Pass this On (The Knife): lovely gender-bender tale of unrequited love. ()
Fangela (Here We Go Magic): throws in hand claps and an undeniable 80s vibe. ()
Sincerely Jane (Janelle Monae): music as a societal lesson. ()
Paris is Burning (St. Vincent): tale of revolutionary woe spun gothic style. ()
The Leash (Xiu Xiu): The male-to-female sexual transgression in popular music has no greater lyricist than Jamie Stewart and The Leash is a brilliant stab at the resentment festered on both sides of this obsession. It is unreservedly queer--not in the way that Antony Hegary is--but Stewart can frame tunes that both sexes can recognize their foibles in. History is replete with men rejecting fellow men as lovers, denying that part of themselves that readily is seen as weakness. Stewart frames The Leash from the view of the forlorn lover who is at one hurt yet understanding. 'God had made your sweetheart wrong/ born to suffer/born only to die', he croons in one couplet. Yet there is urgency to resolve too; the track ends with, 'but you cannot deny me as a woman/ oh ensign/ I was your woman'. Disturbing yet morbidly fascinating. ()
Cuckoo, Cuckoo (Animal Collective): Strawberry Jam’s uber experiment, with its wild pulse throbbing with rawness. ()
E.I. (Nelly): a closer examination reveals depth to this oft-spurned crunk masterpiece. ()
Brooklyn (We go Hard) (Jay Z feat. Santigold): pure swagger. ()
Lie Down Here and Be My Girl (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds): funky bad-ass tale as commandment. ()
1 Thing (Amerie): not quite the revolutionary after-all but read hot steam nonetheless. ()
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