cinco072502

The Streets - "Let's Push Things Forward" One usually doesn't turn to techno music for stinging indictments (although who knows what is being said in parts of Underworld's "Born Slippy"), but these are interesting times. With an island synthesizer hook conceivably stolen from some Gorillaz outtakes, the strident lead vocal speaks directly to music complainers - not necessarily music fans. With lyrics like "You won't find us on Altavista/ Cult classic, not best seller," the message is simple: The whole cantankerous thing is tiring. Do something.
Off The Streets' "Original Pirate Recordings"

Badly Drawn Boy - "Magic in the Air (live)" Presumably culled from a British radio performance of the American single that never was, Damon Gough's best song features the most heartbreaking pianowork you'll hear in pop music this year. Stripped of some of its studio idiosynchacies, the tale from the mind of a young romantic resonates with the type of power reserved for the best in end-of-the-summer contemplaters. And like the perils of pondering Labor Day's approach, to deny this ballad's power is foolhearty.
Off that World Wide Web thing (Kazaa)

Gorky's Zygotic Minci - "Her Hair Hangs Long" And you thought "Jimmy Eat World" was a weird band name. Besides providing music elitists with the atom bomb of name-dropping weaponry, this mostly acoustic-based outfit updates a '70s singer-songwriter aesthetic with current electronica efforts to create livable soundscapes. Here, it's a slow-motion summer twirl-fest with a more reserved girl than the one Led Zeppelin sang of in "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair"
Off the band's "How I Long to Feel That Summer" album.

Micah Green - "This is How We Are" With radio stations SLOWLY grasping onto the new acoustic movement started here with Dave Matthews' thumbs-up to David Gray, Clear Channel still is miles behind the WB television network in featuring the work of new artists perfect for weekly emotional upheavals. Micah Green has skipped "Dawson's Creek" and headed straight for "Smallville," with this song representing a nice mix of subtle orchestration and Elliot Smith-like vocals. In related news, Clark is a fool for not kissing Lana (don't ask).
Off Micah Green's self-titled debut album.

The Talking Heads - "Road to Nowhere" Inexplicably placed in heavy rotation on the local radio station here (Joliet's always-pleasing WYKT 105.5), this Talking Heads blast-from-the-past starts ominously with an acapella chorus and procedes directly to the part of the brain where songs go when they refuse to stop playing in your head. And if ever there was a rival to the White Stripes' "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" for the Best Song for Those Contemplating Their First Job (hypotetically speaking, of course), it would be this one. A must-hear.
Off the Talking Heads' "Little Creatures" album, which also includes the hit "And She Was."