He's the guy who's not Christian Bale.From the "Laurel Canyon" movie soundtrack, actor Alessandro Nivola played a pretty convincing rock star and performed a pretty damn good cover of a Sparklehorse song. I actually like it more than the original. It's also anthemic.
Whigs party like it's 1856.One of my favorite new releases of 2008, this song comes in under 2:45, has an obscure name (an American political party in the first half of the 19th century) and meets my wildcard.
Don't they look greasy and smelly and disheveled and kinda sexy?Another of my favorite new releases, it also twins with The Raveonettes. The bands are like two sides of the same coin, both boy-girl duos with throwback harmonies and a penchant for feedback. And both albums are just sexy and dirty. Not porn dirty, more like grimy, covered in motor oil and dust dirty. It's also under 2:45 and a wildcard.
Those naughty Danes...Part two of my twins pairing. It's also one of my favorite new releases, you can dance to it, and it's a love song (umm, I don't think they're really talking about candy).
A Google image search for Sloan turned up tons of hardcore porn. Sorry, this ain't it.The Canadian power poppers have a great fortune cookie title. It's also an anthem and contains a little bit of talking at the beginning.
Aww, she looks so pensive...This obscure song title is a response to the Lloyd Cole song, "Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?" It also reminds me of spring. Maybe it's the sheer poppiness that just makes me want to hop around like a bunny. It's also obscure, literally, in the band name, but I'm not counting that. Fair play and all.
Hey Jenny Lewis. Hey Jenny Lewis. Hey Jenny Lewis. . .A bridge! I can identify a bridge! ("I'm so tired of being lonely...") I'm so proud of myself. It's also a solo effort from the singer equally famous as being the frontwoman for Rilo Kiley. And of course it's an awesome cover of a Traveling Wilburys song. And upon closer hearing, it even has a cowbell! Superproducer Bruce Dickenson would approve.
Collarbone's connected to the . . . other bone.Lacking coherence -- something about new shoes and shoelaces. It's also an obscure band name (they're a trio who took their name from a brand of stereo equipment and Mr. Miyagi from "The Karate Kid"). It's also in a current Miller Lite commercial, has a one-word title and uses a foreign language ("un, deux, trois, quatre..." at the end). And damn, but it's catchy.
Can you believe he sucked? He looks so athletic!One of my favorite bands with an obscure name, the Mendoza Line refers to that imaginary line in baseball where a hitter goes from being bad to being really bad -- the .200 mark. Named for shortstop Mario Mendoza, who hit .198 in 1979 with the Mariners. It's also wistful and melancholy, and a wildcard.
They're quite hairy. Almost Sasquatch-like.A great song to drive through Manhattan in a car with a moonroof and act like you've never seek skyscrapers before, like in the commercial. It's also a great, haunting, melancholy diddy that one might even call an anthem. I can see lighters being swayed in unison. Or these days, cell phones.
. . . Hey Jenny Lewis. Err, I mean, Neko Case. Um . . . Ne-ko, Ne-ko, Ne-ko, Ohh-oh, Ne-ko . . .Known equally for her solo work and her work with the New Pornographers. It could also be a fortune cookie, if the cookie only knew how desperate you were at that moment. I'm just realizing that she could twin with Jenny Lewis -- they look kinda alike and they're both super cool female singer/songwriters. But I realized it too late, so oh well.
You're a wolf, boy. . .Song No. 6 on the album "Leaves in the River," one of my favorite new releases, one of the top albums of 2007 and probably my favorite song of 2007. It's also fairly melancholy, as are most songs about old gypsy women. The band name is also obscure -- he (it's one guy) named it after the Jack London book, "The Sea-Wolf." And just FYI, they're fantastic live.
"I knew that after that night, nothing would ever be the same again."I don't know if this song ever made "The OC" or "Laguna Beach" soundtracks, but it should have. It's full of high school angst and heartache, melancholy and pleading. You can almost hear it playing as LC walks away from Stephen one last time. (But you know it's not really the last time. Oh LC, when will you ever learn?) It also reminds me of spring, but since it mentions spring, I'm not counting it. I will count it as an obscure band name though -- supposedly Sherwood comes from an early band joke about writing a concept album that meshes with the 1973 Disney "Robin Hood" cartoon in the way that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" supposedly meshes with "The Wizard of Oz." And cheesy as it is, I love this song.
They look bored, not thrilled. Ironic, eh?Another melancholy song, and from one of my favorite albums of 2007. It's also a wildcard, and could be a fortune cookie, although that'd be a kinda sucky fortune. But I've gotten worse ones.
This is the one phone sex pic I found that I could use here.One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite all-time albums ("Here's to Shutting Up"). It's melancholy too. Moral of the story -- if you have a date for phone sex, don't stand up your girl. And some kind of metaphor about a plane crash.
A vacation pic from Iceland. Not very tropical though.It's a song about a place I've been. Totally brings back memories -- glaciers, black rock beaches, bottles of Black Death, stray ponies and puffins. A pretty cool place that's both pretty and cool. And it's also a wildcard.
The middle one's way cuter in person.Sounds totally '80s, it's Canadian synth-pop for the 21st century. It's great to dance to, it's a fortune cookie (more advice than a fortune, but...) and it was on one of my favorite albums of 2007 ("No One Will Know"). I saw them play in Vancouver a couple years ago and SF last year. They're fun, worth checking out. Even I kinda bounced along.
But Van Nuys is not nice enough to make the band photo.But seriously? No it's not. Nice '80s sounds though, like Toni Basil but less annoying. There's foreign language-speaking it's a place I've been, it's good to dance to, and there's even a little bit of talking in it.
"Ready, set. . . . Pong!"It's short (under 2:45) and mostly incoherent. And it kinda rocks. But it's just a song about ping pong, so what more do you want? They're supposedly a bunch of Aussie teenage girls.
Yes, that is who you think it is. Nice cameo.This song never cease to bring a smile to my face. It's hilarious, makes me laugh and even better in context (you need to see the movie "Eurotrip" to really appreciate it). You can dance to it, and it brought down the house at my friends' wedding. It even got me on the dance floor. It's also anthemic. Poor Scotty. . . even on his birthday?
I'm so glad this band helped out that little company called Apple, and their new iPod thing.Oh come on, how can you hear this song and not dance along? It rocked an iPod commercial, has a one-word title, was on one of my top albums of 2007, has an obscure band name (the nemesis in "The Goonies"), and is a wildcard. That's six qualifiers, if you're counting.
Why's it called "Men's Needs" when the lyrics are "Man's Needs?" It's a mystery.A song from my best of 2007 albums list, this would also be one of my favorite songs of the year. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. And it's a wildcard.
Pssst -- they're not really brother and sister.A classic. It's a love song (obviously), it's short and sweet (under 2:45), was in a commercial (iPod again), is from one of my all-time favorite albums ("White Blood Cells") and a wildcard.
Oh, and my wildcard category is bands that use "The" as the prefix to their name.
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