De Ce Doux Jeu D'amants

So did you notice it's Wednesday? Guess that means it's time for another music purge:

1. Still in love with "Viva La Vida," though it's given a spin every single time I'm in the car, often 2 or 3 times, it's like the radio gods want me to start hating it. Hopefully, I'll be able to resist their evil machinations. Meanwhile, was disappointed to find that the video was super boring, basically an extension of the I-Tunes ad with absolutely nothing added. See what I mean here.

2. I tried to pre-order the Lykke Li album which streets on August 19th last Friday, only to find out that I had already put in a pre-order. Obviously, I can't wait for this record. At least I have "Dance Dance Dance" and my absolute favorite social anxiety ditty "Everybody But Me" to tide me over. See the super-cute, super-Swedish video for "Dance Dance Dance" here.

3. Nearly dropped dead of shock when I heard the new single, "Sprialling" by Keane (aka that English band you like b/c they sound a lot like Coldplay, but who aren't in fact Coldplay). Very 80's, it sounds nothing like Coldplay this time, and I have completely fallen in love with it. Also, it's available for free at their website until 11 am on August 11th. Download it here.

4. If you like country, I-Tunes free song of the week, "In Color" by Jamey Johnson is pretty good.

5. But their other free song of the week, that's kind of hidden at the bottom of the page is much better. It's called "Infinite Night," and it's by Carrie Rodriguez.

That all said, without further ado, here are the Top 5 Things I've Downloaded since the last time I told you about the top 5 things I downloaded:

ALBUMS:

1. The Brazillian Girls - New York City:The Brazillian Girls are great writing music. In fact I'm listening to them while I write this blog!

2. The Faint - Fasciinatiion: I'd never heard of this band before, but I liked so many of their samples that I decided to download their entire album, since it was only $7.99. Also, very good writing music. In fact, I'm listening to them while I write this blog -- yes, I just abruptly switched from The Brazillian Girls, but you know what I mean. Anyway, this album is cool, because it makes me feel like I'm in a movie writing montage of feverish creativity while i'm at my computer.

SONGS:

3. Marching Band - "For Your Love," "Gorgeous Behavior," "Don't Go" - I know you're not supposed to judge a band by its brightly colored album cover, but I confess that I only clicked on this band's music, b/c I have the sensibilities of a bird. However, the package matched the music. These three songs are just gorgeous and I think I might complete the album next Tuesday.

4. Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight" - I kept hearing this song on Indie 103 and KROQ, and kept trying to hear the name of the band, but no dice. Then, lo and behold, I stumbled across them on I-Tunes, because they also had an intriguing album cover. What a pleasant surprise! Fucked up love song. I love fucked up love songs.

5. Group1Crew - "Keys to the Kingdom" - as many of you know, I'm not a fan of most Christian rock. The old black lady in me much prefers gospel standards like "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." But this is actually pretty good, in that it's somehow awful and wonderful at the same time. It's like Evanescence meets Linkin Park, and the band looks like a We Are the World ad. 

And last but not least. Today's youtube honors goes to Yelle's fabu new video for "Ce Jeu." I'm not sure if it's possible at this point for me to love her any more than I already do. CH is always going on about how absolutely brilliant the Europeans are with lights, and I think this video proves him right. Enjoy the oh-so-Frenchie-French brilliance below:

UPDATE: Have been informed by CH that this is not what he meant when he was talking about Europeans and lighting. Apparently, one company owns the patent rights to LED technology here in The States, which makes it prohibitively expensive for our event shows to go all out lighting-wise. Europe doesn't have that patent-problem, so it's relatively cheap for them to go really big. But apparently, the face of American award shows and the like will change as we know it, when the patent runs out in 2010. So wait for it... 

Meanwhile here's an example of what CH is talking about when he says the Europeans go there with their lights: