Video Premiere: Delays - Love Made Visible

Boy have I been waiting for this! Ever since their last masterpiece came out I've been dying for new material from the Delays. This video is so captivating and strangely beautiful (with a kind of odd ending) and the song, while not as epic and perfect as Valentine or Lost In A Melody, is very very good. The album cannot come soon enough!!

Halloween Treat #15: The Postmarks - Everyday Is Halloween

A short little cover song that's just as playful as the season. The lyrics to this song have always made me laugh. I just wish it was a bit longer.

P.S. - Dangerous Muse just recorded a cover of this song as well, but it's not quite as Halloween sounding.

The Black Ghosts - Anyway You Choose To Give It



"It's nothing that you do or say, it's just the way you are"

This seems to be sort of an informal UK lovefest week, because I've got yet another new UK band for you today. The Black Ghosts hail from the London scene and produce pop music with a huge electronic backdrop. Anyway You Choose To Give It is by far the poppiest song I've heard from the duo so far, and I think it's also probably my favorite. I'd rank these guys up with Frankmusik as major UK acts to watch. If they're capable of creating more songs like this for their debut album, they could break through and be absolutely massive on the pop charts.

The Black Ghosts - Anyway You Choose To Give It (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the single here!)

Halloween Treat #14: Patrick Wolf - Magpie

Debate me if you want (my roommate certainly did!), but I find this song to have an extremely Autumnal feel to it. Something about the instrumentation brings to mind images of falling leaves and dark nights with a chill in the air. Not necessarily Halloween, but definitely perfect for October.

Mighty Six Ninety - Keeping You In Mind

"But still I'm here, and you don't care"

Cross Norway's Lorraine with the UK's dearly departed Upper Room and you've got Mighty Six Ninety. They are from the Cure school of 80's rock, but that doesn't make them mopey. They've been written about in many of blogs and I think that's probably where I heard of them first. They get the Alienhits seal of approval, though, and that's what counts. Keeping You In Mind actually kind of reminds me of another defunct band, the UK's Protocol. But, despite sounding like they're from the UK, these guys are from California. The best part of this song? The vocal ad libs after the chorus, for sure.

Mighty Six Ninety - Keeping You In Mind (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Halloween Treat #13: The Darkness - Shit Ghost

Take this song literally and it's a funny little Halloween track, take it as it was meant to be taken and it's a bit pathetic. Either way, it's a fantastic b-side from the late, great Darkness.

Wire Daisies - Gay Boy

"He is a gay boy and it shows"

Wire Daisies are another UK band, but unlike yesterday's, their sound reminds me more of acts from the 90's than the 70s-80s. Speaking of sound, there's is pretty diverse. Some tracks are feather-light folk rock while others, like the delightful Gay Boy, are unabashed singalong pop. This track is the kind of song that'll get stuck in your head immediately. It's got an insanely catchy monster of a chorus and the entire thing is quite funny as well. Interesting fact about the band: lead singer Treana Morris was apparently discovered by Queen's Roger Taylor. If that's not a fantastic endorsement than I don't know what is!

Wire Daisies - Gay Boy (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Halloween Treat #12: The Forbidden Zone Soundtrack - Witch's Egg

The Elfman's The Forbidden Zone is one of my favorite trippy, dreamlike movie musicals. It's not necessarily "Halloween," but it is definitely freaky, and this amazing song, sung by the incomparable Susan Tyrrell, is creepy in its own way as well.

Cobra Dukes - Leave The Light On



"I don't know what it is, but I feel wrong"

Cobra Dukes are a new band from London with a sound that's an interesting mash-up of Bowie and The Cars with a soul influence as well. My favorite song that I've heard by them is Science Fiction (listen to it on myspace), but Leave The Light On is nearly as good. While they might not be entirely distinguishable from other like minded bands, in my universe there's room for as many of these guys as we can fit. And, as great as Leave The Light On is in its entirety, my favorite part is by far the synth opening. Gorgeous.

Cobra Dukes - Leave The Light On (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the EP here!)

Halloween Treat #11: Universal Poplab - Vampire In You

Taken from the band's second album, this catchy (and quite cheesy) track seems created with Halloween in mind, with a creepy synth intro and some evil vocals (well, as evil as europop can get, I guess!).

Private - Stranger In The Night

"I've got a feeling that you wanna do it, but what would your mother say?"

Have Private released the best retro pop album of the year? Quite possibly. At the very least, they've certainly given fellow Danes Alphabeat a run for their money in the category. For those unfamiliar with the band (aka: those who didn't read my post about them a few weeks ago), Private is the new project from singer/writer/producer Thomas Troelsen (the genius behind Junior Senior and Superheroes). The debut album, My Secret Lover, is the kind of instant pop classic where you can sing along after one listen while still appreciating the verve and inventiveness of the songs. To give you an idea of how fantastic the entire thing is, I'm posting Stranger In The Night, the final track on the album. I always say if you've got a track this terrifically hitworthy and it's not even on the first half of the record, you've got an amazing work. Stranger sounds eerily like vintage 80's Michael Jackson, a pinnacle of pop music that nobody's really gotten close to reaching until now. It's got a massive chorus, the kind of perfect melody we all hope fo in songs like this. And, like I said before, the rest of the album is just as good.

Private - Stranger In The Night (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)