Florence and the Machine have bewitched me with excellent singles all year long — the masochistic White Stripes-y stomp “Kiss With A Fist” and “Dog Days Are Over,” which impeccably blends Kate Bush’s ethereal sounds with blues and soul, have both spent lots of time on repeat — and now that their debut album Lungs has finally arrived stateside, their takeover of my Last.fm recently played list is complete.

Lungs is my kind of pop album: dark, complex tunes; unpredictable, interesting arrangements and rhythms; memorable hooks; dashes of soul, blues, rock, and modern Brit indie-pop; anchored by one of the most dynamic and interesting voices I’ve ever heard. I really dig it — UNKLE Matt is also a convert — and you should give it a shot, too. Here’s the video for the album’s first official UK single, “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”:

Here’s my favorite non-single from Lungs:

Download: Florence and the Machine, “Howl” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you’ve heard? You’ve got options: you can import a copy of Lungs from Amazon.co.uk like I did (grabbed the deluxe edition with a second disc of demos & unreleased tracks — a nice bonus); grab it digitally from iTunes; or wait until mid-October when it will finally be released in stores in the US.

Interesting footnote: according to sales figures posted by The Guardian, single “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” was able to land at #16 on midweek sales charts in the UK after selling only 62 copies on CD — 2% of all sales for the single. Dang. Is my collection of CD singles bound for the Smithsonian or what?

And there’s not a “Wiiiilllllllllmmmmmaaaaaa!” in sight.

Fred, like last month’s crush Oi Va Voi, is another band I didn’t know I needed in my life. I stumbled across their new (to the U.S., at least — it hit shelves in their native Ireland last freaking May) album Go God Go in a new releases newsletter from the excellent digital music store Amie Street. Normally an album with a title like Go God Go would send me running the other way pretty darn quickly (insert venomous rant about crossover religious pop music here), but because it’s also the title of one of the best South Park episodes ever, I decided to give it a shot.

Cartman be praised! Go God Go is shockingly great, and is in the running for my favorite album of the year. It’s impressively hooky, soul-infused indie pop from beginning to end, and I haven’t found a single song that begs the skip button. Every tune brings something interesting & fun to the table, from the swirling disco + cowbell-enhanced rhythms of “Skyscraper” and the unexpected shot of mariachi horns in “Keep Me Clear” to the sharp, soaring brit-rock of of “Fear” — it’s all good. Best of all, the melodies are memorable & the stuff that repeat listens are made of.

It’s hard picking my favorite track to share — there are so many great songs to choose from — so I decided to go with the last track playing while I write this up: “Good One,” which features a delicious sing-songy melody and a bouncy rhythm that’s just begging for a hand-clap-along. Enjoy!

Download: Fred, “Good One” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Check out the neat animated video for “Keep Me Clear” below:

Like what you’ve heard? Grab Go God Go on the cheap as DRM-free, high-quality MP3s from Amie Street.

I love Tuesdays: it’s new release day for music stores, of course, and iTunes makes that much more fun than most shops. I like to go digging through the new album listings past all the Coldplays and Eminems, searching for something new and different (both UNKLE Matt & NBC News anchor Brian Williams are iTunes hunters, too, by the way), and that’s how I discovered my most recent obsession: Oi Va Voi. They’re British indie by way of Israel, and I can’t stop listening to their new album Travelling the Face of the Globe, available in the US only digitally @ iTunes.

At first glance, their sound recalls Beirut thanks to the globetrotting ethnic instrumentation — clarinet, trumpet, bouzouki, violins, and accordion pepper the songs — but as soon as Bridgette Amofah starts singing on the album opener “Waiting,” you’re transported somewhere distinctly modern and utterly unique. It’s indie rock! It’s traditional Jewish music! (It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping!) It’s both, and it’s awesome. The songs are great, the melodies memorable, and the arrangements are consistently interesting & unexpected. Hard to describe in just a few words, but I think “Badly Drawn Jew” does them justice. If that intrigues you, check out the song below. Enjoy!

Download: Oi Va Voi, “Every Time” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

If you like what you hear as much as I did, grab Travelling the Face of the Globe at iTunes.

Does Emily Haines have Wii Tennis elbow?

