Catchy '60s twee and early '00s retro.

I remember ten years ago when my parents bought a satellite dish, I guess it's more or less ten years ago. With it came MTV, and my first real heavy exposure to modern music. Even considering this was the time, when MTV did play actual music for the majority of their broadcasting time, a lot of it was still shit. It was MTV that introduced me to the likes of Jamiroquai, Röyksopp and Daft Punk though, and there are quite a few standalone tracks that I still attribute to my MTV years. One of them I had nearly forgotten, but I came to remember it last week, mainly because of its outstanding music video. It's Roger Sanchez' 'Another Chance'. The music is quite so-so, I admit that, but the vid is just spot on, and so full of metaphors if you analyze it.

One of my best mates has for quite a long time been frenetically devoted to everything '60s. The minute I heard this track, I forwarded it to him, not only because it's corny, but because it's quite catchy too. It's young Memphis outfit Magic Kids with 'Superball'. It's a bit in the direction of The Spinto Band, but the sixties sound is more genuine here.

Painted Face is a new artist from somewhere as un-indie as D.C. Try having a listen to 'Sum of Me'.

Also, it's probably overdue that I mention the band that is on everybody's lips right now; Arcade Fire. I honestly have listened very little to them the past few years, but hearing 'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)' from the Canadian ensemble's newly released third album The Suburbs, convinced me to order it yesterday. I am very excited to hear the band's apparent take on suburbanism, a very interesting phenomenon. 'Sprawl II' itself seems to be sort of an escapists beautiful cry of desperation from the urban sprawls of Europe and North America. It seems musically much more accessible and, dare I say, open, than the often very heavily layered songs on the band's two previous albums. This might finally be the album that makes me a convinced Arcade Fire-aficionado.

First part of the yearly albums-list will probably be up tonight.