Songs! Individual songs! They’re everywhere! The motion tracker is going crazy! Oh god, they’re everywhere! Game over man, game over!

Viola’s March Melancholy

Faithful as ever, the oh so lovely Viola have released a new song just as the new month turned its leaf. This one’s called “Fade to White” and it’s inspired by the bucketloads of snow we all first went all “ooh” and “aah” about but then it started delaying trains, crashing cars and canceling flights like crazy and all the beautiful magic of pure snow was forgotten in favour of it being damn cold and fairly annoying in long exposure.

Anyway, the song’s rather good and it’s all wonderfully moody. Free to download from Viola Music Club as always and if you want a direct link, a direct link you shall haveth.

They’ve also got a poll about your favourite track of theirs from the past year so if you like tickboxes (yay!) or wish to aid the duo in their ominous unknown goals, frolic here.

Foals return, are good

You remember Foals from a few years back? The one with the really ugly debut album cover? It’s ok if you don’t, they were pretty boring and fairly unexciting, just another quirky indie band among the billion others. Although I remember fellow IP member Mag liking them, or at least that’s what his RYM rating says.

Anyway, they’re back with a new album this year and much like The Horrors last year who surprised everyone by moving from a wonky debut into an “album of the year” topper (although I wasn’t that impressed by it), Foals have the making of being the surprise act of the year. The new tune’s called “Spanish Sahara” and it’s all wonderfully pretty, atmospheric and dreamy. And when the inevitable rock break finally happens, the song retains all those qualities. It’s also got quite a good video, starring beards and barren snowy landscapes. Check it from here.

And if you give your email in exchange for spam letters, you can also get a free remix of the song. I don’t know what it’s like, I didn’t bother.

Squirrelhouse continue being pretty damn cool

A still fairly unknown name that’s probably already established itself into the heads of everyone reading this blog because I keep going on about them, Squirrelhouse are a band who keep trickling songs from their upcoming sophomore album and everytime deliver something pretty great. This is the case again. There’s a couple of new songs up in their Myspace: one’s called “Jolene” and it’s a mid-tempo festival of gorgeous guitar melodies and tightly grooving bass, and the other one is titled “All That Shit” and sounds like a slightly less loopy version of what Midlake were doing back in their debut album days, filling itself with fuzzy synths, a monotonous disco beat and ethereal guitar breaks to the effect of sounding like a deep space alien dance band.

These days I’m pretty wary of overhyping myself because it’s more than common for even trusty artists to release pretty great preview songs and then come up with something not-as-exciting (see: 2008), but Squirrelhouse’s second album seems like a firm guess for being a pretty damn good album when it comes out because all the countless songs trickled out so far (okay, three. Or five if you count the two-part “Monster” from way back) have all been yay in the scale from yay to nay.

Laura Marling! This month!

Okay so this is fairly old news already but might as well add it to the same slop as all these others because we’re in the habit of linking to songs today and I’ve been in a fairly heavy Marling-inspired kick lately (both through her solo debut as well as the two Noah and the Whale albums). The songstress is releasing a second album “I Speak Because I Can” late this month and while there was that Christmas-time single “Goodbye England”, a lead single proper appeared a fair while ago. “Devil’s Spoke” is rather strikingly different from her older material, relying far more on percussion and rhythm and sounding rather storming and aggressive when compared to the fragile ballads of the debut. It’s also awesome. Roll on March 22nd!

Her PR team are a bunch of party poopers and forbid embedding so click an old fashioned link for the official video, featuring exotic locations and campfire singalongs.

Still continuing with their “song a month” project, it’s Viola! And to brighten up the cold February, here’s a doo-do-do-do-doo-riffic piece of sunshiney pop rock about the joys of love and how your heart seems to as if burst into a song when the big crush happens. The song is called “Heart Breaks Into a Song” and it’s all kinds of awesome – awesome sounds, catchy choruses, brilliantly self-aware-of-inherent-silliness lyrics (”what the hell is going on?”), and all that! It’s a must listen.

Download it from here.

And in case you missed it last month, because I wasn’t here to post it, Viola welcomed us to the new decade with a song called “2010s (Maybe the World Won’t End)” that opened up the new year with a suitably groovy synthpop feel. Check out that awesome string sample!

MP3 here.

One of those cases where the artist themselves describe the song much more adequately than any random blogger ever can:

“The song has 9 parts but not a single one of them repeats the same vocal melody. Furthermore, the instrumentation is built with the idea that once an instrument enters the picture, it has to stay in until the end of the song, building layer after layer after layer of intertwining melodies and harmonies.”

More lovely melancholy moodiness from the lovely Finnish duo, perfect fit for this miserable rainy month.

