The Foreign Films impressed me distinctly last year with their very reverent take on the music of the 60s: never imitation or pastiche, it was instead wonderfully written music inspired by the era. They have returned with a new song that carries familiar elements, but also forges ahead with a more intricate mix of sources. It’s certainly a hella interesting 13 minutes or so though, as it moves through 8 eclectic (and quite excellent) variations.

So this song floated by my head courtesy of something on TV, so here it is on either/or! Luckily, it takes a little more than just a chance encounter with a piece of music for it to appear on this here site: we have standards, y’know. Otherwise, I’d be posting about ad jingles all day long.

INXS was one of Australia’s most prominent rock bands. While they were certainly well-known for their music, the band is also inexorably linked to frontman Michael Hutchence, his personal life and unfortunate suicide in 1997. Here is one of the band’s most famous works: a gorgeous rock ballad with shades of country guitar, and singing that almost sounds like Elton John without the flamboyance. In a good way, trust me.

I don’t know how many of you crazy kids watch BBC’s Luther, but it has amazing songs all the damn time. It’s a nice change from the shows that play popular indie songs for no apparent purpose other than seeming hip. Not that there’s necessarily a different purpose for them being on Luther, but that’s okay. This is a pretty chilled out tune, and overly long at 8 minutes, but there are still some darn good bits to it.

I probably haven’t written about Dido on here before because she is pretty popular ‘n stuff, but I haven’t actually met anyone who admits to liking her. My brother had her debut album, No Angel, and I literally listened to it 4 or 5 times a day, every day, for a week. On a portable CD player! The batteries! Oh man. Anyway, one of the songs on it, Isobel, is one of my favorite songs everrrrrrrrr. It’s definitely in my top 10 for “stuck on a desert island” songs. Her voice melts my brain AND my heart.

If I’m honest, the reason I decided to have a look at this plucky quintet from Texas was because the album art was pretty sweet. It’s just as well the music was equally sweet, because this blog is about music, not about rad album art. Also, considering the lyrics are about love, it just about completes the trifecta of sweetness!

Paul McCartney released a new song! And it sounds like a Beatles song! I have lost my shit, it seems.

I have not kept up with the solo careers of the Fab Four as best as I could have, particularly when considering my undying love of the former group. McCartney, in particular, has enjoyed some crazy success in the US, but his efforts have been less prominent here in good ‘ol Australia.

This song is certainly Beatles-esque: it is uproariously joyful and kind of harkens back to the Sgt. Peppers days of jamming in some crazy instrumentation (I detect harpsichord, trumpets and acapella, because why not). Quite delightful!

Is The Breakfast Club any good? Of course it is you idiot, what kind of dumb question is that? I’m not talking to you for the rest of this post!

Now that we’ve got the morons out of the way, let’s all indulge in one of the better films and songs that came out in the 80s on this lovely Friday night. It’s a trip down memory lane! Well, not for me, because I wasn’t alive for most of the 80s. But it’s still a great film, and a great song!

This little tune was more or less recommended to me by a filthy Swede (redundant, I know) named Elof, and it is pretty tasty. It has the added bonus of being pretty chilltastic, which will make AJ wonder why in God’s name I’m even posting it, since that isn’t a genre I’m particularly interested in. It’s nice to keep him on his toes.

Editor’s note: In no way do we consider all Swedes to be filthy! They are lovely people, and make lovely music. Elof, on the other hand? Totally filthy. – AJ

Now, here’s a bit of fun: sexy surf rock! It’s a gorgeous bit of 60s flavoured pop rock, and like so much of this kind of music back in the day, it’s all about a girl. Aww! It’s not available yet (the album is out October 25), but in the meantime, check out the stream below and their website.

I was informed recently that The Demos have a new single out. Rad! While perusing it, I happened to go back and look at their previous release and found this tune, which I rather like! It has a chorus that just won’t quit (can’t get enough of that minor chord) and is overall incredibly catchy.