Twofer Tuesday: Turn Your Dry Ice Machine On

MOUNT SIMS

Dear departed Burma House. I don't think you truly knew how good you were. And you may not have even known that this bizarre and brilliant song was your anthem.

Mount Sims is the stage name of Berlin-based DJ Matthew Sims, Wikipedia tells me. But Wikipedia fails to tell me why Mr. Sims instructs his listeners to turn their dry ice machines on because he likes "the smell of it." Is that the sound of you laughing? DO NOT LAUGH HE WILL BITE YOUR HIP. (And ... yeah. Totally ready for Arts Fest.)

OF MONTREAL

Ah, Athens, Ga. and your mythical talent for producing pretty freakin' awesome bands. I first fell in love with Of Montreal when my senior class video used "Oslo in the Summertime" for a montage about my high school's sports teams. (Odd, no?) Then, the flames of love were stoked by iTunes's decision to offer "Id Engager" as a free music video of the week this winter. But lately, "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" has emerged as one of the definitive songs of this summer for me.

I don't know what it is. It's certainly not the bizarre music video, and it doesn't sound like much else I listen to. But it has me hooked. And I do not mind in the slightest.

Twofer Tuesday: Comes and Goes

MGMT

So I'm taking on two giants today that I'm well aware I don't love quite as much as I should - but goddamnit, I love these songs. Much like the TV on the Radio dilemma of last week, I like "Kids" - and on the same note, "Electric Feel" - way more than I like the calculated oddball hipster vibe MGMT's rocking. They're a little stylized, a little detached for me, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I've played this song about 70 times in the past week.

Other great things/hard questions: Is it child cruelty to torture that little baby with scary Brooklyn monsters? How'd they snag Joanna Newsom for the video? WHY IS THIS SONG SO CATCHY?! (This is why I'm lame: It's now my new ringtone.)



ANDREW BIRD



Andrew Bird's another titan. And he's an indie giant I usually really, really hate. That's what makes the minimalist charms of "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" all the more beguiling.

There's no self-conscious, winking-at-the-audience, indie tricks here. It's just a pleasant, interesting song - one that would work just as well for a "name" like Jason Mraz or John Mayer as it does for Bird. And for me, though I love my indie strummers, maybe that's what makes this Bird song accessible.

Twofer Tuesday: Your Grandsons, They Won't Understand

ADELE

I love me some covers, so the BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge series has always been a friend to me. It's what produced Katy Perry's "Electric Feel," The Fray's "Hips Don't Lie," Ben Lee's "Float On" ... the list goes on and on. My new favorite entry is this cover, from British songbird Adele, of The Strokes' "Last Nite." Like she manages to do with everything she sings, Adele infuses the punk classic with a plaintive melancholy, even as she keeps the song's fast tempo and energy.

TV ON THE RADIO

You don't need to tell me how much I should love TV on the Radio. I'm well aware that Dear Science, this Brooklyn-based indie superstar group's second album, topped just about every "Best of 2008" list. Tunde Adebimpe had a banner year, capping off his musical success with a well-received turn in Rachel Getting Married. And the band's Prospect Park Bandshell appearance is the must-have ticket of the summer.

But when Aubrey and I bought Dear Science at City Lights Records in State College, we found the whole shebang curiously hard to get into. I've finally fallen, though -- and hard -- for "Dancing Choose." How can I not love this line: "He's a what? He's a what? He's a newspaper man." And the video's just golden:

Twofer Tuesday: Follow, Misguide, Stand Still

MIKA
I chanced upon Michael Holbrook Penniman, commonly known as Mika, this weekend totally by accident. At the baking and wine party I had with the Prozdor girls, we all took turns using Liore's snazzy iPhone to play DJ. Someone put on this song, and I fell in love instantly. Mika's got a Freddie Mercury-esque quality to his voice, a fact he totally plays up in "Grace Kelly." That's a brilliant song, too, but my favorite of his is "Big Girl (You are Beautiful)" - it's got a wonderful video, too!



