oh brother, lay a hand on me.

holy fuck

I can't really remember a time when my mind was blown by a duo songs as much as these 2, it was probably pretty recently but was some how erased from my memory via alcohol. i can guarantee your life will become better if you love this songs (if not better, then at least more credible, and that's better right? uhhh).


arms - shitty little disco
this piece of all out awesomeness could so easily have been turned into a piece of shit if it wasn't created in the right hands (the right hands being the guitarist from Harlem Shakes a.k.a. Todd Goldstein). The defining drum beat clearly a tongue in cheek reference to the song title and the theme of the song, taking the listener on a journey through the many scenes perfectly described by Goldstein. His prodigiously brilliant, jaded and sardonic yet gloriously optimistic vocals describing a drunken night put on auto-pilot: the party, hopelessly failing in a drunken stupor, a fight and of course the drinking. A feeling of being under the influence is projected onto the listener through Goldstein's phrasing and vocal melodies in some sort of forced empathy.
That's only half the story however, the constant semi-muted shimmering guitar line is the vessel in which Goldstein intends us to travel through his vision in, a sort of leitmotif that alters yet is always familiar, opening in what could sound like a Stokes b-side and developing into a sort of The National meets indie-dance (puke) but somehow excellent verse, a syncopated hi-hat line greeted with harmonious backing vocals as the song grows proud and confident before hitting a wall of thrashing crashes, followed by subtle I Was A Cub Scout synths, with that guitar riff slowing to a stop.
is this song going to change the future of music? No.
Is it pure unadulterated genius? Yes.

the horrors - a sea within a sea
If you had to put money on which over-hyped indie-band looked certain to fade into obscurity with their second album and get dropped by their label, it was probably The Horrors, and when they looked like this, you can't help feeling they'd probably deserve it:

However some how, the band returned with one hell of an album, dark and physdelic, baffling and cold, altogether superb. The first snippet we heard of this was Sea Within in A Sea, not only is better than the bands entire back catalog but it's also better than 99% of other singles of the last 12 months. Undeniably dark, penetrated only by the arpegiated synth that shimmers through the songs last few minutes. The band have clearly taken influence from dark, synth lead post-punk band S.C.U.M. (a member of which may be related to a member of The Horrors) as well as krautrock godfathers Neu! Sea Within A Sea is however a song that is probably easier explained by listening than by reading about. Thank me later.