It’s A Thing That You Sing When You Don’t Want To Ring

Annie “Heartbeat” – Frustratingly, I cannot seem to find much information about this track anywhere online, largely owing to the fact that the name “Annie” and the word “Heartbeat” are not specific enough to be Google-friendly. This single was apparently produced by Royksopp, but I don’t fully understand Norwegian, so I cannot be sure. Either way, this is a fine disco single, even surpassing her greatest hit, er, “The Greatest Hit.” (Click here to visit Annie’s official website.)

Datarock “I Used To Dance With My Daddy” – It is only coincidental that both of today’s songs are by Norwegian artists. I’m not trying to prove that I have love for all of Scandinavia, though I certainly do. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this a fine bit of electropop, but there is an odd, distinct goofiness to the vocals which seems both ridiculous and vaguely terrifying, sort of like a circus clown. (Click here to visit the band’s official website, where more MP3s are available.)

I Don’t Mean To Be Bold, But May I Hold Your Hand?

Justus Kohncke w/ Meloboy “Frei/Hot Love” – This is a selection from the recent Kompakt 100 compilation, which features the Kompakt roster of artists remixing each other’s work. Surprisingly, much of the compilation avoids sounding too hermetic and incestuous, though a lot of it sounds overly austere and ambient. Still, many of the collaborations yield results far greater than what the artists have done on their own. This Justus Kohncke/Meloboy track remixes the Kohncke composition “Frei” into a lovely homoerotic schaffel-pop love song which isn’t quite like anything that I’ve ever heard before. The song has a wonderful camp sweetness to it, but is just earnest and musically interesting enough to avoid total kitschiness. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Lo-Fi-FNK “Unighted” – I love you, Sweden. I don’t know how your people are able to turn out so much high quality electro pop every year, but please never ever stop. Though it is true that other European nations are also proficient in this genre, none of them can match the infectious enthusiasm, effortless style, and the subtle tinge of melancholy and world-weariness which is present in the music of your best artists. This Lo-Fi-FNK song is quintessential Swedish electro-pop – a catchy, joyous tune with a jumpy beat which will hijack your body and force you to move. Love it. (Click here to visit the artist’s official website. They have more mp3s, including a Perfect Music remix which just blows me away.)

I Want The World, And I Want It Now – Can That Be Arranged For Me Somehow?

As a result of the Reuters article and the mention in Blender, there’s been a spike in traffic to this site, presumably from a lot of folks who have never been here before. (As it turns out, many of the new readers are from Brazil. Hello, people of Brazil. You are lovely and beautiful.) Anyway, I’m going to go back and revisit a few artists who I have covered recently, but feel deserve a bit of extra attention. This way, the new readers can get a taste of what they had been missing, and the folks who have been around have another chance to be convinced.

Maxi Geil and Playcolt “A Message To My Audience” – When it comes down to it, this site is all about music which is being slept on, and as I see it, the Maxi Geil album is clearly the most slept-on record of the year. I’d wager that at least 98% of all the slumber taking place in 2004 has been upon the mattress of Geil.

A lot of the time, the best indication that I am hearing a great album is when I must seriously deliberate over which song I should post here. While there are a small handful of duds on A Message To My Audience, at least eight of the songs are strong enough to be worthy of your attention. “Now The Music Stops” is an atmospheric, intensely sexual dance tune with a heavy backbeat which stops cold at the end of the verses as if to intensify the physical sensation when the beats return. “Please Remember Me” slickly balances crooning balladry, disco grooves, and bits of heavy rock with a self-aware smarminess akin to that of Jarvis Cocker. “Artist’s Lament” is an epic reverie of insincere sleaze and earnest egomania. “The Love I Lose” is an appealingly narcissistic dissection the power dynamics of the performer and the audience set against an arena rock power ballad backdrop.

