Imperial Teen: "Runaway" (MP3)

Sound It Out #9 — Imperial Teen: "Runaway"

It's been nearly five years since Imperial Teen's last record and I have missed them terribly. The band started in San Francisco in 1996 and have managed to put out consistently sassy and exuberant records every few years or so. All of the members appear to have real lives: Roddy Bottum is in (newly re-reunited) Faith No More and writes scores for film and TV, Lynn Truell played in Sister Double Happiness and The Dicks and now has two kids, Jone Stebbins is a hairstylist/ukelele player and Will Schwartz is one of the founders of the band hey willpower.

So, this is a band of grownups, though you would never guess from their newest record "Feel the Sound" (out 1/31/12). True to the album's name, Imperial Teen focused on maturing their sonic output, with lyrics and meaning taking a back seat to more sophisticated rhythms and vocal layering than their previous efforts.

"Runaway" is a masterfully crafted pop song where every member of the band sings lead at once. The sing-song chorus is a whole lot of fun and is destined to become a workout classic.

Download an MP3 pf Imperial Teen's "Runaway"

Bonus: Help us create the ultimate playlist of counting songs!

Writing about the new Imperial Teen single, I realized that I am crazy about songs that have counting in them! I obsessed about this for a few days during our recent blackout and made a playlist of all of the (good) counting songs that I could think of. Spotify had most of them, though they don't have the new Imperial Teen song yet and they are missing The Poster Children's "0 For 1", Plastilina Mosh's " Bassass" and The B-52s' "Legal Tender".

You can listen to the rest of my playlist here, and feel free to suggest more in the Boing Boing comments – I'll add more songs as your suggestions come in.

Favorite Counting Songs (in no particular order):

Sonic Youth – Bull in the Heather
The Phenomenal Handclap Band – 15 to 20
The Poster Children – 0 for 1
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Every Day I Write the Book
Wild Flag – Boom
The Pixies – Monkey Gone to Heaven
Feist – 1234
Violent Femmes – Kiss Off
The B-52s – Legal Tender
Plastilina Mosh – Bassass (International Stereo)
Imperial Teen – Runaway
David Bowie – Space Oddity
Peter Schilling – Major Tom