Oh, my.  I missed a week last week…Was recovering from my whirlwind 3-city Alpha Rev – Carbon Leaf tour, and just was too pooped to write.  I’m still a little tuckered out, so I’ll get right to this week’s playlist…

1.  Simple Grace – The Ruse

My favorite little L.A. rockers, The Ruse, churned out a gorgeous little acoustic-y number two weeks ago and it’s been my numero uno play since.  Love it.  The boys show their musical versatility with this change up from their usual guitar-heavy rock n’ roll.  It also reveals they’ve got a romantic side.

2.  The Wrong and the Right Now – Colourslide

One of my favorite North Carolina (by way of Florida) bands is Colourslide.  Last week, the fellas re-released their album Everybody’s Right About Everybody Else with two new bonus tracks…and this is one of them.  It captures the classic Colourslide sound in a gorgeous way.

3.  Soul & Body – Air Dubai

Colorado has so much great music brewing right now that it’s kind of ridiculous, but none more promising than Denver’s Air Dubai.  If you want a fresh, exciting new sound, you’ve got to check these kids out…It’s like they are channeling old school Jamiroquai meshed with jazz and modern day hip hop.  They released a new EP this week called Day Escape, and it is just that…a perfect little musical get away, filled with tales of being young, in love, and in a band.  My favorite track from the EP is actually “Summer Solstice,” but this is the only one available on SoundCloud.  Either way, it’s a little trip into the light fantastic…but check out the whole EP on their Bandcamp page.

4.  I Love Lamp – RdGldGrn

Gotta give my girl Allison at RadioPotato a shout out (and by extension, The Wounded Jukebox) for turning me onto this song.  What an addictive little track!  I have been dancing around my cube, car, living room, kitchen, and just about every place else for the past week to this song…Click on the lil’ arrow above to download this ditty for yourself.

5.  French Girl – Midnight Youth (click on image to watch video on Stuff.co.nz)

Hello, New Zealand. Another NZ band that I follow on Twitter, Mercury Crowe, tweeted about this band last week and I checked them out on a whim.  Apparently, Midnight Youth has been around for some time…my only question is, WHY THE HELL AM I JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT THEM?  Holy in love.  I apologize that you’re going to have to click to watch this video on another page, but it’s not embeddable anywhere. I watched this video and was an instant fan, and have been listening to their last album, The Brave Don’t Run, for the last week and anxiously waiting for tomorrow to download this song when it becomes available in the States.