Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

I first heard Bloc Party on the soundtrack of DropStitch, with their song “Banquet”. I thought that it was easily the best song on the film (accompanied by great riding from Kjersti and Lisa Wiik) so I bought their album. I was actually spurred on to buy it after missing them play locally in Newcaslte. The rest of the album is great, having similar energy to Banquet. After listening to it I really got into the first track – “Like Eating Glass” – which brought a smile to my face when the ChunkyKnit crew used it for their intro a year later in their following film, “Transfer“.

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Give Up by The Postal Service

I always wonder who picks the song for a DVD section. Did Bobby Meeks choose “Such Great Heights” for his part in Lame? I hope so. The band’s name – The Postal Service – is pretty intriguing. It’s worth checking out their story.

After hearing good things from a friend who has the album, I bought it. The album has a cool, beat’y electronic vibe to it, and there isn’t a song I don’t like. For me, the other stand out track is “the district sleeps alone”.

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Plans and Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie

When looking into the story behind The Postal Service, I also came across Death Cab For Cutie. As I looked through some of their albums, I noticed the song We Looked Like Giants, which is used in the Lost In Transition soundtrack. I decided to buy their (at the time) two latest albums: Plans and Transatlanticism.

They’re both excellent – although my favourite is probably Plans. These albums have received much play by me – there are no bad songs! I’ve also used a few of their tracks with some of my own video, along with one or two from The Postal Service, which is an indication of how much I like their style.

You can check out the videos if you’re interested: Title And Registration, Soul Meets Body and Your Heart Is An Empty Room.

Or sample Plans from Amazon:

Old World Underground Where Are You Now by Metric

DC MTN.LAB, Eddie Wall’s section, Dead Disco by Metric. Great track. The song was playing in the car and we were all agreeing that it was good, and a friend recognised the band as being Metric. I’m not sure why but I had the feeling the rest of the album wouldn’t be that good.

I looked the band up wanting to know where they came from. Canadian Indie Rock band – it seemed that their albums were well received. I then recognised that “Hustel Rose” is used in Futureproof. I love this album, it’s insanely good. Needless to say I’m gonna check out Live It Out.

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Rock’n'Roll Highschool by Teddybears STHLM

Robot Food used Teddybears’ Yours To Keep with Afterlame, which I think is one of my all time favourite tracks. More recently the Hungerpain crew used Automatic Lover for the intro to their film The Playground – it’s a funky tune…

So I’ve been listening to Rock’n'Roll Highschool, which includes both of these songs, for a while now and I kinda like it. Teddybears STHLM, now just called Teddybears are a Swedish rock band. The album is pretty varied: a hip hop feel in places, electronica, instrumentals and some funky sounds. Punkrocker is a great track. It’s definitely worth a listen: you might not like all of it but there are some great songs. (Note there is overlap with their newer album Soft Machine).

Download from (Sweden iTunes)

Deep Cuts by The Knife

The Knife have a track on the Afterlame soundtrack called Heartbeats, which is one of my all time favourite songs used on a snowboard film. It’s great.

I bought their album, Deep Cuts, based on the strength of this song. I can’t say that I like it. I don’t like it; it’s just too weird. I do like one, maybe two other tracks, Pass This On being the better of the two…

So I looked them up, they’re a Swedish band based in Stockholm. The incredible Pierre Wikberg, maker of afterlame, is Swedish also. I wonder if he likes all their stuff, or just a few songs? Anyway, you can check out their biography; I like their approach, I just don’t like most of their music. Maybe you will, here are the previews from Amazon:

Brushfire Fairytales, On And On and In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson

I first heard Jack Johnson during a summer trip to Zermatt’s glacier, in 2005, it was his In Between Dreams album, which I think was released that year. We were sharing an apartment with a couple of guys and one of them rated Jack Johnson, so we ended up listening to him a fair bit.

I was hooked, so when I got home I went out and bought three of his albums: Brushfire Fairytales, On and On, and In Between Dreams. They’re all good, so easy to listen to, just awesome. As well as being pretty chilled music, it also reminds me being in the mountains during the summer: shredding in the morning and then relaxing in the afternoon sun.

To begin with, the disc I listened to least was On and On; but over time, it’s become my favourite. If there’s a single CD in my collection that should have been worn out by now, it’s the album On and On.

You can sample the tracks from On and On here:

Carnavas by Silversun Pickups

The opening sequence to Absinthe’s Optimistic is excellent, and that’s partly due to the song, Rusted Wheel, by Silversun Pickups. I liked the song so much I decided to buy the album…

And I put it on a shelf. At least to begin with anyway. I guess I thought it was more rock than I was hoping for; it kinda felt like Rusted Wheel was an exception on the album.

After a while though I decided to give it another chance, and I’m glad that I did. I’ve been listening to the album rather than hoping for songs similar to Rusted Wheel. Carnavas is a good rock album. There are some excellent songs, like Future Foe Scenarios and Lazy Eye. Some of it is a little more rock than I like, but not much. I like it a lot.

If you haven’t heard it before, you can sample the songs here:

And here’s the Optimistic Soundtrack.