Speed the beat up a touch, re-record the vocals so that dude hits the verse the tiniest bit harder, and this song is a hit. On radio, right now. “It Usually Goes” is a Top 40 Radio hit record. p.s. the Eisley sample on the beat is tight as fuck.
OnCue – It Usually GoesOnCue: (Myspace) (Facebook) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.4
“See You Soon”, featured here from York UK (we totally thought he was American too!) singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s “Pictures” EP, is the sort of song that takes a tremendous talent to compose. The lyrical imagery; an empty jet bound for leaving, a light without a spark inside a car bound to see your friends; are specific but they’re also imagined in a way; images of a past love in a place that’s not you. The melodic lines are framed by simple guitar strums set to a simple downbeat. The spare guitar, the stark evocative images, the hushed melodies, it’s sort of becoming the BFL sound. We can dig that.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich – See You SoonBenjamin Francis Leftwich: (Myspace) (Official)
Rating: 7.8
Jamie rolled into BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge earlier in the week cutting this acoustic cover of Adele’s newest UK chart topper “Someone Like You”. Jamie’s version oozes soul. Get into it below.
Jamie Woon – Someone Like You (Adele Cover)Jamie Woon: (Myspace) (Facebook) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.2
More guitars with grooves from our buds The Kills. This is rock and roll, kids. If you’re taking notes, that’s: Distorted Electric Guitar syncopated with a rhythm and blues backbeat. Blood Pressures is due April 5 on Domino.
The Kills – You Don’t Own the RoadThe Kills: (Official) (Myspace) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.0
Pleasant vibes blown in from the Pacific Northwest. Previewed from the upcoming Helplessness Blues is “Montezuma”, a paean to two of rock and roll’s most popular subjects, love and the past.
Fleet Foxes – MontezumaFleet Foxes: (Myspace) (Official) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.0
Contributed by Christopher Gedos
My only really polished skill is my ability to make sweeping generalizations about the state of people, places and things. So take it with no small grain of salt when I proclaim that Smith Western’s “All Die Young” is one of the representative songs of this the year 2011. It’s not indie pop but rather plain old pop music, music meant to be heard by the masses lest capitalist hogs and lowest common denominators bully their way through the back door. The effortlessness, the long build to the chorus, it’s dream pop at the expense of the dream and nerd rock at the expense of the nerd. It’s Beach Boys circa ‘71 had Brian Wilson never cracked. A beautiful lake-effect blowing in off the shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s Smith Westerns.
Smith Westerns – All Die YoungSmith Westerns: (Myspace) (Blogspot) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.7
Contributed by Christopher Gedos
Q: Does this band know how good they are? A: Of course. Otherwise they wouldn’t have kept their cards superglued to their chest over the past year. Otherwise they wouldn’t self release their album (Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, out in the UK June 13th), nor would their website look like an art gallery installation. Otherwise their music wouldn’t bubble with such untamed emotion, nor would their videos border both catharsis and parody. These guys are so far ahead of the pack it’s scary, and their other songs are of equally uniform quality. WU LYF’s U.S. debut this April Fool’s Eve at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn is sure to be AN EVENT.
Wu Lyf – L Y FWu Lyf: (Official) (Myspace) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.7
Material from Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues continues to meet expectations. “Lorelai” feels like a deeper album cut – still poppy, you can hear how it might play off “Battery Kinzie” and the title track on the full-length. Helplessness Blues is released May 3. Calendars marked.
Fleet Foxes – LorelaiRating: 8.1
Nobody past, present or (likely) future can shit talk on a record like Bobby Womack.
Bobby Womack – You’re Welcome, Stop on By
You know you’re listening to a great pop song when you can even look-forward to the bridge. Needless to say, we’ve been spending some quality time with The Vaccines forthcoming debut, What Did You Expect from The Vaccines? And one thing’s for sure, we’ll be jamming to “Wolf Pack” all this weekend.
The Vaccines – Wolf PackThe Vaccines: (Info) (Pre-order What Did You Expect…)
Rating: 8.6
Moby’s new single “The Day” goes big… anthem big. Previewed from his forthcoming Destroyed release, it’s a pleasant track with commercial potential. It maintains true to the Moby sound, and with his album dropping in May, this track isn’t far from where it needs to be.
Moby: (Myspace) (Pre-order Destroyed)
Rating: 7.9
Think you’re done with “Intro”? Think you’ve heard this song dressed up and down every possible way? Think you’re peaced out with it? Well, you may have been yesterday, but you ain’t today, ’cause this new Minnesota remix of The xx is OFFICIAL. So legit.
The xx/Sander Van Doorn – XX Booty (Minnesota Remix)
Minnesota: (Soundcloud) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.3
