Meet the newest incarnation of Leslie: unemployed Leslie. Prior to, oh, today, i had a Job. And prior to that i had school. But i graduated (thank congress), and with that lost my on campus job. While in the search of gainful employment (or, you know, ungainful employment. Whichever presents itself first), i’m filling the 8+ hours a day i normally spent working, going to class, and procrastinating homework via Plants Vs. Zombies, with music.

I reached a musical road block some weeks ago, but thankfully i have at least one friend with a high rate of musical overlap who recommended some music my way.

Currently i’m investigating Noisettes, a three piece Indie/Rock outfit from Great Britain.
They are another band to be retrieved from my musical blind spot. I mean, they make perfect sense, but somehow i had never heard of them before.

But now i have. Specifically i have been listening to What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?. There is a lot of rock in this album. The tag “Indie” always gives me an image of relaxed fit music. Melodies, harmonies, and a lot of sanded down edges. I just automatically think “I’m From Barcelona” for some reason.

That’s not so much the case here. Sharp edges are in abundance, and there are quite a few discordant parts that pop out at you. The electric guitar parts are especially pronounced, not something that generally appeals to me, but most of the time here i feel that it is well placed. Not overwhelming like 70’s power-metal. Really, the album feels like a Garage Rock album. Perhaps with some minor Post-Punk tendencies, and a few dashes of Indie sentiment.

Shingai Shoniwa, the lead vocalist, has an amazing voice. her range is quite sizable, and her ability to switch from shrieking to sultry to soft harmonies is perfect. I’m tempted to suggest that her voice makes the band, but that’s not entirely true. The music certainly keeps up, and is engaging and forceful in it’s own way, but is constructed such that it leaves a gap where her voice can come in and pull everything together.

Shingai herself plays bass. For the record, female bass players are awesome. Dan Smith crafts all the guitar rifts, and Jamie Morrison has control over the drums. Smith and Morrison provide perfect back up vocals to Shingai’s singing. For a three piece, their sound is very large. I want to say the music sounds “neat”, but it certainly doesn’t. It sounds, i imagine, exactly how they want it to sound.

The music itself is varied. The first song “Don’t Give Up“, gives very definite Rockabilly vibes, thanks to a deliberate and prominent bass line, her full throaty singing, and a subtle twang. She even throws in some little growls that really bring the Rockabilly touch home. The whole song is at a good tempo, perfect for throwing someone around the dance floor. I love it. I wish the rest of the album followed this style.

Unfortunately it doesn’t, but at the same time not everyone digs rockabilly as much as i do. From track two, the notion that this is an Garage Rock album really kick in. The bass is backed up to normal. The songs seem slightly unbalanced, but i always feel Garage Rock to be slightly off-balanced. It seems to be part of the charm. Most of the songs certainly don’t follow the normal verse to chorus ratio.

While guitar and vocal heavy garage rock may be the signature of this album, Noisettes throw some tracks onto the album to show they are capable of deliberate and delicate music. “The Count of Monte Christo” is probably the best example of this.

I don’t necessarily love the entire album. But regardless, the whole album is artfully crafted. Some of the songs just reach outside of my normal comfort zone for screaming guitars. There are quite a few songs on this album though that i really dig, and “Don’t Give Up”, is one of the few new songs i’ve become obsessed with in ages. I mean, even one dynamite song is more than most albums have going for them.

What to Take Away?

Noisettes is a solid Indie Rock band that takes much from the Garage Rock genre. Shingai’s voice is powerful and amazing, and a lot of thought seems to go into their music. Oh, and Shingai is a total fox.

What to Expect?

Garage Rock and nuts vocals that sometimes verge on blues or soul.

What to Pair it With?

Gin and Tonic with an extra wedge of lime.

Favorite Song?

“Don’t Give Up“. Its combination of bass and vocals is intoxicating.

I’ve been on a regional music quest. As much as I love all the heavy hitters, I was jonesing for something more grassroots.

Being in Cleveland, I decided regional music from this locale would be best, as perhaps if I fell in love I could wander out and enjoy.

I stumbled across three bands that I listened to substantially enough to form a conclusion. iPhonic, Mystery of Two, and Expecting Rain.

iPhonic was described as Hip-Hop and alt-rock. I was hoping something along the lines of a less electronic Phantogram. I was mistaken. They seem to be more like an updated, considerably more palatable, version on Linkin Park. This wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, and Linkin Park strikes me as a horrible band to draw inspiration from. I moved on.

The second band was Expecting Rain. It was mentioned that they stopped selling CDs in favor of free downloads. I skipped listening to their Myspace tracks to just download their most recent album, “Irish Twin”.

I am such a music hoarder.

While Irish Twin was downloading, I skipped on over and poked around the Myspace page of Mystery of Two. Their style was described as indie rock, though I may argue there’s enough garage rock present in their presentation that indie might be a misleading term.

Though I guess Indie is a pretty generic description these days anyway.

I enjoyed them more than iPhonic, but I felt their music had some cacophonous tendencies that didn’t resonate with me.

Shortly thereafter, Expecting Rain successfully downloaded.

I was impressed. Their music is very expertly put together, professionally recorded, and complex. And free? How does this work exactly?

While perhaps I was really questing for some grassroots high-energy music, Expecting Rain still wins todays regional band face off despite being the most mellow band mentioned.

