Here’s a band that slipped past me last year, which was regrettable, since I was zoning out yesterday to tracks from an album that’s more than a year old now (entitled Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, it came out in April of 2003). I’ve been able to find six songs, after over an hour of searching and I’ve yet to hear a bad one (although obviously, the fact that they’re available online as legal downloads means that they’re at least decent). I was able to find their MP3s scattered around the net at Amazon, Epitonic, AudioLunchBox and the E2k network.
I’d probably describe their sound as the bastard child of Suede and The Strokes, with a touch of Morissey’s overwrought vocals (or maybe even Joy Division’s Ian Curtis). I think the reason why I had such a hankering for this band on first listen was because their music feels quite a bit like Interpol (my favorite rock band of 2002), particularly on the track “Bokkie”. Although Elefant is a bit on the barebones side musically, their sound is still noticeably thicker than Julian Casablancas and company.
Then this morning, I finally got around to grabbing Coheed and Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth : 3, which is another “oldie” (it came out November of last year). Amazing, amazing emo. Obviously, I’m slightly biased because I’m a huge emo fan (I only listen to 2 genres religiously, indie and emo), but it really is a fantastic album. My favorite tracks so far (after about two hours of listening) include “Velorium Camper I” and “Favor House Atlantic.”
And since I was in an emo mood, I also stumbled on Get Up Kids’ brilliant cover of the Cure’s “Close To Me.” This is probably the best cover of a Cure song I’ve ever heard; I love the drums on this.
And of course, my listening adventure wouldn’t be complete without downloading this song, which is the worst cover I have ever heard, hands-down. (Yes, including Avril Lavigne’s cover of “Chop Suey.”)