Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
Pod Picks for September 10, 2009
Summer's drawing to a close, but you can heat up your iPod or other personal media device by downloading (legally, of course) these blistering, hand-picked tracks recommended by Weekly Surge.
"Clap for the Killers" by Street Sweeper Social Club - S.S.S.C. is the mini super-group formed by guitarist Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic and rapper Boots Riley of The Coup. The sound is like Rage Against the Machine with a sense of humor, less raging and more partying. There is still a radical tint to the lyrics. The guitars are the iconic Morello turntable-inspired fretwork and the drums are Moore's signature snap and pound. Morello also provides the bass work and he and Moore sound like they have been playing together for years. Not as groundbreaking as Rage, but it will do until the reunion album.
"Laughing With" by Regina Spektor - The torch of quirky piano pop has exploded lately and even the youngest hipsters are planted in front of a Baby Grand, tickling the ivories and pouring their hearts out. But if you want quirky to the point of strange, if you want Tori Amos without all the gravity and serious storylines, Regina Spektor is the way to go. "Laughing With" is funny and ironic, serious and rather beautiful. Spektor has been messing with conventional song structures for years but here she plays it almost straight - and it works.
"I Cut Like a Buffalo" by The Dead Weather - Jack White is tireless. Already being the lifeblood and core songwriter for The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, now he picks up the sticks going back to his first love, the drums. The Dead Weather is a gathering of members of Queens of the Stone Age, The Kills, The Raconteurs and of course, White. Most of the tracks on the album are experiments in blues sung by Alison Mosshart of the Kills but this track highlights Jack White's vocals. Thick and full of bass, guitars sliding all over the place, and the drums are blunt and stout - White, as usual, has his way with the blues of the new millennium.