New Rilo Kiley: Best of "Under the Blacklight"

Rilo Kiley's new album, "Under the Blacklight", is now available for streaming on Myspace. It's a great album, and people who hated "The Moneymaker" will probably be relieved by how non-sellout the album is. The sound of the album is exactly halfway between "Moneymaker" and "More Adventurous", so their sound evolves without being completely changed. They also do a little experimenting with synths, which doesn't always work, but they pull it off a few times. And also, the lyrics are just as amazing as what you would expect from Jenny Lewis. Turns out that "Moneymaker" didn't mean that RK has given up on good lyrics; they just made a superficial song about a superficial industry (porn). In other words, I was right. The rest of the album has A+ songwriting. Most of the album is about the dark side of sex; porn in "Moneymaker", hookers in "Close Call", accidentally having sex with 15 year olds in "15", and probably other stuff I missed the first time. "Dreamworld" is easily my favorite song on the album, and will be on top of the Myspace playlist tomorrow. It's probably my favorite new song to come out since "The Way I Are" showed up in April. My only problem with it is that it's so hard to understand the lyrics. Blake's vocals are hushed and hypnotic, which totally works sonically, but you can't hear the amazing lyrics. They're the kind of lyrics that smart and tight, and you can't really completely understand what they're about, but they're intriguing enough to make you want to know. I googled up the lyrics, and they're at the bottom of this playlist. Here's three of the best songs on the album, uploaded to ProjectPlaylist.com since iMeem.com hates me today. If all you see is a white box, click on "Launch Standalone player" and you'll see the working playlist in a popup window.

Dreamworld:
she was the girl with the string around her neck,
with the boy who could only give her less.
it could be more if she learned to never expect,
and now she's her and him and then a baby next.

the wedding bells won't ring, but she couldn't care less,
you exist, when you're living in a dreamworld.

he grew up drinking milk from the cow, from the farm.
he was the traitor's father's father's father.
his father made him go give back to his country.
he gave his both knees, his overseas to fight the disease.

it's spreading fast over maps and it don't look back,
when you're living in a dreamworld.

it is a lion's science fiction wings,
just like a jolly dizzy for zero, one, three times
the size of the people that came before.
me and you and what we'd do for money.

this greed and jealousy turn to need.
see, i'm a man with a plan to use my hands.
i'm touching yours, you're the girl who wanted more.
now baby, the story has faded from love to lie.

the clover under your feet is shooting stars in the night.
the people under your feet are shooting stars in the night.
the people, all that you meet, they're living in a dreamworld.