FUN day!

Main Entry: fun
1 : what provides amusement or enjoyment; specifically : playful often boisterous action or speech

Woo hooo! It's Friday, it's Spring, you ain't got shit to do but you're thirsty for some musics...that means it's FUN time! FUN time, FUN day. You're going to get a bunch of music here all at once that you can listen to and absorb throughout the weekend as you wang chung and stuff.

A Brief Smile
A Brief Smile just finished up their April residency at Fat Baby last night. Did I make it to any of their shows? Nope. I'm a jerk. But the music they make is not a jerk. It's fresh and current in a way that won't make you go "hmm, Gang of Four". So don't take my word for it, listen to what Underrated Magazine said:

"They have a way of combining the epic and intimate in their stage show, it really causes you to pay attention...A lot of times young bands stumble though their early days of trying to be creative, but not A Brief Smile. They have a vision."

Listen:
“Kitchen Floor”
“Pretty Mess” (rough mix)

A Passing Feeling
A Passing Feeling sent me their self-titled EP weeks ago and it's taken me this long to finally feature their music? Shame on me. This music has a sense of urgency to it. It sounds like Jeep Wranglers and bikinis. It screams FUN day. It needs to be played, needs to be heard, needs to be loud...shit, I'm not the only one who thinks so - Music For Robots said:

"This is the sound of the young and hungry...the sound of a great fucking record. A Passing Feeling...reminds me a ton of the Exploding Hearts -- a band that put out one of the most fun records in recent memory. It's so great to hear a band picking up that torch and running with it. Just listen to the urgency!"

Listen:
“Book of Matches”
“Probably”


Royal Arms
Royal Arms is another Brooklyn band, but no, not just another Brooklyn band. They bring reverb vocals, organ/synth, guitars, and drums in a manner that's slightly more interesting than your average rock band from Brooklyn. The bio they've got up on their MySpace page calls out Tom Petty and Spoon. Okay, I can definitely hear it (with a little bit of The Cars in there too). You've got some Mike Campbell in the guitar work, a pinch of Greg Hawkes in the keys, and an overall Spoon-ness to the Royal Arms' sound. There's just something very American about the music they're making - I suggest you check out all threee songs available on their site.

Listen:
“Streetlights”
“Gulf South”

At Dusk
At Dusk is from Portland, OR. Lots of good bands come from Portland and At Dusk is a good band. Wait, this gets better. I want to say that they're even more good than that, more better than good/sweet and tasty like candy canes, but frankly that'd be irresponsible (and far fetched) given how little I know about them at this point. It'd also probably perpetuate the notion that bloggers go about twisting language to suit their funny linguistic fetishes, but that's neither here nor there. Look, based solely upon how many times I've listened to "Wish I Was Younger” already (and the two other songs I've gotten so far from their new album) I'm hoping they'll be back to the East Coast sometime soon. At the very least, the sounds they've recorded will make you happy you've got ears - look what they've done to me. Oh, and the fact that they've made all of their music available for free download just kicks ass.

Listen:
“Wish I Was Younger”
“Oh, It's Way Too Late”