See This Night Through

The new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site, and features tracks from Lo-Fi-Fnk, Chad VanGaalen, and Girl Talk. I regret never featuring anything from the latter’s Night Ripper here, so if you haven’t heard that, please do go check that out.

Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman “Young Folks” – The Concretes In Colour could very well be the most disappointing follow-ups in recent years. It’s a drab, lifeless record that doesn’t come anywhere close to the woozy, wintery sparkle of the best tracks from the Concretes’ self-titled record, and did little to stimulate listeners or the musicians themselves, who seem almost completely uninspired by their own material, most especially singer Victoria Bergsman. Unsurprisingly, Bergsman recently left the Concretes, who are now stuck in the unenviable position of having to replace the single best thing about their band. Peter Bjorn and John (the folks who brought you the brilliant song “Money,” which I featured here last October, and is one of my favorite songs from last year, though I get the impression that none of you really cared about it one way or another) have lucked out, even if just temporarily, by tapping Bergsman for their latest single, a charming duet that makes excellent use of her endearing Nico-by-way-of-Bjork singing voice. Aside from the vocals, the production on the track is excellent, with its whistled hook fitting in nicely along with the contrast of a mellow bass groove and busy, frantic tablas. (Click here to buy it from It’s A Trap.)

Elsewhere: My review of Step Up is up on The Movie Binge.