Time for Monday’s weekly delivery of five songs that are newly making me bounce my behind…
We Are Standard – The First Girl Who Got A Kiss Without A Please
When you hear that We Are Standard are from Northern Spain, thoughts of Latin jams and ay-yay-yays come to mind. Incorrectly as it turns out: quickly building a reputation in the blogosphere, WAS actually produce a rhythmic and punkish dance-rock. With a debut album produced by Gang of Four’s Andy Gill soon to arrive, this is the first single, featuring a pared-down sound and some beat-your-thigh guitar work.
Or, The Whale – Toxic
Regular readers will know SOIWT! is darn fussy when it comes to covers, insisting they do something quite different with a song. Or, The Whale definitely does that; were it not for the incredibly recognisable central chorus of Britney’s original, this shoegazey cover would be quite unrecognisable. Where Brit was sassy and assertive, San Fran sevenpiece Or, The Whale are forlorn and subdued. Not since a busker outside the Tate Modern sang a blues version of Here Comes The Sun has one song sounded quite so different.
Gorillaz – Stylo
Dear Damon Albarn: SOIWT! does likes the new Gorillaz song – a trance-like blur of jaggy electro beats, with a particularly nice contradiction between your own candy-sweet vocals, Mos Def’s dark mutters and typically passionate soul from Bobby Womack – but neverthless wonders if a) this doesn’t all seems a bit too, well, easy, and b) whether your album will just be a dancey-trancey blur arrogantly underpinned by cool names you’ve recruited? Please write back soon and confirm, yours sincerely, SOIWT!.
Mr. Beasley – Wrong
Mr. Beasley is Hull duo Sarah Johns and Bobby Beasley. After a three year gap since first record Neon, they’re back with more blissful, shimmery chill-out just screaming out for electro trickery on the decks. Sarah sounds a bit like Lykke Li and the overall vibe has echoes of Massive Attack and Portishead, only not quite so intense and a bit more ghostly, a la Four Tet’s slow stuff. This one’s so ephemeral and fragile that once it finishes, you’re not entirely sure it played in the first place.
Kid Cudi – Highs N Lows
You gotta love Kid Cudi – while everyone else in hip-hop is either dissing fellow MCs or singing with cool synth-pop bands, he’s putting out a previously unreleased song where he sings over a Bob Dylan jam. Never mind that the original was perfectly good, or that this is a summery song release in coldest winter; let’s just celebrate Cudi’s sheer awesomeness, and how neatly his smooth delivery combines with those blissful Dylan melodies. (Thanks to Audio Drums for this one.)
MP3s available via the song titles.