Boston band Laminated Cat started as a five piece outfit that played 30 minute versions of Spiders in their sweltering barn attic. With time, they morphed into the twee/post-punk/sadsack/rock’n'roll/avant garde powerhouse they are today.
Pavement / Transport is Arranged Like anyone that enjoys music, I adore Pavement. This song, off Brighten the Corners, is a neat synopsis of nearly every reason why. I love the bubblegum melody, the ambiguous keyboard-flute chords, and the wordplay. Stephen Malkmus’ lyrics always manage to somehow sound deep and clever, and like he’s making them up as he goes along. But most of all, I love the middle section, where the guitars weave in and out of each other weirdly for a while before ascending to the full cock-rockin’ climax.
Hailing from London, garage rockers Brute Chorus belie their name with a sound that takes in the stomping soulful music of the late 1970s with a more delicate and melodic folk twist. The BestTuna blog sums them up succintly: ‘In a UK music scene full of non descript interchangeable bands playing mind numbingly indistinguishable indie it’s great to hear a band with the courage to forge their own identity and serve up a cocktail of breathtaking swamp rock that sounds three steps removed from the usual tepid sludge’.
Cold War Kids / Hang Me Up To Dry This is a lyrically brilliant, dark but shiny bit of indie rock. The dirty laundry analogy works in all its possible computations throughout a minimally arranged yet heavy song. The clean production seems to play against the words and feel of it all. So indie but so pop.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
