You know that feeling, when you’ve been in a long music slump, when nothing really strikes your fancy? Weeks if you’re lucky, months or years if you’re not.

Then one day you put on your headphones, click ‘play’ on an artist you’ve never heard of before, ready to classify it as either ‘mediocre‘ or ‘please-God-never-again‘… and it is fucking fantastic. It is everything you have been looking for. It is getting steak when you ordered a hamburger. It is being upgraded to first class when you bought a ticket for steerage. It is exactly what you’ve been looking for and makes the past weeks, months or years of grinding through merely-satisfactory tracks all the worthwhile.

Behold, Walter Meego. When this indie-electro-pop-ish group performed last year at the SXSW festival, I was turned on to their latest EP (at the time) “Keyhole“. I will admit that this particular track does have a bit of quirk factor to it, specifically the vocal track. But I tend to like quirk and this track grows on me more with each listen. Nice electro beats and extra points for the use of a slightly out of tune upright piano.

Walter Meego - Keyhole

Fast forward to this year’s SXSW festival, and we learn that this trio (or duo + live performer) from Chicago is planning - finally! - a full album release called Voyager. You can really hear a progression of their work when comparing the earlier Keyhole to this new track, titled Forever. There’s more layers to their sound now and it seems they’ve really found ‘their place’. For me, it’s a perfect mix of a unique lead voice, a great beat, plenty of knob-tweaking and filters, and even a throwback to the 80’s with that guitar rift. This song has really lifted me out of my musical malaise. We need more music like this. And we will, on May 27th, when Voyager hits the shelves, courtesy of Almost Gold Records.

Walter Meego - Forever

Can’t wait? There’s a few more tracks on their MySpace page and of course there’s always iTunes.

Finally, if you happen to to be in the area for the SXSW festival (lucky!), you can catch them at the following locations:

03/12: The Parish (Almost Gold Recordings Showcase)
03/13: Creekside Lounge
03/14: Beauty Bar
03/14: Urban Outfitters

Okay, I’m still at the office…so I can’t stay here to chat.

That said, some of you may have heard of the massive blackouts currently chewing their way through Florida, where the Beatswamp contributors house their bodies. It is our meatspace - home, where the heart is, where we hang our hats.

Anyway…just felt like posting the following, since it (currently) remains true:

SNAP - THE POWER

…as in, I got it.

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So this is a track I came across about a year ago. I’d never heard it before nor had I heard of the artist, Margo Guryan. I originally thought it was actually a new artist trying to emulate that old-timey sound until I did some researching. Kind of a sad story it seems. A classical and jazz pianist, she was turned on to the hits of the Beach Boys and got to work writing songs. Take A Picture was released in 1968, but as she refused to tour, her label would not promote the album. As a result it made little impact. She then left the professional circuit and became a music teacher. There’s a definite pre-70’s, “things are starting to get psychedelic” feel to it. It’s happy, upbeat yet relaxing at the same time.

Margo Guryan - Sunday Morning

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…40 years later we find not a talented-yet-failed artist, but one who seems to get better with every album release. The latest by Goldfrapp, released on February 11th is titled Seventh Tree. This particular track, A&E gives much more prominence to Alison Goldfrapp’s smooth voice, with subdued electronics backing her. Very uplifting.. Unfortunately I see this song being used in either a commercial or some gushy montage on The O.C. where someone’s heart gets broken.

Goldfrapp - A&E

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