Here's one of those acoustic versions that completely turns the original song inside-out. "Gold Lion" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was an amazingly fun song that made you want to jump up and down with the "Ooh-ooh! Ooh-ooh! OOH-ooh!" (fans of the song know what I'm talking about). Then, they recorded an acoustic version for the iTunes store that turned it into a tragic ballad that sounds completely different, but still very recognizable. Amazing stuff. YYY's label banned their full songs from iMeem, but you can buy the whole song here.
Aesop Rock, definitely one of the most amazing artists in the Alt-Hip Hop world right now is back with new album "None Shall Pass". The title track has damn good lyrics, and I really have no idea how this guy is able to put words together the way he does. The distant, trip-hop-like beat also really adds a lot to the song. The best new song of the week:
Last year, before releasing "Everything Is", the Nine Black Alps put out a self-titled EP that caught a lot of peoples attention. Most of the EP later showed up on "Everything Is", the only modification being that "Cosmopolitan" was re-recorded in a different key. However, "Attraction", both the second best song on the EP (the original "Cosmopolitan" being the best) and the song introduced me to the band, was left off the album. It's as good as anything else on the album, but was probably held back because the tone was so different from everything else on the LP. In case you missed the EP, here's "Attraction" on iMeem:
Here's the thing about covers; to quote a wise man named Keith Malley,
Blaqk Audio's album "Cexcells" was released last week, and I forgot about it. If you don't know about them, Blaqk Audio is an electro-rock band side project of some members of A.F.I., the only emo-looking band from the '00s that I really have no problem with. The vocals on "Cexcells" do nothing for me, but the production on the beats and instrumentals is amazing. I bought the entire album on iTunes just so I can pull the songs apart and use samples of the instrumentals. Check it out on iMeem.
Rilo Kiley's new album, "Under the Blacklight", is now available for streaming on Myspace. It's a great album, and people who hated "The Moneymaker" will probably be relieved by how non-sellout the album is. The sound of the album is exactly halfway between "Moneymaker" and "More Adventurous", so their sound evolves without being completely changed. They also do a little experimenting with synths, which doesn't always work, but they pull it off a few times. And also, the lyrics are just as amazing as what you would expect from Jenny Lewis. Turns out that "Moneymaker" didn't mean that RK has given up on good lyrics; they just made a superficial song about a superficial industry (porn). In other words, I was right. The rest of the album has A+ songwriting. Most of the album is about the dark side of sex; porn in "Moneymaker", hookers in "Close Call", accidentally having sex with 15 year olds in "15", and probably other stuff I missed the first time. "Dreamworld" is easily my favorite song on the album, and will be on top of the Myspace playlist tomorrow. It's probably my favorite new song to come out since "The Way I Are" showed up in April. My only problem with it is that it's so hard to understand the lyrics. Blake's vocals are hushed and hypnotic, which totally works sonically, but you can't hear the amazing lyrics. They're the kind of lyrics that smart and tight, and you can't really completely understand what they're about, but they're intriguing enough to make you want to know. I googled up the lyrics, and they're at the bottom of this playlist. Here's three of the best songs on the album, uploaded to ProjectPlaylist.com since iMeem.com hates me today. If all you see is a white box, click on "Launch Standalone player" and you'll see the working playlist in a popup window.
I'm not really Maroon 5's biggest fan. Actually, I thought that their last album was soulless crap compared to what they proved to be capable of on "Songs About Jane". I just have a problem with bands settling for much less than what they're able to do. But sometimes I get reminded that they actually are a good band who's just been a little lazy the last year or two. They covered Oasis's "Don't Look Back in Anger", and did a surprisingly good job. It's acoustic and doesn't have the "big sound" of the original, but Adam Levine performs it well. Hopefully they can get some of this skill together for a better third album. 
