|
|
|
NEWS : STORIES
Has the world turned upside down or what? 50 Cent's found his inner Care Bear and Mariah's taken to sex in public restrooms. With Missy doing summersaults on her single from the movie Stick It, not to mention a bunch of Aussies bringing on the
50 Cent & Olivia "Best Friends" Fiddy's got it bad. The thuggiest rapper in the entire freakin' universe trades the guns and Kevlar for chocolate hearts and Care Bears. Turns out his relationship with Olivia has blossomed since the "Candy Shop" days, and now he wants her to be his B.F.F. -- with evening benefits, of course. Jose Gonzalez "Heartbeats" Veneer He's a Swede of Argentine descent, and with the help of his Veneer debut, he has quietly conquered Europe over the last few years. His acoustic songs make perfect O.C. background music. This track is a painfully intense recollection of a one-night stand that falls just short of becoming something longer. Mariah Carey f/ Pharrell and Snoop Dogg "Say Somethin'" The Emancipation of Mimi Mariah invites the man she has her eye on to come over with all the confidence of a girl who knows he will. If you ignore Snoop's gibes on what they might do in a toilet stall together, there's a refreshing lack of frills to this single, and a woozy Neptunes beat that's their most overt Prince homage yet. The Streets "When You Wasn't Famous" The Hardest Way to Make An Easy Living Brit M.C. Mike Skinner isn't famous over here, but his take on notoriety's ups and downs beats anything Jay-Z has to say on the subject. Over a bouncing sing-along melody, Skinner wittily dissects the frustrations of fame. For example, how do you ignore a tabloid story about yourself if you've always believed what the gossip rags have said about everybody else? Wolfmother "Woman" Wolfmother Don't be fooled by the giant afros and the '70s surf-boy good looks. This impressive new outfit is more "Whole Lotta Love" than "California Dreaming" - and they even throw in some Ozzy for good measure. Howling-wolf vocals bounce off galloping guitar riffs on this proto-metal bombast. Yep, it's derivative. But it's a welcome change from the snap, crackle and pop that's forever dominating the airwaves. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs "Different Drum" Under the Covers, Vol. 1 The ex Bangle and former Thorn connect on Linda Ronstadt's earliest hit, a gleeful rebuff of romantic commitment written by Monkee Mike Nesmith. He says it will work out. She has doubts -- and besides, she's not ready for "any person, place or thing" to pull the reins in on her. It's both a hippie-dippie throwback and reliable ray of sunshine. Death Cab for Cutie "Crooked Teeth" Plans Who needs music when you've got such affecting lines as, "'Cause at night the sun in the tree/ Made the skyline look like crooked teeth"? The poetry in Death Cab's songwriting's so on point, you almost forget it's being buoyed by a melody. But with delicate guitar arrangements billowing in the breeze, the alignment of lyrics and production create an unusual eloquence. Tom Verlaine "Nice Actress" Songs and Other Things The Television boss is back in action, and in his pocket is the Bowery surrealism that earned him his rep as punk's most valuable non punk. The crush he's singing about has rivers coming out of her fingers, and as he celebrates her beauty, a web of guitar lines swirl and dangle above the pounding beat. If he grabs the right one, he might swing right across one of those streams of hers. Missy Elliot "We Run This" The Cookbook This fetching single from the soundtrack to the upcoming gymnastics flick Stick It finds the M.C. doing what she does best: flipping beats and kicking mad linguistics. Sampling the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache," this juggernaut leaves the crunk bandwagon in Missy's dust. With more bravado than an Ali - Foreman fight, she comes with her usual one-two punch of wicked wordplay and future-retro production. The Black Keys "Have Mercy On Me" Chulahoma It's not often you hear prayers that are both abrasive and dreamy. As the Akron guitar-and-drums duo saunter through this tune by the late bluesman Junior Kimbrough (the new Keys disc is a salute to the Mississippi singer) they pump up the fuzz guitar like Zepp at the B.B.C. But the pot never boils over; this is all about simmering. So Dan Auerbach's snarled voice circles around itself and drifts down the road. Great after-midnight material. Check out all the great songs in last week's editor pick's list.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
