mixtape maestro (2.0)

So far, Brandon Flowers‘ (sudden) solo career has launched with a couple of whimpers rather than the bang we assumed it would. Yeah, Flamingo previews “Crossfire” and “Swallow It” bear a certain broody, low-key charm (especially the latter, with it’s mesmerizing prancing melodies and nudging inspirational lyric), but we anticipated something far more…well, lively (read: hooky and heavily synth-adorned) as kick-off for The Killers frontman’s detour away from his bandmates.

Thankfully newest album leakage “Was It Something I Said?” has arrived to assuage our concerns over this whole solo project a bit, as it finally finds Brandon bringing some energy (and hooks-Yay!) to the table.

Putting on his best Elvis impersonator quiver, Flowers rides a perky ’80′s keyboard bop to invite us in on the exhilaration of he and his “honey love” Valentina hitting the Vegas streets in search of a chapel so they can take their union to the next level. Too bad his bliss is short-lived; after catching something off in his future bride’s eyes, he’s horrified to learn she’s already put plans in motion to desert him, forcing him down on his knees in a restaurant’s parking lot, begging to make right whatever he did wrong.

“Was it something I said or did?/ Was it something that I should have kept hid?”, he pleads on the chorus, capping off both lines in desperation-pierced falsetto shrieks, “If you leave me hanging I don’t know what I’ll do”.

Despite the backing arrangement’s on-going sunniness hinting that things are about to turn for the better, Brandon’s appeals fail to bring her back around, and he’s left alone to be tortured for the rest of his life by the sound of chiming bells echoing around in his head, forever taunting him of the happiness he came so close to achieving, while Valentina ends up hooking up with a dealer and having the new beau’s baby.

It’s a sad story, but a great pop song with tons of replay value, which is all we were asking for in the first place Brandon.

Peep an Australian radio rip of the cut below (courtesy of Some Kind of Awesome); Flamingo drops September 14th.

Brandon Flowers – “Was It Something I Said” (Radio Rip)

As a jump-off cut for second album Kunst, The Tings Tings could’ve easily simply Xerox’ed the irresistible funk-pop guitar grooves and ridiculously catchy cheerleader-esque hooks of their debut album’s singles/ advertisements for everything (“Great DJ”, “That’s Not My Name”, “Shut Up and Let Me Go”) and been totally fine. But nooooo, the UK duo just had to go and switch up for new single “Hands”, ditching the guitar for a sleek and synth-ed out disco frame, and concocting a chorus that doesn’t instantly jump off as something one will be obsessing over for the next six months.

Repeated listens do eventually unveil the record’s brain-sticking powers: it’s endlessly churning new wave strut (nicely mixed by none other than Calvin Harris) exuding an intriguing air of seedy, 1980′s-era nightclub, and the main hook-”Clap your hands if you’re working too hard”-grasping onto a state of mind that plenty of exhausted 9-to-5 drones can relate to; but here’s to hoping that the rest of Kunst doesn’t see the Tings deviating too far from their previous winning formula, because we could do with a few more doses of those addictive pom-pom chants to amp up the dreary fall and winter seasons.

Hear the cut below, then snatch up another Calvin Harris-enhanced treat of the Summer of ’10.

The Ting Tings – Hands

BONUS DL: Kelis “4th of July (Calvin Harris Remix)” (alt)

After being embraced wholeheartedly by the music blog community with his 2008 pop twist on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (re-dubbed “I Want Those Flashing Lights”), it was looking like Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe was on the fast-track to doing big things. Following the release of the equally-adored mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero, later that year however, Munroe-as-solo-act faded from the scene, only popping up on occasion via guest spot gigs in the time since (including collabos with Black Milk, Slum Village, Travie McCoy and Kidz In The Hall) with little word on when his official debut project was to arrive.

This week, Munroe contacted us via e-mail to explain what the bleeping deal was: “There were some things that needed dealing with and that dealing is almost done.” A bit cryptic, but, hey, at least we know that the album is still on the way (hopefully sooner rather than later)…and look at that, he’s even opted to bring his solo hiatus to an end with an offering of a brand new cover. Of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U”, no less.

Admittedly, it’s not as amazing as the Kanye re-do nor as dynamic as the Purple Rain original (it’s impossible to beat Prince), but Munroe’s thumping, electro-shimmered production against his plaintive, Auto-tune-tweaked croon creates a fairly pleasant ethereal allure, making it an easy-to-appreciate re-introduction to the man’s appeal.

Nice to have you back Colin.

Hear it below, or simply pick it up here.

Colin Munroe – I Would Die 4 U (Prince Cover)

BONUS DL: Wale featuring Colin Munroe “Bittersweet” (alt)

It’s not the New Amerykah Part Two second single we were hoping for (that honor would fall onto the album’s Wings-looping seducer “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long”), but that’s okay: you’d have to be severely deaf not to have some love for official “Window Seat” follow-up “Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)”, Erykah Badu‘s playfully lightweight update of Sylvia Striplin’s 1981 old-school fave “You Can’t Turn Me Away” (better known to the kids as the sample source to the Junior M.A.F.I.A./ Biggie classic “Get Money”).

Weaving multi-layered Betty Boop-ish chirps in and out the Striplin jam’s familiar rubbery funk and quirky hiccups, Badu sounds like she’s having a ball as she tries on what can be taken as either a prowling gold-digger guise or a satire swipe at artists willing to sell their soul for that almighty dollar (“I look like a model/ I’ll do what I gotta/
To stay in the runnin’/ Cause I want you money”; see…works both ways).

