Editors' Picks: The Dresden Dolls / CIV

Meg: So, it's my first MP3 of the Week since I've been dubbed the .Org's newest news editor. I probably should have chosen a song that has great meaning to me or one I've been digging for a while or maybe even one that has the potential to make people forget about the fact I still listen to pop punk. But alas! I didn't. Instead, I chose "Backstabber," a track from the Dresden Dolls' most recent release Yes, Virginia. While I definitely enjoy bands with female vocals, the Dresden Dolls really aren't something I'd normally enjoy, so I guess in a way their tour with Panic! at the Disco is just as mismatched as me liking them. However, the theatrical, impossible to classify sound the Dresden Dolls create is absolutely addicting. Maybe it's the simple sound of the toy piano against the complicated vocal patterns and rhythms. Maybe it's the fact that two people are able to create such an enchanting, unique sound. Whatever it is, it's something I'm really enjoying right now. "Backstabber" is a positively irresistable negative track.

The Dresden Dolls - Backstabber

Brian: With the release of Set Your Goals' debut full-length, Mutiny!, coming this Tuesday on Eulogy Recordings, I figured it appropriate to feature another debut full-length from which the band took their name: CIV, with their major label debut, Set Your Goals. The 1995 cult favorite and first for Lava/Atlantic was considered by many to be the logical progression from most of the members' former endeavor, Gorilla Biscuits, as it featured raw, melodic hardcore with a serious pop-punk twist, and like its peers in Lifetime preceded a healthy number of bands claiming influence (though more in Lifetime's case, obviously). Admittedly I've only looked into CIV this past year thanks to their follower in question here, but Set Your Goals' tunes are meaningful, varied, and blatantly fun, from the "Start Today"-esque "Set Your Goals" to the "Boxcar"-nodding "So Far So Good...So What" and the fast-paced NY youth crew throwback "Trust Slips Through Your Hands." Here are some streams of a bunch of tracks from the album, all from obviously unofficial MySpace pages:

CIV - Set Your Goals
CIV - So Far So Good...So What
CIV - State of Grace
CIV - Can't Wait One Minute More
CIV - Trust Slips Through Your Hands
CIV - Solid Bond
CIV - Et Tu Bruté?
CIV - All Twisted