What We're Listening To: Tuesday's The New Monday Edition

TNG Music Editor Rocky submits this post for your listening pleasure.

How's it going, everybody? I trust everyone had a lovely holiday weekend. I, for one, spent my whole weekend drunk and dancing. Well, when I wasn't crying into a pint of Chunky Monkey that is. Good times! But enough about me, because it's Tuesday afternoon and that of course means another installment of What We're Listening To, the weekly series where we here at TNG put all our dirty, dark musical secrets on display. On the menu this week, we've got The Pipettes, Joan Armatrading, Andrew Bird, Le Tigre, French Miami and My Bloody Valentine. Our reviews and the mixtape await you below the fold...

The Pipettes—We Are The Pipettes

So I am one who tends to go through huge phases with the music I listen to. I exhaust myself with what's new and I refresh and overload all over again a few months later. The Pipettes have by far been one of the most energizing updates for me to date. I will admit, my love of The Pipettes was born out of The L Word in that fun scene circa season five when Jenny takes her assistant/ soon-to-be-arch-nemesis Adele out shopping with "Pull Shapes" playing in the background. But Zack lent me the entire album a few weeks ago and it has been on heavy rotation since. - Gem

Joan Armatrading—me myself I

This is the album that turned me on to Joan Armatrading. It doesn’t have any of my five favorite Joan songs, but I listen to it more than any of her others because of how consistently great it is. It veers between laid-back and relaxing (“Ma-Me-O-Beach,” “Feeling in My Heart (for You)”), warm and funny (“Me Myself I,” “When You Kisses Me”), and remarkably intense (“Simon,” “I Need You”). The gem is “Turn Out the Light,” a sexy, grindingly guitar-driven ballad about long-term love sung in Joan’s deepest register. As much as I liked Zack’s recent column about the “Top 17 Homo Love Songs,” it ain’t complete without a song by Joan. - Philip

Andrew Bird—Noble Beast

Once again, I'm in awe of Andrew Bird. His last album, Armchair Apocrypha, was one of the better things to happen in my world and Noble Beast is just so cool. Bird is a true troubadour with easy going, slightly slurred vocals. His signature violin playing is here, along with his whistling. Bird creates multi-layed, multi-mood beauties that blur lines between folk rock, classical, jazz and experimental. He's a heady sort, using words no one knows and somehow getting them to rhyme. The single, "Oh No," is paired later with the short instrumental, "On Ho." (Get it? That's Bird's idea of a joke.) The album is crafty, warm, fun, eerie, light and complex, all in turn. Check out "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" and shimmy a little. - Chris

Le Tigre—This Island

I know I'm a few years late, but I've just recently gotten into listening to Le Tigre in more than a club setting and have had this album on loop all week. It is unusual for me to find bands I like with a fun, enjoyable sound that also deal with substantial sociopolitical issues, but This Island nails it. "On The Verge," "New Kicks," and "Viz" are all great tracks; the high-octane anthem "TKO" is my favorite, which also happens to have a kick-ass video. I dare you to find someone who looks hotter in a cheesy prom tux than JD Samson. - Corey

French Miami—French Miami

A friend at work introduced me to San Francisco-based threesome French Miami on Friday and they've been my soundtrack to this past weekend. The power-trio makes rock music infused with big riffs, synths and catchy lyrics and they just generally get me pumped. I can't wait to see them live, as apparently all three members run around the stage taking on various different roles from song to song. Their self-titled album just dropped on February 15th, so expect to hear more from and about them in coming months. - Jolly

My Bloody Valentine—Loveless

Sometimes, yes, I am giant cliché. It's mid-February and I'm listening to an album called Loveless by a band called My Bloody Valentine. In my defense, however, it's an early 90s, pre-Grundge classic and probably the best headphone album of all-time. The arrangements are so lush and dense, you almost feel like you could reach out and touch them. Every song is like this vast ocean of guitars and synths that crashes into you, turning you over, sideways and under, while Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher's vocals float above it all, quietly singing you to shore. Check out "Soon," "Only Shallow," and "I Only Said," but only if you're in the mood to get hypnotized. - Rocky


And now, without and further ado... THE MIXTAPE!

Click me!

For the mixtape this week, I decided to keep it simple. I have what is probably best described as an undiagnosed case of ADD, so unless I'm listening to a podcast or something, I keep my iPod on shuffle and let the universe decide what I'm in the mood for. So for the bonus songs this week, I went into the "Recently Played" playlist and picked a few songs that I hadn't heard in a while before last week, but really struck me. Hopefully, you'll enjoy them as much as I did. Here's the playlist...

The National - "Fake Empire"
My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
Andrew Bird - "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" (Chris)
Le Tigre - "TKO" (Corey)
Air - "Once Upon A Time"
Joan Armatrading - "Me Myself I" (Philip)
Rufus Wainwright - "Beautiful Child"
The Pipettes - "Pull Shapes" (Gem)
Mates of State - "For The Actor"
My Bloody Valentine - "Soon"

For more about Jolly's pick this week, French Miami, click here.

Enjoy the four-day week everybody! We'll see you again next Tuesday!