they'll feel the power of our unnatural disaster. So think good thoughts for two great kids turning their personal calendar. And listen to the one song with lyrics that might capture what's about to happen:

We're all right where we're supposed to be.

[Elevator] Matt & Kim :: "Daylight" [Video]

I'll cop to not really liking Matt & Kim. They always seemed like a roughed-around version of Mates of State and, frankly, Mates of State were (until the last album) just rough enough. I remember kind of liking "Yeah Yeah" but mostly thinking how one-dimensional it sounded. Just how far can you go with being cloying and super-elastically bouncy? Welcome to the limit of your own explosiveness.

On the heels of last month's "Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare," which offered shades of bombast while still wrapping us in the cloak of cheeky piano-plinks and chant-along vocals, Matt and Kim are back with "Daylight." If "Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare" was indie-rock's toe-dip into the pool of hip-hop beat and head-nodding dub-step, "Daylight" is a good ol' fashioned swan-dive. Same piano-plinks in instantly-memorable repeat, and then, smack, an almost go-go hip-hop drum beat. Maybe you saw it coming and maybe you didn't. Either way.

Shut your mouth and listen. This is going to bang along until it's done. There won't be a question and answer session. There won't be a negotiation. You won't consider your own existence. You won't feel sorry for yourself. Just shut your mouths and listen. It might be the best you've felt all day.

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: "Everything With You"

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are equal parts expected and experimental and have a habit of playing only at Cake Shop. Other than that, they sound a little bit like shoegazing Smiths cover band. I mean, face it, if there was one band in the world that you would trust to play a rocked-out "Girlfriend In A Coma," it might be POBPAH. And maybe that's a way of writing them off - comparisons have a way of doing that - but I mean it in a good way. Isn't that how the old saying goes: 'tis better to be a Smiths cover band than to have totally sucked and never played Cake Shop at all?

Admit it: you can't listen to these verses and not want to sing, "shyness is nice and shyness can keep you from doing all the things you like to." It's almost the same melody. But, there's an edge here: fuzzy guitars and shiny synths. A little bit darker and not quite as cheeky. Maybe even a little experimental. So if there's something you want to try, ask me. I won't say no. How could I?

Listen :: Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Everything With You"