A Night Misfiled Under Morning

Belle & Sebastian @ The Nokia Theatre 3/3/2006
Expectations / Another Sunny Day / Women’s Realm / Sukie in the Graveyard / To Be Myself Completely / Electronic Renaissance / The Boy Done Wrong Again / The Blues Are Still Blue / Piazza, New York Catcher / Funny Little Frog / (Stuart sings a bit of “Don’t Stop Believing” a cappella) / Like Dylan in the Movies / Your Cover’s Blown / Act of the Apostle I / I’m A Cuckoo / The Wrong Girl / White Collar Boy / Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying // Simple Things (brief, aborted) / Judy and the Dream of Horses / You’re Just A Baby

Belle & Sebastian “The Blues Are Still Blue” (Mark Radcliffe BBC Session, 2006) – I suppose that my opinion of this show is tainted by having seen the band play a generally superior gig the night before. There wasn’t anything terribly wrong with this show, though Stuart Murdoch was obviously less energetic (less manic?), and the setlist had sort of an awkward flow to it. (“Expectations” doesn’t quite work as an opener, “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” is sort of an anticlimax at the end of the set.) I was thrilled to see them play “Women’s Realm” and “The Blues Are Still Blue,” since they were the two I was most hoping for coming in to the show, though I would have liked for them to play “Slow Graffiti,” “Seeing Other People,” and “Sleep The Clock Around,” since I know that they are commonly played songs on this tour. Oh well, I’m sure I will see them again sometime. Of the songs that I saw two nights in a row, “White Collar Boy” and “I’m A Cuckoo” came off better the second time around, and “Sukie” seemed considerably more confident. (Click here to buy the orginal recording from Insound.)

The New Pornographers @ The Nokia Theatre 3/3/2006
Star Bodies / Use It / The Laws Have Changed / The Bleeding Heart Show / The Jessica Numbers / July Jones / Mass Romantic / Testament To Youth In Verse / Twin Cinema / The Bones of an Idol / The Body Says No / Jackie Dressed In Cobras / (the band briefly improvises a bit of “Eye of the Tiger”) / It’s Only Divine Right / Sing Me Spanish Techno / Letter From An Occupant

The New Pornographers “Star Bodies” (Live at the Triple Door, Seattle 8/23/2005) – I was quite happy that The New Pornographers started off this set with “Star Bodies.” After having the album for several months, the song snuck up on me a couple months ago and became one of my favorite tracks on Twin Cinema, though I should note that I can pretty much say the same thing about every song on the album except for “The Bleeding Heart Show” and “Stacked Crooked.” (The latter has grown on me considerably, but I can’t imagine the former ever not being one of my least favorites in the band’s discography, though I do concede that it is a good song. ) There was very little difference in terms of quality between the two consecutive New Pornographers shows, though the “Eye of the Tiger” improv was priceless and “Twin Cinema” packed more of a punch coming later in the running order. (Click here to buy the original recording from Insound.)

Something Keeps Turning Us On

The New Pornographers @ The Nokia Theatre 3/2/2006
Twin Cinema / Use It / The Laws Have Changed / July Jones / The Bleeding Heart Show / Stacked Crooked / Mass Romantic / Execution Day / The Fake Headlines / The Jessica Numbers / The Bones of an Idol / From Blown Speakers / It’s Only Divine Right / Slow Descent Into Alcoholism / Sing Me Spanish Techno

This is the second time that I’ve seen The New Pornographers perform without Neko Case (Dan Bejar’s absence should be taken as a given with the exception of last fall’s Twin Cinema tour), and the results were much better than the somewhat nervous, underrehearsed debut of the line-up in Brooklyn last summer. Sensibly, the songs which demanded Neko’s vocal bombast were cut from the setlist this time around, leaving ace understudy Kathryn Calder in her comfort zone, singing parts better suited to her particular vocal gifts. Without the starpower of Case and with only one Bejar song played in the set, the show served mainly as a showcase for Carl Newman’s superlative songwriting and the band’s tight harmonies.