MP3: No Connection

Guillemots are pretty super-awesome, aren’t they? I’m glad we’re in agreement. While the band’s currently recording their third guaranteed-to-be-pretty-awesome album, the cute bastard mad genius frontman Fyfe Dangerfield is in the process of doing his own solo album debut. The reported name is “Fly Yellow Moon” and what minimal signs there are speculatingly point towards a 2010 release date, perhaps even early on in the year.

Why bring this rumour-mongering up? Because there’s a leak. Or a “leak”. Mr Dangerfield is being rather coy. The song is called “She Needs Me” and those who are aware of what sorts of things Fyfe likes to contribute to Guillemots have a fairly good idea what the song will be like. It’s life-affirmingly upbeat, it’s wonderfully sunshineypoppy, and most importantly it’s got a combination of funky bass, gorgeously e-bowing guitar parts, horn awesomeness and BIG string sections. BIG. It’s one big joyous pop song that’s sure to put one’s private dancing shoes on and make the said listener dance and sing along in his private quarters like a silly loon completely in love with music.

Oh yes.

On the other hand there’s also the reported lead single for the album, “Faster Than the Setting Sun” that’s also making tours in the internetospace after being aired in a radio show. It’s just as epic as “She Needs Me” but rather than being a wonderfully sunshiney piece of lovegroove, it’s a sky-soaring, dove-tailing anthem that bursts into all sorts of vibrant colour and orgasmic sound as it progresses and eventually climaxes into a gigantic outro. In other words, it’s effin fantastic.

Click the viddy after the cut for Sun, click the mp3 linky similarly after the cut for She.

(more…)

Another month, another new Viola song. It’s September (or will be in a few hours as I’m typing this), the rainy autumn is coming up, schools start, the world is returning to its usual routine flow as the plants begin to wither away and animals start preparing for the winter. Autumn is a season that thrives on melancholic beauty. Such is also Sea Curtain, September’s Viola treat. Six and a half minutes of crushing guitar crunches and deep sadness, ever-so-slightly harkening a bit back to the sounds of their debut Tearcandy. Except with more heart-wrenching guitar solos.

Nab Sea Curtain from here. And if you haven’t already, check the rest of the discography too.

Old news for those who have followed this blog for a while: Finnish synthpoppers Viola decided to release a new track every single month. As August rolls in (blimey, time sure does fly doesn’t it?), the duo decides to record and release a cover – something they’ve only done once before a couple of centuries ago.

The duo tackles Finnish band TV-Resistori’s song Näen tanssivan sun uudestaan ["I See You Dancing Again"] and while doing so, they’ve inverted the great Finnish covering tradition of translating songs from other languages to Finnish by doing it the other way around. The Viola track is called Oh How You Dance, and that’s about the most indepth thing you can read about it from me because I’ve never heard the original song and thus can’t compare. However, they’ve managed to make the song entirely their own, sounding exactly like the band’s own material. If you’re a Viola enthusiast, this means a must-have download for you. It’s good stuff. For everyone else, there’s the entire discography for completely free.

MP3: Oh How You Dance

I’m starting to run out of stuff to talk about for these FF lead in’s. *ponders* It finally rained here after 2 months. *thinks* Going to Europe for two weeks soon, so, any suggestions bars, bands, sites in the UK and Germany are appreciated. Unfortunately, that means the fix will be on vacation for two weeks (maybe) as well, depending on time and internet access!

Ladyfinger (ne) – Little Things (2009, Omaha, Nebraska) Any readers out there from Omaha? Perhaps you can answer why such great bands come from there? Does it have a good live music scene/arts school/something? Chris Machmuller, Pat Oakes, Matt Bayles and Ethan have been members of various bands before combining forces to create Ladyfinger (ne). Pat played formerly in Saddle Creek band “Mayday”, and was also part of a band called “Solid Jackson”. Ethan used to be in the Saddle Creek band “The Faint”. Jamie is the singer of yet another Omaha band, “Race For Titles”. Chris used to be in a rock band called “Bleeders For Treats”. Their past musical endeavors shine through in their debut cd, “Heavy Hands”, released on the Saddle Creek recording label.

Kid, You’ll Move Mountains – Volts (2009, Chicago, Illinois) Having just released their first album this year, I can tell you that it is REALLY solid. I don’t really know terribly much about the band, but I’m eagerly awaiting more stuff from them. This track can be found on “Loomings” and you won’t regret buying it!

Of Montreal – First Time High (Reconstructionist Remix of “An Eluardian Instance”) (2009, Athens, Georgia) Of Montreal has really gained much deserved notoriety in the past few years, thanks to some really solid releases. “The John Brion” EP is no exception, which features such great tracks as this, which honestly, doesn’t really sound terribly much different than the “Skeletal Lamping” version, but the subtle differences are pretty awesome :) *rambles* If you dig “Of Montreal”, be sure to familiarize yourself with their earlier releases, such as “Satanic Panic in the Attic”.

