Metric/ Grow Up and Blow Away

If You Like: Garbage, Shinny Toy Guns, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Portishead
Release Date: June 26, 2007 (Last Gang Records)


Metric is formed by Toronto based Emily Haines (vocals/guitar/synthesizer), James Shaw (guitar/theremin), Josh Winstead (bass), and Joules Scott-Key (drums). They originally recorded Grow Up and Blow Away in 2001, but it was never released. Trailing the recording of Old World Underground, Where are you now? (2003) and Live It Out (2005) with Last Gang records, the band completed Grow Up And Blow Away in 2007. The album's steady beats and jazzy rhythms make it easy to groove to. Emily Hanes' sultry voice complements the erotic themes suggested in the lyrics. The sexy swank in "Raw Sugar", "Soft Rock Star", and "The Twist" give the album a deep, chic vibe. Their lyrics suggest that some of the most important lessons come from prepubescent times; that everything in adulthood is still considered 'school yard, junior high style.' The choruses in "Hardwire" and "On The Sly" create a hypnotic state, where the listeners' only defense is to press play.

1. "Grow Up and Blow Away"
2. "Hardwire"- 'You are everything you are nothing at all' 'Stay focused on the first boring morning though we both see it coming, we don't run. Let the silence settle in our bones'
3. "Rock Me Now"- 'Everybody else just arrived, ate their complimentary shrimp cocktails, and left.'
4. "The Twist"- 'The rhythm of a strangers skin'
5. "On the Sly"
6. "Soft Rock Star"-'Who were you after you were mine'
7. "Raw Sugar"- 'I don't want to die living in a high rise grave'
8. "White Gold"- 'We're here for the porn or the sirloin' 'Lose friends to the airwaves and the airlines' 'call me when you get better at your game you haven't beat me yet'
9. "London Halflife"
10. "Soft Rock Star"

Beirut/ Gulag Orkestar

If you like: Devotchka, The Shins, Andrew Bird
Release Date: May 9, 2006 (Ba Da Bing!)

Gulag Orkestar is a gypsy's tribute to nostalgia. Beirut brings you on his personal odyssey through the Balkins. "Rhineland (Heartland)" and "The Canals Of Our City" exemplify this influence with his mandolin, horns, hand percussion, and accordion. Beirut's lyrics describe a life of wanting more, but believing that "there's nowhere to go." Originally from New Mexico, Zachary Francis Condon became Beirut after his time traveling in southeastern Europe. Gulag Orkestar was recorded mostly in his bedroom, but wrapped up in a studio with Jeremy Barnes, of Neutral Milk Hotel and Heather Trost. The indie-folk undertones help enhance this introduction to a foreign sound.

1. "The Gulag Orkestar"- 'They call it night and I know it well'
2. "Prenzlauerberg"
3. "Brandenburg"
4. "Postcards from Italy"- My pick. 'In my good times, there were always golden rocks to throw'
5. "Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)"
6. "Rhineland (Heartland)"
7. "Scenic World"
8. "Bratislava"
9. "The Bunker"
10. "The Canals of Our City"
11. "After the Curtain"

Ingrid Michaelson/ Everybody

If You Like: Jason Mraz, Joshua Radin, Colbie Caillat, Missy Higgins
Release Date: August 25, 2009 (Cabin 24)

You know Ingrid Michaelson from the 'If you are chilly, here take my sweater' Old Navy commercials from three years ago. The New York singer-songwriter indicates that her fourth album consists of "completely biographical, snapshots of my life." Her lyrics hold a universal theme that makes one Be OK about unrequited love. The general upbeat tone of Everybody holds hands with her stories of emotional fragility. Michaelson's ethereal voice carries the album along with her guitar and piano. Strings add a sense of high culture to "Sort Of" and "Men of Snow." Everybody will remind you that "everybody heals with love."

1. "Soldier"- 'And so it goes, this soldier knows' Possibly a reference to Kurt Vonnegut?
2. "Everybody"- 'Happy is the heart that still feels pain'
3. "Are We There Yet"- 'They say you're really not somebody, until somebody else loves you, well I am waiting to make somebody somebody soon'
4. "Sort of"
5. "Incredible Love"
6. "The Chain"
7. "Mountain and the Sea"
8. "Men of Snow"- Absolutely immaculate when played during winter, go figure.
9. "So Long"- 'The same old me to the naked eye, but I can't find myself tonight'
10."Once Was Love"
11."Locked Up"- allusion to Wizard of Oz; Righteous Breakdown at 1:52.
12."Maybe"- Ingrid just knows.

Bon Iver/ For Emma, Forever Ago

If You Like: Beirut, David Bazan, Iron and Wine, Radiohead
Release Date: February 19, 2008 (Jagjaguwar)

Justin Vernon's musical persona, Bon Iver, derives from the French pronunciation of "bon hiver," meaning "good winter." After the break up of his previous project, Bon Iver fled to his father's secluded hunting lodge in the forest of northern Wisconsin. With no intention of writing or recording an album, he emerged after three months of isolation with For Emma, Forever Ago. No Producers, no engineers, the entire album is Bon Iver. He commonly uses overdubbing in his vocals to create a choir of himself, generating a cohesive motif for the album; specifically in the songs, "Lump Sum" and "Creature Fear." For Emma, Forever Ago best resonates in an intimate setting. Bon Iver shares accounts of failed love in "For Emma," "Skinny Love," and "The Wolves Acts I and II." His drones of poorly enunciated words ultimately benefit the album's vibe, most notably in "Flume." The most beautiful minutes of the album remain "Creature Fear" and "Team."

1. "Flume"
2. "Lump Sum"
3. "Skinny Love"- 'Sullen load is full, so slow on the split'
4. "The Wolves Acts I and II"- 'Can't you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue'
5. "Blindsided"- 'I'm not really like this... I am probably plightless.' Oh, hey poetic license.
6. "Creature Fear"- You're dragging your feet on the gravel, but at the chorus, you rise above. The delay at 2:28 creates a feeling of strong longing for the chorus; lovely bleed-through to the next track.
7. "Team"- Instrumental + Whistling = I'm Down
8. "For Emma"- Lyrics written as a duet between 'Him' and 'Her'.
9. "Re: Stacks"
10. Bonus Track: "Wisconsin"