Happy New Year everyone and thanks for visiting my blog. Your patronage makes it work and makes it all worthwhile. Let’s jump in an see what’s out this latest week in January of 2010.

I started the show with Vitamin-D. They are a music group based in Brooklyn, NY. They are headed by Dennis Cronin, who plays trumpet and guitar. When I went to their website; their brightly colored, montage inspired homepage simply states “Trumpety Thought Pop.” That kind of covers it. Their brand new album is called BRIDGE and I played their first single, it’s called “Keeper.”

Finishing that opening set was the latest from the Shout Out Louds. If you are not familiar with this group, they are a five-piece, mixed-gendered collection that formed in Stockholm, Sweden. They are yet another fine example of Scandinavian indie pop. It is amazing to me that a country the size of Sweden produces some really good artists. For example: the Cardigans, The Concretes and Peter, Bjorn and John, just to name a quick few off the top of my head. The new disc from the Shout Out Louds is WORK, and the track I chose was “Fall Hard.”

Changing musical direction here with a new release that was classified by I-Tunes as a Hip-Hop/Rap artist, but I believe he has crossover appeal. The artist is Rjd2, whose given name is Ramble John Krohn. He was born in Eugene, Oregon but he currently calls Philadelphia his home. He’s a producer, for the most part, but he’s released two, predominately instrumental Hip-Hop albums. His latest effort, COLOSSUS, doesn’t stray to far from his M.O., however he does get more vocal help. On the track I picked, “Games You Can Win,” it features Kenna, an Ethiopian born vocalist. If you can, check it out and see what you think.

I followed that up with “Wide-Eyed, Legless” from Laura Veirs. This sometimes quirky, Seattle based singer/songwriter, has now released seven albums over her career. I’ve been an admirer since I discovered her in 2005, with the release of her YEAR OF METEORS. If you get a chance, check out “Galaxies” and also the title track of her follow-up disc, SALTBREAKERS. It’s good stuff. Her latest effort is JULY FLAME.

Let’s keep things moving here with the indie-pop sounds of Oberhofer, which is Brad Oberhofer. He’s pretty new so I don’t have a great deal of information. He has three guys supporting him in his band, they currently make Brooklyn their home and they are unsigned. This song I have for you today is from their self-titled EP, the track is titled “Away FRM U.”

Closing off that two-song set with a deeper track from the latest effort by the Cold War Kids, which is a four-song EP, BEHAVE YOURSELF. I am joking, of course, about the deeper cut, I mean, how deep can you go on a four-song EP? Anywho…I really wasn’t taken by the selected single, “Audience,” I found it too noisy. I was drawn to the more melodic feel of “Coffee Spoon.” I am sure I’ll get grief for that comment but hey…music IS subjective and you listen to the show, and review the blog, because you like my taste in music. At least that’s what I hope anyway.

My lineage subject was Motion City Soundtrack. These guys are the perfect subject matter because where they were back in 2003 is markedly different than this 2010 release. Their latest CD, MY DINOSAUR LIFE, feels over-produced, and designed for the Mass-Market. Not that there is anything wrong with that. These boys got a label deal from Sony/BMI and they are trying to punch their ticket to the big-time; and I wish them well. But if you can check out a track from their debut disc, which is where part two of the feature kicked in. Be aware, there are several versions of this new album; I believe it’s three. Two have explicit lyrics and one’s been cleansed. These guys like to swear and are big fans of the F-Bomb. In fact, I had to manually edit the second song of this feature. I don’t need any FCC fines. The follow-up song was “The Future Freaks My Out,” which is off their debut, full-length album I AM THE MOVIE.  Oops, I almost forgot to tell you which song I selected for the show.  I played "Stand Too Close."

Next is new music from Spoon. I played “Got Nuffin,” and it’s off the latest album, TRANSFERENCE but it originally appeared as the title track on an EP released last year. It still is the best track I hate to say.

“Heard You Got A Thing For Me” is the latest single from The Cocktail Slippers. I have to say latest because the song came out in April of 2009…but hey, if you haven’t heard it before; it’s new to you. I ran into this Norwegian, all-girl band by accident over the weekend and I liked what I heard so I thought I’d share it with you. This is from the album SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE.

I followed The Cocktail Slippers with the latest from Surfer Blood. They are a quintet out of South Florida; West Palm Beach, to be more precise. This part of the US coastline is not famous for its big waves but this five-piece chose the name Surfer Blood, for their moniker. They combine rock; surf music and pop to concoct a charming cool sound. They’ve released a couple of singles but this is from their first album, which is called ASTRO COAST. I chose to play “Floating Vibes.”

Next up is The Soft Pack, they are a band out of San Diego, California and they have an album coming out February 2nd. Actually, it’s more of an EP than an album but whatever you call it, they titled it THE SOFT PACK 12” - EP and I played “Answer To Yourself.”

Let me slip in one more from the The Ruby Suns. From their new album FIGHT SOFTLY, this is “Cranberry.” It’s a catchy little tune and probably favored my by the youngsters.

I will be away next week so tune back in on February 9th for the next installment of the Music You Might Otherwise Miss on 91.5 FM or online at wmfo.org. (10 AM to 1 PM) I will be on this Friday, January 29th, for the official start of the weekend with the Uptown Blues Party on Simmons College Radio. 4:00 to 7:00 PM, all times Eastern US. It’s always better live.

Songs in BOLD mean links to videos of that song, which can be hard to accomplish since much of this material is so new.