Song of the Day

**12/13/09

David Reed - Better Be Careful Now

--------------"I wrote these songs for the both of us." Hmmm...a good or bad connotation from that indecipherable dedication? I'm left to scratch my head and sip on some cinnamon coffee as I listen to David Reed, a singersongwitermusician from South Carolina. Listeners are able to get a glimpse of Reed's private life, and oh, don't we love snooping around! Reed should drive his bag of love-complicated-by-trial speedbumps to the set of One Tree Hill (which doesn't have Payton Sawyer on the show anymore! Worthless!)

Oops, ha, sorry...still trying to let that one go. Anyways, Reed's music sounds like a solo project from Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba, meaning if you enjoy contemplating serious thematic elements such as intergalactic lifeforms or that girl who denied your friend request, David Reed should be blasting from your ipod earbuds. Get "Better Be Careful Now" from Reed's album, Missteps and Miscommunications: The Private Life of David Reed.

http://myspace.com/theprivatelifeofdavidreed/

Ghostland Observatory

Mind Elixer opening for Ghostland Observatory (above)

OK...can I just get started on how unexpectedly fantastic the show was? If you, like many, have never heard of G.O. or followed my request to attend the show with the question "What is that", let me tell you that Aaron Behrens and Thomas Ross Turner are on an electro-rock mission to bring their party everywhere. Therefore, you're not gonna be oblivious to their music for much longer.

The show was as much about the lasers, lights, and strobes as the duo's music itself. You would imagine correctly that from the pictures, focus was no picnic to achieve. Still, (or not still), it was fun to shoot.

http://myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory/

Song of the Day

**12/12/09
One for the Team - A Better Job
---------------One for the Team doesn't have an "I" in it, but they certainly have a sound that is so selfishly sunny and bright, you can't help but think they did it all for themselves. These guy-and-girl indie troubadours are superduper excited about moving to Brooklyn, getting stoked for low-grade apartments and being neighbors with Manhattan. "A Better Job" is cutesy, but still maintains enough keyboard and guitar power to rough it up a bit. Get it from One for the Team sophomore album, Build it Up. The band will release their next album, Ghosts, on March 16 of next year.

http://www.myspace.com/onefortheteam/

Song of the Day

**12/11/09
Sienna Skies - Sea of Smiles
-----------Never doubt for a second that hard-hitting rock can't be paired with surprisingly sweet and, dare I say, mushy lyrics. Maybe hardcore isn't your thing because you think it's all about cry-sob "slit-my-wrists-til-I-bleed-on-your-soul" immature banter - baaaaeeeehhh!!(buzzer noise indicating you're wrong). Just take a look at the chorus to today's song, "Sea of Smiles:"

Cause when it comes down to the crunch
I will always be there
A tidal wave of your sea of smiles
These perfect moments shared
And all these moments shared
They will be shared right and true
Nowhere is perfect
Except, here with you

Daawwh! You can't deny the lyrics to "Sea of Smiles" are absolutely swimming with feel-good vibes, and if a beloved reader could open up his or her ears to a different sound, the Sydney, Australia band will be in business.

Speaking of the biz, Sienna Skies released their album, Truest of Colours. Other tracks from the album I'd hit up posthaste are the earth-rocking "Heartquake" and "Daylight Through the Nightlife."

http://www.purevolume.com/siennaskies

Song of the Day

**12/8/09

Artist Vs. Poet - Gateway

--------------I heard the music of Artist Vs. Poet the second I saw the band's Purevolume picture. The fresh faces of Fearless Records have their EP, Damn Rough Night, now streaming on the music megasite. Tarcy Thomason sounds like the love child of All Time Low's Alex Gasgarth and The Rocket Summer's Bryce Avary with squeaky clean vocals.