The New Pornographers “The Bones of an Idol (Live in session, Kathryn Calder lead vocal) – It was probably for the best that I missed this song at the full band’s show at Webster Hall last year, since it probably would have been sung by Neko Case. Though I enjoy Case’s warmer vocal on the LP version, I definitely prefer Calder’s take on this song – her regal cadence and demure persona is much better suited to this composition’s chilly grandeur. (Click here to buy it from iTunes.)

Immediately following The New Pornographers’ set, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, and three other guys were introduced to the audience by Newman as being a band that they had met at a festival in Switzerland called A Matter Of Trust. They proceeded to perform an extended version of Billy Joel’s song of the same name, which is lot more hilarious in practice than it probably comes off in print.

Belle & Sebastian @ The Nokia Theatre 3/2/2006
The Stars of Track & Field / Another Sunny Day / Funny Little Frog / A Century of Fakers / Sukie In the Graveyard / Electronic Renaissance / The Lonelineness of a Middle Distance Runner / To Be Myself Completely / Dress Up In You / Fox in the Snow / White Collar Boy / Mayfly / Your Cover’s Blown / Dog On Wheels / I’m A Cuckoo / Jonathan David / (Stevie sings a bit of “People Get Ready” while Stuart instructs the dancing girls that he recruited from the audience) / If You Find Yourself Caught In Love / The State I Am In // Judy and the Dream of Horses / Me and the Major

Before last night, I had not seen Belle & Sebastian perform live since they played at the Supper Club in New York City in the fall of 1998. What a difference seven years has made! Back then they were an amiable bunch of amateurs playing Stuart Murdoch’s exquisite compositions as best as they could, but today they are a polished band of professional entertainers, with Murdoch emerging at the center as a handsome, wildly charismatic frontman. The band’s showmanship was at its best on the numbers which allowed Murdoch to perform without his guitar or piano, freeing him up to gesticulate, dance, and even crowd surf during the rock section of “Your Cover’s Blown.” He was also quite funny. After explaining that he’s been somewhat glum on this tour, mainly due to moving from room to room and bus to bus without having much time for fun, Murdoch decided to bring up six girls from the audience to dance on stage for the show’s clear highlight, “If You Find Yourself Caught In Love.”

Belle & Sebastian “Me and the Major (Live @ the Barbican, 9/25/2005)” – As you can see above, the band played half of If You’re Feeling Sinister last night, which was obviously quite a thrill for this longtime fan, though I do feel that it’s sort of odd that they would almost completely ignore their middle period in favor of the newest and oldest songs in their catalog. I’d hate to think that they are omitting them because they think people do not like those songs! I’ll be seeing tonight’s show as well, so hopefully they will add “Women’s Realm,” “Slow Graffiti,” or “Sleep The Clock Around” to the next setlist. (Click here to buy it from iTunes.)

You Listen To Trash, But It’s My Rock And Roll

Howling Bells “Low Happening” – What is a “Low Happening”? As far as I can tell from this song, it’s when a bitter romance hits rock bottom, but then blasts its way down deeper with The Jackhammer Of Mutual Contempt. The guitars sound like bad weather, and the vocals convey soul and a delicate, wounded pride where a lesser singer would only get across anger and self-righteousness. Very impressive for a debut single. (Click here for the official Howling Bells site.)

Danielson “Bloodbook On The Half Shell” – Though nothing on it matches the unhinged, childlike glee of Danielson Famile highlights such as “Cutest Lil’ Dragon,” “Good News For The Puss-Pickers” and “Fathom The Nine Fruits Pie” (the latter of which could very well be the most joyous song that I have ever heard) , the restrained, decaffeinated version of the Danielson aesthetic presented on the forthcoming album Ships is not without its own charms. Much of “Bloodbook” unfolds at a slow, laid back pace that recalls some of Grant Lee Phillips’ best work, but Daniel Smith can’t hold back his impulse for manic reverie for long, so the song vacillates between the two extremes, resulting in a peculiar variation of the old alt-rock “soft to loud” formula. (Click here for the Danielson MySpace page.)

