>Sometimes, overblown rock is just what you need. I rediscovered a huge bundle of CDs the other day, and amongst them was the Manic Street Preachers’ half-good, half-poodle-rock debut LP, Generation Terrorists, an album I hadn’t listened to for years. It’s a pleasant Über-slick chug through a weird combo of late-80’s RAWK and the punky aesthetic that they later became better known for. That said, super-smooth rock grates after a while, and unless you own a pickup and live in Arkensas or Texas, I imagine that the slick radio-friendly stylings of Nickelback at al are as far away from your stereo as is humanly possible too.

An antidote to slick RAWK is Today’s New Band, Computerization, fresh from a bedroom in New York. Cobbled together from synths and bleeps, his songs are cheap ‘n’ cheerful – literally, in fact. He has a brilliant service where for a meagre $9 you can order your own song, to your specifications – subject matter, tempo, instruments etc – and he’ll make it and mail it to you. The songs that he makes for himself, like Go Back, with its lovely chorus, and 1Point14Me, a slow, scattered pop song, are the sound of an abandoned computer singing to you from a skip – vocodered, slight and a bit world-weary.

It’s all very simple, basic and rough and ready, and like his super-slick antipodal counterpart Generation Terrorists, you might not want to hear a whole album of it. But so what? Pop music is about short, creative bursts of happiness and with Computerization‘s songs, that’s just what you get. Listen to his songs here, and apply for your own custom song here!