Yeah, you're thinking "I've heard this sound a million times before," right? Does it still make your head bob, your mind go back to stupid and fun nights with your besties, anxious to get the hell out of town the next time mom gives you gas for the hand-me-down minivan? Mission accomplished for this pop-punk group. Get "Gateway" from Damn Rough Night, available now at SmartPunk and MerchNow.

http://www.purevolume.com/artistvspoet

Song of the Day

**12/6/09

The Courteeners - That Kiss

-------------I'm convinced that my laptop is going through its annual PMS, so I apologize if within the next two weeks or so, the posts are a touch scattered. But if the posts are a little spread out, I can assure you I'm leaving your ears with a fantastic artist. The Courteeners may as well be a 2009 reincarnation of The Smiths, though with a little more pep in their indie-pop step. Fronted by the dashing and smooth voiced Liam Fray, The Courteeners formed in 2006, releasing their debut LP St. Jude to an impressive #4 spot on the charts in 2008.

Even in songs with slightly melancholy themes, the songs are as buoyant and catchy as a Pepsi commercial. "That Kiss" dreams through a sequence of distracting glances and body language doing all the talking without uttering a word. Get "That Kiss" from The Courteeners album St. Jude.

http://www.myspace.com/thecourteeners

Song of the Day

**12/4/09

Kelly Clarkson - The Trouble With Love Is

--------------Let me just declare for the whole world wide web to hear: If you dislike/hate/haven't seen the movie Love Actually, you have no pulse or haven't experienced absolute holiday happiness.

Not kidding, kids. The collection of stories about love can't help but warm your heart, especially when Sam squeals "Let's get the shit kicked out of us by love!"

Love is like a 2-battery component. Without both a positive and a negative side, it's not gonna work out. We're all familiar with the positives, but Clarkson emphasizes the agony and deception of it. A bold and disarmingly (favorite new adjective) pessimistic move for a pop diva, but Clarkson is going just far down enough with honesty and matter-of-factness. Get "The Trouble With Love Is" from the Love Actually Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

**The clip below isn't today's song, but it's a damn adorable clip from the movie.

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ah7XSxWFpM

Song of the Day

**12/3/09

Jamie T - 368

--------------Don't worry if at first you hear "368" and think it's a little goofy. The tick-tack percussion and the smarmy and eloquent flow of Jamie Alexander Treays sounds slightly kooky and playful, though still maintaning a solid slow-punk backup. Jamie T and The Pacemakers may have cancelled their U.K. sellout tour, but that didn't stop the release of T's 2009 album, Kings & Queens, which hit #2 on the charts. Jamie T and The Pacemakers sounds different from your conventional jolly-good punkers from across the pond. There's less focus on rah-rah choruses and catchy guitar licks and more emphasis on intricate rap lyrics and being messy in a good way.

If you're trolling Youtube for more Jamie T, I would skip the cover of Beyonce's "If I Were A Boy," but definitely hear "Sticks and Stones" and "Sheila."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG2ES2py-m8

Song of the Day

**12/2/09

Citizen Cope - Sun's Gonna Rise

--------------Aahh! I only have 9 minutes to post before a new day dawns! I apologize for my sluggishness for this post - got caught up in tons of shenanigans that took me away from my laptop.

Citizen Cope is one man (Clarence Greenwood) from D.C. The Washington Post did a feature article on his music, and even after an initial drop from Capitol Records, the songwriter found himself performing Coachella Valley and acquiring an outstanding following. "Sun's Gonna Rise" drives slowly and smoothly to optimism from his second release The Clarence Greenwood Recordings.

Song of the Day

**12/1/09

Ghostland Observatory - Midnight Voyage

-------------Brainstorming bands to bring in for the spring season is always a turbulent hurricane of opinions. Someone could nominate a perfectly terrible group and find out from their colleagues that whomever they thought was totally rad is totally bad.

Sticking my neck out for the duet from Austin, Texas, I voted a big "yes" to Ghostland Observatory. These guys seem to fill their jackets better than most electro-bands on the circuit right now, incorporating a montage of laser-swished guitar melodies to their Daft Punk-influenced beats. "Midnight Voyage" boasts a funky and slightly unexpected rebel-pop guitar riff that carries through dreamlike keyboards and Aaron Behren's vocals. Get "Midnight Voyage" from the Ghostland Observatory album, Paparazzi Lightning.

http://www.myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory/