05.
Exitmusic
“Passage”
[Secretly Canadian]
Everyone likes a new musical discovery, and for many this week’s was Exitmusic. The Brooklyn duo released the title track from their forthcoming debut album to much buzz across the net. “Passage” is a breathtaking song that has the craft and vision of a band like The Antlers while maintaining an intimacy similar to Beach House or The xx. It’s no wonder this band has been snapped up by Secretly Canadian, and if the rest of Passage (due out May 22nd) is as good as this then it probably won’t be the last time you see Exitmusic in this list.
04.
Titus Andronicus
“Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape With the Flood of Detritus”
[from an upcoming split with Diarrhea Planet]
Titus Andronicus’ last album The Monitor was a rabble-rousing concept album that projected the idea of comradery from every line. In short, people fucking adored it. So, when Titus’ new single surprisingly aired on WFMU it didn’t take long for that recording to make it on to the internet and spread like wildfire. We don’t know yet whether this will be on their next album (all we know is it will be on a split single with Diarrhea Planet), but hell, it’s new Titus Andronicus!
03.
Gotye & Kimbra
“Somebody That I Used To Know” (Groundislava Cool Mix)
[Self-released]
“Somebody That I Used To Know” has become the ubiquitous radio hit of late 2011/early 2012 – literally everybody knows it. Just as people might have started to become sick of it, some interesting remixes have appeared, not least this one by Groundislava. This self-professed “cool mix” slows down the original giving that unmistakable tune a chilled out vibe, but the vocals, now totally pitch shifted, sound creepy and inhuman. Add some atmospheric magic and you have a song that works successfully as both pop and electronica.
02.
Arctic Monkeys
“R U Mine?”
[Domino]
This one came literally out of nowhere, with Arctic Monkeys surprise releasing “R U Mine?” at the most unsuspecting time of Sunday night/Monday morning. Nevertheless the word about it spread fast, mostly because this is just a damn fine single worthy of instantaneous release, not to be left on the backburner until a new album is ready. And Arctic Monkeys are at a level of comfort and confidence now where they can do this kind of thing and be sure that it will be well received. This confidence is all over “R U Mine?” as the lads step back more towards the pure rock song of their third album Humbug with some muscular bass and guitar, paired with some brilliant Matt Helders bacing vocals. Overall “R U Mine?” might be Arctic Monkeys most psychedelic song to date, and if this is where they’re going next we’ll be happy to follow them down the rabbit hole.
Original post (watch the video here)
01.
Radiohead
“Identikit” and “Cut A Hole”
[new songs performed live in Miami]
Radiohead kicked off their first American tour for 4 years this week and a leaked setlist from their opening night in Miami alerted hardcore fans to the fact that two new songs were set to appear. And, typically, fans were all over it, capturing the songs in all different qualities from all different angles (and some clips even cropped up on the internet before the show had even finished). The matter of whether these songs are actually good is more or less irrelevant – it’s Radiohead, people are going to want to hear it. And, the likelihood is they’ll be completely different when we hear the studio versions anyway – that is, if we ever even get to hear the studio versions.
“Identikit”
“Cut A Hole”
Original post (watch the videos here)