Ultimately, “A Message To My Audience” is the best introduction to the band. It’s all self-aware bombast and over the top hugeness – a gallery band playing to imaginary cheap seats. The song is an essay about the angst of the artist, as he struggles with his relationship with his audience and the motivation for his art, vacillating between contempt and dependence of the audience’s approval. (Click here to buy it directly from the band.)

United State Of Electronica “Emerald City” – For me, this summer has been a bit of a let down in terms of mainstream hits. Where are our big summer pop anthems this year? It definitely seems as though 2003 was such a strong year for mainstream singles that we end up being stuck with a bunch of okay (or outright boring) singles from middling talent dominating the US pop charts because all of the big guns are taking the year off. To me, this is the best explanation for the omnipresence of Usher right now – he’s the best any of the major labels can come up with, and even though his current hits lack the urgency, sparkle, and pop of something like “Ignition (Remix)” or “Crazy In Love,” we all have to make do with what we’re given. There are some mid-sized hits of note (Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Nina Sky, that wonderful cover of “Our Lips Our Sealed” by the Duff sisters), but nothing which commands love, attention, and respect from nearly everyone; something which imposes itself upon pop culture, and demands that we all either fall in line or get out of the way.

I believe that in a better world, “Emerald City” would fill the Force Of Nature Pop Hit role for this summer. It has everything going for it – a novel, modern sound that reimagines Daft Punk as a rock band; an air of intense optimism and resounding joy; a feeling of grand inclusiveness which suggests that everyone in the world is invited to the U.S.E. party. Still, I don’t feel as though this song will ever be truly complete until/unless it achieves some level of mass popularity, because so much of its basic appeal is dependent on experiencing it with others. This song needs communal approval, it demands group participation. Whereas Maxi Geil fixates on what separates the artist from the audience, United State Of Electronica seem focused on the magic which happens when the audience becomes inseparable from the art. (Click here to buy it from Sonic Boom Records.)

Go Kids

Alif “Douta Mbaye” – Alif (aka Attaque Libératoire de l’Infanterie Féministe) are Senegal’s first all-female hip hop group, and have been recording together since 1997. This track is taken from Dakamerap, their first release available in the Western world, which is being issued on the Out|Here label from Germany. As with most hip hop from Senegal, the music is heavily influenced by mainstream American hip hop, but the vocals are mostly in Wolof and French. At face value, this isn’t tremendously different from what you might expect to hear on American rap radio, but the language barrier renders the content entirely abstract, which can be a somewhat peculiar experience given that we are so conditioned to focus on lyrics when listening to hip hop music. (Click here to buy it from Ear-Rational.)

The Go! Team “The Power Is On” – This is an odd little song, mixing cutesiness and martial intensity in such a way that it sounds as though it should be the military theme of the Twee Nation. I can’t hear this without imagining a massive army of kids in Hello Kitty gear marching into combat like something out of the battle scenes in the Lord Of The Rings movies. This is out in the UK as a 12″ at the moment, but a new LP is forthcoming. (Click here to buy it from the XFM Shop.)

The Story Continues

Mouse On Mars “Mine Is In Yours” – This is the opening track from the forthcoming Mouse On Mars LP Radical Connector, which is by far their most accessable and pop record to date. “Mine Is In Yours” is essentially a glam rock song drowning in digital sea of filters, effects, and textures. The vocals are rendered nearly incomprehensible, but retain a humanity and warmth that a basic vocoder would nearly eliminate. Almost everything in the track sounds as though it has been nudged slightly out of place. It’s a bit like a blurred photograph in which the structure of the images remain intact, but the details are either distorted or gain a new quality unto itself. I strongly recommend the album as a whole, as it keeps up a high standard of quality from start to finish, and includes some other songs which rank among the finest music released so far in 2004.