PHOENIX



Everyone knows Phoenix by now. "1901" is totally ubiquitous - and that status is hella well-deserved. These Versailles-born lads can craft one hell of a pop song. Like MGMT or Justice if they really cared about lyrics, there's a magical, synthy quality to all this stuff. (And the lead singer's got the good sense to be dating Sofia Coppola - maybe he can talk to her and we can get more Virgin Suicides, less Marie Antoinette?). So, yeah -- "1901" is great, but "Lisztomania" is even better.

Twofer Tuesday: Pram's All Full of Pamphlets

Twofer Tuesday today includes one song from L Magazine's list of 8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear: 2009 and another from one of my favorite music blogs. I can't lay claim to finding this music, but I can certainly take some ownership of loving it.

THE SING SONGS



Found this New Zealand-based band through the Music Alliance Pact project on the excellent blog I Guess I'm Floating. Though their sound is more like Boy Crazy or the Clumsy Lovers' non-banjo-driven stuff, what makes "Pamphlet Baby" pack a punch is the tale it tells. Much like The Decemberists' "A Cautionary Tale" disguises a mother forced to prostitute herself to feed herself as a lilting sea shanty, this song takes the sad tale of a mother whose baby dies and wraps it up in feel-good, mellow girlie pop. It's a fun little song, and the video below is delightfully low-budget.



ANAMANAGUCHI



Aubrey and I have remarkably similar taste in music. We even have "super" compatibility on last.fm. So it surprised me when I sent her to the link to "Blackout City," my favorite track from Brooklyn-based electro wizards Anamanaguchi, and her reaction was "it's like LET US BE AS ANNOYING AS POSISBLE/ ughh i loathe it." Clearly, this song's not for everyone, but the combination of jangly guitars and the bouncy electronica of mid-90s Nintendo TOTALLY works for me. What do you think? (Take note of the too-cute music video.)

Twofer Tuesday: Followed Your Breadcrumbs

Blog note: A reintroduction! How lovely! Fans (are there such things?!) of this blog will remember this erstwhile staple: Twofer Tuesday. Every Tuesday, you'll be treated to two songs I can't get out of my head. On most occasions, they're quite good. And this week:

JENNY OWEN YOUNGS



If you know me, you know I love covers. And as fellow cover-lovers know, there's a few gold standards: Ted Leo's "Since U Been Gone"; Hot Club de Paris's "You Can Call Me Al"; Death Cab for Cutie's "World Shut Your Mouth." Add one more to that list: Jenny Owen Youngs' glorious take on "Hot in Herre." It's smart, it's sassy and it knows exactly when to hew to Nelly's original and when to take his words and see how far they'll stretch.

But this folksy Jersey girl is far more than that one triumph. Check out her lilting, interesting takes on melancholy in "Fuck Was I" and "Drinking Song." Yup, Youngs is no one-hit wonder. And -- as the song I literally cannot stop playing this week can attest to -- she's pretty great when she ups the tempo, too. Enjoy "Led to the Sea":




THESE UNITED STATES



I discovered these twangy Iowans totally by chance last summer. I found their CD on the subway, and when it went unclaimed from Grand Central to Union Square, I loaded it onto my computer. It wasn't until this morning that I finally decided to give Crimes (which turns out to actually be their sophomore album) a listen. It was worth the wholly unnecessary wait I made for myself. 12 hours later, I've only really explored one song, but I can't stop raving about it.

"Honor Amongst Thieves" is quirky without being needlessly twee, erudite but not pretentious, repetitive but never boring. It sounds like one of those O Brother, Where Art Thou '20s jigs, like the earlier work of the Ditty Bops without coming across as quite so consciously self-aware. Give it a try. It's weird, but it's wonderful.


Also, what luck! I just realized that both Jenny and These United States are performing at Bowery Ballroom on May 27. I think I'll be there -- will you?