Peep the video, spliced with the Rick Ross-featured remix of “Window Seat”, below:

BONUS DL: Sylvia Striplin “You Can’t Turn Me Away” (alt)

BONUS DL: Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. Notorious B.I.G. “Get Money” (alt)

When Living Days frontwoman Stephonik Youth utters “Let’s kiss”, it doesn’t sound like she’s begging for a simple smooch.

Dramatizing the two words in a deep and seductive, near-orgasmic gulp, Youth makes it sound like by “kiss”, she wants her and the object of her affection’s respective souls to literally melt into one for all eternity, making it an intriguingly dark addition to the otherwise sprightly synth-pop happenings chugging on behind her.

In short, the cut, from the Brooklyn five-piece’s forthcoming debut EP Make Out Room Part 1 (due in August), is like if one of those creepy-hot True Blood sex scenes married a-ha’s “Take On Me”: a weird, but mucho alluring, combination that strikes catchy pop gold to our ears.

DL: “Let’s Kiss” (alt)

“Dear Dictator”, the dark ‘n glammy first single from the justifiably buzzed-about L.A. indie pop outfit Saint Motel‘s 2009 introductory EP ForPlay (also featuring the very excellent “Butch”) was totally fine as it was, but we can’t help but be a tad bit more in love with this Sam Sparro-helmed remix, which recasts the tune into a sultry new wave-meets-electro-funk affair.

Suddenly we’ve developed an undying desire to have Mr. “Black & Gold” drop another album like now.

DL: “Dear Dictator (Sam Sparro Remix)” (alt)

Chromeo‘s electro soul-pop-funk creations adhere so close to their obvious 80′s-born influences and lean so heavily on the quirk, that it can be a bit difficult to embrace the Montreal duo as more than a novelty act, let alone imagine them ever being able to break beyond their cult-ish fanbase and become household names; yet, even within the current music scene’s increasingly tiresome three-decades-old retro-fetishism, the group remains root-worthy, each new serving of their 8-bit-stylized, vocoder-aided pizazz (whether for themselves or as a remix for someone else) easily hitting you right dead-center in the part of the soul that enjoys a good guilty pleasure entry.

That adoration should be kept afloat for “Don’t Turn The Lights On”, the second single from Chromeo’s forthcoming third album Business Casual.

Documenting one man’s struggle to emotionally move past a former relationship, “Lights” may surprise passive Chromeo admirers in it’s turn towards the serious, but there’s no denying the track’s late-night erotic under-tone, the combination of the hook’s sensual request (“Don’t turn the lights on/ Cause tonight I wanna see you in the dark”) and the backing beat’s libidinous synth burblings (which will totally bring to mind the sexy digi-groove of Rufus & Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody”) making this a necessary addition to a DJ’s “end of the night” bump & grind set.

Don’t Turn the Lights On by Chromeo

BONUS DL: Chromeo “I Can’t Tell You Why (The Eagles Cover)” (alt)

“If you see me in the street/ Please walk on by/ This is no Hollywood ending” goes the hook to “No Hollywood Ending”, the new single from Sweden-based ’80′s pop lovers The Sonnets, leading one to believe that the accompanying record would be this raw slab of emo-angst.

Despite the bitter quote, however, “Ending” lands as a rather cheerful ear delight, using the fond memories of a young love’s blossoming (“A lonely blue-eyed boy from school/ Fell in love for the very first time/ We were dancing to northern soul…”) as inspiration for it’s buoyant Motown-lite stomp.

Sure, the relationship eventually grows sour (as most teenage romances do), but the band do a fantastic job of keeping alive the long-dead union’s early blissed-out joy on what’s sure to be a summer of ’10 playlist staple.

The Sonnets’s full length, Western Harbour Blue, arrives in September on Despotz Records.

Even if Yael Naim was never to record another song again, it’s likely her presence wouldn’t be absent from the blogosphere for too long as DJ’s, producers and rappers seem obsessed with finding new ways to spin her 2008 fluke hit “New Soul”.

On this latest twist on the Naim tune, Sydney mash-up man Lezington crafts an admittedly cheesy, but definitely likable, marriage of “New Soul” with the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s kooky classic “Got Your Money” that has embedded inside our brains the hilarious image of a Muppet-ed Big Baby Jesus slapping down felt-made groupie ho’s on the seedier side of Sesame Street.

Grab it below, alongside another one of Lezington’s simplistic-but-irresistibly fun blends: Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli” merged with a-ha’s “Take On Me”.

DL: “Got Your New Soul (Lezington Blend)” (alt)

DL: “Take On A Milli (Lezington Blend)” (alt)

Following in the footpath of Q-Tip, who threw props to the King of Pop via borrowed groove and music video inspiration on his 2008 single “Move”, Method Man’s dro bro Redman makes a triumphant comeback from the edges of our memories with his own MJ-tributing new offering “Lookin’ Fly”, a braggalicious entry made oh-so-slick thanks to it’s sampling of The Jackson’s 1980 post-disco sizzler “This Place Hotel”, while boasting a clip highlighted by some of Mike’s most memorable visuals.

And just in case you were wondering if Redman had lost his comedic flair in his…erm, mature age (the rapper hit the big 4-0 this year!!!), chuckle-worthy lines like “Open your eyelids/ You see the bedpans all around?/ That mean it’s real sick in my crib” prove the man still knows how to bring the wit.

From Redman’s forthcoming effort, Reggie.

DL: “Lookin’ Fly” (alt)

BONUS DL: Redman “Let’s Get Dirty (Gorillaz Remix)” (alt)