Bands to check out for those of us with sound at work

So, I subscribe to a keen little daily newsletter called A New Band A Day. If you're into music, definitely, go sign up. anewbandaday.com . The guy who runs it comes up with some sublime, off the radar stuff on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes, it's loud, crunchy, hearing aid jarring stuff that I'm not too keen of, but there's more jewels than duds from this guy.

With that said, two things that should be on your radar.

Airport City Express. When one thinks of Belgium, usually it's in the order of beer, chocolate, and waffles. I'd rather have the waffles first, but ACE kind of makes me rethink the order a bit and put them ahead of the waffles. They've got a full melodic sound with a "nothing complicated" drum sound, which plays well. Simple and quiet valleys rush upwards into a loud, pleasant peak in You're Unwise. Bud Spencer starts to lull one into that "I've heard this sound before" state of mind, but then after a bit of syncopated drumming and an insertion of keyboard solo punctured every few seconds by a sharp guitar chord impaling it. Every other song (available on their MySpace) persuades some kind of head bobbing or body rock out of you as they play on. Even if you have to listen to it in the background, they're really worth checking out.

http://www.myspace.com/airportcityexpress

And, since I'm just excited by this, Street Sweeper Social Club should be somewhere in sight. Ok, sure. Rage Against The Machine was a force in social awareness and pointing out the things going wrong in our global society. And yea, they were pretty quiet during a large part of the Bush administration. But, Tom Morello's back with something new, with a strong fist, a strong message, and an even stronger frontman. Boots Riley, emcee for the audible and politically vocal The Coup, brings the words of a revolution with a fire and flavor of it's own. In teaming up with Morello, Riley now has shifted from launching his lyrical attack over some velvety smooth funk styled beats, to letting them loose over Morello's equally potent guitar tracks. The result is a nuclear attack on the brain. 100 Little Curses reminds us how far the working class gets pushed down while the rich get richer. The Oath stands out like an operating procedure for the revolution. All of these tracks off of the self-titled album are a strong punch in the crotch to those who can understand it's not just about the music, it's about what's right.

http://www.myspace.com/streetsweepersocialclub