Wrongchilde – Love Is a Battlefield
While much of this video is downright silly, Wrongchilde‘s cover of Pat Benetar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” is not. Where Benetar wore her scars like armor, Mat Devine sounds broken and worse for the wear. It’s a lovely through-the-looking-glass view of a familiar tune – different enough to stand out but not so far gone it’s unrecognizable.
Twin Atlantic – Heart and Soul
If you’ve been wishing that someone would blend the sounds of “Get Free” by The Vines and “Sowing the Seeds of Love” by Tears for Fears, then Twin Atlantic has got you covered. A bulk of the song is powered by a level of testosterone that can only come from a group of young men, but the chorus has that shiny-happy Beatlesesque gloss of the late 80s/early 90s (and the video to match).
Laura Welsh – Break the Fall
With “Break the Fall,” Laura Welsh bridges the gap between pop and something deeper. The song is catchy and dance-floor ready, but not in the plastic, bubblegum way that so many summer singles are. The video is engaging, keeping us wondering if Welsh is being consumed by a lover’s embrace or by the clutch of an attacker, and how the former can feel like the latter when a relationship is crumbling.
For the Fourth of July we decided to use a hackneyed theme to make a decent mixtape. Every song has something about America or the USA in its title or artist name, they’re all songs you’ve probably heard, and there are thirteen of them to represent the colonies. Is it groundbreaking? Nope. Is it perfect for grilling in the sunshine and starting the USA chant? Indeed it is. Mixtapes|Heartbreaks presents to you: True American.
TRUE AMERICAN
01| Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
02| American Woman by Lenny Kravitz
03| Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World
04| Lump by The Presidents of the United States of America
05| Ventura Highway by America
06| Never Meant by American Football
07| My Paper Heart by The All-American Rejects
08| So American by Portugal. The Man
09| USA by Yellow Ostrich
10| American Hearts by Piebald
11| American Girl by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
12| American Boy by Estelle f/Kanye West
13| Party & Bullshit in the USA by DJ Crazy J Rodriguez
Allah-Las – 501-415
“501-415″ puts Allah-Las in full retro swing. The video’s editing and hi-jinks make us think the band is The Monkees’s cooler, older brother…from the future.
Sean Watkins – Wave As We Run
I’ll admit it: this video is pretty boring in and of itself. Why post it? Because you won’t care about the video after hearing this song from Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek). Like the video, it’s bare-bones, but the lovely picked-out guitar line and Watkins’s sweet high notes make it a stand-out track.
Twin Peaks – Flavor
Screwing around in the summertime with your buds, splish-splashing and listening to some rock and roll – take a page out of Twin Peaks‘s book (we recommend a legal one because we’re total squares) and seek maximum enjoyment this summer.
