They didn’t invent the hype machine, of course. Whatever bands might say in interviews and whatever we indie snobs might prefer, music has never been just a matter of pure art. Ashley and I always joke about judging bands by their names and covers — when you have a huge pile of CDs, you have to choose the first one to put in your CD player by some sort of arbitrary standard, whether that’s their record label, the recommendations they come with, or the picture on the front. But ultimately you’ve got to listen to it, and that’s why the Cold War Kids got a 5.0 from Pitchfork (deservedly in my opinion, but YMMV) and Le Loup got a 7.3 and a much better review. Because Le Loup is a good, interesting band, even without the hype, even without the pretentious song titles or the allusions to a particular famous DC outsider artist. Good for them, I guess; give it a try.

Wanted to say, though, that I do think some people need to get over their fetish for well-produced, big-sound bands a la Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. Nothing against these groups — both are pretty up there on my Last.fm list — but that sort of grandiose music isn’t just hard to do, but nobody wants to feel like they’re in a movie montage every time they put their headphones on. Almost all the songs that I find myself listening to over and over again are melodic, non-epic, little-music numbers — singer-songwriter things, old lo-fi post-punk bits, or anthems of whatever genre. Most recently this song, Dočasná záležitost from Peto Tazok, a Slovak rapper (seriously) with a weird voice, and Mammút, another one of the awesome Scandinavian bands we can’t get enough of (this one comes with a little more piss and vinegar, though).

-emily r- co rock md

….ok. i couldn’t resist. here’s another video of them @ The Tavern

-ashley nash-hahn, rock co-md

-ashley nash-hahn, co rock md

-ashley nash-hahn, rock co-md

So there’s wonderfully catchy funk/pop/post punk band from Flordia who have been getting so much blog press, and I’ve been a big fan since I read a Pitchfork review of their Myspace site a few weeks ago.

Emily and I tried to see them at CMJ, but we were totally shut out. Boo on The Annex. The NY Times featured the band as the feature A&E story for today’s paper. Check it out.

Here’s the track I’m Not Gonna Teach… on their MySpace page

(photo Jason Bergman for NY Times)

-ashley nash-hahn, rock co-md

Dragons of Zynth are a psychadelic band from Brooklyn that sounds a little like TV On The Radio, and has fans of the Davie Bowie calibur. And by calibur, I mean that David Bowie is a fan. I have a feeling that they will explode in a way similar to TVOTR, but…i think..i might. like them better. The jury is still out on that statement. But this is going to be a mainstay of my show.

We Are Wolves are a cool new band that are a perfect example of where I hope rock is going. We all hear the RPM taking over everything, but this is one of those bands that takes the best from RPM but makes sure it stays in the Rock genre. The song in this video isn’t on the album we have, but I think it gets the point across. Also, they sometimes sing in French because they are from Montreal. This is awesome.

-emily r. co-rock md

She is most famous for Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, but she just released her first solo album Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos. The album will be in the station, so DJs please check it out. Here’s a preview via a cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, which she performed with the Magical Orchestra. She is from Norway, which automatically makes her pretty cool.
-ashley nash-hahn rock co-md

-emily r. co-rock md

-chessy