Today's featured shit

This sounds like catchy Portland, Oregon, rock ‘n’ roll. Turns out they are from Detroit. Really. Well at any rate these songs are catchy, non-threatening pop songs.

“DTC” has a bit of Killers in it, but it’s much better than that. The guitar sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t place it. Very catchy track, however.

“February Thaw” has female lead and backing vocals and sounds tremendous. I find it unlikely, however, that anything thaws in February in Michigan. I mean, The Icicles did a whole song about that (“Snowbird”).

“What You Said” is pure gold. This could be one of the biggest songs of the year. It takes the different unique aspects of the other tracks and puts them all together here. This is truly an instant classic and makes me want lemonade on the porch right now. I’d much rather hear this than Kid Rock.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when I start one of these female singer-songwriter CDs, and there is reasonably fast percussion. I’ve had enough of farmers market singer-songwriting folkers. Gretchen Phillips is just fast enough to keep the beat on, and that’s fine with me.

“Peola” puts it all together like none of the other tracks do. It has hooks and keyboards and reminds me very much of Sweetheart. Phillips’ voice even reminds me of Rachel Blado’s. “Your Drinking” is a title that ought to be reserved for great songwriting, because it is so serious. No disappointment here. Sure, the chorus “your drinking is breakin’ my heart” is a little unoriginal, but what else would you expect your drinkin’ to do? The verses more than make up the difference.

“Swimming” has great musical accompaniment, like old Cardigans. Thankfully Phillips stays in her vocal range. The lyrics are certainly, uh, thought provoking. This is truly an enjoyable song. She should do some duets with Jennifer Trynin. Their voices would mix perfectly.

Another charity compilation, this time for children affected by war. For sure was this a time to misuse the word “impacted” but no. It’s written right there on the cover: an album to benefit children affected by war.

It’s all covers of popular songs by popular artists, but different ones. So you get Lily Allen covering “Straight to Hell” by The Clash. Mick Jones was nice enough to help out on this one, however.

Duffy did Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” and it’s fan-fugu-tastic. Guns and Roses totally screwed this up when they covered it.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs predictably cover the Ramones classic “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.” However, Peaches does a nice job with Iggy Pop’s “Search and Destroy.”

Because you’ve heard of the original and the cover artist, it makes it pretty easy to pick out something you will have a good time with. Last but not least, Franz Ferdinand covers Blondie’s “Call Me,” and you want to talk about making a song your own? This is it. Truly a barrel of fun.

For those of you aspiring artists out there, sending a picture of your band does make a difference. I just can’t say bad things about a group of people when I have a picture of them looking at me, especially when they’re smiling. Especially when they’re smiling.

If you were going to name yourself Blackberry River Band, it would probably be because you were a bunch of fun-loving people trying to recapture your youth by playing in a classic rock-style band, one that people would like if it played Steely Dan and CCR covers all the time at the local bar. Ordinarily such acts are not good enough to create their own music, but not necessarily. There are a few gems on this album that are worth a listen.

“You’ll Be There” has all the components of a legitimate bona fide song. You can sense that a lot of effort was put into the production of the music of this album. Oddly, it makes the lyrics sound out of place because the music is too clean, or the lyrics are too raw. Take your pick.

“Two Halves Make a Whole” will never win any songwriting awards, but the musicianship is easily transferable. Weird Al Yankovic should take note. All it needs are some funny lyrics and an accordion, and we’re all set.

The songs don’t all sound the same, but they all have a common theme: rhythmic music that would sound great live. It’s mostly male-led, but there is a woman that sings every now and then. All the tracks are solid, which is another way of saying that none of them stand out either.

I always thought that it would be interesting to hear what Operation Makeout would sound like if Jesse sang more, and now I know. They would sound like Ketman. Ketman’s sound is not as distinct as theirs, but it’s about as close as it gets. You can definitely hear the passion.

Many would label Ketman as punk. I don’t know. I think it’s music that fans of punk rock would like. Nobody ever orders cheese toast at Sizzler, but everyone is happy to eat it when it’s set in front of them.

“Chemists Fighting” has the lead singer doing his Jello Biafra impression. Although the impression fails, the song itself is great. Ketman will be fine just by rockin’ out. No need to try so hard.