Old Soul

Someone once told me that I will never be able to appreciate music made by people who are younger than I am. People have always assumed that I have an older sibling because I loved the Smashing Pumpkins and Blur and Pavement and the defining bands of era even though that was before my time. It's not that I don't like younger musicians, but I like music with a little more substance. But there are young musicians who don't sound like whiny brats. Take for example, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or Paolo Nutini or Michael Buble, who are young guys but convey wisdom too.

Enter Morgan Enos, a young guy with a lo-fi sound who clearly has older influences too. He plays all the instruments and you can hear the Bright Eyes and Bob Dylan references. It's got a classic old school lounge-in-the-afternoon-with-large-headphones feel to the sound and you can download the album here.

Morgan Enos - In Which St. Wolfgang Meets The Devil (mp3) (download)


The Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner is someone else who clearly adores musicians from back in the day. He has just released a self-titled solo album. It's vintage-y sounding pop rock, still within the realm of sound that the Raveonettes are known for, but the single off the album is peppier than anything from the group offerings. The first track "Beruset of Forhadt" seems less about lust, love and sex, than about striaght forward rock, but who am I to say? I have no idea what the lyrics are about, it's in Danish!

Sune Rose Wagner - Beruset of Forhadt(mp3) (buy)


Next up is Exile Parade from Warrington, Northwest UK, whose influences are probably not that much older, but for a band who has a "unsigned" label on their myspace, they sound pretty professionally produced. They have a new song out called "heart into suicide". It's not getting an official release until February or March of next year when the full album album is released and while their myspace states that they are unsigned, but the production quality of this song is excellent. I can already imagine it on mainstream radio (102.1 the Edge in Toronto, perhaps?). Somebody tell these guys to send their demos to a Canadian record company.

Exile Parade - Heart into Suicide (mp3) (buy)