mixtape maestro (2.0)

And so begins another round of “Why can’t Rivers & Co. be as good as they were way-back-when?”.

With the premiere of the new Weezer cut “Memories” this past weekend, you can already hear the minds of millions of former fan boys and girls churning trying to come up with some semi-witty-but-mostly-cruel retort to the band’s heart-on-sleeve hook yearn to go back in time to their carefree younger days when, amongst other things, “Audioslave was still Rage”.

But even if the single, the lead-off joint to the band’s Epitaph debut (and Lost shout-outing) Hurley, isn’t the return to “Blue Album”/ Pinkerton greatness longtime followers are still (somewhat foolishly) awaiting, it’s also not the worst Weezer tune ever, grasping an agreeable, “fun times with friends” air in it’s heavy power-pop pummel and singalong-worthy chorus.

Catch a stream below (via Hypetrak) and mark your calendars for Hurley‘s arrival on September 14th.

Weezer – Memories

We fully understand that when it’s all said and done, just as with that other song, the amazing new clip for OK Go‘s “This Too Shall Pass” single will far surpass the actual record in terms of public appreciation (especially for anyone that grew up playing Mouse Trap), but let’s give the Chicago act some credit: beyond being masters at making killer, on-the-cheap music videos, OK Go can also do brain-sticking pop (whether of the power-, alternative-, psychedelic-, or Prince-influenced variety) very well.

In the nanosecond it took to re-play the “Pass” vid for the hundredth time, we were just as excited to peep the complex, two-story Rube Goldberg contraption featured in the clip as we were to have our ears swallowed in the song’s densely layered, sunny triumphance.

Featuring tender piano plinks, soaring harmonies mixed slightly off in the distance, singer Damian Kulash’s pinched falsetto yelps spewing a spirit-raising message of positivity, and drummer Dan Konopka having a raucous good time underneath it all, the record carries a fetching jollity that’s just impossible to easily dismiss.

From OK Go’s latest album, Of The Blue Colour of The Sky.

BONUS DL: OK Go “This Too Shall Pass (Passion Pit Remix)” (alt)

BONUS DL: OK Go “The Lovecats (The Cure Cover)” (alt)

Weezer will likely forever more incite heated commentary from listeners on whichever album era it was when the band/ Rivers Cuomo officially “jumped the shark”, but you still have to kinda give it up for the boys for continuing to press on in the face of ever-present “why won’t they just retire?” balking, even if it’s a bit tough to disagree with that sentiment.

At least new single “If You’re Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)”, the lead cut from the band’s Raditude, is fun enough to temporarily distract you from pondering over the confusing entity Weezer has become over the years. It’s happy-go-lucky, “Walking On Sunshine”-like power-pop plodding making for a delightful three minute toe-tapper, “Wondering” also benefits from River’s umpteenth lyrical well-dipping into the gawky bliss of young love, it’s “boy loves girl” theme entertainingly speckled with references to “Slayer T-shirts”, viewings of Titanic, trips to Best Buy and meat loaf dinner with her parents (“I dug you so much/ I took one for the team”, Cuomo, a World’s Sexiest Vegetarian nominee, sings).

The same surprisingly likable results also emerge from the recently leaked, highly anticipated Weezer/ Weezy collabo “Can’t Stop Partying”, a brow-raising number co-written by Jermaine Dupri (!?!) that was originally heard in oddly somber acoustic demo form on Rivers’ compilation sequel Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

Yeah, Cuomo still sounds mega-silly vocalizing some mocking rap star fantasy that has him downing Patron and E tablets while kicking it with his “deep posse” in the hottest clubs’ VIP sections (even if it can looked at as some sort of extension of “Buddy Holly”‘s awkward “what’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?” urban-speak), but we’d be foolish in denying the guilty pleasure glee that’s stirred up in “Partying”‘s newfound glossy pop production polish (perfect for Top 40 spinning betwixt similar goof-pop entries by 3Oh3! and Cobra Starship) and Lil’ Wayne goblin-grinning his way through lines like “Party like tomorrow is my funeral/ Gotta stop mixing alcohol with pharmaceuticals”.

Raditude drops November 3rd.

DL: “Can’t Stop Partying” (alt)

Though she was able to snatch up the 2007 “American Idol” crown, winning over Mom’s and pre-teens with her mega-pipes and “good girl” demeanor, Jordin Sparks’ career post-confetti & tears didn’t seem like it was going to produce anything worthwhile. And that notion was kinda sorta proved with her debut album’s jump-off single “Tattoo”, a somewhat awkward mish-mashing of country and urban-pop that skirted the Hot 100 Top 10, but was ultimately forgettable.

Then arrives “No Air”, a surprisingly fetching duet with (a pre-career-in-crisis) Chris Brown that managed to catch ears beyond her central Disney bubblegum fanbase (as well as a Grammy nomination), despite the fact that it’s “can’t breathe without you” premise felt extremely absurd and dated and the two singers sounded like their throats were gonna explode at the way they shout-sung their teenybop devotion for a majority of it’s over four minutes length.

