Newish, or New Ish (for the streets)

First off is Marvelous Toy, a band with an indie sound if you know what I mean, which I don't.  Kind of the Okkervil River hop, step, and a strum kinda deal.  Nothing groundbreaking, but"The City is a Washing Machine" is swell enough to keep from masking its goodness behind any sort of washing machine joke, and you know how plentiful those are.

Marvelous Toy - The City is a Washing Machine

Second off, which deservedly should be first given the picture, is Friendly Fires and their new album.  "In the Hospital" finds them playing The Rapture with less gusto, peppered with a little funk making it decidedly different than "Paris." "Jump in the Pool" is more of a middle ground between the latter and what they'll do in future, meaning slightly better.

Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool

Jay Jay Pistolet

This past week has been extremely busy on the musical front with the apex being Okkervil River's show on Tuesday at the Scala. Needless to say, they blew away all expectations. But that's not what this post is about. This post is about Londoner Jay Jay Pistolet, the second opener on Tuesday night who singlehandedly brought the Scala's rowdy and impatient audience to absolute silence with his first track. Fervent applause followed and the crowd's attention never wavered (even during annoying audio problems). With a sound reminicent of Elvis Perkins and a mature yet fragile voice, this guy is well worth checking out. His first single 'We Are Free' was released in November.

Jay Jay Pistolet - Oh, Caroline
Jay Jay Pistolet - Holly

Okkervil River - For Real

- a.m.p.m.

Remix Smonday - Unless It's Kicks, Man

What we have here is the acoustic demo version of one of this year’s best songs: ‘Unless It’s Kicks’.

1500 copies of Okkervil River’s splendid The Stage Names came packaged with a bonus disc of solo acoustic demos of each of the album’s nine tracks; there are still a few double-CD editions floating around out there, so grab yours while you can.

- a.m.p.m.

Okkervil River - Unless It's Kicks (album version)
Okkervil River - Unless It's Kicks (solo acoustic demo)