Plants and Animals – Feedback in the Field (2008, Montreal, Quebec) I love the art for this album. I can’t help but wonder if it’s the family of the band and the shirt worn by the lady up front features this album’s name, “Parc Avenue”. They’ve only released one other full length album, in 2003, but for some bands, good albums take time and I can appreciate that. Most of this band met in high school, playing together in various bands. After moving from Halifax, Nova Scotia, they recruited additional members and became “Plants and Animals”.

School of Seven Bells – My Cabal (2008, Brooklyn, New York) Is anybody else getting sick of me blogging about how much I love this band? I really regret not having discovered them before my “Best of 2008″ post, as they’d have been in it with their solid release “Alpinism”. I love the haunting backup vocals in this track, as well as the catchy electronics. The band consists of Alejandra Deheza (vocals, bass), Claudia Deheza (vocals, keyboards) and Benjamin Curtis (guitar). The Deheza sisters are former members of “On!Air!Library!” and Curtis is a former member of “Secret Machines” and “Tripping Daisy” (holy s**t!). The band is named after the School of the Seven Bells, a mythical South American pickpocket training academy. Curtis and the Deheza sisters met when both were opening on an Interpol tour. The three decided to end their commitments to their old bands, move in to a shared space, and create a home recording studio together.

One of the things I love about doing the Friday Fix is the feedback I get from folks. Especially if they live in the same town/state/country as the band, and take pride in that. Even better when they recommend artists to check out! I have no idea where I’m going with this…after all, it’s early Friday morning and I’m jonesin’ for the weekend. So, enough talk. On with the music!

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – Down In Front (2008, Los Angeles, California) Roger Joseph Manning Jr.’s music can best be described as “power pop”, but honestly, it’s so much better than the label infers. At times, I hear Queen, others, Billy Joel, and his vocals kind of remind me of Weird Al Yankovic, if sedated on horse tranquilizers (ie, less spaz, more quality). Most of his stuff is upbeat, high tempo gold. This song can be found on his second solo album “Catnip Dynamite”. Roger is not a stranger to the music industry, by any means though! He’s also been a member of “The Moog Cookbook”, “Jellyfish” (I know Trey likes this band…), “Imperial Drag”, “TV Eyes”, “Beatnik Beach” and has worked with other musicians as well. If you dig this track, you won’t be disappointed by the entire album, it’s really solid! It’s one of those “had I discovered this last year, it’d have made my top 10 list” types of albums.

House of Heroes – If (2008, Columbus, Ohio) Ok, ok. I’ll admit. I’ve got a weakness for this kind of emo-punk-rock stuff, but only if it’s good. What’s make this style good? Well, fast tempo, awesome guitarists and non-whining vocalists. Sure this band kind of sounds like a lot of the others out there, but is that always such a bad thing? Well, yeah, if they lack the creativity to set themselves apart from the flock. For “House of Heroes” this is not the case. They combine the best of the modern alternative/punk scene but definitely add their own ideas and style to it. “In the Valley of the Dying Sun” is a prime example of what I mean, as it demonstrates just some of the range to this band’s sound. If you liked “If”, the rest on “The End Is Not The End” are pretty good as well.

Math and Physics Club – Darling, Please Come Home (2006, Seattle, Washington) If you like “Belle & Sebastian” or “The Lucksmiths”, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to enjoy this band. Can you hear it? Well, I can. With only one album released, and three EPs, one has to wonder what exactly happened to this band? Before starting “Math and Physics Club” Charles Bert (vocals, rhythm guitar) and James Werle (lead guitar) were in a band called “drive car girl” (named after a “Beat Happening” song). Drummer Kevin Emerson played in a number of bands in Connecticut and Massachusetts before moving to Seattle, including a stint with a soul band called “Soulwork”. Kevin is also the singer and co-leader of the band “Central Services”. *shrugs* I know these aren’t answers, but they do explain that the talents in this band are at least busy still making music.

Republic Tigers – Golden Sand (2008, Kansas City, Missouri) I’ve put this band on the fix before, but bands that deserve respect, get it! I love this track. It totally reminds me of good “Placebo”. The style of this song is completely different than the last song of theirs I posted on here (”Buildings & Mountains”), which reminds me of good “Air”. Having just released their first album last years, “Keep Color” is amazing and is definitely worth the investment. “Republic Tigers” started as Kenn Jankowski’s (”The Golden Republic”) side project. With that band now defunct, “Republic Tigers” have gone on to tour with “Nada Surf” and have their song Buildings & Mountains featured on ABC’s show “Grey’s Anatomy”.

