Friday Playlist: New or New To You

Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means. Yes, you guessed it: it means you can see me and my lovely wife in a total of 15 10-minute improv shows this weekend. It also means it's time for a new Friday playlist! This week's is a roundup of some music that's either new or new to you [Editor's note: "you" in this case being "me"]. Enjoy! Descriptions below.

• "Quiet Little Voices" - We Were Promised Jetpacks
  The Scottish invasion continues, this time with the best band name I've heard in a long time. We Were Promised Jetpacks errs on the louder side of the "we are depressed and Scottish, usually in that order" vibe that many of these bands give off. This song is pretty indicative of the louder side of this album - it's a great album, well worth checking out.
  
  
• "Rauðilækur" - Mammút
  My friend Lori recently took a jealousy-inducing trip to Iceland, and she came back loaded with music recommendations. One of them was Mammút, who makes great use of their female vocalist. I assume she's singing in Icelandic. By the way, the playlist tool doesn't really dig those Icelandic letters, so please forgive the gibberish up there.
  
  
• "The Sun" - Portugal. The Man
  I think their new album is my favorite one yet by this great band. I hear traces of The Sleepy Jackson and Viva Voce on this album, and that's a wonderful thing. This song makes me smile.
  
  
• "Even In The Rain" - The Fiery Furnaces
  After a bizarre and somewhat rough patch, The Fiery Furnaces actually put out a good, interesting, weird-but-listenable album! Of course, every song is from a completely different genre, and none of them make any sense, but it's really a good album, I promise. This song is just one of the many catchy (seriously!) numbers on there.
  
  
• "The Lie/The Truth" - Double Dagger
  Double Dagger is a Baltimore-based punk band my brother told me about recently. Don't let that "punk" label fool you - these guys have a surprising amount of pop sensibilities and they know how to craft a hook. Good stuff.
  
  
• "Handsome Furs Hate This City" - The Handsome Furs
  This album is in no way new, but as I've been making my way through the Wolf Parade side projects (or is Wolf Parade the side project of one of those other bands?), I finally discovered The Handsome Furs, courtesy of my friend Jon. They do have a more recent album, but it hasn't won me over as much as Plague Park. This song reminds me a lot of Wolf Parade's "This Heart's On Fire."
  
  
• "We Were Sick" - The Thermals
  I realized today that I hadn't mentioned The Thermals' new album on this blog yet. It's not as good as their last album, but it's still pretty damn good if you're into simple catchy pop-punk, or whatever it's called.
  
  
• "Never Seen" - Lightning Dust
  Another Black Mountain side project, Lightning Dust only has about 1/5 of the membership of Pink Mountaintops, but they still rock, even if they do it quietly and with feeling.
  
  
• "Everyone Is Golden" - Portugal. The Man
  Seriously, this album is so good it deserves to have 2 tracks on today's playlist.
  

So what else is new? Heard anything good lately? Let me know in the comments.