Songs You Need to Download Now!

Go to SPIN.com for samples and links to these tunes, vid clips, and more

1 Lily Allen “I COULD SAY” Nothing says touching ballad like a monied ²³-year-old lass breaking out of her mate-hating, too-cool boyfriend’s “cage” over an elegant surge of piano/synth/strings. Timeless, innit?

^{2 Sissy Wish} “^{DW TS}” ^{Norwegian one-woman band Siri Alberg has a pinched, wee voice and an} infectious indie-rock throb that shifts into a punky shout and swath of swirling synths. Yeah, yeah, yeah!

3N _C3eil Hamburger “HOW CAN I BE PATRIOTIC ( WHEN THEY’VE TAKEN AWAY M Y RIGHT TO CRY)” omedic long-sufferer Gregg Turkington takes Mr. Hamburger country and western, with devastating results.

^{4 Vast Aire, feat. Vordul Mega} “^{MECCA AND THE OX}” ^{Exquisitely produced by Pete Rock with} is trademark soulful pulse (plus a quirky brushstroke), the Cannibal Ox MCs ferociously reunite.

5 ^{El Guincho} “^{FATA MORGANA}” ^{Like M.I.A.’s hippie boyfriend, collagist du jour Pablo Díaz-Reixa airlifts} _{you into a block-party DMZ where voices exult, steel drums ping, rhythms rumble, and synths ricochet.}

6 ^J*^Davey “^SLOOOOW” ^{Eccentric Los Angeles duo (and Roots affiliate) confidently slink and stroll through} _{an irresistible mid-tempo new-wave R&B jam like Pharrell, if he weren’t such a status-conscious nerd.}

^{7 The Muslims} “^{BRIGHT SIDE}” ^{Four non-Muslim San Diego dudes with that bighearted, can’t-hardly-wait,} not-hardly-trying, trash-rock savoir faire that earns comparisons to the Modern Lovers and the Replacements.

^{8 The Mountain Goats} “^{SIGN OF THE CROW}” ^{Couplet of the year:} “^{Of the several things that you} have to do today, you’re gonna regret one / This generation asks for a sign / It isn’t gonna get one.”

9D _h9ark Meat “WELL F--K YOU THEN” Despite its Polyphonic Spree–size roster, this in-your-face, boogie-psych orn-section circus led by Athens, Georgia’s Jim McHugh is a gloriously coherent force of nature.

10

Pete and the Pirates “MR. UNDERS TANDING” With dual lead vocals, head-nod guitar rah-rah, and pleasantly blunt lyrics about love down the pub, these English blokes are an unpretentious romp.

^{11 Wale} “^{W. A.L. E. D. A. N.C. E.}” ^{The D.C. MC with the Mark Ronson connection has been the next big} whatever for the past year or so, but this free-for-all over a Justice track is his giddiest jam yet.

12

I See Hawks in L.A. “SLASH FROM GUNS N’ ROSES” Their new album is a gem, but this L.A. country-rock tale of hair-metal identity theft is a cracked classic, with “Slash” as both victim/victor.

13^1C

_(e3oCo B’s “GIVE UP THE MONEY/(1982)” This crew’s muscular, exhilarating indie rock is dated on impact arly ’⁸⁰s and early ’⁹⁰s), but they testify like The Cutting Edge is their ticket to ride.

14

Jokers of the Scene “Y’ALL KNOW THE NAME” These two Ottawa DJ doofs take Pharoahe Monch’s “Simon Says” and massage it into a siren-wailing rave blitzkrieg. Rub on your…you know.

15

Plugs “THAT NUMBER” A warbling, polyrhythmic electro shimmy that might even outdo Hot Chip. And it’s a side project from one of the guys in Does It Offend You, Yeah? Huh?

Björk
“W anderlust”
The young duo Encyclopedia
Pictura committed themselves
to nine months of work—
most of it unpaid—to create
Björk’s most recent video
spectacle. Breathtaking
landscape models and huge
yak puppets frame the singer
as she races down a river
(only the water is CGI),
wrestling with the lissome
human embodiment of her
worries. A marvel of (’shroom-
assisted) creative imagination.

The Grouch
“Artsy”
After falling asleep in front
of the TV, Living Legends
member the Grouch dreams
himself into an engaging
mash-up of an iPod spot, HP
commercial, Gnarls Barkley’s
“Crazy” video, and an Obey-
themed East Bay tribute.
All four become vehicles
for the MC’s skewering
dismissal of conformist
hipster dilettantes, including
vegans, crate-diggers, and
dreadlocked thespians.

Ssion “Ah Ma” Ssion’s disco guerrilla leader Cody Critcheloe delivers a sultry individualist manifesto addressed to his mother while torturing her avatar-in-drag with a “punk makeover.” Cody smears bleach, spits Jack Daniel’s, and licks his victim’s face to a kitschy synth melody (inspired by the Super Munchers theme?), until a trashy guitar solo hails the sudden, colorful daybreak, and Ma’s perfect new coif.

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down “Bag of Hammers” Life can be tough when you’re just trying to read the paper. Life can be especially tough when you’re made of clay, live in a cardboard city where ice cream trucks serve body parts, and self-built musicians pick up and shake your house. One can’t decide whether to feel worse for the hounded man or the gang who cry when he finally skips town.