Soap&Skin - Thanatos

Link.

Favorite lyrics: a shell without a star at the end of time

The combination of low vocals, dramatic piano, and intense lyrics makes Thanatos a song to listen to in the dead of dark. The way the vocals raise while the piano's lower range is overtly played is a very breathtaking connection. It's like the dirty dregs at the bottom of a coffee cup, gritty and bitter, holding the remembrance of something devoured. Thanatos, in Greek mythology, was death in human form. There couldn't be a more perfect combination of words and music to accompany the name.

Glitter Pox rating: 79% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

The Antlers - Bear

Link.

Favorite lyrics: we're terrified of one another and terrified of what that means

Bear takes a really heavy issue and turns it into something musically brilliant. It's tragic and depressing, but it's also beautifully written. Each lyric shreds your insides in a slow, burning poem. Listening to sad music is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, mostly because it's so investing and because it makes you feel alive. You never forget a song that makes you want to cry. And The Antlers are so damn good at it. The emotion in Bear is spot-on : hopeless and numb. And it's artistic in a way that transcends music; it's a song sung for repentance, and it makes sure you won't ever forget it, just as the people it's sung about can't forget. The Antlers do a lot of music that's aurally quiet but lyrically deafening, and they're a band that will most definitely mess with your heart.

Glitter Pox rating: 93% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Boy & Bear - Rabbit Song

Link.

Favorite lyrics: keep my soul, my head's not coming back

These words have a voice behind them that gives them life instead of just being sung. They have a quiet meaning, and the style of Boy & Bear, especially the vocals, are similar in quality to Fleet Foxes. The background singing is used as another instrument, and it plays well along with the guitar. It's a mellow song, but it has a kind of spark to it that keeps it from being melancholy. Generally just a good piece of music.

Glitter Pox rating: 81% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

We Can't Enjoy Ourselves - Miss Maris Morris

Check out 'Miss Maris Morris' along with We Can't Enjoy Ourselves' digital album here.

Favorite lyrics: see cause we're coming now onto the chorus, so smile and smash your cigarette right between my eyes

This song has a perfect combination of chalky bitterness and Broadway-proportioned cheerfulness. You can imagine little dancers jumping off of the treble clefs of this sheet music with full-teethed smiles on their faces, the beat is that up. But then there are the lyrics, which like to singe through whatever they hit; they're callus and ballsy and completely quotable. It's like watching a sunset over the ocean - after that whole BP oil spill thing. There's a sweet syrupy bit for your ears tied with a sarcastic witty piece for your brain, which is pretty musically stimulating. It's an auditory mix-match, a game of lyrical vs. melodic tic-tac-toe, and both of them score a good amount of x's and o's.

Glitter Pox rating: 70% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

O Emperor - Don Quixote

Link.

Fav lyrics : now refrain, reject the brain, oh man dare I say it, oh you're insane

Singing about a literary character automatically earns hipster points, but O Emperor does it unpretentiously and intelligently - and with a damn good sound. The lyrics are easy to fall into, mirroring the insanity the character they sing about goes through. The music is very gentle but erratic, the vocals and lyrics measuring up to a high standard of glory. This song is well put together, and has the slow, drugged feel of bands like Evaline or Stateless. It's like being sick and on cough syrup and only half-awake; it slows down your brain, lulls it in a kind of seductive, angry fairytale sort of way.

Glitter Pox rating: 90% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Electra - Radio On

Link.

This band has a lot of energy and a lot of musical talent. 'Radio On' pulls you in and begs you to sing along, but the song is more than just melody. It has a kind of modern punk rock sound with a foreign vibe, but regardless of whatever genre of music it's under, the members of Electra play their instruments well. There aren't a lot of bands that put this much power into what they do, but when it happens, it speaks for itself - Cage the Elephant and Blur's Song 2, and now, Electra. It's crazy and chaotic and completely manic in the best way - it forces you to believe in nothing but music until the song ends.

Glitter Pox rating: 81% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Kathryn Calder - Arrow

Link.

Favorite lyrics: Fire away, I'm still here in phantom wings

Arrow is a very dreamlike story, almost like an Alice in Wonderland song dipped in sharp-toned lyrics and piano keys. The noise in the background is very much like a river, and there's a strong Agnes Obel sound to Kathryn Calder's voice, which makes her automatically likable. There's also a kind of historical folk fable idea behind the song, but it has a very high radio pitch. There's something unique about it that's just on the edge of original, but it's still earthly; it doesn't exceed the depths of music, but it circles around something primordial.

Glitter Pox rating: 66% contagious. It's a slow burn.

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Spoon - Paper Tiger

Link.

Favorite lyrics: We could go kick down some doors together,
stay out til morning sharp as knives

Spoon is great for funky beats and wary voices; Paper Tiger, with the inhale-and-exhales in the backdrop of keyboard, proves that. Spoon in general is one of the best indie rock bands you can find - each of their songs is a musical experience in itself, using varied sounds in each of their albums. They have a little bit of an Andrew Bird sound, in the mixture of great vocals and beautiful, differing melodies: Paper Tiger especially is a song whose variance sifts through you. The lyrics are very unconventional - at first listen, if you graze through the song, it sounds like an indirect love song, but there's a story there that isn't about love at all. It's a song anyone can interpret as they choose, one of those mysterious little pieces of music that sit in the background until someone listens to them again.

Glitter Pox rating: 79% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox