stuck on repeat

The Shackeltons Give Us A Break

One new band I've been digging a lot lately is the Pennsylvania quintet The Shackeltons, perhaps because their music posesses a sturdy spine and enough hip-swagger to make indie's sweatered set quake in their deck shoes. The band, whose debut album comes out today, has a relentlessness—even on slower numbers—that sounds as if the members have been putting their energy in storage, and letting it simmer for future unleashing on audiences. And they're a pretty commanding force live, where lead singer Mark Redding has a twitchy persona reminiscent of Ian Svenonius, flinging around flowers and demanding that the audience focus on the crazy noise being created by him and his bandmates. [MySpace / YouTube]

3:00 PM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
185 views, 1 comment

Latest by Jon W: Way to put the wrong clip in the RSS!!! more »

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Stuck On Repeat: The Seedy Seeds, Heck Yes!

While I don't particularly enjoy coming up with cute names for music styles, The Seedy Seeds have the market cornered on Appalachitronica. The duo decided to build a collection of instruments that, they admit, they don't really know how to play, then recorded the results. (Later this month, the Seeds will release their first full-length, Change States.) Accordions, banjos, cheap drum machines, a childlike melody and simple harmonies—these are the things that make "The Little Patton" sound so fresh, yet so familiar:

The Seedy Seeds - The Little Patton [MP3]
The Seedy Seeds [Myspace]

5:35 PM on Tue Jul 10 2007
By pcox
571 views, 2 comments

Latest by Weezy F Baby: b l o g r o c k more »

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Stuck On Repeat: Superfamily Really Could Be A Winner

Oslo, Norway's Superfamily released their second album Warszawa in May, and the second single from the record, "I Could Be a Real Winner," is, so far, unjustly trapped inside the confines of the Norwegian charts. It's far too good a song to be kept secret from the rest of the world, however. Built on a brisk white-soul beat with a whistling hook, singer Steven Wilson channels Daryl Hall so convincingly that "Winner" feels more like a vintage Hall & Oates No. 1 than anything anyone else—including Mssrs. Hall & Oates themselves—is doing in 2007:

I Could Be a Real Winner [MP3]
Superfamily [Myspace]

2:05 PM on Tue Jul 10 2007
By pcox
414 views, 2 comments

Latest by brasstax: @dennisobell: YES! Prefab Sprout. I could never put a finger on it before. more »

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Stuck on Repeat: Miss Fairchild's Newer Jack Swing

If a band is going to list Sly and the Family Stone, the Time, and Bell Biv DeVoe as influences, it's a safe bet their music will get at least one play on the Idolator guesthouse's stereo. Fortunately, Miss Fairchild don't bring embarrassment to the sum of their inspirations. Their second album, Ooh La La, Sha Sha will be self-released September 4; to build anticipation (and give your guest editor something to listen to repeatedly for the last month), band turntablist/saxophonist Samuel P. Nice (also of New England DJ duo Certified Bananas) assembled a mixtape featuring the band's music mixed with selections by James Brown, Boston, and Tony! Toni! Toné!, among others. Worth downloading simply for including the forgotten Mick Jagger/Michael Jackson classic "State of Shock," the Miss Fairchild mixtape also includes "Vanilla Place," which shows off nearly all the band's appeal in less than four minutes: bright layered melodies, funky rhythms, and lead singer Daddy Wrall's charming, El DeBarge-like vocals. More »

11:00 AM on Mon Jul 2 2007
By dangibs
330 views, 5 comments

Latest by mackro: "State Of Shock" is unnecessarily hated on. It's not "Beat It", but it sure ain't "Dancing In The Streets" with Bowie. more »

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Stuck On Repeat, Part II: We Keep Reachin' For The New Nicole Willis Album

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigator's Keep Reachin' Up would be a sure-fire year-end-list contender for one of your Idolators—except for the fact that Reachin' was actually released overseas last year (apparently, a retro-soul record as good as this doesn't go unnoticed in the U.K. and Japan). Light In The Attic will put album in the states next month, and the irresistibly upbeat "If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What It Is)" is the first single; give it a listen, and then head over to the group's MySpace page for the haunting "No One's Gonna Love You," which slow-burns like you wouldn't believe: More »

