THE SPIN MIX

Songs You Must Hear Now!

Josh Reichmann Oracle
Band “Shivering Black”
A stomping, sparkling sci-
popscape that hits like a kiss
from a starman you suspect is
full of shit but still dig for his
dance moves.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Zero”

Recast as the electro-rock stadium diva the Daft Punk– worshipping, hipster-runo nation so desperately needs, Karen O purrs: “Get your leather on.” Uh, yes, ma’am.

3. Playboy Tre, feat. B.o.B. “We Are the Robots” Atlanta MCs spit pissy wisdom in a disorienting synth fun house: “The best slave is a slave that doesn’t know he’s a slave.”

4. Death “Politicians in My Eyes” Now that the inaugural bloom is fading, this reissued mid-’70s proto-punk rager— with prison-break bass line— by three African American brothers from Detroit seems cuttingly appropriate.

5. Fight L ike Apes “Jake Summers” Nothing’s more universal or eternal than a pop-punk moppet—in this case, Irish lass MayKay—deliriously insulting an egregious ex with an obscure TV reference over lovingly primitive racket.

Buraka Som Sistema “Sound of Kuduro” Lisbon B-boys soak up the soca- ed sound of the city’s Angolan immigrant suburbs, add rubbery dub reverb, and nab M. I. A. for the hook. It’s a small world.

7. Cage “Nothing Left to Say” El-P’s shuddering soundtrack gives the wracked rapper’s spoken words and rants about his relentlessly dysfunctional life the sort of hardscrabble cinematic grandeur that 8 Mile never approached.

8. Ruby Coast “ Neighbourhood” Even more preternaturally fresh-faced, melodically polished, chorus-shouting Toronto indie pop than Tokyo Police Club or Born Ru ans. Respect the xylophone!

9. First Aid Kit “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” Swedish teen-girl duo don annel shirts, trek to the woods, and stun the natural world with this Fleet Foxes cover.

10. Those Dancing Days “Hitten” More Swedish teens, jangling and swirling along ino ensively, until Linnea Jönsson’s ageless Northern-soul croon begins to ache.

11. Mims “Move (If You Wanna)” The latest from the half-cocked sage behind “This Is Why I’m Hot” claps and thuds forward like a gloriously lobotomized bulldozer.

12. Surf City “Dickshakers Union” New Zealand’s glumly infectious, lo- guitar-pop tradition (the Clean, Bats, Verlaines, Straitjacket Fits) gets a plucky new heir.

Florence and the Machine “Dog Days Are Over” Florence Welch’s clear, tu -dart vocals are the killer constant as bedsit folk gives way to girl-group bomp, dissolves into ethereal Kate Bushisms, and ends on a romping rave-up.

14. Don Diablo “Teen Scream Machine” Amsterdam DJ/ producer lights the fuse on an electro banger with a warped, hit-it-now refrain.

15. Nipsey Hussle “Hussle in the House” A gangsta-leanin’ echo of Snoop circa “Deep Cover,” Mr. Hussle turns “rivals into rosaries” over a Kris Kross–via–Jackson 5 jump-o .

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Josh Reichmann
Oracle Band
Home base: Toronto Began:
2008 Influences: “All the best
shit from the ’60s and ’70s,” says
Reichmann. “Especially Funkadelic
and Robert Wyatt.” Sounds like:
“A synthesis of modern sounds
and more timeless, raw rock
songwriting.” Latest release:
Crazy Power (Paper Bag)
Buraka Som Sistema

Home base: Lisbon, Portugal
Began: 2006 Influences: “The
kuduro dancehall scene from
Angola was the starting point for
the whole project,” says producer
João “Lil’ John” Barbosa. Sounds
like: “Dance music with crazy
drumbeats you’ve never heard
before.” Latest release: Black
Diamond (Fabric/Enchufada)

Florence and the Machine

Home base: London Began:
2007 Influences: “ ‘Love Will
Tear Us Apart’ and ‘A Change Is
Gonna Come,’ ” says frontwoman
Florence Welch. “Beirut, too.”
Sounds like: “Choir music gone
wrong. Or apocalyptic pop with
lots of drums. Either works.”
Latest release: A Lot of Love. A
Lot of Blood EP (IAMSOUND)

FROM LEF T: COUR TESY BIG HASSLE; ANA GILBER T; ELLIS PARRINDER

42 APRIL 2009 WAN T DOWNLOADS? GO TO SPIN.COM