New Week...New Tunes

As the first month of 2010 draws to a close, I think I need to share some great new tunes with the world. There is some great new stuff out there.

Vampire Weekend - Cousins

The new Vampire Weekend song didn't live up to the best of the first album upon first listen, but it is growing on me very fast.



OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

An underrated band that I am hoping will come visit the Bowery Ballroom soon. This clip will be available on youtube for a limited time only. Skip straight to the final commercial break.



Ray LaMontagne - Trouble

Maybe this one isn't so new, but it's been in a commercial recently, so it's fresh in my mind. What a great voice when it isn't being used to crack the American dentist office airways (which seems to be what he is usually going for).



Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead

Another very underrated band, sadly best-remembered for the theme song for The OC even though the two albums that followed blew away the pop-rock hook-heavy sound of "California". Raise the Dead is typical of their more recent songs. Melodic verses slowly build in a crescendo of sound until they completely let loose in a chorus that feels like it, quite literally, could raise the dead. I couldn't find an album version to post, but I strongly recommend seeking it out.



And at the risk of embarrassing myself, I will throw in one guilty pleasure

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart

In today's music scene, solo artists of her tremendous all-around talent are few and far between. I cannot help but admire her. In addition to her vocal and instrumental talent, she is one heck of a songwriter. Not to mention the fact that she is not exactly unattractive. Her performance of this song was a bright spot in an otherwise poor episode of SNL hosted by Charles Barkley (...what did they expect?). I couldn't find that version, but here's something close.