Dear Reader – Dearheart (2009, Johannesburg, South Africa) Dear Reader is a South African band whose music could be described as alternative pop, covering a wide-range from acoustic ballads to electronic loop experiments. Their name used to be “Harris Tweed”, but they were forced to change it when the Harris Tweed Authority in Scotland sent them a lawyers’ letter demanding it. In fall 2008 they played their first European shows as the support act for “Lambchop” and “Andrew Bird”. They returned in February 2009 to play shows with “Sophia”. This track can be found on “Replace Why with Funny” and if you dig this album, you can get “The Younger” when they were titled “Harris Tweed”.

Memory Cassette – Ghost in the Boombox (2008, ???, New Jersey?) Memory Cassette is one guy from New Jersey, with two projects – “Memory Cassette” and “Weird Tapes”. Soon, both will merge to become “Memory Tapes”. Memory Cassette is a pretty secret about who/whom they are – their myspace page makes no mention of whether “Cassette Memory” is a ‘he’ or a ’she’ or a ‘they’. Other websites suggest that Memory Cassette is a collection of musicians from the Philadelphia and New Jersey. Apart from that all I know is that there are four EPs released by them, and that this track can be found on “The Hiss We Missed”. Mad props to anyone that can give me more info on the band/artist!

Two weeks in a row! See, I wasn’t just talkin’ when I said the fix was back! With so much music to catch up and so much more to share, it’s hard for me to choose a place to start. I did just pick up the new Wilco album, so, maybe you’ll see me review that in the future…who knows? At any rate, lets get this party started.

Iglu & Hartly – In This City (2008, Echo Park, California) Iglu & Hartly met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado (USA) Before long, Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin, and Simon Katz quit school and moved to Echo Park, California to pursue their passion for music. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Luis Rosiles flew from Jarvis’ hometown of Chicago to join the band as their drummer, and LA local Michael Bucher joined as bassist. Releasing their first album last year, it included this track and a few others, with music which seems folks either really like, or dislike. If you find yourself in the former category, you can enjoy this track on their “& then Boom” album.

Point Juncture, Wa – Sick on Sugar (2008, Point Juncture, Washington) I found Point Juncture, WA while browsing band camp one day. After checking out a few samples, I found I really dug their laid back indie pop sound and downloaded the full album. You can find this track the second full length, “Heart to Elk” (which features raccoons on the cover, yay). In 2005, they made their debut, releasing their “Juxtapony” EP, which was followed by their album “Mama Auto Boss” album in 2006.

Damien Jurado – Gillian was a Horse (2008, Seattle, Washington) Damien Jurado is a singer-songwriter in the indie-rock tradition of Seattle, Washington. His music is regarded as being heavily influenced by folk music. He often makes use of found sound and field recording techniques, and has experimented with different forms of tape recordings. In 2000 he released Postcards and Audio Letters, a collection of found audio letters and fragments that he had found from sources such as thrift store tape players and answering machines. If you dig this track, be sure to check out the full album “Caught in the Trees”.

Liekki – Pienokainen (2003, Tampere, Finland) Flint actually turned me on to this fine group from Finland. They remind me a lot of French-Canadian 70s trio “Harmonium”, only singing in Finnish. Featuring heavy use of classical guitar, piano and the flute, “Korppi” is an extremely solid and enjoyable sophomore album. They have several full length albums released, including their latest in 2008.

Fischerspooner – Never Win (2005, New York City, New York) Fischerspooner is an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York City. The name comes directly from the last names of the band members; Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Back in 2003, I had the privilege of seeing these guys perform live. Their albums can be seen as soundtracks to their stageshows, as opposed to recordings which are performed live. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but seriously, they put on one hell of any entertaining show including everything from zombies, smoke machines, awesome lighting and outrageous costumes.

Bell X1 – The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella (2009, Kildare, Ireland) Originally known as Juniper, they became a quartet with the departure of lead vocalist Damien Rice and renamed themselves Bell X1, with drummer Paul Noonan becoming the band’s new frontman. This album was one I was highly anticipating this year, as I really enjoyed their re-release of their 2005 album “Flock” in 2008. This album was even better in my opinion, though I still feel that the band can grow even more in it’s sound, as some of the tracks are just exceptionally better than others (I’m not saying that those other songs are bad though). Be sure to pick up “Blue Lights on the Runway” if you enjoy this song.

(look it’s a new Viola article header. I kept my promise)

Viola continues their song-a-month career, and as the summer is now properly hiring up with insane heat all around the world (except the cold places), it’s time for an official summer song. “Shimmery Summery (Sha-la-la-love)” is a tribute to all those mindless, upbeat one-hit-wonder pop songs that play endlessly throughout the summer, only to be replaced with another ingeniusly addictive fluff of a song the following year. Glimmery and upbeat pop soarings, wacky backing whoops and oowaaas, fashionably cool meta/self-ironic lyrics and Coco Jamboo namechecks (ah, how I miss the 90’s).

MP3: Shimmery Summery (Sha-la-la-love)