A "wave" of delicious sound

Punny, right? Okay, let's get to it!

Rogue Wave is by no means a super unknown band. They were signed to Sub Pop Records up until 2007 and are now signed with Brushfire Records. They've toured with Death Cab For Cutie. They're definitely not unknowns. But this week's episode of "90210" prompted me to blog about them.

I distinctly recall being 14 and hearing "Publish My Love" on The O.C. and thanking God for the existence of Google. Since then, I've been hooked. And while they're already relatively well known in the land of indie music fans, they've been getting some serious playtime - probably due to the release of their new album, Permalight.

"90210" used the song "Eyes" which is three things: classic, well-known and a bit out of date for such a "hip" show. However, the people over at Chuck had the right idea a few episodes back in playing the song "Permalight" from the new album. On top of that, their music has been used in a ton of other stuff.

I'm not going to overdo it and create a music recipe to describe what they sound like. They vary between mellow and poppy. And they were on Sub Pop - you know that means it's good. I predict what is already a successful, independent band gaining some serious popularity in the coming months.

Say what you will about "Greek," but...

The Broken West

Yep, 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!