The right song can turn your day around.

>>CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS ABOVE TO WATCH THE BANDS DISCUSS THEIR SONGS<<

Blue Rabbit
“Sleep”
Hometown: San Francisco, California

Blue Rabbit’s hooky chant-like “Sleep” is an effortless swell of sound, especially considering the band touts nine members. The group clearly knows how to balance violin, cello, harp, keys, drums and a trio of female vocalists. “Sleep” blends into a perfectly orchestrated pop song, full of blasts, plucks, and a rolling beat that builds to a roar only noticed when it abruptly ends. The songs greatest strength is the persistent three-part harmony beautifully executed by the groups three female singers, Heather Anderson, Arami Reyes, and Sarah Rocklin. A great start, Blue Rabbit is spending the winter releasing an EP, and recording their next full-length set to be released next spring.

GunFight!
“All You Need”
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

“All You Need” from Brooklyn hideouts Gunfight! is a backwoods country-rock stomp that explodes into a clash of distorted guitars and scratchy howls from frontman Drew Mintz. Bassist Tony Aquilino, drummer Dominic Turi, and lead guitarist Bill Dvorak drive the song with their twangy but fast rhythmic eruptions. From the opening guitar licks to the final slam, the song rides an unwavering urgency like a drunk cowboy searching for the wild, wild rock’n’roll West. A whiskey-fueled sprint you just can’t catch up to, but keep stomping because these guys are going a long way. Check out their recent Hide Your Empties EP and a slough of east-coast dates.

Meek & the Marksmen
“According to Red”
Hometown: Red Hook, New York

On “According to Red” bandleader Evan Uhlmann’s lyrics weave a playful and somewhat ironic story, a strong signifier of the band’s storytelling style. Guitarist Will Vitale’s bursts of notes punctuate the tale and melt into Uhlmann’s acoustic picking. The smooth vocal chorus and the desperate delivery of several verses, let alone the literal meaning of the lyrics, contribute to the song’s roller coaster of love (no, not like the Ohio Players) feeling. Meek & the Marksmen are spending the rest of the fall recording a full-length album and playing colleges around the New York area.

Monogold
“Feel Animal”
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

“Feel Animal” is a warm hybrid of echoing vocals and stripped down guitar, perfect for a fall season full moon. Somewhere in between genre-crossing favorites Girls and Animal Collective, the Brooklyn-based boys of Monogold just love to go for it…whatever “it” is (watch video). The initial vocal mash carries to the joyously repetitive drum, bass and guitar accompaniment. Free from buzzes, clicks and whistles of heavy post-production, “Feel Animal” crisply commemorates those who follow their impulses and encourages those who don’t to drop it and go wild. Catch one of Monogold’s North East shows this winter and watch out for a full-length album coming soon.

Spaceships Are Cool
“Strawberry Kicks”
Hometown: Nottingham, United Kingdom

Sure, “Strawberry Kicks” is best described by the band’s self-applied genre title “sci-fi sunshine pop”, but what’s behind the song lends a deeper meaning. Spaceships Are Cool is a throwback to the good old days of two-tone video game soundtracks, omnichords, and Fisher Price tape decks – a testament to how being nerdy is now the new cool. This dreamy ditty mixes their obsession with early synths with a healthy understanding of acoustic guitar and a vocal layer that you couldn’t find on Super Nintendo (though it would be great set to Mario Kart’s rainbow level for N64). Leading the Spaceships, Rob Maddison is involved in a host of productions, including playing live shows, contributing to various compilations, and producing music for outlets such as MTV and BBC. Check out the band’s new LP Heart Echoes!

Brett Mitchell & the Giant Ghost
“Neighbors”
Hometown: Midlan, Michigan

Despite an apocalyptic lyrical theme, (It’s the end of the world/ It’s the end of the world/ And there’s nothing left to burn/ Which way will you turn), “Neighbors” isn’t as bleak as it is catchy. The toe-tapping acoustics are lovely and fit well, but the vocals play the biggest role. Like a mellow, more folksy Bad Religion, Mitchell’s well thought out words clearly convey his dedication to singing/songwriting. It won’t cheer you up on a rainy day, but listen to it a few times and you’ll probably be humming the chorus until, well um, the end of the world. Watch for Brett Mitchell & the Giant Ghost on tour in the Michigan area as well as a new full length in early 2010.

Buffalos
“Happy With A Secret”
Hometown: Tel Aviv, Israel

The Buffalos’ alt-country stomp “Happy With a Secret” is as at home roaming the American plains as it is on the band’s home streets of Israel. The ghostly vocal harmonizing of guitarist Omer Hershman and lead singer Sivan ‘Bella’ Leshed haunt the song’s gunfight-serious sound. Drawing inspiration from PJ Harvey, Wilco, and Mark Lanegan, singer Sivian Bella and Omer Hershman formed Buffalos (formely known as Buffalo Boots) in 2007 and began recording right away. Only after their debut was nearly finished did the band begin playing live together. Quickly written and recorded, “Happy With A Secret” didn’t lose its organic, rough but pure bearing. The Buffalos play live around the Tel-Aviv area and their album Buffalos is available via their website.

Omer Hershman of The Buffalos discusses "Happy with a Secret."

