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The Broken WestYep, I'm talking about "Greek" again. Better yet, I'm talking about The Broken West. Odds are, you haven't heard of The Broken West. And I mean this in no offense to you, reader - I know you're very informed and up-to-date on what Pitchfork and the various other in-the-know publications have to say. But sometimes, Pitchfork gets their stuff wrong because they gave The Broken West's album Now or Heaven a 5.6 and I trust my judgment more than theirs.
The Broken West is like this perfect blend of Rogue Wave and Spoon, a severely underrated 90s band and a picaresque summer day. Ross Flournoy provides guitar and vocals for the group and let me be the first to say that there's nothing more that I appreciate than a man with a crystal clear, not-too-soft-but-not-too-hard and honest voice.
A lot of their songs have been featured on "Greek" (someone there knows what's good) and their song "Down in the Valley" was featured a while back on Grey's Anatomy. They've toured with The National (I don't get their appeal) and The Walkmen (meh). Odds are, The Broken West will find its way to your ears one way or another, whether you make the wise decision to seek them out or in one year, you're watching a movie and think "Hey! This tune is pretty snazzy. What do you call this band?" What do I call this band? The Broken West and they kick ass!
Jack Peñate"Chuck" is not only a great show because of the writing, cinematography and actors, but also because of its magnificent song choices. Last week's episode featured "40 Day Dream" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, but they've been discussed already so you'll have to do some archiving to read my thoughts.Last night's episod
e? Jack Peñate! His song "Let's All Die" - which I assure you is actually an upbeat song and not a song about weird cult suicide - opened the show and most likely caught people's attention. He has a voice that you might mistake as someone else's at first but is distinctly his own. He's from London, and it's easy to tell from listening to any of his songs. You know, instead of singing "let's ahl die" he sings "let's oohl die." Charming, yes?
If you're sick of all the shoe-gazey, spacey, experimental stuff like Phoenix and Grizzly Bear, look into Jack. It's indie music you can skank to! And get this: his new album, Everything Is New, is streaming for free on his MySpace so I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't click that link and have a listen.
Let me be blunt: I watch a lot of TV*. And when I say "a lot," I don't mean one show a night. I mean up to five shows a night (that would be Monday - the busiest television night ever). In all honesty, some of it is what a lot of people would refer to as "bad TV," and I don't even care. I watch "Make It or Break It" on ABC Family. I'll give you a moment to judge. 
Are we good? Can you still stand the sight of this blog? Wonderful!
Now, on to the good stuff, A.K.A the music. On last night's episode, "White Daisy Passing" by Rocky Votolato was featured not once but twice in the episode. Better yet, the song was also featured four years ago on a little show that I like to call "The O.C." Who is this Rocky Votolato I speak of? He's a singer/song-writer from Texas and is currently signed to Barsuk Records, so you know he must be good. Even if you don't take my word for it, Barsuk should say it all. I offer Rocky as the healthier and superior alternative to the "totally chill" sounds of bro-rockers such as Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson.
Please do you
rself a favor, put down your copy of Crash and pick up Makers by Rocky. It's a choice you won't soon regret. He's got nimble fingers which pluck the nicest melodies, a smooth and sincere voice and the ability to make the cheesiest of cheesy lyrics sound... not so cheesy. Rocky Votolato is who you want to dedicate a song to you. The guy who's songs you'll learn in order to woo that special someone. Perfectly mellow and honest, it's hard to deny how good he is, so don't even try.*This is literally a two second section of my favorite scene in 'Some Kind of Wonderful.' I just couldn't help myself and I identify with Watts so much.
You know what I like? Electronic music that I can dance to without feeling like I should've taken a club drug before listening to it. Of course, the staples are The Faint, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, but why not something new? Something fresh and sexy?
I give to you Alex Metric - no relation to the band Metric, I assure you - an electronic remixer/solo artist with some sick beats that will make you want to bust out the glow necklaces
and bodypaint.
His song "Head Straight" was recently featured on the new ABC show "The Deep End." Speaking of the show, let me take a moment to sing my praises. It's cute, everyone is super hot, Billy Zane stars in it, and the writing is undoubtedly outshining Shonda Rimes's writing over at "Grey's Anatomy." If you decide to go looking for some of Alex's stuff, you'll be hard-pressed to find many original songs. What you will find, however, are remixes of songs by artists like Phoenix, Ladyhawke, Beastie Boys and Bloc Party. And you know what? They're delicious.
So, if you're throwing a party and you're just not digging the idea of playing "Birthday Sex" or "Good Girls Go Bad," slap these on (as if they're vinyl or something. Ha!) and your friends will think you're a party music god/goddess. You're welcome.
Rules:
- Has to be a pre-existing song used in an episode of a scripted drama or comedy.
- No theme songs/title sequences.
- God Bless Flight of the Conchords, but they don't count.
- Characters singing the song is OK.
I know I rarely branch out from discussing shows on ABC, The CW, NBC and Fox, but hold on tight because I'm about to go somewhere you might not expect (unless you know me and my infatuation with television). "Greek" is on ABC Family and is honestly a good show. Yeah, it's about frats and sororities (which you would never catch me at, no matter what) but the writing is smart, the characters are relatable, and... everyone on the show is attractive. Even Clark Duke who I may or may not have a geek crush on.
But let's get down to it. Monday marked the anticipated return of the college-based show and return it did, with clever one-liners and CineMUSic worthy tunes. 
In the opening scene, my ears perked up as I recognized the sweet sound of The Submarines. The L.A. duo, which is made up of John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard (yes, those are their real names. Bitchin', right?), sing sweet little songs that make you wish they were providing the soundtrack for your life. If they were, you would be starring in a not-too-indie-but-still-quirky flick full of stolen glances, chaste kisses, and endearing speeches.
"The Wake Up Song," which also appeared in the show Gossip Girl, is a nice representation of the band's tendency to mix classic instruments and digital audio effects (note, the auto-tune). You may find yourself listening to this track thinking "These voices sound kind of familiar..." and you know what? They should!
Exhibit one: The iPhone 3G commercial that everyone in America saw every moment of every day. "You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie" is the song used for said commercial, and it's actually an infectious little track. Another one of their songs "Submarine Symphonika" was used in other iPhone commercials as well.
Exhibit two: The characters of Nip/Tuck lip-synced the song "Brighter Discontent" in the season four finale. I can't vouch for why the hell they did this as I was told the show has really gone down hill and thus, am afraid to get involved.
Exhibit three: An instrumental version of their song "Modern Inventions" (my favorite Submarines song, FYI) was used during the credits of the HBO documentary 'A Pixar Story.'
And there you have it. A rundown of pretty much all you could ever need or want to know about The Submarines. You're officially prepared to experience their music.
This is just a quick, informative blog regarding the grand opening of the CineMUSic tumblr. Being a full-time student, it's a bit difficult for me to stay up-to-date with every television show in real time, to research the music and blog about them daily.
And so, for those of you who desire music recommendations daily, I've created a tumblr devoted to simple, quick posts full of music and television/movie scenes. At the CineMUSic tumblr, you'll find recommendations from past and current media, so don't be surprised if you find stuff from The O.C. or 80s movies. Also, let me just add: tumblr >>>>>>>>>>>> twitter. So, get on the tumblr train and follow, follow, follow!
