So yesterday’s romp on the grungier side of the tracks got me thinking about the other end of the alt rock spectrum—the prettier stuff that (not to sound like a complete asshat) I always think of as the prototypical indie chick’s bread and butter. BSS’s “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl,” outsiders’ waltz par excellence, comes immediately to mind. That gentle banjo, those gauzy strings, the lilting vocals and wistful lyrics, all scream to me that the song just has to be everyone’s sister’s all time favorite*—and on cue, a quick YouTube search reveals multiple “for my dissertation” fan vids by some ridiculously comely lady folk. Disclaimer: effeminate or not, “Anthems” is an incredible tune, and certainly one of BSS’s best.

Anyhoo, another of my favorites in the category I’ve (no doubt offensively) dubbed “Music of Emasculation” is Rilo Kiley. My first experience with the band actually came when I saw them open for The Stills circa 2004. Nineteen years old and particularly vulnerable to Jenny Lewis’s obtrusive bangs and TopShop charm, I picked up one of their CDs post-show and have never looked back. Like “Anthems,” Rilo Kiley’s catalog clearly sounds by and about a cute (but inexplicably spurned) hipster chick in the city, thick with lonesome apartments and boys that aren’t comin’ back. This doesn’t diminish the music’s enjoyability, just the venues I’m likely to play it in—kind of like the Tom Collins of my alt rock world. So I’m curious what some other MoE favorites are. Death Cab for Cutie anyone….

*My sister is actually a HUGE Plain White T’s fan. Yech….