3:00 PM on Tue Jun 26 2007
By Brian Raftery
537 views, 2 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: Thanks for the heads-up/download. A foreign '06 release won't prevent anyone from voting for a record making its U.S. debut. For example, you think any critic (including, um, this one) is going to hold back from voting for Amy Winehouse's album more »

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Listening Station: Going Back to the Old Skool

As much fun as the new French disco-rawk has been—not least for the way it's set off right-thinking purist-dance music cognoscenti—it's hardly new. What it reminds us of, frankly, is synth-riffy early-'90s rave—the kind of music that set right-thinking purist-dance music cognoscenti of a decade and a half ago into a similar froth. DJ Seduction's "Hardcore Heaven" is the archetype of this second-wave-of-rave sound: pummeling breakbeats, blipping keyboards, bombastic synth-strings misplaying a bar or so of a Wagner fanfare. DJ Krome & Mr. Time's "The Slammer," meanwhile, is that basic sound, simultaneously matured and turned utterly juvenile: the track is sonically and compositionally more sophisticated than Seduction's, but it's made from ingredients (sped-up vocals, gurgling keyboards) that scream kiddie-korn. If the new French sound goes this direction, we will be so happy it should be illegal. More »

5:30 PM on Mon Jun 18 2007
By mmatos
362 views, 6 comments

Latest by DeeJayQueue: The System... Is Down. more »

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Stuck On Repeat: Dr. Kinsey Gets Singer All Hot and Bothered

There may be no more entertaining reissue this year than the British label Jasmine's Griddle Greasin' Daddies and Dirty Cowboys, a collection of smutty '50s country featuring loads of silly double-entendres and endings of the "you thought this song was about cooch but it's really about dancing, you pervert" variety. But the most amazing thing on it isn't even all that dirty—at least on the surface. The sexologist Alfred Kinsey's two books (1948's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and 1953's Sexual Behavior in the Human Female) caused an uproar, becoming instant bestsellers and paving the way for the sexual revolution; they also inspired Charlie Aldrich to imagine the books bringing civilization as we know it—or at least the baseball game—to an end. More »

3:38 PM on Mon Jun 18 2007
By mmatos
1,066 views, Comment

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Stuck On Repeat: Apples In Stereo Stare At The Sun

We realize that the Apples In Stereo's New Magnetic Wonder came out in February, which is a half-millennium in music-blogland. But considering that the album was stuffed with 24 tracks—and that it was released just as we were in an unhealthily lengthy Sound Of Silver phase—we're only now getting a chance to fully appreciate some of its highlights, such as the fuzzy, almost sci-fi-sounding "Sundial Song": More »

10:35 AM on Thu Jun 14 2007
By Brian Raftery
364 views, Comment

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Stuck On Repeat: The Cutting Sound Of FM Knives

We rescued FM Knives' 2001 debut Useless and Modern from a used-CD bin a while back, years after our original copy got lost in some inter-office move. It was worth the $2, as Useless is full of the sort of brash, two-minutes-and-you're-done punk tunes that recall the Thermals and the Exploding Hearts, especially on the following super-bratty tracks: More »

12:00 PM on Wed Jun 13 2007
By Brian Raftery
361 views, 3 comments

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Stuck On Repeat: Spoon Drops A Bomb

Spoon's forthcoming Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (not be be confused with this) has been on the internet for so long, you've probably already grown tired of yaying or naying it, and have already moved on to the next Spoon album. We're still playing it quite a bit, and while the background coughs and caught-on-tape mistakes are a bit cringe-inducing (that sort of "authenticity" always seems a bit forced), we can't say enough good things about "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb," which is a perfectly fine piece of white-boy boogie, thanks in part to those way-down-in-the-mix horns: More »

10:10 AM on Fri Jun 8 2007
By Brian Raftery
1,066 views, 14 comments

Latest by Moonshine Mike: @nonce: Worked for me. more »

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Stuck On Repeat: The Song That Will Be On A Thousand Fashionistas' Lips This Summer

Those of you in New York and Los Angeles (and those of you who look at lots of paparazzi photos) have probably heard of Pinkberry, the frozen dessert that is apparently low enough in calories for starlets to devour Cap'n Crunch-covered cups of it without feeling too much of an urge to purge. What we didn't know was that Lady Tigra, formerly of the "Cars That Go Boom"^* lovers L'Trimm, had composed an ode to the stuff. While it's not as brash as "Boom," it does have a laid-back-pop-radio feel that was, no doubt, designed to make waiting in a long line on a steamy day that much easier: More »

