You Could Surely Try To Be More Alive

White Circle Crime Club “I’m Going To Expose You” – Aside from the bits of incoherant punky shouting, this is almost a dead ringer for Sonic Youth circa 1987, approaching the same sort of blown-out black and white sci-fi cityscape that Thurston et al evoked on Sister (aka my favorite SY album.) There’s one patch in particular (from about 4:21 through 4:50 or so) that I think might actually be directly lifted from an Sonic Youth record, though I can’t quite place it. (Click here to buy it from Conspiracy Records.)

Mates of State “Fraud in the ’80s” – Poor Mates of State – they’d be crazy for the duo to not to perform this song live since it’s probably the best song they’ve ever written, but if they do so, there’s just no way they could pull it off without a) some major cheats with pre-recorded parts (ie, most of the arrangement) b) additional players onstage c) totally overhauling the arrangement and potentially sacrificing much of the song’s appeal. But either way, there’s a lot to love in this studio version, from the specific tone of the overdriven keyboards to the gorgeous self-harmonization to the verses, which sound a bit like a perky version of Mary Timony. (Click here to pre-order it from Barsuk.)