Obsessively blogging about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. We also have a slight Jonas Brothers problem. And a little fixation with Tokio Hotel.
The Franks are an adorably self-conscious punk rock trio from the streets of L.A. They know they're loud, and they know they're snotty, and they don't seem to care very much. Often times such brazen disrespect for authority and institutions can be galling to upright citizens like myself and, no doubt, the readers of this blog. But in the case of The Franks, it's pretty endearing.
Frontman/guitarist Jean Don't (sweeeeeeeet name) is a snotty little Repo Man searching and destroying all that he surveys. On their debut EP, Un, released in February of this year, Don't and eff-things-up partners-in-crime Mimi Malone and Ron Ray Gunn kick out the three-chord jams and the bad attitude -- perfect for the theme song to MTV's Pranked.
The thing that makes this more than run-of-the-mill punk-rock dress-up is that The Franks actually have the songwriting chops to balance out the copious amounts of attitude.
Watch The Franks kick up some dust in their "Neon Politik" video below.
Theft -- the name of multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Matt McCartie's musical project -- is perhaps an homage to the epic rock echoings of his Brit-rock influences.
After kicking around in bands for a while, McCartie decided to go it alone, building his own recording studio and recording all the parts for Theft's songs. Not that you'd know it listening to songs like, "Fireworks Explode" and "Never Be The Same," which could easily be mistaken for the British sounds of Coldplay's lilting heart, The Verve's epic sweep, and Oasis' raw edge.
Even if you're new to Theft you might've heard McCartie's music already. His song, "Breathing Underwater" is the theme song to the late DJ AM's new MTV show, Gone Too Far, which examines the devastating effects of drug addiction and offering hope to those willing to accept the opportunity to change their lives. His the Theft song, "Fireworks Explode," became the theme song to season 1 of It's On With Alexa Chung.
If I had a buck for every time I saw that new "Wii Fit" commercial -- the one with the different people demonstrating all the things you can do when you actually make the quantum leap from sitting on your ass and playing video games to getting OFF your ass while still playing video games -- I'd have enough money to afford an actual "Wii Fit."
The song's called "On Board," and it's by British indie dance-pop outfit Friendly Fires (not to be confused with the Sean Lennon album, Friendly Fire) -- and they feel like the Rapture meets Junior Senior, they've opened for Interpol, and they keep company with labelmates M.I.A. and Radiohead.
Coincidentally, the actual "On Board" video features the band getting actual exercise while dressed like stand-ins from The Royal Tennenbaums and participating in some sort of Idiotarod. It's also basically an American Apparel commercial. They're Bono's favorite band, NME and DrownedInSound are all over them, and now you are too.
Three-piece Brooklyn electro-pop band Chairlift (shown here in couture gladiator gear) is the latest band to get Apple's iPod-hawking, insta-fame treatment, and rightfully so; their dreamy single, "Bruises," the one that goes "I tried to do handstands for you, but every time I fell for you" -- has been somersaulting through my brain for weeks now, and their debut LP, Does You Inspire You, isn't even out until tomorrow.
Lead singer Caroline Polachek's breathy-but-bold feminine vocals (think The Cardigans' Nina Persson) float hauntingly above sweetly (but not too sweet) simple (but not too simple) keys and unobtrusive drum beats as my desire to buy an electric turquoise Nano arm wrestles with my desire to buy a Nano in bright purple.
Watch a full-length Chairlift set from Baebelmusic, listen to "Earwig Town," check out Chairlift's fall Yeasayer tour dates, and watch Nena's classic "99 Luft Balloons" video -- the godmother of female-fronted electro-pop if ever there was one.
That sweet "I'm just a little bit caught in the middle/ Life is a maze and love is a riddle" coming-of-age/ soundtrack-of-self-discovery song you've heard on all those Ugly Betty promos and in commercials for Old Navy? That's Lenka. Her song "Don't Let Me Fall" was in the premiere episode of the new 90210 (it's like Gossip Girl, but less OMG-ier!) And if there were a Sara Bareilles/ Yael Naim/ Emily Haines school of songwriting, the Aussie singer-songwriter would its fourth member. (The former Decoder Ring singer's also a deadringer for Rose McGowan, except Lenka is really cute and not frightening.)
That jaunty, jangly song you keep hearing on "that Rhapsody commercial" and singing along to even though you don't know what it's called, who sings it, or even the words is "Lolita," and it's by Seattle indie band Throw Me the Statue, fronted by Scott Reitherman, with members of Pedro the Lion. And it's in a Rhapsody ad for a reason -- because it's fresh, sweet, and irrefutably catchy, until you watch the video, which is full of allusions to not getting any, and is from the band's debut album, Moonbeams.
Has anyone else fallen in love with that "sweater song" in the new Old Navy commercial? Whenever we see that ad, we're overwhelmed by the need to sing along. Anyway, it's "The Way I Am" by NYC indie artist Ingrid Michaelson, who rocks the Lisa Loeb look. (You may have also heard her songs on shows like Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill.) The spot only uses the snippet of the love song that mentions sweaters but our favorite lyric is actually "I'd buy you Rogaine if you start losing all your hair." Now that's true love.
Has anyone else fallen in love with that "sweater song" in the new