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You Do You

Bear in Heaven

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The electro-pop has really been doing it for me lately. Bear in Heaven let the synth sound drive their music. But you can feel the organic breath of this music – more ocean waves than sine waves.

But the thing that really gets me is the vocals. The vocal melodies don’t sit in the comfortable pocket you expect. As the synths rock you up and down the vocals spin you around and you’re adrift in their sonic sea. They give the distinct feeling that if you put your headphones on and close your eyes, when you open them again you just might be somewhere else.

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Kaili

Caribou

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If Brian Wilson were a member of Boards of Canada you’d have something like Caribou. So put your headphones on and let Caribou’s good vibrations rattle your ossicles from the inside.

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Tighten Up

The Black Keys

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Imagine Danger Mouse, producer of The Black Keys last album Attack & Release were one of Dan Auerbach’s guitar pedals. For Brothers he turned the Keys, Samples & Synths down from an 8 to a 3, dialed back the Psychedelia just a bit, and left the Soul knob alone at 8. They kept the Dirt & Scuzz turned way up, as usual too.

It’s tweaking that suits the Black Keys. They’re at their dirtiest, bounciest, and soulful best on this record. I just wish they’d left a few tracks off and let a punchy 12 songs really push this record start to finish.

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King of Spain

The Tallest Man on Earth

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Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s all early-Dylan. He knows too – just listen to the lyrics. But it’s good. So listen.

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Forced to Love

Broken Social Scene

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If you follow new music, it’s hard to go anywhere recently without hearing about this Canadian collective that includes Feist, Metric, Stars, Jason Collett and more. With as many as nineteen members, well, they can’t help but come at you with a wall-of-sound thing going on. But that doesn’t keep them from rocking. This track has the tight, blistering dance beats of Metric, some propelling synthesizer work, and all that background chanting business that seems so popular right now. If you can listen to this song without dancing a little in your seat then you have more self-control than I do.