Gary Numan - "Bombers"

Gary Numan - "Bombers": "Icy faux-punk-style new wave from Mr. Gary Numan. (That's right, kids- it's more than just "Cars"!)"

New Pornographers - "Don't Destroy This Night"

New Pornographers - "Don't Destroy This Night": "I think I'm just excited to hear a Rock*A*Teens cover - especially since it's probably the only one out there. It takes the retro-garage of the original and makes it over as a mellow 60s pop tune, but still very much with the classic New Pornographer's vibe.
(In case you were wondering, it's a complete coincidence that I'm posting about this after having noted R*A*T in another post the other day.)"

Phoenix - "1901"

Phoenix - "1901": "I'm sure you've read this a hundred times over in blogs and magazine reviews, but this really is as catchy and clever as you've heard."

Cut Off Your Hands - "Heartbreak"

Cut Off Your Hands - "Heartbreak": "I like the chorus because it recalls the Rock*A*Teens (think "I Could've Just Died" - still filled with longing in an echo-y early rock style, just a bit more polished and less garage-y."

The Who - "I'm A Boy"

The Who - "I'm A Boy": "Only Pete Townshend could write "I'm A Boy" like an act of defiance...but he does succeed in making it sound rebellious. (Daltry helped too, of course.)"

Hagfish - "Envy"

Hagfish - "Envy": "I only know one other person in the world who both knows and likes these guys, which is both too bad and something I still don't understand. Sure, they're not sophisticated or anything, but they make great, snotty sing-along American punk-style rock. I'm convinced that they never got exposed to the right audience - or perhaps had bad timing - because there's a bunch of kids who based their careers on doing crappy versions of music like this and got pretty famous doing it. Life is so rarely fair..."

Jason Lytle - "Ghost Of My Old Dog"

Jason Lytle - "Ghost Of My Old Dog": "Classic Grandaddy. Ladies and gentlemen, Jason Lytle is back!"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Soft Shock"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Soft Shock": "The pulsing synths are from more 80s songs I love than I can count and the lead melody drives me crazy because I can't place where it comes from, but it certainly recalls some other classic new wave tunage that's escaping me. I guess I'm endorsing the new keyboard direction the YYYs have taken after all."

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - "Get Yo Sh*t"

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - "Get Yo Sh*t": "Now that I've heard this, I really regret not seeing them at SXSW. This is some great rock'n'soul and Joe really shines - both with the impassioned choruses and his storytelling verses, filled with wry humor."

Primal Scream - "Kill All Hippies"

Primal Scream - "Kill All Hippies": "I always thought I understood the introduction dialog in this song - but I just saw the lyrics for the first time and boy was I wrong!
Doesn't matter, really, because the meat of the song is Bobbie Gillespie's falsetto proclamation of "you got the money / I got the soul" over dirty, apocalyptic electrorock. More than one of my friends has proclaimed that this record (XTRMNTR) is so agressive that it makes them want to kill people, but I think it's one of Primal Scream's finest."

Superchunk - "Learned to Surf"

Superchunk - "Learned to Surf": "Man, I just realized how behind I am - I never finished all my SXSW `09 recaps and I haven't even started on Coachella `09. Jeez. Better late than never:
Superchunk's Coachella set made me pogo like I was back at the Whisky in L.A. in `95. While mostly doing crowd-pleasing classics ("Precision Auto" rocks as hard as ever), Superchunk also did this new song, bringing back the sing-along choruses that were always their strong suit. Mac pogo'd just as hard as I did through all of it. I was as happy as a little girl!"

Peaches - "Trick Or Treat"

Peaches - "Trick Or Treat": "On her new jam (yeah, that's the right word), Peaches tells you to lick her crow's feet and keep a hole in the sheet. Whoa. This girl's gonna take Prince's old "insatiable" pin away from him and pin it to her bustier.
This track feels like a Teaches of Peaches track layered with the production styles of the new record, which is fine by me."

The Juan Maclean - "The Simple Life"

The Juan Maclean - "The Simple Life": "Moroder meets The Human League, but not in the "Together In Electric Dreams" kind of way - more like "The Chase" meets "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" - but just a touch more modern."