August Tastes Great on an Everything Bagel with Egg, Cheese, Tomato, and Avocado

This month's CD is a little different from the past few. It's a little more eurotrashy, dance club, frisky-esque. This month's feature bands would be Hot Seconds and Friendly Fires. These bands are pretty fresh on the scene and come with some enthusiastic reviews. Hot Seconds has some catchy choruses and beats you like to bob to. Friendly Fires is a little more euro dance club. Now, Cloud Cult makes a reappearance and shall, out of the rules of the ChipperDemon mixes will not appear on another CD unless they come out with a new album (with great hope). They will, of course, appear on a Best of the Rest compilation (coming in February). The overall flavor of the CD comes across a little confusing and will be a developed taste or a mood neccessary mix. It's a little, "I like it, but not sure why."

Tracklist as follows:

1. Trashcan - Delta Spirit I could not think of better song to start out the belated mix. Delta Spirit has a bit of freshness of piano quickly bringing into an almost Cold War Kids voice and story telling approach. The song is a little longer than it needs to be but is a good introduction to the, "I like it but not sure why" feel of the CD.

2. Breakfast in NYC - Oppenheimer The beginning of this song is somewhat deceptive leading you into a head bob but the song gets a little monotonous and that energetic bob becomes more of a sway.

3. Ghosts - Ladytron This is another track that keeps a rather low tone but the line, "There's a ghost in me..." just sticks in the noggin and soon enough will be pouring out of lips over food preping or drink pouring.

5. Journey of the Featherless - Cloud Cult This is a very lyricaly strong song. The music is great to match the message and quiets just enough for some of the best lines and builds into a pretty sounding crescendo for that burst of music interlude and chorus. "Don't sell my stuff on Ebay 'cause I might be back before I'm gone."

6. Tickle Me Pink - Johnny Flynn This violin based track has a kind of awkward dissidence to it but Johnny Flynn's voice harmonizes at all the right parts and the chorus just flows in and out of the ears with comfort. The chorus also has a message that just isn't a common thought and as one is harmonizing their own voice with his the head cocks just a tad in pondering.

9. Bumble Bee - Adam & the Amethysts Aside from this song starting out sounding like it's about My Girl it hits that familiar feeling in every human with, "I must work all day just to stay awake." The end of the song also just breaks down in a lovely lovely upbeat way. The song, however, is kind of about a bubble boy, so not that familiar overall.

10. Went to India - Hot Seconds A brand new band with a brand new album making fun of people as every band should do at some point. It's enjoyable just for the, "I'm so cool" lines that repeat throughout the song.

11. If You Fall - Azure Ray This is an older song that found it's way into the ChipperDemon's August playlist adding a touch of melodic feminity. It plays nice contrast after the Hot Seconds jam and sounds very pretty against the song that follows. Unfortunately, the duo that was Azure Ray no longer exists and creates such nice melodies that ears can never have enough of. "If You Fall" has been voted as a favorite by 1 user.

12. Highways of Gold (Broken Spindles Remix) - Jaguar Love An awful song turned funky. Jaguar Love is also a band name that needs to be included simply for its genius band name. The voice is a little too emo-esque for ChipperDemon but the remix softens that a little and funks it up just enough not to feel like a skinny 16 year-old boy wearing girl jeans and combing over really long straight bangs.

13. Skeleton Boy - Friendly Fires Friendly Fires is the third brand new band that are being pushed over the air waves. All of their songs are very dancy and kind of reminiscent of the Faint but are lacking something which might just be the catchy choruses that the Faint mastered and maybe the musical diversity the Faint included in a good deal of their songs as well. Overall, the album is good if you devote the time to aquire the taste, hunger for it. "Skeleton Boy" has been voted as a favorite by 1 user.

14. The Wrote & the Writ - Johnny Flynn Johnny Flynn comes back into the mix with a good guitar riff and slow melodic sound that slows the CD down and lulls one into the possible end of the CD. The track is also very religious and starts to reveal the religious undertone of the entire mix which is a little rare for ChipperDemon and is possibly a little suspicious.

15. Undertaker - The Moondoggies This second song by the Moondoggies greatly contrasts their first appearance on the mix going from Cold War Kids to a slow guitar led track. The song also continues the near of the end lull with a second kind of meloncholy message. The Moondoggies do show their versatility with these two songs.

16. Story of the Grandson of Jesus - Cloud Cult "Do unto yourself as would unto your neighbor, it's not eye for an eye, its a favor for a favor." This song breaks the lull and reminds all that ChipperDemon does not go to sleep on its listeners. The song builds up for the next two tracks that have a nice, not overly energetic beat.

17. Excuse Me - Hot Seconds Almost sounding like Smashmouth this song stands out for Hot Seconds again with these poppy lyrics that are just good. Overall, the band sends out this message of, get over yourself with out being too pretentious about it, which is kind of refreshing.

18. On The Table - A.C. Newman A reminiscent Ben Kweller track from a Canadian finishes out the CD and leaves the ears with an overal pleasant feeling... right up until the bonus tracks that are covers, slow covers.