"This song is an advice that is given by someone who had found the 'simple way' of dealing with life, to someone else who is still dealing with day to day issues such as uncertainty about the future – lack of confidence etc. It's a song about finding calmness, and about putting everything under proportions. There is a sentence [at] the end of the song, which repeats itself, that says 'try to count to ten and let this day go by. It's like a 'mantra' that is trying to fulfill itself. It's an optimistic song and that's one of the reasons we usually play it as the last song in our shows.
The title of the song was inspired by the movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, where the main character is describing the girl he fell in love with. I liked the idea of someone who's happy but still has some unsolved issues he's dealing with.
There's a trumpet solo at the song, played by a dear friend, Dirk Kunesch, and the song, like the rest of the album, was recorded on an 8-track recording machine at home and mixed by Mark Kramer (Butthole Surfers). It's a duet sang by Sivan "Bella" Leshed and myself. Eyal Dayan is playing Bass, Ran Jacobovitz on Drums and Yair Yona on Weissenborn. The song was chosen to be the first single from the band's debut album that was released in Israel this last August."

Dirtfoot
“Rhinestone Ring”
Hometown: Shreveport, Louisiana

Like a good hot gumbo, the strength of “Rhinestone Ring” comes from the wide range of ingredients. The horn blasts, sax, fiddle, stand-up bass, and that mean growl are all flavored with a blazing Southern background. In 2000, guitarist Matt Hazelton and J. Bratlie met after a tornado knocked down Hazelton’s Lousiana home. From the rubble, they kicked off their “front porch, whiskey swillin, foot stompin, gypsy, punk, country, grumble boogie band”. From their latest album Bone Sessions (2008), “Rhinestone Ring” catches their high-energy, I-came-from-a-tornado attitude and spreads it to whoever’s listening. Now well established in the Midwest and South, the six members can be found shuffling the South East, blowing the roof off every backwoods bar they play.

Paradise Movement
“Shake it Off”
York, Pennsylvania

At its essence, “Shake It Off” is a club-banging slam that you should feel guilty listening to on a weekday (because it’s so f’ing fun), if it didn’t end so quickly. An Outkast-like bombardment of high-energy clappers and samples by DJ Pherensik sets the neon mood for rappers Johnny Free and Ralph Real to snap a few feel-good lines, but mostly chirp the cheery chorus (‘Cause if your friends ain’t acting the same/And they always throwing dirt in your name/And it feels like your life won’t change/You need to shake shake shake shake shake shake shake it off). The dancey Pennsylvania-based indie rap duo released their full-length album Kinetic Magnetics earlier this year and look to be jumping ship on a European label. Watch out for their upcoming success, albeit probably won’t be from sleepy York, PA.

The Vanity Plan
“Before I Die”
Hometown: Orlando, Florida

“Before I Die” makes an excellent soundtrack to running deep, looking back, catching that hail Mary, then getting smashed to the dirt. A fine tune for football season. Need proof? It’s on EA Games Madden NFL 10. Brett Levsen’s powerful voice is a perfect compliment to the post nu-metal guitar licks of Manny Foret and Josh Rucks and thundering rhythms of drummer Ed Lamoso and bassist Christian Berglund. And when you’re not on your Xbox, this crush of crispy power-chords and amped up beats is the ideal song to remember your teenage angst to. Check out the Vanity Plan’s new EP The Ignorant Are Sold and a handful of hometown shows in Orlando, Florida.

Brett from the Vanity Plan discusses "Before I Die."

"I wrote "Before I Die" before The Vanity Plan ever existed actually. I had just gone through a terrible divorce. My wife at the time had gotten pregnant and come to find out, the child wasn’t mine. It was pretty devastating. I was in amazing emotional pain, and honestly couldn’t help myself [from] writing this song. It was my declaration that no matter what was thrown at me in life, I would not be broken and sail into the rest of my days with this pain dominating my destiny. I have written a lot of songs over the years but I cant say that any one of them truly captures my emotional state as well as this one did. I would like to end this by saying, I'm very happily remarried and we are currently trying to have a child of our own.
As far as its inclusion in EA Games Madden NFL 10, a friend of ours took it to the music director at EA and they just loved it. Its been an incredible experience and we are very grateful to EA for including a completely unknown band in their soundtrack."

My My My
“Middle Age Hardware & Youthful Indiscretions”
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

Five good-looking people from Chicago get together through Craigslist and start playing music. No, they didn’t end up screaming in the street like your last roommate, but rather with a handsome power-pop salute titled “Middle Age Hardware & Youthful Indiscretions”. An infectiously catchy tangle of voices, synths, and a jumpy beat by big man drummer Bill Skafish, the song slides along a vocal harmony by frontman Russel Baylin and backup Sarah Snow. Not even two years old and already two releases under their belt,, My My My is carrying a lot of momentum. Their shows seem to pop up consistently around the Chicago area.

The Spectaculars
"A Girl Like You"
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
The only cover among our 12 picks, "A Girl Like You", originally sung by Edwyn Collins, is a one hit wonder making it's second rounds. Just as shoegazing, neon, and Raybans' Wayfarer sunglasses can be revived, so can 90s dance-pop -- with a vengeance. The Spectaculars, a Minneapolis-based quintet, spins it as well as anybody, throwing in extra synths and little vocal charms. The band's latest album, You Can Look Up Now can be found on iTunes.

Joel Saint John from the The Spectaculars discusses "A Girl Like You."

"The song "A Girl Like You" is our cover of the Edwyn Collins' tune. We chose it for our second album, You Can Look Up Now for a few reasons: it's a kick ass song that we've always seen a lot ourselves in, it really fit the vibe of the rest of the album, and we figured a cover song may be a smart way to establish ourselves state-side. We've been fortunate to create a bit of a following in Europe, but our goal is to get the entire planet spinning to The Spectaculars. So thank you, SPINearth, for this opportunity!"