Apparently, Sparks has decided that this ear-bursting diva pop style could be a continually rewarding niche, as she’s dipped into that well over again, employing the writing/ production skills of fellow melodramatic bellower (and OneRepublic principal) Ryan Tedder for her second album’s lead single and title track, “Battlefield”, which takes “Air”‘s OTT midtempo ballad formula, then raises it a few OTT notches.

Once again she’s all “my world’s nothing when you’re gone”, mourning a relationship’s inability to ever get on the good foot, and this frustration is illustrated with the deafening, widescreen scope of a summer action blockbuster: cries of “Why does love always feel like a battlefield?” and the brilliantly WTF “You better go and get your armor” supported with a bombastic barrage of power rock drums and guitars, all elements that get more and more overblown as the song goes on.

Like “Air”, it’s a winning guilty pleasure that’ll definitely inspire numerous worldwide mimickings of it’s ridiculously huger-than-huge hooks (especially that “armor” line) over the next few months. Our only question is if the rest of the album follows this high-volume extreme (as we predict it will), will Sparks even have a voice once it comes to time to hit the touring rounds?

The album, Battlefield, drops mid-July.

Tween pop siblings closely affiliated with the Mouse and The Man Above, Aly & AJ make a Duff-like bid for the mainstream world on their catchy, quirksome new single, “The Potential Break-Up Song”. It’s the kind of song you feel obliged to hate but for some reason gets up under your skin as a near-perfect pop entry.

Anchored in a speedy wave of vocoder-inflected sass and nerdy new wave synths alongside other electro-pop skirmishes, it’s hard to fully digest the fireworks display of sound the first time around. But that killer opening line (“It took too long for you to call back/ And normally I would just forget that/ Except for the fact it was my birthday/ My stupid birthday”) revs you up for a the kind of slightly dumb/ secretly clever tune you wish every pop song could be.

A White Chicks version of “Irreplaceable” or anything the ladies of En Vogue have done, “Potential Break-Up Song” aches to be a rallying female anthem, managing to strum up major drama out of that single thoughtless incident in order to justify kicking boyfriend to the curb. As disparate melodies fly all over the place (this is almost like four songs in one!), the meta-hook brings it all together in a way that would make Fall Out Boy proud (“This is the potential break-up song/ Our album needs just one”).

The only thing keeping this from being a bonafide winner is the fact that Aly & AJ don’t have the cojones to rough their voices up a bit or really lay on the guitars (Disney doesn’t want to scare the kiddies away too bad it seems). But with Kelly Clarkson’s deeper venture into rock leaving “Since U Been Gone” fans (and her record company) feeling a little cold, “Break-Up Song” conveniently fills the void for upbeat power-pop “I can do better all by myself”-type songs to pogo to. One pinky toe out the door from their ultra squeaky clean past, my bet is they’re only one album away from hooking up with Timbaland or BT and attempting some awkward, Pussycat Doll-influenced belly dancing in their videos.

Any connection to that talent/ reality show that birthed her was completely deemed irrelevant when Clarkson dropped the behemoth Breakaway. The multi-platinum Grammy winner was spearheaded by a handful of flawlessly crafted pop/ rock explosions, most notably “Since U Been Gone”, an energy-charged kiss off that earned universal praise from the teenyboppers to the anti-pop clique with it’s showboat chorus and indie rock attitude. Breakaway did for Clarkson what Control did for Janet, quickly pushing away any pre-conceived notions concerning what made her a “pop star” as each released single became a never-say-die airwave staple. Now all eyes are on America’s favorite “Idol” to see if she can do it all over again on her third album, My December.

New single “Never Again” sticks to Breakaway‘s winning formula for the most part, but ups the ante by doing everything thousandfold. The song is bigger, fiercer, louder and much more rockier than anything that album produced. The questions is, though, does it ring better? “Since U Been Gone” was much too ubiquitous to top and anyone expecting anything close to it’s power will walk away feeling at least slight disappointment. But such an unfair comparison doesn’t mean that “Never Again” is a huge fall from grace.

More indebted to it’s tense rock elements and boyfriend irritance, “Never Again” explodes in a blast of crazed guitars and thrashing drum work. It’s all a little too much on first listen, as if Kelly went a little overboard in her ambitions and mistook herself for a Karen O-type artist. But as initial reactions subside, “Never Again” reveals itself to be another potent chart-stomper.

Burnt with jealousy and pain, Clarkson curses her ex’s new relationship in sharp-tongued devlishness (“I hope the ring you gave her/ Turns her finger green/…I would never wish bad things/ But I don’t wish you well/ Could you tell?”), the lyrics growing in pent-up rage until the singer has no choice but to implode in a wide-reaching annihilation of hard rock fury. The song peaks in volume so quickly that by the time the bridge rolls around, the production must go opposite, breaking apart into a cool drum-n-bass riddled section as Clarkson briefly catches her breath before she can vent all over again.

Less adhesive to a teen-pop infrastructure, “Never Again” reaches as far as it can go without Kelly completely losing her identity. It would’ve been foolish to suddenly jump ship from a style that catered to her so well the last time around, so the move to generously build off what worked in the past in such an accomplished way guarantees that Kelly has no intention of falling into a third album slump.