five songs

A.C. Newman, "The Town Halo," (from The Slow Wonder.) The rest of the slow wonder sounds more or less like Newman's supergroup The New Pornographers. "The Town Halo" sounds more like Charles Thompson and The Boston Pops revealing a long lost track from the Surfer Rosa sessions. I think it's my favorite song on the album. Edit: Ok, maybe it's more like Charles Thompson meets Matson Jones...

The Bloc Party, "Staying Fat" (from the eponymous EP.) The vocals in the verse sound like a sleater-kinney bridge. Is this homage or just derivative?

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, "Big Man" (from Who Is This America?). Biting postcolonial scarcasm from Brooklyn anarchist Fela disciples expressed in the form of conversational gratitude for global (and credit card) debt, imperial exploitation, and capitalist class war. The instrumentation is tight and the singer's affected ennui/sycophancy is perfect.

"This story is a about a big, big man and the small, small man that made him. Small man says, 'O big man, in all your greatness, what can i do for you? Give me a job now. Let me work 80 hours a week to make money so i can give the same money back to you, big man, when i buy your beautiful products. This is the system...'"

The Raincoats, "No Side To Fall In."

TV on the Radio, "Mr. Grieves," (from Young Liars EP). It's a fucking acapella (plus bass and fingersnaps) cover of one of the best songs off one of the best rock albums ever. Yale made me hate acapella. And yet i still like this cover.