Well, I'm not really re-stocked on music, yet. I have begun reloading songs, and finding a bunch of new music that I scavenge from the mounds of bad CDs to be found in the freebie piles. I've actually mined a few gems over the past few weeks. One was by a relatively new band called Young & Sexy.
Born out of a chance meeting at a coffee house (if the bio is to be believed) this alt-pop, adult pop group is the kind of intelligent but catchy stuff you are mostly likely to never hear on the radio again. The best example of the imploding music business and sheer inbred corruptness of corporate radio is the fact that this intelligent, talented group will never get air play, despite two excellent CDs.
Formed in the early to mid '90s, this group didn't release an album until 2002, with Stand Up For Your Mother. In 2003, they released the follow up Life Through One Speaker which is what I found down in the dining center. Reviewers constantly compare their harmonies to the Beatles, but I swear ANYONE who uses harmonies is compared to the Beatles; as if harmonies didn't exist before John and Paul tried 'em out.
The hardest part about this is selecting which track to send. This is really an album and works best when heard as a whole. My favorite track is a melancholy ode full of post-modern irony, comments on religion and politics, and still manages to be a simple and honest love song. It features the stunning voice of Lucy Brain in a quiet, reflective... minimalist piece. I can easily picture her singing this in a dark and smoky bar, haloed by the spotlight with the quiet accompaniment coming from the dark background and the audience quietly absorbed.
You might want to take this one home... because it deserves an undistracted listen.
"More Than I Can Say" by Young and Sexy.