Solid Groove “Now We Got 2 Bump” – This is a selection from the newest Playground compilation curated by Swedish DJs Swellsession and Ste Van B. “Now We Got 2 Bump” glides along on a smooth, loungey jazz phrase and a laid back hip hop beat, with occasional vocal samples from rap records. It’s obviously not breaking any new ground, but its groove is undeniable, and has that lovely crisp, cool sound that always works well for me during this time of the year. (Click here to buy it from Digital DJs.)

Pose In The Mirror, Wiggle A Bit

Smash TV “Queen Of Man” – I’m not sure about how to articulate this, but one of the best things about this sexy, dayglo disco single is that it has this inexplicable aura of classiness. I can’t help but think of attractive people riding around in limos late at night in some megametropolis, but not in some kind of decadent, trashy way. What I have in mind is more earnest, matter of fact, and graceful. It’s a bit preposterous, and I’m probably just half-remembering some music video – probably the one for Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out,” which made an indelible impression on my young psyche. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Also: Those of you with access to p2p networks should seek out the second leaked Fiona song, “Better Version Of Myself.” It’s quite good, though not quite as stunning as “Extraordinary Machine.” (Don’t be alarmed by the fact that I took down that mp3, by the way – I wasn’t slapped with a cease and desist or anything like that. I’m a bit nervous about having that song up since it was mentioned in the Reuters article, and it’s a major label release. I figure that most everyone who regularly reads this blog would have heard it by now, and everyone who hasn’t can head on over to Scenestars.)

Infatuation From A Distance Makes No Sense

Love Is All “Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up” – For some reason, I had been sleeping on this single for months until Maura played it on her show last Friday. I’m not sure why this song didn’t work for me the first time I had heard it, since it seems very immediate and undeniable now. I’m rather fond of this song’s arrangement, which balances a lot of different textures without letting them drown each other out or call too much attention to the individual instruments. It all comes together as this huge, urgent tidal wave of emotion, and leaves you feeling quite drained by the end of it. (Click here to buy it from Midheaven.)

Ulysses (featuring Dei) “But I’m Trying” – Everyone loves a creepy, sociopathic dance tune, right? As the singers try to rationalize premeditated cruelty and infidelity, the backing track shifts from straight ahead dance pop to more chaotic IDM-esque sections with stuttering beats and vocals which imply that another chorus is about to begin, but cut out suddenly. The song plateaus in the middle with the introduction of a colder keyboard theme and a heavily vocodered male voice before returning to the relatively warm quasi-r+b vocals from the first section. It’s a very clever song all around. (Click here to buy it from 33 RPM.)

A Letter In Your Writing Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Dead

Frank Black Francis & Two Pale Boys “Cactus” – This is a selection from the forthcoming Frank Black Francis project, which finds Frank Black reworking several Pixies classics with David Thomas’ side men, Two Pale Boys. The record is mostly quite mellow, recasting familiar tunes with low-key, atmospheric arrangements. The best of the new versions play up ideas and themes which were already present in the material: “Monkey Gone To Heaven” is stripped of its bombast, and is set to music which would not sound out of place on an underwater documentary soundtrack; “The Holiday Song”‘s lead guitar hook is replaced with festive horns; and “Caribou”‘s chimey keyboards and woozy horns sound like a Beach Boys record played at half speed. Nothing on the record is an outright failure, but Black’s version of the Kim Deal song “Into The White” does not sound particularly inspired by anything other than novelty, and the jazz/dub fusion on “Where Is My Mind?” already feels dated in spite of being quite pretty.

“Cactus” is the obvious highlight of the album for me, building on the skeletal arrangement of the original with looped backing vocals, a menacing bass chug, and occasional horn stabs. It captures the basic essence of the song, but feels even more desperate in its yearning and masochistic desire. The arrangement evokes a sense of vertigo and delirium, stomach churning neuroses and sweltering heat. It’s the closest anything from this record comes to besting the original Pixies recording, and hints at a promising new direction for Black when he resumes his solo career after the current Pixies reunion.

Ten Times Terrified

Revl9n “Walking Machine” – Though 2004 is still young, it seems safe to assume that this will inherit the Addictive Swedish Electropop Single Of The Year crown from last year’s “Heartbeats” by The Knife. “Walking Machine” lacks the romance and yearning of that song, but makes up for it with a more danceable beat and a series of hooks which convey a strange mixture of self-assurance and dread. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Ed Shepp “Ed Shepp Exposes: Mariah Carey” – Nevermind what you’ve read in glossy magazines or what you’ve seen on fawning television bios – in this edition of Ed Shepp Exposes, the secret origin of Mariah Carey is revealed at last. Learn the truth about her amazing vocal range, the class action lawsuit which nearly destroyed her career, and her aspiration to become a formless ball of pink fluff! (Click here to buy it from CDBaby.)

Also: I will be guest DJing on Maura Johnston’s show on WPRB in Princeton tomorrow from 1-4 PM EST. WPRB does not archive their shows, but they do stream live over the internet, so if you have the opportunity, please do tune in. It should be a lot of fun.

MP3 Blog News: What I’m Listening To is another new blog which has popped up recently with an eclectic mix of contemporary pop music which is a bit like what VH1 might be like if they favored album tracks to singles.

Heroin, Cocaine, and Mariwaaaaaaannnnnnnnna!

Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby “Hikky-Burr”– After hearing this track, which was recorded in 1969 for the original Bill Cosby Show, you may be forced to confront the possibility that when he’s spitting out the unhinged gibber jabber, Bill Cosby might be one of the funkiest men who has ever lived. As with his performances on the Bill Cosby Talks To Kids About Drugs record, his wildly enthusiastic scat singing is at once hilarious, inspiring, and infectious. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Meters “Cosby Alley” – This is just a little something that I made a few weeks ago for my own use, but I thought that it might be a nice companion piece for “Hikky-Burr.” Quite simply, it’s The Meters’ classic “Cabbage Alley” with vocals from Cosby’s “Dope Pusher” cut up and mixed over the top. It’s not exactly a major technical accomplishment, but it’s pretty fun nonetheless. (Click here to buy the original Meters recording from Amazon.)

MP3 Blog News: Scenestars is a new group blog with an emphasis on popular indie rock.

Be Kind To Me, Or Treat Me Mean

Fiona Apple “Extraordinary Machine” – I had been hoping that the new Fiona Apple record would be good, but this leaked track blows away even my best expectations. Apple seems far less depresso this time around, though no less self absorbed, but that’s no big problem given that emotional exhibitionism has always been a big part of her appeal. Her talent for melody is even more developed now, and as ever, she manages to pull off cabaret and musical theatre stylings without coming off as deliberately anachronistic as a lesser talent like Nellie McKay, who even at her best seems like the musical equivalent of an NPR totebag.

Unfortunately, Sony has no immediate plans for releasing Apple’s new album, apparently because they do not know how to market this music. Frankly, I think that if their marketing people believe that they cannot sell this record, they are fools who just aren’t cut out for their jobs. Did they entirely miss the part when Norah Jones sold several million copies of two albums even more sedate and out of time than this? Were they taking a nap when careful marketing based on playing up the relative “difficulty” of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and OK Computer helped push Wilco and Radiohead from modest sales to becoming popular cult acts with critical acclaim and high profile media coverage? Playing up snob appeal can sell records – there’s a lot of casual record buyers out there who want to hear music which appeals to their sense of (safe) ecclecticism, and would like to buy into a narrative in which an “authentic” artist is “pushing the boundaries.”

The way things are now, if Fiona Apple had made a super mainstream pop record, it probably wouldn’t do as well as something like this, which takes what she was already doing one step further. For the most part, people don’t want cult acts to change too drastically – people go to them for a specific sound and personality, and it’s best to let them be who they are and let their audience snowball. Moving away from the essential appeal alienates the core audience, who are key to initial sales and word of mouth. Look at Liz Phair – if her last record was more like Exile In Guyville II, I’m sure it would’ve sold twice as many copies. Sony seems entirely misguided – Fiona Apple doesn’t need a hit single, she just needs some clever marketing and PR people who will keep her from freaking out in public.

Sharkey (featuring Jean Grae) “Summer In The City (Lovin’ It)” – This is taken from the debut LP by Washington, DC based producer Sharkey (not to be confused with Dizzee Rascal cohort Sharky Major), Sharkey’s Machine. The record is a bit lacking in terms of consistency, but this track with Jean Grae is top notch. Grae’s confident verses and Sharkey’s retro-mid-90s DJ style is fine enough, but the real draw here is the chorus, which will make your head nod and stick to your brain like industrial strength adhesive. (Click here to buy it from Amazon, or subscribe to House Of Heavy and get it on the newest Sumosonic compilation cd.)

Wobbly Things

Supergrass “Kiss Of Life (Tom Tom Club remix)” – I don’t think that it is unreasonable to not expect very much from new singles tacked on to greatest hits cds these days – they tend to be pretty weak, and usually throw off the balance of the entire compilation with their chronological and/or qualitative incongruity. However, this remix of Supergrass’ “Kiss Of Life,” which was recorded for their new singles compilation, ends up being one of the best songs of their career. Supergrass and the Tom Tom Club aren’t a very natural combination – it seems as though their names were both selected at random out of a hat – but they compliment each other rather well. Supergrass’ song is an epic, sweeping thing which gains some velocity from Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth’s busy polyrhythms. The song has a great cinematic feeling to it which would probably work rather well in the context of some huge sci fi action film. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Big Cherry “Come In Bonzo” – This is a selection from a new super-limited edition compilation on Spain’s Toytown label collecting 21 obscure singles from European psychedelic bands dating from 1969 up through 1974. “Come In Bonzo” is a weird, swirly bubblegum number contrasting a cheerful, childlike chorus and a droll monologue/rap from some guy with a deep voice and a British accent. (Click here to buy it from Forced Exposure.)

MP3 Blog News: Telephone Thing is a new mp3 blog offering up M.I.A.’s “Fire Fire” and a Dizzee Rascal/LFO mash-up; Steal Music has apparently been going on for a while now but it’s new to me; and Cloud Two is a brand new site which posts music by the curator as well as other artists.

You Are The Best X-Dragon Ever.

Cousin Cole “Dutch Tears” – I’m a bit pressed for time today, so a basic description will have to suffice: This is a mash-up of the vocals from “Pass That Dutch” and the music of “96 Tears.” I’m a bit amazed by how every remix that I hear of “Pass That Dutch” is superior to the original version. I like Missy’s rap on the song quite a bit, but the production was just so dull and lacking in dynamics. Anyway, Cousin Cole has a few more remixes in realaudio on his site, including a pretty nice mash-up which breathes some new life into two of this year’s most overplayed songs, Usher’s “Yeah” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.”

Also: Spoilt Victorian Child and Robot Is Smashed By Heart are the newest MP3 blogs on the block. Please stop by and say hello.

Could This Be A Generation Gap?

The Minx “Something We Got” – Of all the obscure music that I’ve ever heard, this ranks among the songs which I feel have been most unjustly neglected. It just seems tremendously unfair to the world at large that a song as joyous and incredibly funky as this could become so rare and mostly forgotten. To the best of my knowledge, this was released as a 45 rpm single on Mercury in 1972, and has been out of print ever since. If you know more about the Minx, or can help me find more of their music, please let me know!

Neil Hamburger – Live In San Francisco, 9/18/2000 – Unlike his official albums, this comedy set by Neil Hamburger was recorded live with a real, non-canned audience. It is sort of interesting to hear how Hamburger goes down with an audience who seem to be mostly in on the joke. At least one layer of irony is removed, but is replaced with witless drunken heckling. It’s not as funny as the records, but it is certainly worth listening to if you’re a fan. In this show, Neil is mixing in old classic routines from his older records with some newer material that would end up on his most recent album, Laugh Out Lord, including the world’s most tasteless and disturbing Julia Roberts joke.

I don’t want to spoil that Julia Roberts joke for you, but I do think that it epitomizes Hamburger’s shtick better than anything else in his discography. The joke is poorly constructed, cruel, senselessly crude, and motivated by nothing more than a desperate desire to be “current” and “edgy” at the expense of his own dignity. The joke itself is not funny, but the idea that a man would tell the joke is hilarious, in a sad sort of way – the implication being that on some deep, dark, level of his psyche, the premise of the joke is something that he has imagined, perhaps even fantasized about. It’s an uncomfortable glimpse into the mind of a truly warped character. (Click here to buy Laugh Out Lord from Amazon.)

We Break Up Cos You Make Up

Junesex “Gets Close To Mine” – I don’t know very much about Junesex given that most everything written about them on the web is in French, and when I have Google translate the articles and blurbs that I can find, I end up with loopy prose like this: Impossible to locate this pop-electro-glam-house-metal which arrives to me here between the ears but in all the cases, that largely exceeds Peaches and Co. Junesex is a French group for, everyone, all the desires, all the sexual, food or commercial désirs/délires. Between girls, between boys, girl and boy or even with S everywhere. It is a gigantic sound, sexual orgy and without any taboo, which resounds. In other words, Junesex play stark, airy house music with selfconciously sexy vocals of the Electroclash persuasion. (Click here to buy it from Music Selection.)

Lynsey De Paul “Getting A Drag” – Lynsey De Paul was one of the first female singer/songwriters to achieve success in the UK, writing hits for several artists as well as a string of chart hits for herself in the early 70s. “Getting A Drag,” a pop song about effeminate glam boys which is as snarky as it is catchy, was the follow-up to her biggest hit “Sugar Me,” but was only a modest chart success in spite of being TOTALLY PERFECT IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Wrapped In Silver Thread

Lolita Storm “Dancing With The Ibiza Dogs” – This is brand new, but I honestly have no clue how this song is being released. I can find almost no current information about the band anywhere, and the only place the title turns up on Google is on a Plan B playlist. At any rate, this is top shelf material, particularly if you’re fond of Chicks On Speed but wish that they were more new wave. The song feels pleasantly out of time – it could easily pass for one of those old songs from the late 70s/early 80s which somehow sound as though they were sent back in time from a future still slightly ahead of where we are just now. I’m sure you know you the type.

Kenickie “Robot Song” – This is taken from Kenickie’s 1997 album At The Club, which was a record dominated by glossy indie (UK definition) rock which was very much of its time, but included this one bit of synthy robo-pop roughly four years ahead of the indie fashion curve. Though it is more than a little obvious to have the one electro-textured song on a rock album be about wanting to become a robot, it still works in spite of an overextended metaphor. The vocal breakdown which begins around the 2:14 mark is quite beautiful and affecting, and quite possibly the highlight of Kenickie’s entire discography. (Click here to buy it for less than a dollar from Amazon.)

ALSO: I will be DJing at a party called REFUSE! this coming Thursday at a club called Eleven on 152 Orchard St between Stanton and Rivington. The party begins around 10 PM, and it will be free, with no list or dress code. According to the current plan, I will be the first DJ of the night, with resident REFUSE! DJs Dirty Dietz & James F#cking Friedman to follow. If you’re in the area, please come by!

The Strangest Feeling

Regina Spektor “Us” – I realize that this comparison may alienate a good number of you, but this song seriously sounds like that really annoying Tori Amos-for-dummies Vanessa Carlton hit as reinterpreted by Bjork. But it’s good. Somehow, some way, it works. Seeing as though this is a) quite pretty b) achingly earnest and c) Spektor has a singing style built around some vaguely irritating vocal tics (a prerequisate for all major female solo artists with an obsessive cult, aka “The Ani Factor”), this has the potential to become quite huge. (Click here to buy it from CD Baby.)