I want to compare them to either Calexico or Carbon Leaf. Perhaps a mix of Calexico and Carbon leaf with a liberal dash of Iron & Wine.

Or maybe not. I was never good at concocting recipes.

Regardless Expecting Rain does a damn good job of intertwining indie and folk into a smooth mixture. a professional mixture.

Really, if bands like Calexico are your thing as all, I recommend you go download, for free (legally), Irish Twin.

What to take away?

Expecting Rain does a great job of making quality indie-folk – for free – for the masses.

What to expect?

Complex instrumentation combined with a variety of instruments. Slow and relaxed vocals.

Pairing?

A smooth semi-sweet white wine from an inexpensive but delicious local vineyard.

So if it hasn’t been made perfectly clear: I’m generally an electronica slut. A man-slut, but a slut nonetheless. I just can’t get enough of the twitchy, tweaky, and yet soothing tones that manage to be produced and put into rhythm. However, even as I drool over something a synthesizer vomited up, I have a few uncharacteristic loves that fight for equal play. Enya and Feist are classic examples, but Dido (electronica influenced, but more alternative I think) and a few others creep up every now and again. Well, my friends, I have added another group to this distinguished and exclusive club: Ra Ra Riot.

Using an actual cello (Alexandra Lawn) and violin (Rebecca Zeller) to add that interesting depth to what could otherwise be just another quasi-folk band plucking away at a guitar, Ra Ra Riot managed to make a spot for itself in my collection almost immediately. I simply adore strings so any rock band that can incorporate a cellist almost immediately gets my accolades, but add to that a fast-ish tempo sound with a talented lead singer (Wes Miles) and you get musical demi-gods.

Wes has an uncommonly high vocal range in my opinion. It may not be for the genre, and it could easily be that I’m just more used to female vocalists but I think it’s unusual for a guy who doesn’t seem to be working in falsetto. It’s amazing – don’t get me wrong. Just… different.

The tone of the album is uplifting which puts it at stark contrast to what I imagine the prevailing mood of the band would have been after the tragic drowning of the band’s original drummer (and founding member), John Pike. Pike is credited with originally penning much of their recently released full album “The Rhumb Line” adding a certain depth to such songs as “Ghost Under Rocks” and “Dying Is Fine.”

The crowd favorite for this album seems to be “Can You Tell” which while not available on Last.fm does have an official version on YouTube:

What to take away…

Ra Ra Riot is comprised of incredibly talented artists and creates unique indie-rock music which should manage to find its way into any home. This music would be equally enjoyable while conducting spring cleaning or while chatting with friends – it’s powerful music, but not cloying.

What should you expect?

Soothing music with a fast tempo, a talented male vocalist, and string. Strings!!!

Favorite song?

While I’m still absorbing all there is to this band/album, so far I think my taste is lingering around “Ghost Under Rocks” mostly because it has a truly stunning opening which gives it a small boost against the rest. It reminds me of a theme song from Little Miss Sunshine for some reason…

What to pair Ra Ra Riot with?

Hmmm… I find this comparison difficult. Lets see – gin and juice. Maybe something tropical? Gin (in moderation) and peach-mango. Too much gin and you’d kill the combination, but just enough and I think the unique character created would be an adequate allusion to how Ra Ra Riot tackles indie-rock.

I’ve never before been bludgeoned with palpable happiness. There is funny, there is moving, there is hilarious, but I’ve never really encountered “happy” – that state of overwhelming contendedness. The Danes supposedly have it in quantities much larger than the bulk of Americans, but it is my firm belief that Matt & Kim are trying desperately to toppled that monopoly. And from what I can tell it seems to be working.

My first Matt & Kim experience was with their “Daylight” music video, and I immediately found a smile stuck on my face. Seriously, their never-ending grins, pointlessly nonsensical lyrics and fun-loving style just manage to wash away even the most dour façade in a moment. Their most recent album – fittingly named “Grand” – is nothing but good-feeling nonsense conveyed on punk-inspired beats. Most of the songs are short – the longest only being three and a half minutes – giving an overall playtime of under a half hour for the 11 tracks present. Short, yes, but what a half hour!

It’s kind of hard to summarize Matt & Kim’s presentation using words because – as with most artists – it’s their style which sets them apart and makes them emotionally appealing. They both maintain a perpetual insider shit-eating grin in everything I’ve ever seen them photographed, and once you’ve witnessed them physically it becomes impossible to separate their persona from their music.

The closest I’ve come to verbalizing their essence is when I started referring to the playback of their album as “taking a happiness hit.” For myself and those I’ve spread the music to, the song represents a literal energy rush and soul cleansing two minutes and fifty one seconds. It’s like walking in to a Discovery Store – there’s so much off-the-wall entertainment at hand that you just kind of intrinsically relax and start thinking like a kid again. A third of the songs just immediately make you break a move, and the others evoke a head tick and an occasional mumbled lyric accompanied by a stupid, heart-warming smile.

For extra strength action I highly recommend the “Daylight” music video (once again embedding is disabled). It’s kind of a double-potency espresso-shot for the mind.

What to expect…

A soul boosting feeling of contendedness wrapped up in utter nonsense.

What should you take away?

Be happy, damn it!

What would I pair them with?

I don’t think alcohol flies with this band – as a depressant it seems to be completely out of place. I’m going to go with Naked Juice – pick your flavor.

Favorite song?

Daylight – no ifs, ands, or buts.