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"This mix has fewer really giddy tracks than the next few months that'd follow, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even moreso than usual, the emphasis this time around certainly seems to be more intensely placed on danceable synthesizers and slower, more restrained acoustic numbers without all that much in between. 1. Trashcan - Delta Spirit That's an emphatic, energetic statement to kick off the mix. I'm tempted to make a Dr. Dog comparison, but I'm wondering if I'd regret that if I stopped to think about it. 2. Breakfast in NYC - Oppenheimer "Breakfast in NYC" kind of brought Len -- the Canucks who hammered out "Steal My Sunshine" a decade ago -- bubbling back to mind. The dirty synths and plinking bells add quite a bit of color to its laid-back, relaxed groove. 3. Ghosts - Ladytron The "there's a ghost in me who wants to say I'm sorry" vocal is melodic but kind of haunting at the same time. The throbbing bass that propels the song is immediately arresting, bolstered nicely by the synth-snare shuffle and chirping keys. 4. Dressed to Digress - Boy Crisis The bleating synths and heavy breathing definitely stand out, and namechecking Woodrow Wilson and the narrator/singer/whatever asking to have a plate of stringbeans passed his way...? The playful innuendo is pretty brilliant. 5. Journey of the Featherless - Cloud Cult "Journey of the Featherless" takes the brushed snare and tears off in more of a soaring folk-pop direction than I might've expected otherwise. Pairing synth strings with the genuine article doesn't work as well as I'd like, though. 6. Tickle Me Pink - Johnny Flynn This track fits snugly back-to-back with Cloud Cult. I really like the juxtaposition of the low-key instrumentation and those hurried harmonies. The violin is often almost atonal, and yet it somehow fits in seamlessly with the lilting acoustic melody and Johnny Flynn's Essex brogue. 7. Changin' - The Moondoggies The searing blues-rock guitar is a pretty solid bridge from the past couple of acoustic songs to the more frantic numbers that'd follow. 8. I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" got lodged in my head after I first heard it on Little Steven's Underground Garage a while back: the manic hi-hat, bouncy bass line, and a guitar that almost has its own "ba baaaaa" harmony at the outset. I think I'd point to it as my favorite track on this mix. 9. Bumble Bee - Adam & the Amethysts The steady rhythm makes it easy to get locked in "Bumble Bee"'s groove. It's kind of interesting to hear the drums and guitar dialed down to make the vocals stand out that much more, but it sounds like that's part of the actual performance rather than just someone fiddling with faders in a studio. 10. Went to India - Hot Seconds Kinda digging the sitar intro, the meaty synth bass, and the screaming keys. I should probably give it another listen to see if there's any irony in the title. I'm probably the only person on the planet with this pet peeve, but I hate it when bands say they want to explore more Eastern influences -- it's almost a cliché at this point -- but never go any further than a sitar and a tabla. 11. If You Fall - Azure Ray The bouncy piano and lovely lead vocals -- layered in such a way that they give the vox texture without sounding /quite/ like harmonies in the usual sense -- is an infectiously melodic headbob. The outro does Hal David and Burt Bacharach proud, although I think I already made that comparison in one of my other much-too-long writeups, so I should probably be trying to think of something more clever and inspired instead. Oh well. 12. Highways of Gold (Broken Spindles Remix) - Jaguar Love The vocals are tough going for me, but that flanged metallic whatever-it-is that first kicks in around the 1:45 mark is genius. 13. Skeleton Boy - Friendly Fires Ridiculously kinetic dance-pop. Even though the song's been making the rounds for a while now, I still spot the video for "Skeleton By" in rotation whenever I flip by MTVu, so it's kind of fresh in mind. 14. The Wrote & the Writ - Johnny Flynn "The Wrote and the Writ" is more conventional and accessible than the other Johnny Flynn track, but that seems to work in its favor. Ditto for the repetition within the lyrics. I like it. 15. Undertaker - The Moondoggies The somber vocal style and stripped-down acoustic instrumentation come in stark contrast to the bar rock blast of "Changin'". A pretty terrific song. 16. Story of the Grandson of Jesus - Cloud Cult The distorted, almost squeaked vocals are cut from The Flaming Lips' cloth. I love the steadily pounding beat and off-kilter instrumentation used to carve out this left-of-center slice of indie-pop. 17. Excuse Me - Hot Seconds I caught myself doing the standard issue college radio headbob during both listens. I blame the half-skanked guitar and thick synth. That skwawk -- like a scratched record? -- at the bridge really stands out. 18. On The Table - A.C. Newman Although Carl Newman's solo album could be easily mistaken for another New Pornographers record, that's not exactly a negative. (Really, the only difference is that his day job has enough of a studio budget to digitally smear away his heavy lisp, while it's much more pronounced here...?) There are some really amazing songs on here, and "Secretarial" and "The Town Halo" rank up with the best of anything in the New Pornos' catalog. There's not a weak track on his debut, and it's great to see "On the Table" claw its way onto a ChipperDemon mix. I still need to grab his followup that came out a couple months back. 19. BONUS TRACK - Paranoid (Black Sabbath Cover) - Hellsongs As many times as I've heard this song in one form or another -- the Sabbath original and a slew of other covers -- it would've taken me a full minute to recognize this as "Paranoid" if it hadn't been helpfully labeled for me in advance. I didn't know anyone but The Cardigans could reenvision Black Sabbath so wholly and completely. 20. BONUS TRACK - Toxic (Britney Spears Cover) - Yael Naim Another inspired reimagining, but I still think I'd give Nickel Creek my thumbs-up for the best "Toxic" cover. Helpful link, as if you haven't seen this already: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWQo0bktuAI" posted by Adam on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 5:09 PM.

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