Of All The Things I Like About You

Fuck-Off Machete “What’s The Signal?” – The way I’m hearing this, it’s like being 100% certain about your feelings for someone, and being about 60% sure of how they feel about you. It’s bursting with anxiety, lust, and this BIG BIG LOVE that you can’t quite let loose for fear of total embarassment, but can’t help but betray whenever you’re around the person in question. (Click here for the official Fuck-Off Machete site.)

Los Super Elegantes “OK” – Set to a sweet, nostalgia-inducing keyboard part, Los Super Elegantes evoke a vivid scene outside a high school on a lazy afternoon. Kids flirt and mingle, aimlessly kill time in the park, and every invitation is met with a flat, passive “okay” that just barely conceals an obvious enthusiasm that’s just a little too dorky to fully express when you’re at that age. (Click here for the official Los Super Elegantes site.)

What’s Your Name? Because I’m Impressed

Dear Nora & Casiotone For The Painfully Alone “Hot Boyz” – If a song could look you in the eyes, this recording would be wearing sunglasses and looking just over your shoulder. It’s very difficult to suss out the intentions of this Missy Elliott cover – homage or critique, parody or self-parody? It’s really hard to tell, and it’s most likely somewhere off between those margins, though the male cameo does seem to tip in favor of academic irony. But regardless of what they meant it to be, it’s a mesmerizing and genuinely effecting affectation, recasting Missy’s brassy sexuality in the context of flat-voiced, stoned Liz Phair lo-fi in which every line is delivered with air quotes, five pages of foot notes, and the nagging sense that the singer is totally consumed by a self-doubt completely at odds with the lyrical content. Also: Beware the one-string guitar solo of total emotional desolation! (Click here to buy it from States Rights.)

Linda Lamb “Twins” – Ah ha! Here’s another ideal song to be played at that hypothetical Rob Liefeld post-Apocalyptic dance party. Just imagine a bunch of Liefeld women in skimpy spandex leotards with huge hair, gigantic shoulder pads, and massive swords swaying wildly to this song’s harsh beats, or as much as they can without having their top-heavy torsos snap off at their freakishly tiny waists. This selection is from a compilation which also includes a P Diddy/Felix Da Housecat collaboration, but trust me, this is a lot better even if the curiosity factor is much lower. (Click here to pre-order it from Soul Seduction.)

Elsewhere: Happy baby boy with bubbles and Neu!

And: The annual WFMU marathon has begun! Please help to support the best freeform radio station on the planet.

Our Little Castle Is A House Of Cards

Marit Larsen “Don’t Save Me” – It’s remarkable how much that ABBA-esque ringing piano refrain adds to this song, kicking it up from being a lovely acoustic-based pop ballad to something far more classic and epic without being particularly melodramatic. This is quite simply one of the best, most masterfully composed pop singles of the year thus far. Rightfully, this track is blowing up in Norway at the moment, but with any luck, this should spread well beyond Scandinavia over the course of the year. (Click here to buy it from CDON.)

Dresden Dolls “My Alcoholic Friends” – It’s a strange thing. I listen to quite a bit of music that doesn’t have much of a connection to my own experiences and lifestyle, and 95% of the time, it doesn’t really make a difference to me one way or another. Dresden Dolls falls into the remaining 5% – I can’t help but feel as though I’m listening to music that is meant for someone else, and that I’m some sort of subcultural intruder for putting this song on repeat even if it’s basically the sort of jaunty cabaret/glam tune that ordinarily wouldn’t be so out of place on this site. It’s catchy and clever, but man, I just feel like I’m surreptitiously reading some teenage goth girl’s livejournal or something. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

The Death of a Ladies Man

Casey Dienel “Doctor Monroe” – The most immediately striking thing about Miss Dienel’s first album is that it is so incredibly low-key and unpolished that she makes writing these wonderfully catchy songs with clever lyrics seem nearly effortless, which is definitely not the case for most people. On the surface, she’s like a much much much less precious version of Nellie McKay, but the melodic sensibility is closer to that of Ben Folds, and the lyrics seem vaguely Steely Dan-ish to me. This is all rather startling for someone who is only 20 years old!
(Click here to buy it from Hush Records.)

