The Rob Gordon Shuffle, 2.18.07

Photo by David Greenwald

If you’re a blog reader (or a torrent user), you downloaded about five billion leaks this week and you’re still recovering. Here are a few of the records that are getting passed over:

Bear Colony – “Sharks”: mp3
Bear Colony, like the Main Drag before them, sound like emo for the modern age. On “Sharks,” shades of Sunny Day Real Estate mesh with electronic textures reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkin’s Adore. It’s both bracing and pretty: an anthem for the unbearably lonely. (Buy 2007’s We Came Here To Die from Esperanza Plantation Records)

Travel By Sea – “I Won’t Let You Down”: mp3
Travel By Sea play songs you’ve heard and loved a thousand times before. They play quiet, tired, pretty alt-country — the kind Ryan Adams perfected on Heartbreaker. It’s exactly the kind of record you might hear over on An Aquarium Drunkard. Probably because he discovered them first and passed the record on to me. And now I’m passing it on to you. (Buy 2006’s Shadows Rise from the band)

Mouthful of Bees – “The Now”: mp3
“The Now” is a slapdash garage-rock indie song that you will listen to exactly 7 times, put on a for-the-car mixtape and then forget about by summer. But then in a year from now when you’re digging through your MP3s and you click this track, wondering what it is, it’s going to just make your day. (Check out more at MySpace)

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The Rob Gordon Shuffle is a weekly Sunday rundown of fascinating songs without particular regard to genre or timeliness. It is absolutely not a top five. To read further installments, click below.