Monday Music Roundup

In the my continuing quest to find the perfect t-shirt, I’ve got another contender – just obscure enough to really fire me up. Worn Free replicates tees sported by your musical icons in random snapshots throughout history. Check their site to get the same shirt that Lennon wore in December 1971, or the yellow tank that Deborah Harry wore in concert circa ’77. Only you and a select few musical literati will know just how cool you really are under that corduroy jacket.

So, there’s sort of a theme time for the tunes this week – all are really upbeat and perhaps may lead you to dance this Monday morning. It seemed to me as if we might need it.

All The Time
IV Thieves
Aside from the vocal chants that I find entirely too reminiscent of “Walk Like An Egyptian” (you know, the one that all the cops in the donut shop say?) this is a sawing bluesy romp off the IV Thieves‘ new album If We Can’t Escape My Pretty. Formerly known as the superb Nic Armstrong and The Thieves, now known as simply the IV Thieves – from Nottingham and worth paying attention to.

Mr. Tough
Yo La Tengo
There is so much music always coming out that I admit I had not had time to listen to the new Yo La Tengo album this year, even though I personally thought the name was hilarious (I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass). Well, color me surprised, but this funk falsetto song is absolutely a million miles from what I expected to hear from Yo La Tengo, and it is completely fantastic. Love it, love it, love it.

Valerie
The Zutons
Here’s one more that I didn’t particularly expect, based on The Zutons‘ past Scouse-rock sounds. This is a definite dance-in-the-shower Motown/funk tune with “ooh-ooh” backing vocals (a la “Sympathy For The Devil”) and more than a hint of Elton John, if you can imagine that. It’s from their 2006 release Tired Of Hanging Around (Red Ink Records).

Plus, there’s a lyric that says, “And I miss your ginger hair and the way you used to dress.” Which makes me suspect this is really an incognito song about Ginger Spice.

Gotta Get Out
The Bicycles
Bruce hooked my interest by saying this track from Toronto’s The Bicycles makes you “think early Kinks meets the Bubblegum Explosion.” A mere two minutes long, this song is admittedly borderline hokey in a charming ’60s sense, but for me hokey ’60s pop = love, so we’re golden here. From their really preciously-titled (blech) album The Good, The Band, and The Cuddly, more free tunes here.

Heaven Knows
Taylor Hicks
This one’s for my dear mama, but you may find yourself liking it too. Her birthday was this weekend and my sister and I collaborated on a joint Taylor Hicks-related present, with me providing an autographed picture (spoils of my rich and famous blogger lifestyle) while my sister bought her the Taylor Hicks debut album (which I hear is selling like hotcakes). I smiled to hear this song, with it’s opening notes that you could mistake for Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say?” and other elements of Motown all over it. Yeah, he won American Idol. But don’t hold that against him, take a listen to this — I think it’s pretty good.