THE SPIN MIX
Songs You Must Hear Now!

Cale Parks “Two Haunt Me”
The central question in this
melancholy dab of bedsit
electronica is “Where did we
go wrong?” Parks’ beautifully
resigned melody and restless
synthscape suggest no
easy answers.

2. Wild Light “New Hampshire” A stirring, roots-pop swirl of nostalgic yelping harmonies, featuring an original Arcade Fire guy and Win Butler’s Phillips Exeter roomie.

3. Alexis Taylor “Coming Up” The Hot Chip singer excavates Paul McCartney’s 1980 cheeseball woo-hah and

gives it a tender, almost spiritual recital.

4. B.O.B. “Auto Tune”

Unlike Dwayne Carter, Bobby Ray Simmons actually raps, sings, and plays guitar. Here, he also does a brutal Weezy spoof; all in good fun, of course.

5. Doug Paisley “What About Us?” A timelessly lonely moan (from Canada) that could be a lost porch recording from an old Texas peer of Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart “Everything With You” Somewhere a budding John Hug hes is searching for that yearning pop anthem to play over a rst- ush-of-love montage. Here ya go!

7. Kuroma “Baby I Know I’m a Child of God” This ginger-maned ex-MGM T guitarist warbles like an awed waif from a never-written Pete Townshend rock opera.

8. Wavves “So Bored” For no- garage bliss (and savvy hip-hop blogging), you can’t beat fresh-faced San Diego “beach punk” Nathan Williams. His four-track shreds, son.

9. Jay Electronica “Exhibit A (Transformations)” Backed by Just Blaze’s chill-bump docudrama production, New Orleans’ other great MC broods from Kurt Vonnegut to Kurt Cobain.

10. Mos Def “Life in Marvelous Times” Over an ’80s-synth fanfare, Mos poetically guides

us from a pre-crack Brooklyn then—where “windows on the Ave. looked like sad eyes”—to the not-yet-marvelous now.

11. Modern Skirts “Like Lunatics” These eerily assured Athens, Georgia boys swoon like 10cc reborn as indie-pop lotharios.

12. That Ghost “When There’s No One Else to Sing to, You Sing to Yourself” Imagine you’re Colin Meloy and it all vanished—the Stephen Colbert Xmas card, the NPR demo—and then you’d be That Ghost.

Fan Death “Veronica’s Veil” Betty-and-Veronica disco duo coolly ponder a little-

known Catholic legend as Möbius-strip cello lines twist into in nity and Arthur Russell smiles from above.

14. Ou Est Le Swimming Pool “Dance the Way

I Feel” Hipster electro trios will be obliviously rockin’ when we’re all standing in line at the soup kitchen, but this track’s puny de ance connects.

15. Screaming Females “Boyfriend” Sure, the gender-blurred post-punk spew is bracing, but it’s singer-guitarist Marissa P.’s strangled guitar that’s got shit to say.

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Cale Parks
HOME BASE:
Brooklyn,
New York BEGAN: 2006
INFLUENCES:

“Genesis’ The Lamb
Lies Down on Broadway,”
gushes Parks. “I even have
love for solo Phil Collins.”
SOUNDS LIKE:
“Eccentric pop in
the vein of Peter Gabriel and
Kate Bush.” LATEST RELEASE:
Sparklace (Polyvinyl)

The Pains of Being
Pure at Heart
HOME BASE:
Brooklyn, New York
BEGAN: 2007 INFLUENCES: “We
put Kurt Cobain on a pedestal,”
says Kip Berman, frontman
for the chipper indie-pop quartet.
SOUNDS LIKE:
“Popular music
for unpopular people.” LATEST
RELEASE:
The Pains of Being
Pure at Heart (Slumberland)
Fan Death
HOME BASE:
Vancouver, BC

BEGAN: 2007 INFLUENCES:
“New Order, Depeche
Mode, and Giorgio Moroder,”
says the duo’s vocalist, Dandilion
Wind Opaine. SOUNDS LIKE:
“Catchy disco music in a
minor key.” LATEST RELEASE:
“Veronica’s Veil” 12-inch
(Phantasy Sounds)

FROM LEF T: SHERVIN LAINEZ; ANNIE PO WERS; LEIGH RIGH TON

38 FEBRUAR Y 2009 GET ALBUM REVIEWS FIRST AT SPIN.COM