Today’s Daily Tune comes from yet another Album of the Year candidate, The Kills. The new album by The Kills is called Blood Pressures and will be released next week. The lead single off the album is for a song called Satellite, and I’m completely obsessed with both the song and music video.

My relationship with The Kills has always been an interesting one. I always wanted to like them more than I actually did until I heard their last album, Midnight Boom. As a departure from the gritty, bluesy, garage rock of their previous albums, Midnight Boom added synths, beats, and more electronic production into the mix, and was easily one of my favorite albums of 2008. Apparently many fans of The Kills were very disappointed in the new, more polished sound, but I thought it cleaned them up just enough, while still leaving the band rough around the edges. Now, more than 8 years since their debut, The Kills have delivered an absolute masterpiece of an album with Blood Pressures that perfectly fuses the sound of every album of theirs up until this point.

I think the thing that I love the most about the new Kills record is that it’s made me realize that I’d been growing with the band throughout my 20s and didn’t even know it until just now. You can tell that both Jamie Hince and lead-singer, Alison Mosshart, have grown so much in the last few years as artists and I feel as though I can relate to their growth, through growth of my own. Blood Pressures takes every album that I’ve loved since the age of 20 and mixes them altogether into a cornucopia of non-stop eargasm that has had me consistently hitting the repeat button more than I can remember doing in a very long time. The album is an A+ and is sure to be among my favorite albums of 2011.

Take a look at the gritty, somewhat stylish, and sexy video for Satellite and be sure to pick up their 4^th album, Blood Pressures, when it hits stores next week.

http://www.thekills.tv/bloodpressuresstream.php

http://www.facebook.com/TheKills

http://www.myspace.com/thekills

http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/the-kills

Paris Wells’ latest album was my #14 Album of 2010 and has gotten very little press outside of her native Australia. That’s a damn shame because Paris Wells has an incredibly sexy voice filled with tons of jazz and she deserves to be right up there with every solo female artist making music right now.

I love the black and white video she’s put together for her new single, Let’s Get It Started. Apart from looking like a whole ton of fun to be around, Paris seems to love the camera just as much as it loves her back, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video unfold. Ok, fine..maybe I enjoyed the super hot guy in the video, too!

If you haven’t heard Paris Wells’ latest album, Various Small Fires, do everything you can to get your hands on it. It’s not revolutionary, but who cares? I love putting her album on while going for walks and, every time I do, find myself smiling from ear to ear and in a great mood. She deserves major points for that, if nothing else!

Watch the video for Let’s Get It Started, get into it, and buy Various Small Fires.

http://pariswells.com.au/

http://www.myspace.com/pariswells

http://www.facebook.com/pariswellsmusic

This week Fred Hystere celebrates the 80s! However, there will be no whipping it good as you come on Eileen while she runs so far away. Instead, I’ll be sharing a few of MY favorite 80s songs. Next up is Haircut 100 with ‘Love Plus One’.

Haircut 100’s song ‘Love Plus One’ is my choice for today’s Daily Classic mostly because of the memories I have of laughing my ass off with my youngest brother while watching the music video. My youngest brother and I have always shared a very deep bond through humor and have the ability to make each other crack up for hours just by looking at each other sometimes. Combine all of that with a music video of pure 80s madness, topped with large chunks of English cheese, and the two of us were instantly on the floor with laughter.

The song itself is actually quite a good song and a great track to play while on the beach soaking up hours of sun and checking out shirtless hotties. Love Plus One peaked at #3 on the UK singles chart back in 1982 and was the 2^nd of four consecutive top 10 singles for the band. It was the only song that charted here in the US at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100. I know nothing about the rest of the band’s catalog, except that they only released 2 albums before disbanding back in 1984.

Whether you’re having a bad day and need a laugh or a good day and want it to get better, take a look at the 80s-tastic video for Haircut 100’s Love Plus One. Enjoy!

Today’s Daily Tune comes from Let Em Riot and it’s called Foreigners. Let Em Riot is the recording moniker of Orange County, CA-based solo artist, Alan Oakes, and he is one of the most talented artists I have come across in quite some time.

Of the many things I’m fascinated by in life, very few things fascinate me more than adrenaline. When you feel a rush of adrenaline, it’s one of the most wonderful feelings in the world and, for me, it’s something that’s usually born out of doing something I’m passionate about. Besides writing, music is the other thing that gets my adrenaline pumping. When I hear an artist whose music seeps into my veins so much so that I feel an instant need to write about them, it’s probably the best feeling I can have. And, today, that’s the reason I’m writing about Let Em Riot.

As much as I’m a fan of interpreting lyrics, I feel like there’s something pretty special about an artist who’s talented enough to make you feel emotion through the use of everyday words and imagery. Alan has a real knack for writing lyrics that are abstract enough to be considered poetic, but still somewhat literal; which is something I absolutely love.

The production quality of his music is equally as stunning, especially for an artist that’s doing it all by himself. As you’ve heard me say a kajillion times at this point, my favorite type of music is the sort that allows me to slip into daydream mode. At this point I’ve now listened to Let Em Riot’s music while working, running errands, doing chores around the house, going for a run, walking the dogs, and in bed at night.

Sound wise, Let Em Riot’s music reminds me a bit of another LA-area band, named Kisses. There’s a definite dreampop element to some of the music, but the music is much more ‘meaty’ than the average type of music you hear lumped into that genre. My favorite song, As It Should Be, has a great piano riff to go along with a solid beat and heartfelt lyrics that wouldn’t be out of place on a *good* Coldplay song (like Clocks). But all in all, I think each Let Em Riot song has a general cohesion to it that you don’t often find among ‘newer’ artists these days. Like every true artist, Alan says that for him ‘music is not something I want to do; it’s something I NEED to do.’ And we can all be thankful for that.

I urge you to give Let Em Riot’s music some quality time on your headphones. I’m pretty sure that after a few listens you’ll be as hooked as I am. Please go to Let Em Riot’s website and download his music for free. And, in exchange for the free music, spread the word to your friends!

Take a look at the video for Foreigners and listen to the gorgeous As It Should Be (which would be a top 10 hit if radio programmers got their heads out of their asses) below.

http://letemriot.com/

http://letemriot2.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html

http://www.facebook.com/letemriot

http://letemriot.tumblr.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/letemriot

http://soundcloud.com/let-em-riot

Let Em Riot ‘As It Should Be’