Chikinki “Ether Radio (Serge Santiago Version)” – Seriously now, what is it with all of these new British groups with Asian names? I’m not that crazy about the original mix of this song, but this electro remix works for me. This version spreads the song out a bit, and makes the affected punk vocals seem slightly out of place in a way which creates an enjoyable tension and reduces the obviousness of the song. Though this song seems like an obvious bit of Rapture bandwagon jumping, it’s still quality material. (Click here to buy it from EIL.)

Long Range Lover, Deep Under Cover

Maxi Geil! & Playcolt “Here Comes Maxi” – Maxi Geil! & Playcolt were originally created as an imaginary pop band complete with its own soap operatic group dynamic, but have since evolved into a real band which acts out the fiction both live and on record. “Here Comes Maxi” introduces the listener to the star of the band, the eponymous Mr. Geil. After nearly half of the song is spent repeating a chorus heralding his arrival, Geil finally takes to the mic and immediately tells us of his amazing accomplishments and remarkable sexual prowess. It’s all rather reminiscent of Jarvis Cocker at his most over the top (see: Relaxed Muscle, at least half of This Is Hardcore), particularly when Geil sings that he’s come “to fuck you where you’re tenderest.” (Click here to buy it directly from the band.)

M.I.A. “Sun Shawa” – At last, we have the follow-up to “Galang,” one of the best debut singles in recent memory. Though this is rhythmically quite similar, this time around we get a sweetly melodic chorus instead of an insistent staccato vocal hook. The chorus smoothes out the harsh beats a bit and manages to warm up the icy toasting, yielding a major contender for Summer Anthem ’04.

Champagne Makes It Taste So Much Better

Rachel Stevens “Some Girls” – Without a doubt, this is one of the finest pop singles of 2004 thus far. This is a Richard X production, and it shows – his sleek, future-pop fingerprints are all over this. The song is built on a percussive stomp straight out of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2,” and glides along with maximum robo-pop grace while Stevens sings about some glamorous pop star soap opera scenerio which may as well be continuing the storyline from “Sweet Dreams My LA Ex.” I imagine that this is already quite ubiquitous in the UK, but it will likely go almost completely unheard in the United States.

Scissor Sisters “Take Me Out” – Like the musical equivalent of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, the Scissor Sisters have made over Franz Ferdinand’s hit single; stripping it of its rigid, harsh angularity and giving the tune a jaunty, somewhat Billy Joel-ish spin. I find myself liking the song much more in this style, but if your favorite thing about the original recording was its twitchy tension, you will probably not like this at all. This cover was just recently recorded for Jo Whiley’s show on Radio One.

The Pleasures Of Night Are Reaching So High

Fox “S-s-single Bed” – I can find no fault in this song. It is perfect. It could be the sexiest, most playful disco/glam song that I’ve ever heard (and that’s saying a lot). I can’t even think about this song in any terms other than gushing praise and hyperbole. I don’t know very much about Fox other than that they had some limited UK chart success in the mid 70s before punk and new wave came along, and that “S-s-single Bed” was their biggest hit. The band was led by Noosha Fox, a striking Australian woman with a distinctive voice fairly similar to that of Macy Gray. This song is hopelessly out of print, though it was recently reissued on a limited edition compilation titled Clap Your Hands, Stamp Your Feet: More Junk Shop Glam which is apparently unavailable for purchase anywhere online. (Click here to buy it used from Amazon UK.)

Chungking “We Love You” – This starts off sounding a bit like a less gloomy and oppressive Portishead torch song, but once the chorus kicks in, it’s like some kind of a neon glam cabaret number from heaven. Unsurprisingly, Chungking hail from Brighton, which increasingly seems like the center of the UK indie universe. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)