War Machine's 2009 Summer 5

I just got 95% of the way through this post only to accidentally lose it, so I'm going to begrudgingly try it again. It's going to be shorter this time, though.

Apologies for not embedding the video. Keep up the good work, those that do, it makes it so much easier to decide for myself when I can just click a button and listen. I'd do it too, but I don't know how. Links will have to suffice. [Update: videos added]

"Sleepyhead" - Passion Pit

Passion Pit is on every one's list this summer, so no new ground here. But this song is a standard deviation better than every other song on the album, and there are some other great ones. Video rocks too.

Here's a thought. Most of us have heard the story where Michael Angelakos, who was not in any band at the time, made a Valentines Day CD of six songs for his college girlfriend. (Not a shitty mixtape, mind you, his songs.) The songs got passed around campus, picked up locally, they turned it into an EP and formed a band and turned the EP into an album and here we are. Sleepyhead, as I understand it, was on that first CD. Here's my question, did that song on the CD sound like the song as I hear it on "Manners?" Because if it did...holy shit! Can you imagine being that girl? Or even, being the dorm room roommate of that girl? I suspect, on that particular Valentines Day, there wasn't a whole lot of sleepy, but a hell of a lot of...well you get it.

I'm just saying she owed him. Big time.



"Nothing to Worry About" - Peter, Bjorn and John

This song is a little long in the tooth but I just discovered it. It makes me want to dance until my ass falls off...or until two minutes and 58 seconds are over. Whichever comes first.

I've got to get me to Sweden at some point. There's too much coming out of there right now that I love...except for the IKEA tool. I hate the IKEA tool.



"Arlington. The Rap."

You don't really have to have lived in Arlington, VA to understand this. It makes it funnier, but it's not required. Could have just as easily been Annaheim or Schaumburg. Except for the Green Line joke.

I can't believe I lived there for 5 years. Sigh.



"Gifted" - N.A.S.A. (Featuring Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li)

Look at that lineup. Do I have to even explain why the song is awesome? The best part is, it is awesome, as opposed to, say, "The Best of Both Worlds."Decidedly not awesome.



"My Girls" - Animal Collective

This is as catchy an Animal Collective song as I am aware of. And I love catchy. The album is pretty great too. Very accessible, which means I can like it. Close runner-up is the Camera Obscura song French Navy, another great song off an album I'm loving.

Lady Sovereign – Jigsaw (2009)

What’s happenin’ Quickcrit gang? It’s been a slow 09’ for me so far musically, but luckily you guys and gals have been hookin it up with awesome articles, and I have been content listening to your featured artists. But recently I heard an awesome song and had to pick up the album. The artist is the 5 ft 1 inch teenage female rapper from North London Lady Sovereign. I first heard of her when Jay Z signed her to Def Jam, but I never listened to the single “Love Me or Hate Me”. Her latest album is “Jigsaw”, and it’s pretty good. I’m in love with the song “I Got You Dancing”. She has the total Santogold vibe where she’s rappin, but the songs take on a more alternative rock feel, especially in the track “Jigsaw”, which I also really like. However, I feel her youth definitely shows in that the work is not super polished, and some of the songs end up sounding the same. Like they were made strictly as marketing tools, hits for the radio rotation, see “So Human” and “Let’s Be Mates”. But the girl does have talent and I’m definitely interested as to see what comes next from the dirty mouthed self described “pixie with passion.”

The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya And Radioclit Are The Very Best (2008)

So far this album is my favorite new find off Pitchfork's The 50 Best Albums of 2008 list. For starters they sample a ton of artists that made the our Quickcrit lists, specifically Santogold, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, and the Ruby Suns. Take all those bands, some other cool bands I likely missed, add a healthy dose of Amadou & Mariam and throw it in for a couple spins in El Guincho's blender and you have a fair idea about how awesome this album sounds. Oh, and right now they are giving it away free on their Myspace page. Of course, check out "Kamphopo" (the Pitchfork recommended track), but also listen to them steal the beat from "Paper Planes" on o "Tengazako" and their reappropriation of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa". At times the album reminds me of the way Girl Talk references pop hits, dresses them up, and gets them ready to party. However, don't get the impression that this album is all remixing and sampling. It's not. The Very Best mostly play and sing their own songs — their orginal work fitting in perfectly with the groups they reference.

Santogold - Santogold (2008)

This alternative/garage rock/hip hop diva has been on heavy rotation at the nightclub I work at for the past few days with hits like “Shove It,” “Creator,” and “L.E.S. Artistes.” I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone have three club hits at once, especially with their debut album, and songs that I have yet to get sick of. My old man always says he refuses to drink “light” beer or have sex in canoes, because they are both just too close too water, which is how I usually feel about the trendy, generic dance music that gets played at San Jose’s “hot” downtown night scene. So, when I picked this record up, it was for the few songs I had heard and had liked, expecting the rest of the album to be shit. However, I immediately recognized the song I liked, “Lights Out,” which is featured on those new Budweiser Lime* commercials. This album is both poppy and catchy, as well as creative and/or original in a very pioneering sort of way. I have on no account listened to an artist transition between hip hop dance jams that are as dirty and rugged as a Kragen’s parking lot, to as slow, soulful alternative rock so seamlessly and effortlessly. You could play this at your next house party, or while you are cooking mini English muffin pizzas (which were REALLY good by the way). Some personal favorite tracks of mine, beside the before mentioned, are: “Say Aha,” “You’ll Find a Way,” and “Starstruck.” I would compare her to others, but honestly I can’t, and even if I could, it wouldn’t do her sound justice. So do yourself a favor and make some mini pizzas and pick up the self titled album Santogold.

*Gross. Anyone who buys that shit should be kicked in the nuts while they are in line.