That’s what I thought while listening to her band Metric’s excellent new album, Fantasies. The album is a potent slice of sharp & instantly catchy synth-fueled rock, loaded with repeat-worthy singles (”Blindness” is jockeying for position on my best of ‘09 disc already), but it was “Sick Muse” that made me reach for the CD booklet.

I checked the lyrics in the liner notes, and I know the song officially goes:

Everybody, everybody just wanna fall in love
Everybody, everybody just wanna play the lead

But when I first heard the song, I did a double-take because it sounded like Haines was singing about everyone’s favorite motion-controlled Nintendo console:

Everybody, everybody just wanna fall in love
Everybody, everybody just wanna play the Wii

Do you hear it, too? Or do I just have Mario Kart on the brain?

Download: Metric, “Sick Muse” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Here’s “Blindness,” too. If you like what you hear, grab the rest of Fantasies from iTunes — it’s definitely worth your time.

Download: Metric, “Blindness” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

So my brother’s in a band called Ten Minute Turns (in the name of journalistic transparency, I figured that was important to share right at the top). And (I swear to you, I’m not blowing fraternal smoke up your collective butts) they’re pretty good (ask Matt or Rudi — they’ll both vouch). Their debut album Sad Animals was in my top 10 albums of 2006, brimming with creative, everything-often-including-the-kitchen-sink sounds and über-catchy hooks. New material from their sophomore album Leaving Robot City is beginning to surface (and not just here — new song “Decimal Days” will shortly appear on Japanese radio — domo arigato, mister roboto!), and it’s definitely worth your attention.

Robot City is more polished than Sad Animals (somebody bought a couple of fancy new keyboards, too), and while their giddy energy has been reined in a bit, their knack for explosive, soaring choruses is perfectly intact. There’s lots to like about Robot City, but the most striking track has to be “Aluminum Shine,” with its pounding tom-toms & handclaps rhythm, shimmering guitar solo, and big, unbelievably catchy & powerful chorus. I dare you not to hit repeat a couple of times after listening:

Download: Ten Minute Turns, “Aluminum Shine” (mp3)

Like what you hear? Leaving Robot City isn’t available digitally or on disc yet, but dig into Sad Animals and the Sleepy Cranes EP over at Amazon MP3.

If only all bands could feature a tenor kazoo.

I had the pleasure of being introduced to the greatest banjo/upright bass/kazoo duo on earth the other night: NYC’s Two Man Gentlemen Band. They played a crackerjack show at Cambridge’s historic Club Passim, and I can highly recommend the live Gentlemen experience: their look and sound is like something out of a time capsule — the kind of delightful olde-tyme thing you’d expect to hear pumping out of an old Victrola — but with just enough modern touches and double entendres in the lyrics to keep things light and fresh; their ‘tween song banter is laugh-out-loud funny; and the audience is encouraged, nay, required to participate thanks to the free kazoos distributed at the beginning of the show.

The tunes are the real star, tho: every number is uptempo, bouncy fun, and the lyrics are razor-sharp. The evening’s standouts were “William Howard Taft,” a jumpy, call-and-response ode to our heaviest president; “When Your Lips Are Playing My Kazoo,” which is about, uh, musical talent; the pleasantly uncomfortable “Heavy Petting”; and the mathematical “Prime Numbers.” Their cover of Ray Parker, Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” theme song was a great touch, too. I grabbed a couple of their discs at the end of the show, and I’m happy to report that they’re just as fun on disc as they are on stage. Their most recent release, Heavy Petting, is lively fun from beginning to end. Definitely worth a look — take a listen & hear for yourself:

Download: The Two Man Gentlemen Band, “William Howard Taft” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Two Man Gentlemen Band, “Heavy Petting” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you hear? Grab Heavy Petting at Amazon MP3.

I know — not a terribly trendy pick, right? Well, give a listen to Live At Carnegie Hall, June 3, 1977, the bonus disc packaged with the excellent Legacy Edition of Joel’s classic album The Stranger and you’ll think differently. Joel’s band, which features longtime Joel collaborators Richie Cannata and Liberty DeVitto, is unbelievably sharp, and Joel himself is in fine form and plays with tons of personality. An orchestra augments the band’s performance (I guess you can’t take a stage that big without dragging a few folks decked in cummerbunds along), but it never overshadows or overtakes the rock/soul sound.

