mixtape maestro (2.0)

Five years after bursting onto the music scene earning all kinds of critical fanfare for their self-titled debut‘s boy/girl harmony-sweetened stabs at happy-go-lucky (at least on the surface) ’60′s folk-pop, and four years after losing much of that breakthrough momentum on a hastily released sophomore album (2006′s Those The Brokes) bogged down by over-long track lengths, English indie pop quartet The Magic Numbers have returned, armed with third project The Runaway and, likely, the hope that it will have the power to restore them to their debut heights.

So far the outlook isn’t looking so bright, but even if Runaway isn’t bringing in much praise as a whole, the set still manages to delight on individual moments.

Early album offering “Why Did You Call?” is one of those moments, nicely seeping its way into the ears with a driving, ’80′s MOR groove and the ghostly whisper-coos of female members Angela Gannon and Michele Stodart triggering an inviting late-night ambiance (while also recalling the melody of Womack & Womack’s oft-covered “Teardrops”).

Caught off guard by an ex’s phone call late one evening, Gannon and Stodart’s mesmerizing encircling vocals share the role of a woman reduced to a pile of weak-kneed mush by the sound of her former love’s voice at the other end of the line, all the headway she had achieved in getting over him dissipated in mere seconds as she regretfully finds herself unable to resist sharing one more “dance with the sinners tonight”.

This one NEEDS to be a single.

The Magic Numbers – Why Did You Call

BONUS DL: The Magic Numbers “Crazy In Love (Beyonce Cover)” (alt)

Alt-country-tinged indie-pop singer-songwriter Lissie has received plenty of acclaim within the past year, winning over critics with last year’s Why You Runnin’ EP, then sending the blogosphere all gaga over her rustic renditions of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”. That adoration should only continue as more ears become enamored over the Fleetwood Mac-evocation and heartland charm found within her newly dropped major label debut Catching A Tiger, a surefire bet for Best New Artist attention come next year’s Grammy’s.

On stand-out album track “Stranger”, Lissie nicely blends her classic C&W influences with the dense ’60′s girl group shimmer of Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” pop, but she manages to avoid the doe-eyed girlishness that typified most of those acts, her whiskey-soaked delivery presenting her as no dainty pushover as she dismisses the advances of a wannabe suitor.

Instantly turned off when she notices the ring on his finger (“I thought you said/ That you were single,” she dryly growls), Liss does her best to make him feel as silly and small as possible over the next three minutes, hitting him with a series of turn-downs that build from the simple and direct (“You’re not the kind of man that I wanna give my love”) to menacing threats (“This thing goes, you’ll just be rubble”) as he continually refuses to acknowledge her non-interest in him.

As salty as her lyrics get, though, the arrangement’s twinkling gallop and churn coasts along nicely, ending on an anthemic high of twangy bliss that only heightens the independent woman pride (“I’m not yours, I am mine”) she fades out with.

Lissie – Stranger

BONUS DL: Lissie “Bad Romance (Lady Gaga Cover)” (alt)

Here’s the video to current Catching A Tiger single, “When I’m Alone”:

On Still Standing At Your Back Door, the debut full-length from nineteen-year-old Swedish twins Taxi Taxi!, sisters Miriam and Johanna Berhan go far out of their way to present themselves as old souls.

Yeah, their songwriting relies heavily on teenybopper-isms like puppy love and first heartaches, and you won’t ever mistake their squeaky harmonies as originating from some older and wiser female duo, but that’s the extent of any connection that could be made to America’s same-aged, Disney-backed tween-pop brigade. Instead of cheapened R&B-lite or pop-rock aural assaults, the Berhan sibs would rather surround their voices in beautifully earthen, acousti-folk settings. Their “girl-loves-boy” narratives? Over-dramatized poetics (most penned around the age of fifteen) about romantic addictions to boys with “troubled souls” (“Ripest Fruit”) and how snuggling close with the one you love brings about fantasies of marriage and kids (“More Childish Than In A Long Time”).

This strain for a beyond-our-years maturity in both musical and lyrical forms helps establish Still Standing as an ideal winter-time listen for listeners of all different ages, but interestingly enough, it’s true standout moment arises when Taxi Taxi! act more their age, as they do on the merry “Old Big Trees”, a summer camp sing-along-structured ditty featuring tender oom-pah strummings and the girls’ cutesy doe-eyed-meets-goth attempt at convincing some boy of the great couple they could make.

“Bachelor, oh bachelor,” they coo in girlish unison, “Maybe my skeleton would look quite beautiful beside yours”. All together now: Awww…

DL: “Old Big Trees” (alt)

“She won’t be waiting/ You’re lost but she’s found”? “Helpful is hurtful when life’s inside out”? “Know what you’re building will fall to the ground”?

