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The same songs

Kelefa Sanneh on Michael Jackson:

Thursday night in New York was hot--after weeks of rain, it was one of the first real summer nights of the year. Car windows were open all over the city, and just about every station on the radio dial had switched to an all-Michael Jackson format; for the first (and, for all we know, the last) time, it felt as if absolutely everyone was listening to the same songs.

Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte

Yes, so: I had high expectations, and Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca really, seriously, is that good; by far, my favorite album this year, so far.

My favorite track keeps changing--pretty much every track has a lot to recommend it--but I'm currently stuck on "Useful Chamber", which goes from mournful synths to spoken-word breakdown to guitar chaos, and all the way round again.

Electric Relaxation

I've had this in my head over the past couple of days. So, so great.

Maxwell - "Pretty Wings"

I can't wait to hear the album.

On doing what you're good at

A great quote from Kim Gordon about the "Radiohead model" of selling records (via Idolator, who has more to say about it):

"I don't really think they did it by themselves," Gordon counters. "They did a marketing ploy by themselves and then got someone else to put it out. It seemed really community-oriented, but it wasn't catered towards their musician brothers and sisters, who don't sell as many records as them. It makes everyone else look bad for not offering their music for whatever. It was a good marketing ploy and I wish I'd thought of it! But we're not in that position either. We might not have been able to put out a record for another couple of years if we'd done it ourselves: it's a lot of work. And it takes away from the actual making music."

Butter 4.0

Sasha Frere-Jones writes about "Butter 4.0", a mixtape of nineties hip-hop by the Australian DJ Broke. I've been listening to this exclusively for the last couple of days. It's brilliant.

Some m.c.s were simply goofballs, a category that's almost defunct. DJ Broke drops in "Studda Step," a brief nineties comeback by eighties comic hero Biz Markie, who handed the crown to Ol' Dirty Bastard in the nineties. (The late ODB appears here with a personal favorite, "Hip-Hop Drunkies," an homage to drunkenness Ol' Dirty recorded with Tha Alkaholiks.) And "Butter 4.0" features Redman, who might be the poster boy for nineties rap. Redman was a skilled punch-line rapper, a type entirely absent from the 2009 charts, unless you count Eminem, who has turned into the Dane Cook of punchline rappers, delivering the goods about four per cent of the time.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

The album I'm most excited about this year, and the band I'm most excited to see live, streaming on NPR.

And, it's out for real next week; I can't wait.

Grizzly Bear: "Two Weeks"

It's an absolutely lovely song (and a song that seems like it could be everywhere, soon--it just sort of has those qualities). But, yes, also: a rather creepy video.

Janelle Monae: "Sincerely Jane"

"Sincerely Jane"--hell, everything off of Metropolis: The Chase Suite--was one of my favorite songs of last year. Sounds even better live.

Phoenix: Kitsuné Tabloid

I'm looking forward to Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, hoping that I'll love it as much as I did Alphabetical, just maybe, which was, for me, the perfect record at the perfect time.

What's got me really excited about the new album, though, is the Kitsuné Tabloid mix that Phoenix put together, released last month. I guess I no longer need to wonder why I love Phoenix so much, because, really, they put together a set of songs I'd choose myself: a mix with Dirty Projectors, Roxy Music, D'Angelo, and Dusty Springfield? It's as if they read my mind!