doug nelson: DISENGAGE!

Don’t argue with me on technicalities: It’s the end of summer. Thankfully, summer is the worst and longest of the seasons, and autumn the shortest and most mem-er-o-bile. The changin’ between is thunderous and bittersweet, So here’s some music:

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This Heart Is A Stone - Acid House Kings
Swedish popsters Acid House Kings put a certain clarity and wide-eyed innocence in the opening two measures of “This Heart.” Julie Lannerheim’s voice achieves a moment of twee-perfection, in itself out-cuteing the whole genre with “…but I know it’s Caroli-hine.”

Black Wave / Bad Vibrations - The Arcade Fire
Abandoning the lighter touches and childhood shoegazing of “Funeral,” The Arcade Fire is cutting a dark new path on “Neon Bible.” The new material works with themes of fear, religion, and conflict; but no song sums it up better than “Black Wave,” which seems to break the album in half at its mid-point, drowning Régine’s early optimism with a crushing, despairing image.

Nobody Loves Me - The Bird Names
A silly song straight out of grade school, Nobody Loves Me pulls through with Microphones-esque lofi studio tricks. The foreground/background split of “Nobody / NOBODY” is particularly fun.

By Tomorrow - Candie Payne
Fluffy and danceable. “By Tomorrow” has a fantastic little horn-sample and a nice beat and I think that’s enough, dammit.

Pilguin Pop - Canon Blue
I can’t quite figure this song out, and when I don’t listen to it for a little bit, I tend to forget how it sounds entirely. What are the lyrics about? Why repeat the chorus so many times? Why does one echoed flute-riff sound so perfect?

Young Shields - Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
I’ve been on and off with “Young Shields” for a while, and finally realized that I love it. Something about the half-intended levity of the chorus grew on me with time, from something I giggle at to something that makes me frown, frown, frown.

Me & U (Siik Remix) - Cassie
Me & U and Ratatat. This mashup is fascinating in that “Crips” remains unchanged; Cassie has simply been added overtop of this five-star song, potentially raising its rating to five and a half.

Tenderoni (Mstrkrft Remix) - Chromeo
Why do I love Chromeo remixes so much? Perhaps it’s that, even though the boys can pull of the image and subject matter perfectly, their synth-and-sleaze approach wears a little thin on its own. Thankfully, Mstrkrft is here to roll slab after slab of keyboards onto “Tenderoni,” elevating it from frivolous irony to parking-lot-shakin’ fun.

Mother Knows Best - Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles, when will you put out more of your music? And not the Nintendo-soundin’ Bionic Commando tunes, but the fractured, screaming beats with Alice yelping into a machine over top? I hope soon.

Mandan Dink - Death Vessel
I don’t know why this song has survived on my iPod for as many listens as it has, bein’ a relatively benign folk song. Part of it might be the layers of lyrical depth. Let me know what you guys think.

Um, Circles and Squares - Dosh
Some great songs have strange beginnings. While I know nothing of the writing “Um, Circles and Squares,” it sounds like the mesmerizing main melody was composed by just randomly hitting the keys for a few 15-second bursts. This is the same kind of stuff that makes The Knife’s “Silent Shout” so enthralling, but Dosh makes it gorgeous and uplifting and bursting with life.

I Only Want You - Eagles of Death Metal
The Eagles make a magical brand of rock that simultaneously checks rockabilly and 70s stomp-rock while still sounding like it was recorded in someone’s living room. “I Only Want You” makes no bones about who is wanted; and even does so in a lovely falsetto.

Sickos - The Harlem Shakes
I am watching the Harlem Shakes; I saw them open for Deerhoof and they had a new song with a great instrument-heavy intensity, like TV On the Radio and Arcade Fire and etc. But then they played this one, which is older, and I had totally forgot I effin’ love it.

Your Perfect Gene (featuring Cadence Weapon) - Junior Bloomsday
“Your Perfect Gene” barely feels like a real song; just some sketches and ideas mixed with a little echo and some Cadence Weapon. The pieces stick with you, though: Junior’s rising “Now I…” somehow feels like the part of some Ultimate, Generation-Spannin’ song from a forgotten 1989: foreign and familiar and lasting. Oh, and Cadence Weapon shows up at the end. I love that dude.

First Love - The Maccabees
I posted their “Legos” a while ago, and must confess: this song sounds a hell of a lot like that song. Thankfully, “Legos” was so good I could’ve stood a whole album of it; with those wavering voices and that rhythm-jumping intensity. First love is more of the same, but with the peaks and valleys moved up so close they touch. Enjoy.

It’s Only Time - The Magnetic Fields
Mele and I gonna dance to this in a month, and you suckers are gonna watch!

Party And Bullshit (Ratatat Remix) - The Notorious B.I.G.
Everyone’s remixing Biggie! Sound Advice did a whole album of B.I.G./Gnarles Barkley mixes, Girl Talk mashed him with Elton John, and now this: Ratatat puts their signature diving guitar and synth-like precision onto one of Mr. Smalls’ finest. The mix is simple, but stacks a powerful force behind lines like “All I wanna know is where the party at / and can I bring my gat?”

Bluebells - Patrick Wolf
I don’t think sound effects have added so much to a song since Spike Jones and his Orchestra. The original track is strong and impactful, but those breaks for the bottle-rocket explosions just make the whole damn thing.

That Obscure Object of Desire - San Serac
I don’t know what to make of this one. Sometimes I want to delete it, but I don’t like imagining a life without it. “I run on alligators, and out of this bog!” Like some sort of David Lynch/USA Network Saturday Afternoon/disco love song trainwreck.

First Love (Demo Version) - Uffie
Uffie may be the Euro/dance/indie explosion’s biggest mystery. Here’s a 20-year-old woman who gets press and admiration for rapping like early-90s Will Smith’s brain-damaged little sister; and gets back-up help from the whole Ed Banger label (including a prime spot on the new Justice album). How? Why? What? Uffie’s other tracks (”Pop The Glock,” “Ready To Uff”) tip the scale from ironic to awful, but somehow, First Love has an infectious sweet quality to it. It might be the so-sincere sample chopped in with Uffie’s half-assed writing, it might be the repeated studio tweaks to her singing, or it might just be that Uffie wrote a damn cute little song, and we should all enjoy it for what it is.

Stars - Ulrich Schnauss
Something about Stars reminds me of mid-90s Christian band Fold Zandura; which I listened to every day during my imprisonment as a counselor at Boy Scout camp. I don’t know why I get this strong association when I hear it, and I can’t tell if the association is making me post this shimmer retro-tronica song as one of the best of the summer or not. YOU DECIDES.

Star Position - White Hassle
The best song about bein’ single ever.