The fourteen best songs I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks. This latest Cloudcast features indie and electronica, a track that’s heavily indebted to Daft Punk, a track that sounds like a lost James Bond theme, a track that sounds like a cross between Joy Division and The Stereophonics, a track that shares a title with a Duran Duran song but isn’t a cover, and plenty of Krautrock influences (or maybe I just hear those everywhere). It opens with a track by one of Sydney’s best bands, includes a remix of another Aussie band and closes with a cover version from a Melbourne post-punk icon collaborating with a New York new wave icon on a song from a legendary LA band.
Royal Headache ‘Down the Lane’
Sydney lo-fi retro rockers with a keen ear for melody and a ramshackle esthetic. Very catchy. Their self-titled debut album is due out in May. WARNING: their online presence is even more ramshackle than their music.
[Royal Headache]
Carefree indiepop, the title track from the LA band’s forthcoming second album. This seems more polished than anything on Crazy For You but retains that 60s feel with a dash of country in Bethany Cosentino’s vocals. Download it for free from their website.
[Best Coast] Pop Etc ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’
The Morning Benders’s Big Echo was one of my favourite albums of 2010. They’ve now changed their name to Pop Etc. (read all about it here) and seem to be going in a more electronic direction. Sadly, this is not a cover of the Duran Duran classic, but it is nearly as good. Available as part of a free 12 track mixtape which you can download from their website.
[Pop Etc] James Curd ‘Guide Me (Gigamesh Mix)’
Chciago DJ makes a great Daft Punk / Stardust / Superman Lovers indebted
70s space disco funk number (with handclaps).
[James Curd] Canyons ‘When I See You Again (Nick Zinner Remix)’
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ guitarist takes this track from the Aussie band’s Keep Your Dreams album and gives it an Italo / electro house makeover that plays up the piano and acoustic guitar riffs and adds some cowbell.
[Canyons]
Black Mouth Super Rainbow ‘Spraypaint’
New track from Pittsburgh’s folk-tinged electronic psychedelic pop veterans.
[Black Moth Super Rainbow] Jai Paul ‘Jasmine’
Jai Paul’s ‘BTSU’ single passed me by completely – check out some of the hilariously negative reviews of it on his MySpace page. This, on the other hand, is a great piece of bedroom space funk with loads going on.
[Jai Paul] Suckers ‘Chinese Braille’
Brooklyn band return with a tune with a real 70s vibe to it. Hints of Bowie and Ronson at their most glam and ELO’s Beatles plundering. There’s other stuff going on, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
[Suckers] Dirty Projectors ‘Gun Has No Trigger’
I’ve found in the past that for every Dirty Projectors’ tune I’ve loved, there’s been two that left me cold. The fact that this sounds like a lost James Bond film theme came as a pleasant surprise.
[Dirty Projectors]
John Maus ‘No Title (Molly)’
A good song from the one-time Ariel Pink associate, despite the fact that after a few listens I’ve decided it sounds like he’s channelling Ian Curtis singing The Stereophonics ‘Dakota’.
[John Maus]
Another stylistic shift for Liars. This has a Krautrock-meets-glitch feel to it, an almost motorik rhythm and clearly they’ve been listening to some Kraftwerk.
[Liars] Lower Dens ‘Propagation’
Like fellow Baltimore band Beach House, Lower Dens deal in the woozy, hazy dreampop but with more of a downbeat, Krautrock feel to it. This is the second track to surface from their forthcoming album Nootropics, out April 30. (The first track ‘Brains’ was featured in ITP Cloudcast #1 back in January).
[Lower Dens]
jj ‘Beautiful Life’
This is the lead track from the Swedish band’s forthcoming EP jj no.4 due out May 8. A lovely slice of chilled out indie pop.
[jj]
Nick Cave and Debbie Harry ‘Breaking Hands’
Fire of Love was the undeniable classic, but I always rated Mother Juno, The Gun Club’s 1987 album whence the original of this fine tune resides. This is the second time Cave and Harry have teamed up to record one of the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s songs, this is featured as part of the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project second album The Journey Is Long.
[Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project]
In The Pharmacy 