Product 01 “Hot (Electro Vox Mix)” – You know how some people have a “type,” and they can’t help but melt whenever they meet a person who falls into that type? I’m like this with these glammy, sexy electro vamp songs, whether it be by Goldfrapp or Richard X or whomever. There’s really not that many people doing this sort of thing, so it’s still fairly exotic and it kills me every time, and I’m not sure if I can totally explain why. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

I’m An Ice Skater’s Bruised Knees

The Fiery Furnaces “Police Sweater Blood Vow” – Since they are the sort of band that clearly takes a lot of glee in messing with their audience’s expectations, I was a bit nervous that the Fiery Furnaces would do something to mess up the studio recording of this song, which I had fallen in love with on the strength of the acoustic KEXP session version posted on this site last spring. Though there’s a bit of overdub overkill as the song progresses, this Bitter Tea arrangement basically plays it straight as a jaunty Dylan-esque singalong, placing the emphasis firmly on the melody and the lyrics. It’s an amazing, highly accesable song, and surely the sort of thing that will win back listeners put off by the bizarre excesses of Rehearsing My Choir.

In addition to its relatively normal arrangement, “Police Sweater Blood Vow” also rates as being one of the most easily relatable songs in the Furnaces catalog with its frank, straightforward lyrics about the troubles of a long distance relationship. On the verses, Eleanor sings several lines about memories and places that are so specific that they seem dense and cryptic, but the lines that dig in deepest are the most obvious and matter-of-fact: “It’s only you who effects me,” sounding more like a diagnosis than a confession. “That’s not right babe, you’re here and I’m there,” the words falling flat from futility. “Tell me, babe, what time is it now?,” muttered on a cell phone to a person in some far-off time zone. (Click here for the official Fiery Furnaces website.)

How To Get To Purest Hell

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They “Lowlife” – With a pulse-pounding beat and jittery horns, They Shoot Horses… evoke the fun sort of paranoia, i.e., the kind that does not directly involve yourself. This is more like the vicarious thrill of watching characters get put through the wringer in pulpy genre fiction, safe from the possibility of actually being the person at risk of being knifed by a lowlife in some noirish scenario. (Click here to buy it from Buy Olympia.)

Mark Ronson with Alex Greenwald “Just” – With the help of the horn section of the Dap Kings and the singer from Phantom Planet, DJ Mark Ronson foregrounds the R&B grooves that were always present in the Radiohead original, resulting in the very best Radiohead cover (with vocals) that I’ve heard. The transposition of Johnny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien’s lead guitar parts to trumpet and saxphone is particularly inspired, and though I do wish the vocals were more soul/R&B to match the rest of the arrangement, Greenwald does a fine job. It’s definitely a lot better than my performance of “Creep” with the Super Karaoke Fun Time Band last night! (Click here to visit Mark Ronson’s MySpace page.)

I Flit, I Float, I Fleetly Flee, I Fly

Max Tundra “So Long, Farewell” – The first time that I heard this, I spent the full duration of the song with a slack-jawed look of giddy disbelief on my face. I’m not kidding or exaggerating at all! It’s kind of amazing how perfectly this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic from The Sound Of Music suits Max Tundra’s distinct aesthetic. Tundra infuses the familiar showtune with the hyperactive cheer and sunny electronic textures of his 2002 classic Mastered By Guy at the Exchange, bringing out the best in the song and in his production style. (Click here for the official Max Tundra website.)

