Posts Tagged ‘pop-rock’

PLAYLIST: Music, working combine for entertainment, productivity

Few things change your working environment more than good music. In my experience, music is often an essential part of work, whether I’m working on some routine data entry, trying to plow through that last line of code, or getting a last-minute news feature ready for publication. Here’s a short list of some of my favorites.

Pavement – “Spit on a Stranger”

When I’m working, I need something that will capture my attention but not demand it — Pavement’s “Spit on a Stranger” somehow hits on the right side of the line: It’s something rare. A catchy melody and evocative guitar work define this song, and over the past few days of working, I’ve not been able to turn it off.

Spotlight: The Feminists | Vancouver-based pop rock band to release third LP tomorrow

The Feminists / Courtesy of Killbeat MusicThe Feminists, a pop rock group reminiscent of mid-1990s power pop — but clearly holding a style they’d like to call their own — will release their third full-length tomorrow, Feb. 5. The album, Can’t Scream Loud Enough, is being self-released by the group.

“21st Century Ghost,” posted below, is a fairly simple, straightforward pop track, but don’t mistake that for a lack of quality: there’s something nice about the guitar pop this Vancouver-based band is producing.

The Feminists — “21st Century Ghost” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/02-21st-century-ghost.mp3]

The Feminists online

Music Geek #6: Appearance of “Superfriend” serves as a nice Weezer refresher

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.It was in 2001 — six-and-a-half years ago — that I first heard tale of Weezer’s mysterious opus, Songs From the Black Hole, a project that frontman Rivers Cuomo had spoken of very little and much hype had arisen behind as a result.

It’s 2008 now, and still, there are several songs from the never-finished concept album that have yet to see the light of day. One of those, until sometime in the range of one month ago, was “Superfriend,” a track that had gained some notoriety on Weezer fan message boards, particularly the Rebel Weezer Board and the Rivers Correspondence Board, which I read voraciously but kept my posting to a minimum, for better or worse.

At any rate, the track quickly became a thing of legend, with only a very select few having actually heard it — and the track certainly wasn’t floating around the mass of information that is the Internet (or bootleg trading circles, for that matter) for easy listening purposes.

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Between the Trees – The Story and the Song

This debut release from pop-rockers Between the Trees is synth-led and guitar-heavy, fronted by a vocalist that emboides the growingly popular slightly-high-but-not-too-whiney vocal style. Between the Trees is undoubtedly a rock group with pop sensibilities, but they manage to remain only slightly reserved about it. The tracks on The Story and the Song are well-paced and reasonably well crafted, though the band certainly isn’t going to win any comparisons to Lennon and McCartney.

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ActionReaction – 3 is the Magic Number

The latest — and true debut, excepting a short tour EP — from ActionReaction, 3 is the Magic Number, is a glossy work of pop-rock with an element of careful production. ActionReaction’s attention to detail is apparent, what with a fair amount of meticulous timing and instrumentation.

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