The Round Table

There are certain artists/bands/albums that I know are not hip, but I just don’t give a shit –I still like them. Maybe some part of me is hoping they’ll become ironically hip and then I can say “Dude, whatever –I liked them when,” but, really, I’m not that smart. For example, ELO. Face the Music, “Mr. Blue Sky”, hell, even Xanadu –I can’t help but like it.

My name is Ghostface Millah and I like Electric Light Orchestra.

When I first read about Elizabeth & The Catapult’s sound described as “merging classic pop melodicism with an array of acoustic textures, jazz twists and orchestral flourishes,” I thought “damn, that sounds awesome in a Starbucks Music sort of way.” Turns out I was right. Mostly.

Listen to “Taller Children” after the cut. (more…)

As a band whose first album contained the song of the iPhone campaign, folksy outfit Orba Squara, aka Mitch Davis & co, have remained decidedly grounded –literally. According to the band’s unique side-scrolling website:

To celebrate the release of the new album we decided to get on a bus and take a 10 day journey cross-country to play some new music, meet some new people and, along the way, see what we’ve been missing.

From there what unfolds (er, unscrolls?) is a refreshingly noncommercial, well executed modern masterpiece in collage. Reportedly measuring over 400 feet long (!), the site serves as an earnest scrapbook that is at times poignant, funny, obvious, and endearing –all the while clips from The Trouble With Flying provide the soundtrack. The whole thing feels like a lighthearted Wes Anderson film, at the very least the title card and diorama bits from those films. The album is solid, too, filled with straightforward baroque/folk pop (ba-folk pop?) reminiscent of The Boy Least Likely To. Check out the title track (MPfree!) and let us know what you think. The Trouble With Flying out June 23rd.

Orba Squara – “The Trouble With Flying” MP3

There’s more Orba Squara behind the cut! Listen to their excellent cover of “Poker Face” (originally performed by Round Table fave bane Lady Gaga), PLUS watch the original iPhone commercial featuring “Perfect Timing (This Morning)” from debut album Sunshyness.

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Sounding dangerously close to being a parody of herself, this new Regina Spektor song is a bit of a disappointment. Sure, “Laughing With” still showcases Spektor’s trademark plucky and, at times, insufferably cute vocal acrobatics we’ve come to know and love, but when coupled with such a straightforward (read: boring) melody featuring weak lyrics that amount to a half-cooked regurgitation of a giant bucket of obviousness, it begins to ooze formulaic contrivance. Wow. That was a somewhat unsettling description. Anyway, as Connor at i guess i’m floating astutely notes:

“it sounds like this song was written [to be on] Grey’s Anatomy. “No one laughs at God in a hospital, no one laughs at God in a war,” Spektor sings over sullen piano (duh) chords.”

Frankly, it was all well and good when “Fidelity” showed up in promos and episodes for, um, everything (okay, it wasn’t really all well and good), but this track seems decidedly aimed at recreating that success, just masked beneath a moody twist.

Does Regina Spektor have another hit on her hands, or is she reaching too Far with this one? Check it out for yrself and comment away:

Laughing With – Regina Spektor