Tonight I Leave It Up To You

Spektrum “Kinda New” – Nearly all of the reviews that I’ve read about the Spektrum record namecheck DFA and a wide range of punk-funk artists both new and old, and though I can hear some tangental relationship to that sort of music on Enter The Spektrum, by far the best songs from the LP owe more to straight up dance pop and modern r&b than anything else. “Kinda New” could easily pass as being a dance remix of a track by a nu-soul r&b singer following in the footsteps of Angie Stone, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu. The vocals are competant if a bit generic, but the real draw here is the light, subdued funk of the track itself. The whole thing sounds so amazingly understated and spare, with several melodic, rhythmic, and textural elements flowing together perfectly in a way that doesn’t sound the least bit busy in spite of its relative complexity. From start to finish, “Kinda New” feels as though it is gliding along several feet above the ground, eventually gaining maximum altitude during a brief synth solo halfway through which recalls “Head” from Prince’s Dirty Mind. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Gang Gang Dance “Rugs Of Prayer” – This is a selection from They Keep Me Smiling, a super limited edition compilation/art book put together by Hisham Bharoocha, formerly of the band Black Dice. Gang Gang Dance are a somewhat mysterious collective of musicians from NYC who specialize in spooky art music which straddles the line separating goth and avant rock. Basically, this sounds like The Slits with all of the goofy fun and sex removed. I realize that sounds like a condemnation, but it’s good stuff on its own terms, I promise. Play it at your next séance! (Click here to buy it from Social Registry.)

Two more new MP3 blogs: A Million Love Songs is focused on teen pop love songs, and Supervixxen covers a fairly wide range of UK chart pop. I am happy to see a lot of very pop-oriented MP3 blogs turn up, but I’m a bit worried for them, since I think that their chances of getting in trouble with record labels is far greater than that of blogs focusing on more obscure material. Still, the best of luck to them.