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Listen Up! The Singles Roundup - March 30, 2007

This week found our speakers bumping to garage-rock protest anthems, sexy-voiced singer-songwriters, French trip-hop, and more preludes to another sultry summer. All that, and Belgian dream-pop in full effect, yo...

Sia - "Pictures"
The one lonely studio track on Sia's new live album is a pop gem, and a welcome change-up from a singer who's best-known for turning the melodrama and vocal acrobatics up to 11 on songs like "Breathe Me."

Feist - "1234"
Canadian songstress Leslie Feist is also mixing it up with some new sounds, tossing some jaunty banjo and trumpet into a summery paean to teenaged romance.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - "The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager (Part Two)"
Speaking of teenaged romance, the irresistibly earnest Sam Duckworth (who is actually 21—hey, close enough) comes across like a British Conor Oberst here, strumming and singing his heart out over twinkly electronics and creating an emo anthem for the post-rave generation.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Weapon of Choice"
"I won't waste my love on the nation," Peter Hayes roars over BRMC's churning, psych-rock guitars, which have been missing in action since 2003's outstanding Take Them On, On Your Own. That foot-stomping church music they made on Howl was great, but we're glad they're back to sounding pissed off again.

Jarvis Cocker - "Running the World"
Where BRMC's new single is only tangentially a protest song, the ever-cheeky Mr. Cocker goes for the jugular on his latest. "Now the working classes are obsolete/They are surplus to society's needs." And that's about the only lyric that can be repeated in polite company.

The Go Find - "Dictionary"
Apparently, Belgians like their pop the way they like their chocolate: smooth, sweet, and creamy. Dieter Sermeus' pinched singing voice has a vulnerability to it that, like Ben Gibbard's, is oddly endearing.

Wax Tailor - "To Dry Up"
This French producer/DJ's debut, Tales of the Forgotten Melodies, was one of the most slept-on albums of 2005. Hopefully, his forthcoming follow-up, Hope & Sorrow, won't be similarly overlooked. This lead single is the sexiest track Portishead never recorded, all trip-hop smoke and shadows.

Billy Martin & John Medeski - "Crustaceatron"
Two-thirds of Medeski, Martin & Wood still equals one hundred percent funk. There are more electronics here than in typical MMW fare, but that just makes the track's surprise twists and turns all the tastier.

Laura Veirs - "Pink Light"
Veirs and her band, Saltbreakers, are masters at doing less with more. Hardly a single instrument on this song plays more than just a few repeated phrases, but they interlock into a spider's web of sound that mirrors the tangled emotional terrain of Veirs' lyrics.

Fall Out Boy - "Thnks fr th Mmrs" [video]
Emo—so easy, even a chimp can do it! The rather inspired pairing of Fall Out Boy and a bunch of apes makes this such an entertaining video, you almost don't notice that the song itself is just middle-tier FOB, a rousing yet oddly aimless anthem in search of a pop hook.

--Andy Hermann
03.30.07

Click here to read last week's installment of Listen Up!