Songs to start the weekend

While pretending to work this afternoon I tripped over a cool new wave-inspired band from SoCal. What else is new, you might ask. (Cynical, cynical you.) Foreign Born--they’re not, as far as I can tell--haunt the dark, moody end of the neo-new wave spectrum. The same place the Psychedelic Furs, Echo and The Bunnymen and oh, probably The Cure, originally made habitable. You know, lots of droning synths and mopey vocals. In case it's not clear, I think this is fucking excellent, especially The Entryway. If you like, the band is offering its first EP on StarTime Records (home of The Futureheads and French Kicks--just so you don’t doubt its pedigree).

The Entryway (mp3) – Foreign Born

We Had Pleasure (mp3) – Foreign Born

So Sonic Youth is re-releasing 1990’s Goo, remastered, remixed, with bonus tracks. This may be one of the few news items about the band that’ll ever pique my interest. See, I’m sorta a half-hearted Sonic Youth fan. I find the early noisy, no wave stuff nearly unlistenable—not because I don’t appreciate noise, but because I have a problem with boring and self-indulgent. Then there's Daydream Nation, an almost perfect album, followed by Goo, which marked Sonic Youth’s first real foray into radio-friendly pop songs (If I remember correctly, Dirty Boots and Kool Thing actually saw commercial radio/MTV play.) I may just have to buy this damn thing in September. For some tracks from the original, visit Kofi’s Hat. (Lots of other good stuff there as well!)

I haven’t quite made up my mind about Engineers. I love the spacey, panoramic, trance-like beauty of the single Come In Out Of The Rain, but the rest of the self-titled album is failing to grab me for more than a few seconds at a time. I think drugs might help. Not that I’d ever advocate anything illegal, mind.

Come In Out Of The Rain (mp3) – Engineers

Home (mp3) - Engineers