Sad Robot

        This song explains how I feel about this semester's classes.

        The song is simple and the music is gorgeous (just like every Stars song); if you need a translation, it's just a lot of Stars-esque (yes, they are that awesome that they have their own writing '-esque' style) metaphors for being depressed. "Il pleut, je pleure" (it rains, I cry), "j'ai peur que je vais roullier ce soir" (I'm afraid that I'm going to rust tonight), and repeat until it closes out with "j'ai peur que mon temps soit expirée...j'ai peur que je vais roullier ce soir, mon coeur, changera de l'acier a la poussiere" (I'm afraid that my time has expired... I'm afraid that I'm going to rust tonight, my heart, will change from steel to dust).

       I don't throw around the term 'favorite band' loosely and there are maybe five bands that I could even consider putting into that group (after the various listens, replaying of all the songs [for years], and the majority of their tracks [from their very first single to their latest album] being amazing) but Stars is one of those bands that could (possibly) be in that grouping, because those vocals, the beautiful music, and the always brutally honest and perfectly articulate lyrics make their songs the best. If you have not heard anything from Stars, listen to "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead", "Undertow", "Counting Stars On the Ceiling", or the two which I still consider to be their best "Elevator Love Letter" and "Take Me to the Riot".

"Sad Robot" Stars

- E

She's A Riot

       Every Sunday is made better with a heavy dose of The Jungle Giants so check out the track below then head to iTunes and get their music, because it's all ridiculously catchy with fun (yet articulate) lyrics, melodies that run circles in your head, and rhythms that won't let you go. 

"She's A Riot" The Jungle Giants

- E

Despair

       This song is so underrated it's pathetic. The video's perfection (featuring Karen O's truly gorgeous vocals, front and center, for the first minute) and the song is even better with a composition that builds at a steady rate, letting up then pushing on at just the right moment, and the lyrics are amazing. The video holds the same dark hope that's so prevalent in the song (melancholy lyrics with an uptempo composition go together greatly) as the band switches from a (mostly empty) subway, a lonely cab ride, and the end of O's bender to performing and dancing atop the Empire State Building while lyrics switch from "oh despair, you were there through my wasted days, you're there through my wasted nights, you're there through my wasted years, you're there through my wasted life" to "through the darkness and the light, some sun has got to rise"; it sounds bipolar, but it works out beautifully.

       This was the second single from the bands latest album Mosquito which you should already have in your music library (the first single was "Sacrilege" and it's just as awesome).

"Despair" Yeah Yeah Yeahs

- E

What If

       It's SafetySuit Saturday again and, by now, you should have heard nearly every song of theirs (and loved nearly every song of theirs) and have added their albums and EP to your music library. Listen to "What If" because it's an awesome song that asks the question you're always thinking before you do something questionable (though it's a lot better to do it than to be thinking about the "what ifs") and the lyrics are, as usual, perfect with lines like "if this be the last time that we speak for awhile, don't lose hope and don't let go" and the sweet repetition of "cause you know that I'm always all for you".

"What If" SafetySuit

- E