Simon Bookish “Terry Riley Disco (Max Tundra Remix)” – This sounds about as much like “Terry Riley Disco” as that Stereolab song sounds like “John Cage Bubblegum,” which is to say, it’s much closer to the second half of the imaginary genre assignment than the first. Simon Bookish speak-sings about his “mixed-up genre for a mixed-up world” in a tone and accent reminiscent of Klaus Nomi when he wasn’t in opera mode over an inspired track by Max Tundra that begins as a mesmerizing slow burner before shifting into something far more manic and explosive around the halfway point. (Click here for the official Simon Bookish site.)

At The Risk Of Absurdity

Hot Chip “Arrest Yourself” – No matter how much funk they sneak into their keyboard grooves, there’s just no way that Hot Chip can avoid sounding drowsy with those diffident, dispassionate vocals. This is no complaint, mind you. There’s a rather appealing tension in their mix of seductive beats and lackadaisical vibes. It’s like “back to mine” bachelor bad music for the terminally indecisive. (Click here for Hot Chip’s official website.)

Tender Forever “The Feelings of Love” – The song is awash in a sea of laptop melancholia; pulled down deep by the undertow of bittersweet nostalgia for the passionate early days of a romance; and lifted up by gentle hand claps and sweet self-harmonization. My first thought upon hearing it was to wish that I had posted this track on Valentine’s Day, but now I think that it’s much more appropriate for it to pop up a few days later. (Click here to buy it from K Records.)

Here Is Where Time Is On Our Side

Talking Heads “Road To Nowhere (Early Version)” – Little Creatures is such a frustrating record. Even though it is home to three of David Byrne’s finest songs, I reckon that it signifies the beginning of the Talking Heads’ decline even moreso than the similarly uneven Speaking In Tongues. Even still, it’s a fascinating record, the sort of thing where even the weakest tracks are strangely compelling thanks to the car-crash magnetism of tacky mid-80s production, clever lyrical themes, and the sort of keyboard settings that I can’t imagine ever sounded cool, even in the context of 1985. The album’s aggressive tastefulness and intentional retreat from the experimentalism of the band’s work with Brian Eno took it to the top of the 1985 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, though as Robert Christgau notes in his corresponding essay, it was mainly due to that year being alarmingly short on great records, much less albums that could garner any sort of critical concensus at the time.

The dvd side of the dualdisc reissue presents the music in pristine surround sound so crisply articulated that even an ape-eared non-audiophile like myself could notice the superior quality of the mix on standard television speakers, though I’m not sure if it did much other than to call attention to my misgivings with the album’s production aesthetic. “Stay Up Late,” the world’s greatest song about babysitting, and “And She Was” benefit the most from the dvd audio treatment, though that could mainly be because those two tracks are so strong that the super-clean production only brought out the best in the compositions, whereas lesser tracks like “Creatures of Love” and “The Lady Don’t Mind” are swallowed whole by regrettable arrangements and horribly dated guitar tones.

Of the bonus tracks, the main draw is the early version of the album’s third great song, “Road To Nowhere.” Stripped of its backing vocals and reduced to a comparitively spare arrangement, the demo feels noticeably lonely, standing in stark contrast with the inclusive feeling of the final version, with the new context changing the meaning of the song considerably by forcing the impression that Byrne is using the royal we when he sings “we’re on a road to nowhere.” (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Talking Heads “Fela’s Riff” – Only five years earlier, the Heads were up to something a lot more exciting, resulting in a surplus of strong material that has now resurfaced as bonus tracks on the reissue of their finest album, Remain In Light. I posted the early version of “Once In A Lifetime” recently, but that track seems rather tame in comparison to “Fela’s Riff,” an intense Afrobeat/krautrock instrumental that now ranks among my favorite recordings by the band. It blows me away that they would dream of ditching a track like this. Bands go their entire career hoping to capture something as magical as this, and they opted to leave it on the cutting room floor. Going on the title, I would guess that the band felt that the song was overly derivative of Fela Kuti, but man, that is just no excuse! The four outtakes would have made a brilliant stopgap EP.

