adrian is rad

The other day, Stereogum had some mp3s by a artist called Lily Allen. I listened. This is interesting stuff. It’s a bit hard to describe. It’s sort of rap, sort of pop, but it also has a pretty great sample, probably taken from an old field recording or a 78. It’s definitely not what I usually listen to and it has grown on me to a guilty-pleasure extent.

Lily Allen – LDN

Interestingly, there’s another track by a different band that has a very similar base musical feel but ends up being entirely different. Starting with an upbeat ukulele part (note: the uke’s name is ukulele, not ukelele), Beirut’s Postcards from Italy ends up being something a lot more akin to Andrew Bird. It apparently has a middle-eastern feel to it, but personally, I think it’s got mostly a songwriter sort of feel: it’s much closer to Andrew Bird, than, say, Oum Kulthum.

Beirut – Postcards from Italy

Thoughts on either track?