"Game" (Bull City)

Once again, I have NC State University's WKNC radio to thank for introducing me to a song.
I was on I-40, driving back to Raleigh from dinner with a friend in Durham, and this great song came on during a program featuring rising local artists.  It sounded kind of like Jay Farrar, if Jay Farrar steered Son Volt off the gravel backroads and onto the expressway for a change.  There were hints of Neil Young, John Fogerty, and the power pop of Big Star, too.  But it sounded like an homage, not a ripoff. 
I'm almost afraid to admit this...  But I actually pulled off the freeway at a random exit and sat in a grocery store parking lot until the song finished, and then I left myself a voice memo to remember the name of the band.  (Nerd.)
Anyway, the song was "Game" by a Durham-based indie rock outfit, Bull City.  Written by the band's frontman/guitarist/occasional keyboardist Jim Brantley, "Game" is a terse, tight rocker about the topic of work/success/priorities.  It features crunchy guitars and the kind of driving backbeat that gets you (unwittingly) slapping the steering wheel of your car.  It also has these unexpected, lush strings that rise out of nowhere and underlie a stunning guitar solo from Brantley, which sounds like Wilco's Nels Cline reimagining Fogerty's swampy freakout from Creedence's cover of "Suzie Q."  
As far as I know, the band only ever put out two short EPs, one of which is Guns & Butter (2007) containing the track "Game."  It's a shame they didn't do any more, because Guns & Butter is one hell of a collection of well-crafted songs with raw, live immediacy and heart.  I highly recommend downloading it (for free, if you wish) from their Bandcamp artist page. 

"Said So What" (French Kicks)

French Kicks is (was?) a New York indie band.  The little I know about them is that the band was formed in Brooklyn in the late 90s by three guys from Ohio's Oberlin College and another guy from Princeton.  One of them went on to work for the website Etsy in the late 2000s, and the band hasn't released much since.
Nevertheless, what the band did release over the years is pretty compelling stuff.  Especially 2008's Swimming, which is solid from start to finish.  Their sound conjures up the more ethereal and grooving sides of My Morning Jacket/Jim James (minus the alt country leanings) with a touch of off-kilter pop goodness à la Big Star/Alex Chilton and Lindsey Buckingham circa Tusk or Law and Order.
One standout track from Swimming is "Said So What."  I first heard the song on college radio (WKNC) one night in Raleigh, NC, after a particularly shitty day at work.  I'm still not sure about any of the lyrics.  From what I've been able to pick out, it seems like the narrator is addressing someone who is living life like it's his/her own personal drugstore, and despite letting this individual know that he is willing to stick by him/her, he still can't help but ask, "Why?"
For me, it was the mystery and murk of the verses, followed by that indelible Why, tell me, why / I don't know in the chorus, that grabbed me that evening.  I personally felt as if I were fighting an uphill battle with no chance of victory, and that harmonious refrain Why, tell me, why and the ultimate reply I don't know fit perfectly at that moment.  
It's just a well-crafted, tastefully produced song that I tend to revisit, over and over.  Just wish French Kicks would make more music one day.