If you go to MIA's Myspace page, you'll notice that instead of listing a genre in the header, it just says "Other". MIA's the only artist I can think of (except Bjork, who I can't stand 99% of the time) who is so out there that you can't assign a genre to her. The only reason I even label MIA-related posts as "Pop" is because I have to call it something. Myspace is now streaming MIA's entire new album, "Kala", for the entire week before it's release next Tuesday. I didn't have much time to listen to it, but it sounds like it's the kind of fun insanity we've come to expect from her. The only thing holding it back is that doesn't have any clear standouts for singles like "Galang" or "Bucky Done Gun". The only Kala track I really didn't like was "Mango Pickle Down", which I really didn't get. You can listen to the whole album and judge for yourself at:
It's mostly a slow week for new music, but a few good things came out today. First, Matt Nathanson's sixth album, "Some New Hope", was officially released. It was leaked a few months ago, but you can officially buy the album at iTunes now. It's a good album, and he hasn't lost any energy after 6 records. You can listen to the entire album at VH1's website. For fans of: "Execution of All Things" by Rilo Kiley, "Under the Iron Sea" by Keane, and "Everyone's In Everyone" by Patrick Park. Best track: "Car Crash":
"Crazy" is a difficult song to cover, mostly because musicians try to imitate Cee-Lo's voice/style and fail. Or they are too flat and put no emotion into it (See Nelly Furtado) or pussify it until the song is just annoying (See Justin Timberlake). Paolo Nutini covered this song last year and did a great job of avoiding that trap. He makes the song his own, and his version could have easily been a hit single off of "These Streets" if Gnarls Barkley hadn't come first. His cover is from a performance at the Zomerparkfeesten in Venlo, Holland, and he seems like an amazing live performer. His North American tour starts in September, and I'm willing to sell my first-born child to get a ticket to his St Louis show on October 14. He's hitting 30-something cities in the States and Canada, and you can find the full list at his Myspace page.
Yes, I know Better Than Ezra is very 10 years ago. But I'm not going to care for the next five minutes, and if you like remixes, you should do the same. "Juicy", from 2005's "Before the Robots", is so different and so far out of left field for BTE that it doesn't even sound like one of their songs, and that's even more true for the remix. It's the good kind of remix; it makes the song more exciting and dynamic without destroying it with reverb and effects. It came from an EP of four other remixes of this song. You can buy any of the remixes from that EP here.
There aren't that many bands from 20 years ago that still sound amazing when they perform live in 2007. Fortunately, Jesus and Mary Chain is one of those bands. I found plenty of Youtube vids of their Coachella reunion earlier this year that had shit audio quality, but I finally found one that sounds clear. It's "Head On", and it sounds just as good as it was on the album recorded 18 YEARS AGO. 
M.I.A. has a new single and video, and it's as insane as you would expect. I don't exactly get it, but the video is fun to stare at. I actually liked the first Kala single better, but I'm pretty sure I'm alone on that opinion. Here it is so you can judge for yourself.
Unpopular opinion: I always thought Smashing Pumpkins' "1979" was boring and their most overrated song. Can't help it, I just never really cared about it. While I was going through someone's acoustic playlist on iMeem, I came across an acoustic version of "1979", and couldn't believe how much I loved the acoustic version. I don't know how stripping away all the extra instruments and production made the song seem less boring to me, but it really did. Something about the acoustic version is less distant and more genuine. 
Bitter:Sweet is probably the best electronic artist to come out in the last couple years. Probably because their music is synthesized without sounding like techno. They've developed their own unique sound, and they're proof that not all electronic music soulless crap. You've probably already heard "The Mating Game" on a couple of a commercials, even if you don't realize it. It was the title track for their 2006 debut album, a fun and diverse album that also includes "Dirty Laundry". 
Yeah, you read that right. Smash-Up Derby, a band out of San Francisco, isn't like any other band; they take DJ's mashups and adapt them to perform them live with their own vocals. Their favorite mashups are the ones with classic rock or alt rock instrumentals under pop vocals. They uploaded a bunch of their videos to Youtube. The strangest one is the "Billie Jean"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" mashup. I have no idea what I would think if I didn't know what was going on first.
Here's a video of Radiohead performing a Jools Holland show in 1997. The song is "Airbag", and it's more proof that Thom Yorke just doesn't know how to suck. 
