Jerry's Pick: "What Went Wrong"

"WHAT WENT WRONG"-UNTIL JUNE

I like this track.  I'll admit, it took a few plays.  Probably because I was, at first, listening intently to only the lyrics. Once I took a couple steps back, it began to coalesce.

There's a brief 3-2-1 keyboard countdown and then the band immediately launches into a Coldplay-like jangly guitar barrage, backing off just in time to hear a heartbreaking plea: "Will you wait for me, when I come for you?"

The band is Until June, a Phoenix trio featuring ASU brothers Josh (vocals/keyboards) and Dan Ballard (guitar) with drummer Daniel Dempsey. Josh plays the part perfectly.  You can hear the hurt in his falsetto as he reflects on a relationship that meant the world to him.

"What Went Wrong" is the first single off of the band's second album, Young & Foolish.  According to Josh, “We decided that the most artistic way to present the songs on Young & Foolish was not just about how the melodies or chord progressions were constructed, but also the way my vocals came across. We didn’t want to have them right in your face like typical pop tracks, but rather tucked underneath.”

Side note: Until June has been around since 2000, but after five-years of struggling to make it in the music biz the band set a deadline saying that they would keep working hard "until June" of 2005 to score a record deal or they would call it quits.  Not only did they sign with a label, but they got a meaningful group name out of it as well.

Jerry's Pick: "Playing For Keeps"

"PLAYING FOR KEEPS"-ELLE KING

Here's a young bleach-blonde with an old soul and a bluesy voice accentuated by a perfect mix of grit and rasp.

Her sound is similar to Adele, but with depth.  Joplin, Holiday and Duffy also come to mind.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instumentalist Elle King feels every single syllable that rolls effortlessly out of her mouth on "Playing For Keeps," one of four original tracks off of The Elle King EP.  Despite being in her early-20's, the crackles in her voice hint at a seasoned veteran who sounds as if she's been performing in smoky bars for decades.

"I grew up loving Etta James and Aretha Franklin and Al Green and Otis Redding, and I just love old-school R&B," King told Vanity Fair. "It’s just music that moves you and grooves you, and it was very important, I think, for music. That sound was, and still is today, my favorite. And I also love country."

You may have caught Elle performing "Playing For Keeps" last week on Letterman or heard it as the theme song to the new VH1 series, "Mob Wives: Chicago."  Regardless, you should be playing "Playing For Keeps" as this one definitely is a keeper.

Incidentally, Elle is the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and model London King.  Yeah, she made the right choice. The surname "King" works way better when you're singing the blues.

Jerry's Pick: "Sleep Alone"

"SLEEP ALONE"-TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

I was happy to hear that Two Door Cinema Club has finally released a new single (which you can sample by clicking the music video below)! But if you've never heard of the Irish trio, I strongly recommend listening to a couple of tunes from the group's last album, Tourist History, first. "Something Good Can Work" and "What You Know" are two of the best indie-tracks of 2010 and still get recurrent spins on my iPod. Their latest, "Sleep Alone," is a bit more polished than anything on the band's first disc. Their new single may have lost a bit of the band's indie-edginess, but it's still a fine-crafted pop-tune… especially down to the track's final 30-seconds where they channel a bit of Viva la Coldplay.

Regarding their new album, singer Alex Trimble said, "Beacon is a much more intimate record than our first, but at the same time, it's much bigger and more inclusive. Trying to find that balance has been our goal for a long time and this record takes us one step closer to the band we've dreamt of becoming." 

The rest of Beacon will see the light of day in early September.

-Jerry Steffen