With cryptically depressing lyrics like these, Portland, Oregon indie-folk band Weinland‘s “I’m Sure It Helps” may not seem to be the most uplifting song choice, but damn if the melancholic beauty brought forth in the song’s gorgeous, woodsy twang and the hushed, plaintive delivery spewing from behind the thick beard of lead singer/ guitarist’s Adam Shearer aren’t the most soothing marriage of sounds to chill back to when hiding away from the autumn cold.

Pair those elements up with a visually stunning, and quite tender, semi-computer animated video that finds them stare down a herd of buffalo (who they eventually befriend and share a campfire with), and this 2009 break-out band triumphantly succeed in stealing away our hearts.

From their latest album, Breaks In The Sun.

If Emmy The Great’s fall of ’08 gem “We Almost Had A Baby” had been delivered by some R&B diva-to-be, the ’50′s-flavored ball of melodic sugar in which she narrates a twisted revenge fantasy of getting pregnant by some heart-crushing ex simply so she “could have something above (him)” would have been answered back via numerous rapper-laced remixes by now, with many emcees excitedly competing to see who could drop the cruelest rhymes about how she’s nothing but a loony groupie chick.

Alas it wasn’t, so the only response Emmy’s awarded arrives from this year-later semi-cover by Micah P. Hinson, a crit-approved, indie-rock singer-songwriter who spends the first half of the song gruffily mimicking the original’s lyrics from the opposite perspective.

Mid-way through though, Hinson changes course, running off on his own tangent to flesh out the male perspective. Unfortunately, he can’t really match the colorful kookiness of Emmy’s pen, only able to contribute a half-hearted semi-apology about how he was “only a kid” when they had their fling and really hadn’t even thought of her at all after they went their separate ways.

Boo. Micah’s rendition may still be one of the highlights of his latest album, the excellently titled all-covers set, All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers (featuring compelling takes on overly-familiar tunes from the likes of The Beatles, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra), but as far as creative input goes, if he wasn’t going to deliver a straight-forward remake, he could have repped for the fella’s a lot better than he does here.

Hopefully some other indie dude, hungry mixtape rapper (or, hell, R. Kelly) will one day come across the Emmy original and give it the true juicy soapy response it begs for.

DL: “We Almost Had A Baby (Emmy The Great Cover)” (alt)

Below, catch the video for Micah’s cover of “Are You Lonesome Tonight”:

Are You Lonesome Tonight

Micah P. | MySpace Video

Originally conceived for Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, the much-fussed-over 1979 follow-up to their Grammy Award-winning classic Rumours, “Walk A Thin Line” was one of nine cuts band member Lindsey Buckingham penned for the double-LP, and boy what a creation it was (and remains).

That steadily-paced folk rock base, Buckingham’s pinched falsetto peaks, the way those choir-like harmonies hauntingly garnish his vocal, the dreamy guitar bits…it’s just a beautifully executed record all around, one that could easily soundtrack an entire, wine-accompanied evening on repeat without complaint from anyone.

Last week, Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox released a cover of the track under his solo moniker Atlas Sound, and, unsurprisingly, it lit up the blogosphere in no time.

Snatch up his bedroom-y hazed (and equally moving) rendition below.

Atlas Sound’s sophomore album, Logos, drops this October.

DL: “Walk A Thin Line (Fleetwood Mac Cover)” (alt)

An indie-folk singer-songwriter who, at one point, fronted Sufjan Stevens former band Marzuki, Shannon Stephens released her self-titled debut album waaay back in 2000 before deciding to take a lenghty hiatus away from the music biz to enjoy some domestic bliss.

Now, after re-entering the minds of undie-leaning music fans thanks to Bonnie “Prince” Billy covering her “I’ll Be Glad” on last year’s Lie Down In The Light, Stephens is set to make her return as a solo artist with The Breadwinner, backed by Sufjan’s Asthmatic Kitty label.

Pre-album release freebie “In Summer In The Heat” serves as a nice re-introduction (or, perhaps to most, introduction) to the songstress, a pleasantly plucked acoustic-based ballad that beautifully illustrates a summers’ night scene where she’s wrapped in the sweaty arms of a lover.

Her intimate vocals brushing the ear like the most seductive whisper, Stephens captures your undivided attention as she unveils each detail of this very moment from the airplanes flying above to the murmuring voices and automobile noises on the streets below. But it’s her plea for daylight not to “come and spoil this” and take away this “strange paralysis” that proves to be the ultimate kicker, perfectly nailing the sigh-inducing sensuality of a great romance novel.

Grab this blissful tease of a cut below and make sure to snatch up The Breadwinner when it drops on September 8th (Pre-order here).

