An ’03 fave makes an early and strong appearance in 2004. THE songwriter to hear this year.
Howard Hello
Sunny, ambient pop songs from San Diego, CA where everything is obvious. Howard Hello isn’t obvious.
Citizens Here and Abroad
Traveling along the same musical path, two bands reach a fork in the road. Velocity Girl chooses the bubblegum path; Citizens Here and Abroad press forward on the noisey pop path.
The Robot Ate Me
TRAM’s sunny disposition belies their dark, warped lyrics. They sand down pop songs like you would a rocking chair for that “distressed look.”
All Girl Summer Fun Band
Chick-fronted pop romps with unexpected twists on the usual themes (i.e., boys, boys, boys).
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Troublemaker [MP3, 1.9MB, 128kbps]
Video Game Heart [MP3, 2.44MB, 160kbps]
Jason Lee [MP3, 2.76MB, 160kbps]
Later Operator [MP3, 2.86MB, 160kbps]
Girl #3 [MP3, 3.33MB, 160kbps]
Grass Skirt [MP3, 1.86MB, 128kbps]
Dreamy You [MP3, 1.90MB, 128kbps]
Say Hi to Your Mom
This pick inspired by Sam’s 3/4/04 pick: SHTYM is what you’d expect from someone who grew up using a Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Compaq Portable II, and an Epson dot matrix printer. Now he’s making music on those machines about the girlfriends who beat him in Centipede.
Manishevitz
Rich orchestral pop with affected and infectious vocals ressembling a cross between Mark E. Smith and Rik Ocasek.