Brian Cook Presents

Today’s post features a new gimmick; you’ll get three bands with two songs each discovered at one unlikely source. So without very much further ado, here they are.

She & Him (M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel (yes, the actress from Elf))

This unlikely duo plays an unlikely variety of tunes, by turns sounding like the Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald. The first song is from their new album, Volume One, while the second is one of Ward’s best.

She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
She & Him - Magic Trick

Evangelicals

Evangelicals has been compared to the Flaming Lips, mostly due to the wacky sounds that permeate their songs (a very loud, very out of place SPLAT! effect, for instance). To me, they’re most comparable to Fiery Furnaces, since both bands have an ear for a great hook and a penchant for burying them amidst a lot of sonic clutter. Enough BS. Here are the songs.

Evangelicals - Skeleton Man
Evangelicals - Party Crashin’

Menomena

Somehow, Menomena stayed under my radar until very recently, but some quick online research shows that many people are very aware of and very into their music. And why not? They’ve got a little bit of Man Man, some Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and a pinch of Postal Service. Enjoy.

Menomena - Muscle ‘n’ Flo
Menomena - Rotten Hell

And what’s the magic source for these discoveries? You guessed it: the Urban Outfitters music blog! It all started after walking into a store in Boston and hearing the latest Radiohead. It ended after logging on to their website and being greeted by She & Him. If this is your kind of music, chances are you might discover something good and something new to you.

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