Top 5, October 15: New Music

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


mojo-photo-top5-101508.jpg

In this edition: apocalyptic hip-hop, sweeping indie-rock, an inevitable mashup, soaring electro-pop, and, uh, quirky Marxist lounge music, I guess.

1. T.I. feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil’ Wayne – “Swagga Like Us”

Every great rapper working today? Check. A menacing electronic buzz reminiscent of nothing so much as the avant-garde synth soundtrack to ’80s cult hit “Liquid Sky”? Check. Auto-tune turned up to “11,” forcing the voices into unnatural, robotic stutters? Check. A so-hip-it-hurts sample loop from M.I.A’s “Paper Planes,” with her always-hypnotic voice providing the only organic counterpoint to the machines in this profoundly strange and apocalyptic piece of music? Check.

2. Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos – “A Children’s Crusade on Acid”
At first, it seems a brief flirtation with backwards drums will be the only real reference to LSD-tinged psychedelia on this track from the Indiana combo. But then the simple piano chords suddenly give way to a huge, distorted bass noise, and lead singer Richard Edwards sings, “The children lose their minds/In such uncertain times.” Plus it was featured in “One Tree Hill”! (mp3 from The Yellow Stereo)

3. DJ Earworm – “Reckoner Lockdown” (Kanye West vs. Radiohead)

With both Kanye and Radiohead putting out the musical stems for these tracks, jeez, somebody had to do it, so I’m glad it was the Bay Area’s Earworm, the musical savant who wrote the book on mashups. The mournful guitars from “Reckoner” bring out the heartbreak in “Love Lockdown,” and I suppose the oddest thing about this mashup is how completely not odd it actually is, if that makes any sense. (mp3 from djearworm.com)

4. Robyn – “With Every Heartbeat” (Live version w/ orchestra)

While the now-almost-kind-of-a-classic original gains much of its drama from the slow build of minimal electronica, there’s an unmistakable, nearly overwhelming power in the lyrics’ agonized acknowledgement of heartbreak, and so an orchestra fits right in. The beloved Swedish singer rises to the occasion with an emotional vocal worthy of the setting. (via Pitchfork)

5. Stereolab – “Neon Beanbag”

Okay, sure, I haven’t really paid a lot of attention to Stereolab in a few years. but back in the mid-90s, they released an album called Emperor Tomato Ketchup that fused lounge, Krautrock, and hip-hop together under a bilingual banner of freaky friendship. It’s twelve years later, so of course “Beanbag” doesn’t have the same blinding energy (who does these days), but it’s got a swinging bounce and the entrancing vocals of Laetitia Sadier: “there’s nothing to feel sad about,” she sings, and you almost believe her. (mp3 from Fluxblog)

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate