The Sifting Pan

Helping you find those Indie Gems!

Tag Archives: Song of the Day


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Song of the Day! Balthazar – Fifteen Floors & Throwing A Ball

Balthazar are throwing a ball from the Kortrijk area of Belgium

Balthazar – Fifteen Floors

Balthazar – Throwing A Ball

Kind of a busy weekend for me so I don’t have much time to keep up with my Song of the Day. I’m so sorry to disappoint my immense amount devoted viewers (Could you pick up the sarcasm?) so to make up for missing yesterday, and possibly tomorrow, I’m throwing two amazing indie gems at you today.

For most people I feel the name Balthazar gives the wrong impression as to what this Belgian Rock/Pop outfit is all about. Try to wipe clean your demonic pre-misconceptions and understand that Balthazar make music that is more on the heavenly end of the spectrum. Their 2010 debut album Applause was like a gift from the Gods themselves and never ceases to sweep me off my feet with each listen, and is undoubtedly the best album of 2010 that you have never heard. So what makes this album so special? Just listen to Fifteen Floors and tell me with a straight face it is not in fact something special. (And if you did I’d simply call you a liar) The trumpet, the bass, the mother-fucking Disney endings… it’s all there! And that’s only track numero uno out of a wonderfully crafted set of eleven songs. Now I could’ve added any other track from the album to this post but I had to choose my personal favorite from Applause, Throwing A Ball. It’s like a fairy tale dance hall hit minus the glamour and princess bull sh*t. The bass guitar in the song just takes over and the gritty viloin accompaniment just drives it all the way home. Throw in the catchy lyrics and it’s very hard for me to find reasons not to love this song. If Fifteen Floors or Throwing A Ball even remotely sparked your intrest I highly recommend sending a few euros Balthazar’s way and pick up a copy of Applause. 


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Song of the Day! Mister Heavenly – Mister Heavenly

Mister Heavenly are self titled doom-woopers

That’s no typo, Mister Heavenly is both the name of the band and their first single. It’s safe to say that Mister Heavenly qualifies for indie super-group status when you look at the members- Honus Honus of Man Man, Nicholas Thorburn of Islands and The Unicorns, and Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and The Shins. To top off that delicious indie pie the band is joined by indie movie darling Michael Cera as their touring bassist. The song Mister Heavenly is a great example of the unquie genre the band classifies themselves under, Doom-wop. Apparently it’s a combination of doo-wop and doomed loved songs, and golly-gee sarah-lee I am hop-diggity digging it! (Too much perhaps?) The band has only released two songs so far but are already putting the finishing touches on their first album, which is not set to be released until “maybe august” so we’ll just have to be patience. Until then enjoy the doom-wop of Mister Heavenly or their other single Pineapple Girl.


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Song of the Day! Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Morning Thought

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. share a morning thought from Detroit, MI

This is a large amount of big noise coming from a band of this caliber. To me Morning Thought covers the same soundscape as the colossal avant-garde indie band Animal Collective. The only thing I’d say is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. makes electro-pop music that is a little more listener friendly then their animal kingdom friends. Morning Thought is the first single off the band’s approaching debut LP It’s A Corporate World, which is due out on the 6th of June. You can also download the song for free at the bands website in exchange for your e-mail, which is a small price to pay for this wonderful tune.


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Song of the Day! Lanu – Beautiful Trash feat. Megan Washington


DJ Lanu brings us his musical versatility from Melbourne

Info on Lanu: Last.fm

Beautiful Trash is very beautiful and is anything but trash. A nice casual beat that anyone can step to and wonderful smile inducing vocals courtesy of Megan Washington. It seems that this style is not quite the norm for New Zealand born, Australian based, DJ Lanu who is more widely know for his club hits then easy going jazz-esque tunes. I think it is perfectly fine for him to take a break from those club bangers if he’s going to compile such wonderful songs like Beautiful Trash. You can hear many more tracks with this kind of steady flow on Lanu’s latest LP Her 12 Faces, which features Ms. Washington a multitude of times. If broken beat and random french is your thing then I suggest looking into this album.



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Song of the Day! Gorillaz – Revolving Doors

Gorillaz recorded The Fall from all corners of the globe

Somehow the Gorillaz managed to sneak a full album release under my nose. Apparently the band was busy behind the scenes of their Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour last year recording their latest album The Fall in between tour dates. The most interesting thing about the album is that all the recording was done through Gorillaz founder (and Blur frontman) Damon Albarn’s iPad and various apps that he downloaded. For an album recorded on a 9×7 inch device I have to give the band major props. While the album doesn’t stand out as anything special when you look at the Gorillaz amazing track record, it is still a beautiful work of musical art that refuses to be ordinary and mundane. Revolving Doors is one of the best tracks you’ll find on The Fall and seems to have a more traditional Gorillaz sound (If such a thing even exists). The album saw a free release to Gorillaz fan club members back in December but just recently got a physical release in April of this year. The Fall is a must have for all of those who claim to be true Gorillaz fans.