It’s Not The Us And Them Or The You And Me

Irving “Jen, Nothing Matters To Me” – I have no idea how cynical the members of Irving may be, but if they wrote this song as a way to attract groupies, then they might be in for a very fun tour. The music evokes the sweetest, sunniest, poppiest swoon-alongs of The Cure, The Smiths, New Order and Pavement (well, “Gold Soundz,” anyway) while the lyrics are about being a “selfish boy” who is “emotionally unavailable” and unwilling to commit to anything. This is indie girl bait all the way. We’ve all met the guy in this song, and we know the kind of girls that he pulls. He’s aloof, apathetic, mildy self-loathing and painfully self-absorbed, but he knows it, and he’s warning this girl: “Please, no, don’t love me, go love someone who will treat you well!” But it’s reverse psychology! And she’s a goner, because it’s triggering the “oh, but I can fix him!” impulse, and she’s DOOMED DOOMED DOOMED. This song is a trap! (Click here to pre-order it from Eenie Meenie.)

DAT Politics “Turn My Brain Off” – It’s sort of hard to imagine that normal humans made this music, and not cartoon characters from some crazy postmodern kid’s show. But then, I haven’t seen any photos of this band, and the singers could very well be animated punk rock ducks. If not, they should look into it. It totally worked for Damon Albarn, after all. (Click here for the DAT Politics website.)

Also: Yo La Tengo’s annual covers-for-pledges marathon show will be on WFMU tonight from 8 – 11 PM EST. I will be one of the people answering the phones, so please do call in and request a song. I’m fairly certain that the minimum pledge for a song request is $70, which will also get you a WFMU t-shirt and several other goodies. If you want to get your request played by the band on the air, I strongly recommend getting your call in before the end of the first hour. Also, I would love it if one of you could get them to play “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.”