Seven Songs for Seven Days 4

(the picture is my very own, from the sounds show @ the house of blues in boston)

Red Riders - Ordinary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtBY7_3gj6o

A slightly dreamy song about being too boring. Certainly it is a woe that has never befallen me. Nothing really complicated going on in the song - just a shimmery curtain of guitar and a plain but somehow comforting voice. Even though the song clearly proclaims "nothing I do ever seems to go my way" it does not have the sound of a sorrowful song.


The Sounds - Living in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjY4Wj_-Zec

The Sounds are Swedish. The Sounds have sprouted from some sort of punk rock. I'm not really sure where to take it from there.  Nor am I able to deduce the actual meaning of this song - it just has the strains of a punk rock anthem to it and that is good enough for me.


Foxy Shazam - Wannabe Angel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK89uXahpGw

I had the strange pleasure of seeing Foxy Shazam (who opened for the Sounds) play - what a strange bunch of dudes. Sadly their keyboard player is missing his iconic beard in the photo for this youtube video - alas. You will just have to suffer the multitude of influences that pepper Foxy Shazam's pop without his hirsute appearance.

Ensiferum - Iron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJ3k7yTNqk 

The title track of Ensiferum's second album is just a kick in the face of an awesome mixture of power and death metal. The pace of the song is feverish and and the majestically plodding guitars and occasional gang choruses just propel the music forward ever-faster. It's definitely a pre-workout song. Get this stuck in your head, and you're bound to have a good day.


Gwyllion - Entwined

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sybtEQy9o5U

The only way to actually properly listen to this song is with the intro before it. It's straight up furious while being fronted by a female vocalist - really entertaining mix of pounding rhythm and soaring vocals. The background choir of male vocals mixing with hers makes things considerably more complicated. A good mix of dynamics means that you're not entirely pounded into the ground, and it doesn't hurt that the singer is quite talented.


Drake - houstatlantavegas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7CTlBUsmHs

Drake's an interesting guy. I have to put him up past Kid Cudi as the better of the two - what I've heard of Cudi's album isn't really all that interesting, but Drake's mixtape this year is pretty fantastic. houstatlantavegas is spacy, dreamy, warm, and mellow - a really interesting direction to take for hip-hop / r&b. It's pretty reminiscent of 808's and Heartbreak (Kanye guesting, too). Kanye is probably actually the weakest part of the song, but there does need to be some break from the previous material to make it not simply monotonous.

White Wolf - America (Hello Again)

Sadly, kiddos out in the field will have to find this one themselves. I promise it's worth it - it is only one of a few patriotic songs I can seriously stomach and enjoy. It's sort of like Pain of Salvation's similarly entitled "America," minus the lambasting - just a call for whoever is still listening to answer. Really powerful, if you can get past the cheese.