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Double the music again, since I missed last Thursday.

The Guest Bedroom
How cute is The Guest Bedroom, you ask? Pretty damn cute. Think ugly-voiced girl-fronted punk with silly instrumentation. Organs! Gratuitous use of the triangle! A really tinkly piano! They're the perfect mix of fun and snarling. I love Sandi Falconer's voice even when she's yelling at me, which, as anyone who knows me well will tell you, is a very rare thing. I even love how plodding and methodical the guitar parts are - somehow they manage to make this charming rather than boring.

The Guest Bedroom - Fake Flowers
The Guest Bedroom - God Bless the Heartless
and how much is this song just asking to be FSTed?

David and the Citizens
The music blog 3hive and I don't always agree. So when it decided to describe David and the Citizens as "Sweden's New Pornographers," I was like "YEAH RIGHT GUYS." But it's sort of true! They fall into the same satisfying middle area between pop and rock. They've got the same sort of underhandedly smart but deceptively simple lyrics. And goddammit, they are catchy and fun! With hand claps! And vocal harmonies!

David and the Citizens - The End
I particularly like how this one is 1/3 rock, 1/3 pop, and 1/3 epic klezmer cowboy ballad.
David and the Citizens - Let's Not Fall Apart

Idina Menzel - Defying Gravity (Remix)
For those of you who always wanted to hear it as a solo. The remix is, ahem, a little over-produced (actually, synthesized to death might be more apt), but there's no denying that A) girl can sing and B) this song is awesome. The tone of the song has been changed a lot (from Wicked's self-realization to a more generic self-affirmation?), which threw me at first, but I'm slowly warming up to it.

Journey to the West - Happy Little Arhat
Since we're on the topic of musicals, I just wanted to pimp out what is possibly my favourite musical ever and note that the cast recording is available from the official site. "Happy Little Arhat," the second song in the line-up, is the introduction of our protagonist Sanzo Jiang-Lai and a pretty good example of the things I love most about JtW: the dorky sense of humour, the uplifting lyrics, the nods to Asian musical traditions in the background, and oh god Jiang-Lai's voice nrrrrgh.