The videos of “Crosseyed and Painless” and “Once In A Lifetime” being performed live on German television on the dvd side of the dualdisc are just as jaw-dropping. The band is at the peak of their powers and augmented by several additional players, jamming for a couple minutes before launching into a jerky, sublime take on the former song that outdoes the quite remarkable LP version. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Beautiful And Broken At The Knees

The Streets “When You Wasn’t Famous” – …and now we shall all wait patiently until this song inevitably turns up in an episode of the next season of Entourage. This new single finds Mike Skinner bored with the fact that he can easily pick up girls now that he’s famous and resolving to hit on other pop celebrities since that poses the same challenge as when he was a nobody. It’s snotty, smug and self-absorbed, but his characteristic wit and attention to narrative detail saves the track from seeming like a cut-rate English Eminem. And of course, the ridiculously catchy chorus does not hurt at all. (Click here for the official site of The Streets.)

Blitzen Trapper “Whiskey Kisser (Kittenz Remix)” – It’s interesting how whenever these pimp strut basslines get mixed up with cartoonish country affectations, the result is that the funk mutates into this weird, wobbly bounce. This track in particular makes me imagine Reed Richards or Plastic Man dancing while warping their super-elastic limbs to the beat. (Click here for the official Blitzen Trapper site.)

You Feel It In Your Legs And In Your Heart

Jenny Wilson “Love Ain’t Just A Four Letter Word” – On a Valentine’s Day when the sentiment of my own heart is closer to that of “The Classical” than most any earnest love song, this bittersweet art-pop/cabaret ballad from Jenny Wilson sits in a comfortable middle ground between cynicism and romance that feels like some kind of emotional truth to me at the moment. I’ve posted this song before, and my estimation of it has only improved in the time since I’ve found it as it has become a playlist staple that feels just as right on both good and bad days. (Click here to buy it from Rabid Records.)

Dreamdate “The One I Need” – This is a song for those of you who may be feeling some kind of romantic bliss on this day. Oakland’s Dreamdate are the next in a long line of indie pop bands who specialize in one of the genre’s best selling points – sweet, extremely low key love songs ideally suited as a soundtrack for cuddling after exchanging flowers and chocolates. “The One I Need” sounds a little like Unrest, and a lot like Electrelane with a crush. (Click here for Dreamdate’s MySpace page.)

The Wallpaper’s Peeling

Friday Bridge “It Girl” – The music could easily pass for an early Madonna track, but the vocals are the radical opposite of just about anything Ms. Ciccone has ever recorded. The superhuman confidence is totally obliterated, replaced by a tiny, timid voice singing entirely in French, but the language barely matters because the singing is so soft the annunciation blurs into a vague purr. It’s a startling and surprisingly attractive contrast, yielding a final product that is cute and vulnerable like a tiny, wounded baby animal. (Click here to buy it from Friendly Noise.)

Of Montreal “Psychotic Feeling” – Of Montreal must be feeling very confident if they are willing to toss off a track as solid as this to a limited edition EP rather than make it the centerpiece for an entire album. Without seeming self-conciously retro, “Psychotic Feeling” has a lovely out-of-time quality, sounding more like the kind of late 70s/early 80s lost classic that you’d find on a Hyped2Death compilation than something from the mid-aughts. (Click here to buy it from Polyvinyl Records.)

Another Sky

Differnet (featuring Action Biker) “Albuquerque” – It wasn’t so long ago that these sort of distorted electronic tones simply did not exist in music. There’s something so wonderful about having these synthetic tones that don’t quite resemble anything in the natural world, and are generally still too new to be tied in with the sort of cultural expectations that we have for guitars, pianos, horns, and strings. This track is a thing of ethereal beauty, floating along with a gorgeous vocal melody while the performers wring quite a bit of emotion out of abstracted sound waves. It feels so frigid and fragile, like a frozen lake surrounded by trees with icicles dangling from the branches like gaudy jewelry. Of course, that’s a very strange thing to say about a song named after a city in New Mexico. (Click here to buy it from Friendly Noise.)

