The Quixotic Engineer

For whatever reason I was introduced to an astounding number of terrific new artists this month. Perhaps having my headphones on 8 hours a day at work has something to do with it. In any case, here are this month’s Musical Box picks.

Ladytron’s new album Velocifero came out at the beginning of June, and it quickly became one of my favourite albums of 2008 so far. I’m not always big on electropop, but their heavy beats and thick synth layers really won me over. Helen Marnie’s haunting voice probably had something to do with it as well. If you like this song I recommend checking out “Tomorrow” off the same album.

I was introduced to The Young Knives by Boing Boing of all places (follow the link, they do a terrific acoustic set.) The lyrics to “Turn Tail” are very evocative; I particularly like the “head in my hands / hands in the soil” bit and the chanting of “I will turn tail and run” towards the end. Truth be told, I don’t think any of their other songs are quite as interesting as this one. Apparently the band is quite big in the UK, but mostly due to their pop-ier singles.

I discovered this protest song by Phil Ochs via Bill Harris. I’m a casual fan of 60’s folk music, but I somehow missed Ochs up to now. I’d never before heard someone sing and tell a story in equal parts so majestically before. The message of his music is still incredibly relevant today, be sure to check out “Cops of the World” and “Love Me, I’m a Liberal” as well.

Brazilian Diamonds – DJ Earworm [download]

I’ll leave you with a rather clever mash-up of Django Reinhardt’s “Brazil” with Paul Simon’s “Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes” by DJ Earworm. I hadn’t intended to include this song, but Dan and Michael got a kick out of it so I thought you all might as well. Enjoy!