A List Of Secrets That I’ve Been Keeping

Spank Rock “Rick Rubin” – One might reasonably expect a song named after Rick Rubin to sound something like the work of its namesake, but any resemblence to music from that man’s discography in this track is tangental at best. Spank Rock raps like a nerdier version of Q Tip over an impressive composition mixing the stark video game synth style of The Neptunes with busy, syncopated percussion and odd touches of electronic psychedelia. (Click here to buy it from Big Dada.)

Kelley Stoltz “Birdies Singing” – If Belle & Sebastian are like a clever fashionista skilled in emphasizing their identity with carefully selected vintage items from the wardrobe of pop history, Kelley Stoltz is more like a hobbyist obsessed with building reverential customized miniatures in his basement. Stoltz does not appear to be interested in pushing a cult of personality so much as he is invested in the craft of old school pop songwriting. His records often seem as though he took Belle & Sebastian’s famous lyric “no one writes them like they used to, so it may as well be me” as a mission statement, even if there is no shortage of people out there writing their own Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson tunes. Though his most obvious pastiches tend to work by virtue of his gift for melody, it is unsuprising that some of his best moments come when it’s harder to pin down a direct stylistic antecedent. (Click here to buy it from Sub Pop.)