9:30 AM on Fri May 25 2007
By mjohnston
2,941 views, 12 comments

Latest by Trackback: One quick item: Facing legal problems, Pinkberry will remove all references to the phrase "frozen yogurt" from its marketing materials, reports the Daily Journal (via LAObserved, scroll down). Apparently now the Web site describes Pinkberry as "chilly bliss, honest food more »

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Stuck On Repeat: Matthew Dear's "Deserter" Song

So what sort of hack-a-lack music-writer shorthand should be use to describe Deserter," the latest single from Matthew Dear? Hmm. "Knob-twiddling electro-pop"? Nah. "Laptop-fueled dream-weavery"? We don't even know what that means! How about if we just settle on "it has catchy keyboards, and it's somewhat menacing"? Done and done! More »

2:00 PM on Wed May 23 2007
By Brian Raftery
614 views, Comment

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Stuck On Repeat: The Penetrators Got A Brand New Bag

Two years ago, Swami Records released Basement Anthology 1976-84, a 19-track compilation by a Syracuse garage-rock outfit named the Penetrators. Just about nobody had ever heard of these guys, and with good reason: As '70s garage-rock goes, this is pretty run-of-the-mill material. But the band did have at least one fantastic song in "Shopping Bag," a thwacking sing-along that sounds as though it's being played by a gang of irritable hornets: More »

1:46 PM on Mon May 21 2007
By Brian Raftery
439 views, 3 comments

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Stuck On Repeat: Interpol Gets Even Darker Than Usual

Thanks to the Not Your Usual Bollocks podcast for cluing us in to this apparently years-old Datassette cover of Interpol's "Untitled." While the song was pretty bleak to begin with, Datassette (a.k.a. J.M. Davies) turns into a throbbing electro-pop number that Buffalo Bill would have listened to, presumably while putting the lotion and/or other assorted skin-care items into the basket: More »

3:58 PM on Fri May 18 2007
By Brian Raftery
331 views, 2 comments

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Stuck On Repeat: The New Spoon Song Will Linger With You For A Long Time

"The Ghost Of You Lingers" is the first track to emerge from Spoon's forthcoming Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and it's a tightly wound number featuring little more than a relentless piano progression and Britt Daniel's echoing vocal lines. Best experienced with the headphones on—or, in Daniel's case, a giant pair of Buggles-inspired sunglasses: More »

12:18 PM on Mon May 14 2007
By Brian Raftery
6,008 views, 20 comments

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Stuck On Repeat: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Has A Mac Attack

Thanks to These Rocks Pop for nudgingly reminding us that we hadn't yet posted "Wind Blow," one of the best songs from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's just-released Strength & Loyalty. "Blow" features a hefty sample of Fleetwood Mac's hit "The Chain," and while it works perfectly with the verses, we can only imagine how much the group paid Buckingham & Co. for the rights: More »

2:00 PM on Thu May 10 2007
By Brian Raftery
1,321 views, 8 comments

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Stuck On Repeat: Taking Shelter In Miracle Fortress

Miracle Fortress is actually the nom de plume of Graham Van Pelt, a Montreal musician who seemingly played every note on this month's forthcoming Secret City album; and while there's been only a smidgen of blogga-luv for Van Pelt's work so far, that could change thanks to tracks like "Have You Seen In Your Dreams," which takes together a few unhinged elements—some repeating guitar chords, a distant keyboard line, hand-claps—and turns them into something downright ghostly: More »

2:42 PM on Mon May 7 2007
By Brian Raftery
327 views, 1 comment

Latest by Yojimbo: Reminds me of Summer At Shatter Creek more »

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Stuck On Repeat: Van Hunt Needs Your Attention

The Smoking Section has two new MP3s—most likely ripped via MySpace—from Idolator-beloved soul-rock singer Van Hunt: "God Moves At Midnight" is an anguished slow-burner, while "You Need My Attention" is Van's most new-wave-influenced song to date. Both tracks are solid, and they've gotten us pretty excited for the next VH album, even if we're not entirely sure if he survived the EMI-Virgin shake-up. More »

5:19 PM on Fri Apr 27 2007
By Brian Raftery
739 views, 4 comments

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Posts Tagged “stuck on repeat”