The show was recorded before The Stranger’s release, so now-classic songs like “Just The Way You Are” and “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” are unfamiliar and fresh to the crowd. It’s as much of a treat to hear Joel still figuring out his way through the new tunes as it is to hear the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction to the new material. Great stuff.

Download: Billy Joel, “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” (mp3 — from Live At Carnegie Hall, June 3, 1977)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you hear? Order The Stranger: Legacy Edition at Amazon.com.

I decided to wrap up my quartet of crushes for June with Amy MacDonald, one of my favorite British Scottish imports from last year who’s finally getting the chance to test American waters in ‘08.

MacDonald’s debut album, This Is The Life easily won a place on my year-end best albums list thanks to a well-balanced mix of strong songwriting, catchy melodies, and a full folk-pop sound courtesy her excellent backing band. Back in April, I had the chance to attend her first American gig at the Great Scott in Allston, and her act translated really well on stage: she’s personable and witty behind the mic, her thick accent is a treat, and her band recreated the lush sound of her album beautifully. She played only two other shows before heading back across the pond, so here’s hoping that a successful album launch will bring her back — she’s definitely worth catching at a local club.

This Is The Life will finally hit stores on August 19 (mark your calendars!), so until then enjoy this taste: “Poison Prince” was her first single in the UK, and her cover of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” was the b-side to her single for “L.A.” and is a live favorite. Hope you dig!

Download: Amy MacDonald, “Poison Prince” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Amy MacDonald, “Mr. Brightside (Live From King Tuts)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you hear? Grab the single for “Mr. Rock And Roll” from the iTunes Store. More on This Is The Life when it’s available on August 19.

My third crush for the month is a British duo who finally got it right: The Kills.

I bought into the massive hype surrounding The Kills’ 2003 debut album Keep on Your Mean Side, but was woefully disappointed. Sure, their stripped-down garage rock was full of attitude, but is was missing catchy tunes. It added up to 45 minutes of black-leather drones that put me to sleep. I passed on follow-up No Wow, but early positive reviews of this year’s Midnight Boom made me pay attention again. I was sold when “Cheap and Cheerful” was made a free download from the iTunes Store: it’s a bright, sexy mix of fuzzy rock, jumpy electro, wild percussion, and hand claps that quickly found its way into the mix on my iPhone.

The whole of Midnight Boom is even better than “Cheap and Cheerful” hints, and it’s definitely in the running for my favorite album of ‘08: the songs are a winning mix of unpredictable, lo-fi percussion; jumpy, amazingly catchy hooks; and snarling, fuzzy riffs. It’s a sleek, taut album, too: with each song clocking in somewhere between 2 and 3.5 minutes, sometimes cutting off just as a song really gets percolating (I could listen to the chorus of “Last Day Of Magic” for 45 minutes, but they wisely cut it at 3:20), they leave you wanting more — it’s amazingly re-listenable. I’ve yet to find a song worth skipping. Try these two tunes on for size:

Download: The Kills, “Last Day of Magic” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Kills, “Tape Song” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you hear? Grab Midnight Boom at iTunes, which is offering the album with a bonus track.

Pop-culture summers are all about sequels (no matter how awesome it looks, we are after all getting a 6th Batman movie in less than a month), so I thought I’d add my own to the mix and give you a few more tunes to help you get through your long flights or road trips. My second pick this month is Brooklyn’s Ready Fire Aim, an electronic trio with a knack for dark, delicious, Depeche Mode-y pop.

Their debut album This Changes Nothing came out at the end of May, and, while a little uneven in parts, it’s a pretty sharp mix of slinky electro-rock and headphone-friendly synth-pop. I skip around the tracklisting a lot, but there are enough winners that it warranted a recommendation here: opener “End Of Over” sounds like an excellent Violator outtake; “Wannabe Your” ratchets up the guitars and has a great Love And Rockets-ish vibe about it; “As If It Were That Easy” is a gorgeous, earworm-inducing ballad; and first single “So Fine” is a great slice of Fischerspooner-y electro. I know that’s a lot of allusions to other groups, but RFA wraps all of their influences up in a neat package. Give them a try:

Download: Ready Fire Aim, “As If It Were That Easy” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Ready Fire Aim, “Wannabe Your” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Like what you hear? Grab This Changes Nothing at Amazon MP3. Stay tuned for more crushes!