Monday Music Roundup

Ahhh, Monday. Here are a few things I am listening to this week.

“Chasing Cars”
(Acoustic on BBC 4/15/06)
Snow Patrol
I am not a huge Snow Patrol fan — mostly via benign neglect and not for an overt reason — but I like this new song off their upcoming release Eyes Open (May 1 in the UK, May 9 U.S.).

Thanks to Good Weather For Airstrikes blog for this; they have other new tracks from Snow Patrol as well as some rare covers, head on over if that’s your cuppa tea.

“Can’t Go On“
The Shifties
Charming pop songs from The Shifties coming out of Chicago. This upbeat track is definitely Beach Boys/surfin-safari reminiscent, although other tracks (their whole demo album is available to download on their website) have more of a quirky Shins feeling (“Insomniac”) or a Mason Jennings vibe (“Tell Me Why”), very unassuming and nice for these spring days. I really like them. Definitely check out their newer song “On My Way” on their MySpace page — that’s the one I wanted to post, but it’s not for download. It is, however, featured on their 2005 album Silent Agreement, which you can buy from CDBaby for a mere 8 bucks.

“Playing In The Distance“
Grand National
From the opening notes and sweet beat of this funked out Folk-Implosion-meets-The-Police cut, I cannot sit still. This is fun stuff. It opens with some smooth, low repetitive vocals, and then at about a minute in the vocal hook echoback begins with what appears to be the soulman incarnation of Sting himself. I hear that these guys played SXSW, I wonder how their sound translates live. Anyone catch their set? Off their recent release Kicking The National Habit.

“Soul Thing“
Taylor Hicks
I am not even gonna try and say anything at all to justify my posting of this track. No wait, I am: It’s actually good! I admittedly have an inferiority complex over the fact that I watch American Idol, but Taylor Hicks has a healthy dose of soul and a visible genuine love for the music. If I voted (resist! resist!), I’d probably vote for him. From his 2004 album (I didn’t know he had one either!) Under The Radar. Now my secret is out.

“You Rock My World”
(Trackmasters remix ft. Jay Z)
Michael Jackson
Does anyone sing like MJ? I mean, with all that “‘cha, ‘unh, ‘shmoa” stuff that can’t be captured in writing? Here he tag-teams it in a remix with Jay Z and the result will make you want to get your shwerve on. Thanks to Palms.Out.