I hope that my first two installments of Lost and Found have treated you well, providing a sufficient amount of inspiration/aural pleasure for your own personal summer soundtrack. This week’s Lost and Found stays on more of the analog side, as I’ve been listening to way too much electronica recently… and for those of you who have seen me inevitably dancing to electronic music (consists of moving my hips and sticking out my index fingers), you know that a change in genre isn’t exactly the worst thing. So, here are three bands that I enjoy immensely but allow me to keep my index fingers in their holsters (aka music that is helpful in avoiding embarrassment to myself).

1. The Meeting Places (www.myspace.com/themeetingplaces) Are you in the mood to gaze at your shoes? The Meeting Places can hook that up for you. You might think that there is some cognitive dissonance in lacing laid back soothing vocals over chaotic reverb soaked guitars… but you think wrong, my friend. The sweet and salty mix that these guys provide mesh with your brainwaves very effectively to put you in an introspective- yet not sleepy- mood. I guess shoegaze is a good genre to place them, but I’d venture to say it’s more of a amphetamine-like shoegaze as opposed to an opiate-like shoegaze. Recommended tracks:”Wide Awake”, “Now I Know You Can Never Be The One”
2. The Whitest Boy Alive (www.imeem.com/artists/thewhitestboy_alive/) I know, great name, right? That’s what I thought too. And the lead singer is from Norway so you know he’s not pulling your chain. Erlend Øye, the pale lead singer we talk about, first caught my attention as half of the awesome yet maybe-a-bit-boring Kings of Convenience (2 for 2 in awesome names for bands… extra imaginary points). For The Whitest Boy Alive, Erlend transfers his quiet singing voice from slow folk music to more of a catchy uptempo vibe. Being that he has a laid back singing demeanor, the uptempo rhythms are tempered down just a bit… but in a pleasing manner. I think an apt way to describe it is that the instruments send signals to my index fingers that it’s time to come out and bust a move, but then the vocals remind me to chill out, sit back, and soak it all in. Embarassment avoided, thanks Erlend. Recommended tracks: “Burning”, “Done With You”
3. School of Seven Bells (http://pitchfork.com/artists/7374-school-of-seven-bells/) Identical twin sisters, of the hot variety, from Argentina. I mean, is there really more that I have to sell you on? I first saw/heard this band when they were opening for Fujiya & Miyagi on tour last winter. Being in the Fujiya & Miyagi mindset going to the concert, I was definitely ready and willing to embarass myself by dancing like an idiot. But when I got to the venue, I first heard this awesome melodic yet intense music eminating from the stage before I could see them, and thought “hm, sounds intriguing.” Then I walked towards the stage and saw them, and that is when full crush mode took effect. It totally caught me off guard, and I shifted my “make an idiot out of myself” mindset to “act cool and maybe one of them will ask you to marry them” mindset. “But Rouge” you say, “they might be hot, but can they rock?” My answer to your query is yes, yes they can rock. Quite well. They produce a pulsing vibe that has a ton of energy to go along with the powerful vocals. Because they are identical, they have the same voice as far as I can tell, and some awesome harmonization ensues. Male of female, you will have a crush on them. Recommended tracks: “Iamundernodisguise”, “Connjur”