I’m late on my June songs post (err, is anyone reading these?  Whatever—I like writing them) because I’ve been listening pretty exclusively to alt-J’s new album, which is pure freaking magic.  *cough*  So I had sort of a hard time dragging myself away from it.  But… Ta-da!  Three songs for June:

 

Rotten Pumpkin by Slothrust

This is a band signed to Dangerbird Records (who, I’m pretty sure, set the Silversun Pickups on their path to success… and Fitz and the Tantrums, and Hot Hot Heat, and Minus the Bear, and The Limousines… I’m just gonna go listen to all of their artists…)  Anyway!  Slothrust is awesome.  This song is pure grungy garage rock in the best way.  It’s the style so many bands try to emulate but so few actually achieve—this raw sound, almost like it was recorded… well, in someone’s garage, with super catchy choruses, excellent screechy guitars, and perfect punk drumming.  I love the lyrics, too.  They’re hilarious, but they’ve got some real depth to them.  It’s chaotic but cohesive, a perfect balance.

 

Don’t Take the Money- Bleachers

Bleachers are kind of… a nostalgic band for me.  Which is weird because I only started listening to them a few years ago.  But while I wrote Escaping Indigo, and edited Half, their song I Wanna Get Better would come on the radio, and it seeped into my mind, and now every time I hear it, I go right back there.  I like Don’t Take the Money even more, though.  It has a definite 80s sort of feel, and it’s just *fun.*  But I love the lyrics, and how much meaning gets packed into them.  And I love Jack Antonoff’s voice.  This is just exactly the type of pop rock music I want to listen to endlessly.

 

It’s hard to get around the wind- Alex Turner

Alex Turner is the lead singer for the Arctic Monkeys, who I love, but at some point, he did a solo soundtrack for a movie, and this song is from that.  And it’s gorgeous.  Just Alex’s beautiful voice and guitar.  I love it because it shows off Alex’s superb lyrical skills so well.  He’s a genius writer—he puts so much poetry into his songs—and although I don’t think that gets lost, necessarily, in the Arctic Monkey’s generally denser songs, it’s really highlighted here.  It’s lonely and beautiful and hopeful.  This isn’t a new song, but it cycles back onto my playlist every few months, and I never get tired of it.