NOW COME ON, BOYS, IT'S TIME TO LET IT GO

Backtracking a little bit, I originally reviewed The Killers' debut, Hot Fuss with a lukewarm response. Well, since then, it has grown on me considerably and I find myself listening to it all the time, digging on its strange narratives and John Taylor-ish bass lines. Turns out, too, that the track I despised, "Indie Rock 'n' Roll," is not on the US version, thus saving the record from having this huge speed bump in the center.

Similarly, if you had asked me what I thought of the second Interpol album, Antics, when it leaked, I'd have mumbled something about it being fine, nothing too great, but then I didn't love the first album as much as most people, blah blah blah. Well, turns out I am actually really into it, too. Repeated listens reveal a subtle simplicity, lots of hooks, and a generally more open sound than the dense Turn On The Bright Lights.

Finally, I seem to be having this thing for melodic, sensitive boys lately. Jen De Guzman turned me on to The Postal Service's Give Up, which is like electro twee. And I took a chance on Keane, since their name kept popping up, and was sucked into their melodramatic piano ballads. They have a real sweeping quality that reminds me some of old bands like The Origin and Blameless (you ever hear their absolute gem, "Breathe A Little Deeper"?) Hopes & Fears may be one of those albums that wears itself thin in the way Coldplay did, seeming nice at first and then just getting boring, but that kind of verdict is still out. The emotions are a little bare and that's working for me right now. And I swear I heard "Bend and Break" on some TV show before or something.

Single of the moment is Johnny Boy's "You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve." The Manics' James Dean Bradfield produced it, and it's agitpop scrawled like graffiti on the Wall of Sound. The b-side is a noisy, distorted cover of Dyalan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." I'm charmed. Plus, it has a female singer, so it helps me from feeling like I need to go out and buy a bunch of sweaters and stop coming my hair and become an indiot sad boy.

Current Soundtrack: Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Almost Blue (Ryko)

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

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