They Won’t Get What They Deserve

Tiga “Far From Home” – Thanks to a confluence of various economic misfortunes, I haven’t been feeling lucky at all lately, but it’s still good to hear a song as confident and optimistic as this buoyant Tiga track. There are some songs about good luck that can seem horribly grating when your own life is at a low ebb, but this track manages to avoid that mainly because Tiga’s lyrics and music are enthusiastic but low key, making the bliss he’s feeling seem like something that is easily attainable. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Bunky “Monkey Song” – Following through on the promise of the best songs from their debut album, Bunky continue to strike an appealing balance between tweeness and mature sexuality on this track from the new Asthmatic Kitty label compilation. In the context of that record, which as you can probably imagine is almost entirely comprised of austere indie folk, this song seems like it dropped down from out of nowhere with its loping groove, sultry horns, and seductive vocals. (Click here to buy it from Asthmatic Kitty.)

You’ve Always Gotta Come Up With New Hits

Don Lennon “My Routine” – Comedy is a topic very seldom explored in music, but Don Lennon managed to write several songs on the subject for his album Routine, ranging from an unironic song about Saturday Night Live to this gentle tune sung from the perspective of a small time stand up comedian earnestly attempting to understand and hone his craft. The lyrics are unassuming and matter of fact, written as though they were the answers to questions from an interview. It’s a lovely character study, capturing a particular blend of condifence and insecurity that is common among comedic performers without too much sentiment or overdramatization. (Click here to buy it from Don Lennon.)

Rihanna “S.O.S. (Rescue Me)” – Jacking a sample from Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love” seems like an easy way to grab some attention for a crucial follow-up single, but it must have been a nightmare for the lawyers who had to sort out the royalties for this track, which no doubt has a list of songwriter credits half a mile long. It’s no “Tainted Love,” but “S.O.S.” is a charming bit of modern pop, strangely owing a lot more to contemporary UK hits by Rachel Stevens and Girls Aloud than the sort of dancehall/R&B hybrid pop that made Rihanna a minor star. (Click here for a Rihanna fansite.)

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.)

I Ain’t Even Half Done

Eagles of Death Metal “The Ballad Of Queen Bee And Baby Duck” – This track would be fine enough as a dizzy, snakey rock tune, but the addition of spoken vocals from an adorable girl and some droll gentleman straight out of a mid-period Beatles song serve to boost the song’s levels of cuteness, quirk, and delirium. (Click here for the official Eagles of Death Metal site.)

Magik Markers “I Construct Dolls Like You In My Sleep” – About a year and a half ago, I first encounted Magik Markers as the opening act for a Sonic Youth show. This is what I had to say about them back then:

Magik Markers were the first of the two opening acts, and they were just unbelievably great. They played some high quality art-punk noise that sounded quite a bit like SY on Confusion Is Sex and Bad Moon Rising. The lead singer was intensely charismatic and loveable, and “shouted the poetic truths of high school journal keepers” like the singer from “Skip Tracer.”

My memories of that show are still very fond, and I’ve been hoping to find a Magik Markers song that comes even close to the brilliance of that performance ever since. It hasn’t happened yet, but this excerpt from their latest record will have to do. In fairness, it probably would be very hard to capture the band’s appeal with a recording since so much of what they do is based in the physical nature of their improvisation, and guitarist/vocalist Elisa Ambrogio’s raw charisma and nontraditional sex appeal. Even still, apparently refusing to record in a proper studio and releasing somewhat shoddy live documents that span about twenty minutes per side isn’t doing them many favors. These final minutes of a performance in Paris are scattershot, but there are a fair few moments of shambling brilliance that take me back to that one show in the summer of 2004. (Click here to buy it from Gulcher Records.)