Darren Hanlon - All These Things

*CUTE OVERLOAD ALERT* Darren Hanlon is Australian. He writes precious folk-pop (for the most part) ditties. He has a handful of albums. His new album "I Will Love You at All" is set for release this week in his homeland (via Flippin Yeah Industries), and due out stateside in September (via Yep Roc).

He's quite the clever fellow, with plenty of wordplay to keep your mind aflutter. I've seen him open for The Magnetic Fields a couple times and even playing by himself, he's quite the pleasure. His first video off the album for the superb little duet "All These Things" is sheer bliss. I have not seen a video this cute or heartwarming in a very long time. I love everything about it, the song, the scenery, the super cute girl, the sentiment, etc etc etc. Behold the preciousness...

We Are the World - Fight Song

I do quite love creepy, demented videos especially when the music is so sinister like pretty much all of We Are the World's music. As the song reaches climax, the video shows some great, wild energy!!

Their debut album "Clay Stones" was released on Manimal Vinyl back in April. Pretty good stuff.

 

Paisley and Charlie

English duo Paisley and Charlie make such nice sophisticated pop music, very Saint Etienne if I do say so myself (and which I will likely get shot for saying, but whatever...lighten up people)! They have a more pop-pop bent with their original band Detox Cute & The Beauty Junkies but I must say I do quite prefer the smooth sounds of Paisley and Charlie. They have self-released two EPs already and both are gorgeous, "Bedsit Songs One" & "Bedsit Songs Two", which are both available for purchase directly from the band here. 

Here are a couple nice videos for you. 

First, "Stone Lions" takes me back to the early Saint Etienne videos...I especially love her hopscotch over those yummy vinyls! Scrumptious!

This second video weaves their song "My Secret Life" with a partial cover of Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" together perfectly!

The Bronson Brothers

The Bronson Brothers are a delicious new band from Silkeborg, Denmark. Rather dark pop, I'll say in the vein of Echo & The Bunnymen. Their album "The Melody Bronson" (released February 2010) is full of hits and I suggest you check it out! I share with you their video for one of the album highlights "Mirror Mirror". Great song and great video...The moment in this video that starts at 2:18 is so perfectly done and really makes the video transcend! Enjoy!

Katsen - Where Nobody Can Find Us

One of my Top 10 Songs of 2009, I just had to share because it's still perfect!



love.