David Vandervelde - "I Will Be Fine" and "Someone Like You"

Download: David Vandervelde - "I Will Be Fine"
Download: David Vandervelde - "Someone Like You" (via Stereogum)

Note: Most of this post originally appeared on MFR

Over at the forums on music blog aggregator Elbo.ws (a site we may or may not mention), at least twice every 30 days, there's been a discussion of what are 2008's most overlooked records, inspired by Pitchfork's post-festival attempt to do the same.

My contenders for this year include Dosh's Wolves and Wishes (mp3); Head of Femur's Great Plains (mp3; and, agreeing with the 'fork, Ponytail's Ice Cream Spiritual (mp3).

In addition to this year's records, I thought about last years. One of those albums was David Vandervelde's The Moonstation House Band (mp3; mp3). It's an album that clearly wears its glam-rock influences on its sleeve. The most obvious reference points are David Bowie's Ziggy-period work and T. Rex. While the sound may not be original, the amount of craft that went into the songs (particularly on "Nothin' No", where fuzzed-out, multi-tracked guitars and sitars made for an irresistibly easy going track) was more than apparent. Moonstation was a taut, ten-track set that earned solid reviews for the most part, but seemed to be forgotten come best-year time.

His second album, Waiting For The Sunrise, could be another candidate for overlooked record. "I Will Be Fine" , the first single from Waiting for the Sunrise, is a similarly-minded song that, while emulating soft-rock more than glam (which is a mistake, I think), contains enough glorious harmonization that would make Fleet Foxes fans wonder if they've gotten on the wrong ship. However, unlike Foxes' mammoth popularity, Vandervelde is nowhere to be found on music blog aggregators.

I don't think there's a conspiracy of any kind. Just that people have gotten caught up with hype surrounding other acts; happens all the time. But, if you find yourself just waking up with the sun, you can do no better than to have "I Will Be Fine" as your background music. Additionally, Stereogum posted another track from Sunrise titled "Someone Like You". As a song, there's a little bit of a easy-going reggae feel here, with the offbeat guitar strokes and B3-organ helping to cement that impression. However, the acoustic guitars and vocal melodies (especially the wordless ones that come toward the end of the song) have Big Star written all over it. All in all, another solid track.

Waiting For The Sunrise is out now.

David Vandervelde MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)