DL: “In Summer In The Heat” (alt)

Not in the mood for the history lesson that themes Portland, Oregon indie pop five-piece The Dimes latest EP New England, a four-song set revolving around important Bostonion subjects like the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton? That’s fine, since one mustn’t have had to pay attention in class to be able to fully enjoy this endearing mini-collection.

All that’s really required is an appreciation for cotton-soft male vocals and lush, acoustic-folk musical frames, two elements that keep New England at an evenly pleasant, dream-like level the entire way through.

Our favorites? Opener “The Liberator”, a demure lil’ strum-along highlighted by the bandmember’s mellowed harmonies and wiggly mandolin (and what sounds like accordion) accents (catch a live rehearsal performance of the tune below); and “Watching The Wheels”, a sublimely tenderized cover of John Lennon’s poignant 1980 ode to the pleasures of domesticity over superstar fame that’s still as tearjerking as when it premiered nearly thirty years ago.

For more info and music from The Dimes, head on over to their blog. Their next full-length is slated for an August release.

DL: “The Liberator” (alt)

DL: “Watching The Wheels (John Lennon Cover)” (alt)

In response to the suddenly revived blog interest in The Gossip’s years-old cover of Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody”, here’s a couple other not-so-new, but still impressive, indie-dressed remakes of old R&B hits that are equally deserving of some re-pimping:

Rio En Medio “Let’s Groove (Earth Wind & Fire Cover)”

Coming off of a mid-to-late-’70′s peak commercial period that produced such R&B classics/ deathless wedding reception staples as “Shining Star”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Boogie Wonderland” and “September”, Earth Wind & Fire were no doubt left more than a little frustrated as the turn of the decade saw their big band disco/ funk style feeling increasingly dated.

Determined to stay relevant in a genre that was growing more and more dependent on an electronic-based sound, EWF managed to score one last great hurrah with 1981′s feel-good “Let’s Groove”, a post-disco disco epic carefully crafted to reference the band’s previously winning sound while given enough of a slightly futuro-funk sheen to as not appear completely “old-school”.

Last year, wispy voiced indie-folk chanteuse Rio En Medio (aka New Mexico-born Danielle Stech-Homsky) released a stupefyingly brilliant recreation of the dancefloor favorite that found her using nothing but handclaps and circuitous layers of doo-woppy mouth-noise in place of the original’s extravagant instrumentation.

Try not to get lost in the dizzying delight of the most “groove”-iest musical art project you’ll ever hear.

DL: “Let’s Groove (Earth Wind & Fire Cover)” (alt)

Peggy Sue “All N My Grill (Missy Elliott Cover)”

When it comes to that mind-blowingly “next next level” rap shit, everyone knows that Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott is the one to seek out; but the “supa dupa fly” diva’s R&B side dishes rarely ever get as much shine, even though they consistently deliver interesting, buttery smoove renditions of the oft-generic form.

On her underrecognized 1998 treasure “All N My Grill”, Elliott’s silky vocal slides alongside lightning bolt-like strings stabs while demanding “If you want me/ Where’s my dough?/ Give me money/ Buy me clothes” to a deadbeat old lover she’s well aware doesn’t have the funds. At one point she even emerges as a possible influence of Sasha Fierce when she urges the reconcilation-craving homeboy to “show me a ring”.

In the hands of Peggy Sue (via the enjoyable “indieghetto” online series), the combination of a downbeat acoustic folk reading and vocalists Rosa Rex and Katy Klaw’s moody, back-and-forth soul wailings strip away Elliott’s hood-toughened confidence for a tender vulnerability, adding some striking emotional depth to a track that had initially carried it’s appeal solely on the surface.

(Other “indieghetto” highlights include Alan Pownall tackling “Single Ladies”, Ayah Marar taking on Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel”, Paloma Faith & Paul Weller doing Nelly’s “Dilemma” and La Shark’s kooky reimagining of Ja Rule’s “Always On Time”)

DL: “All N My Grill (Missy Elliott Cover)” (alt)

While we won’t claim to be Animal Collective experts here, we will say that we’ve enjoyed plenty of private celebratory moments (read: goofy, hopping-around-the-house-like-a-damn-fool sessions) over the past several months with the band’s festive Merriweather album closer “Brother Sport” spinning it’s merry charms in the background.

Anyone who has ever heard it definitely understands it’s “pick me up” appeal and maybe even, like us, imagines skipping jubilantly through some Disney-esque fantasy land, where the trees are super-sized lollipops and cartoon birds flit around gleefully, every time it’s played.

No? Just us?

Well, wherever your mind chooses to float once this lengthy anthem of tribal joy noise and tender sibling support hits the speakers, enjoy this nice lil’ club-aimed re-tinkering of the cut helmed by Vancouver DJ Tyler Fedchuk of the Radiozero/ Far Away gang.

DL: “Brother Sport (Fetch’s Tropical Preservation Edit)” (alt)