mixtape maestro (2.0)

Built off a merged inspiration of yester-year pop icons Brian Wilson, Sergio Mendes and Phil Spector, with bits of Broadway and bossa nova influence thrown in the mix, “Summer”, a breathtakingly gorgeous new cut by Memphis indie pop outfit Magic Kids, sublimely nails the mood of a lazy summer afternoon in it’s lush orchestral-pop sway, the added touch of frontman Bennett Foster’s nasally croon drifting the song’s cinematic grandeur into wistful territory.

What’s got Foster so down? He’s back at home for summer break watching all his friends “disappear in the arms of college girls set free”, but he’s unable to join along in their promiscuous festivities because his heart weighs heavy for the sweetheart he left behind, and he’s highly distracted by the bubbling internal fears that their union won’t be able to survive the three months long separation.

“Now I’m scared that I’m losing/ Touch with you, is it true?”, he panics aloud, later on attempting to convince himself that maybe he should just relax and let whatever happens concerning their romance just happen: “There’s no use in fearing what tomorrow brings”. The heart-melting yearn heard in his song-ending falsetto cries of “Missin’ you”, however, succinctly expresses that he’s far from resolving his inner woes.

It’s going to be a long summer break.

Magic Kids’ Memphis drops August 24th on True Panther.

DL: “Summer” (alt)

Even with Katy Perry‘s 2008 breakout album, One of the Boys, managing to strike platinum and peel off four Top 30 US hits (two of which-“I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot n Cold”-we’ll most certainly be hearing at least once a week for the rest of time), it’s huge success never really solidified the idea of the shtick-reliant singer being necessary beyond it.

If anything else, Perry seemed to be one of those flash-in-the-pan types who would fade away back into obscurity, only to make re-appearances in I Love The ’00‘s-type pop culture retrospectives or future “What ever happened to her?” coffee table conversations concerning the year-long time she somewhat ruled the pop roost.

That being said, it’s not only surprising that Katy would re-emerge with a new record on par with the sugary irresistibility of her biggest cuts and that it would speed it’s way to a spot on the top of the pop charts (and plenty of people’s current summertime guilty pleasure lists), but-and here’s the main shocker-that we would actually be welcome to her return.

Yearning for an explanation? Well, to put it simply: The past year has produced so many forgettable one(and sometimes two)-hit wonder plastic-pop sensations, it’s kinda of nice to have an “established” act of the genre around. Yeah, if you found Katy annoying before (whether because of all the overly-cutesy stage persona tics or her odd, caterwaul vocals), you probably still won’t have much tolerance for her, but if not having her back means more pop radio space for lesser-forgivable entries from the Ke$ha’s, 3OH!3′s and Jason DeRulo’s of the world, than we say “hurrah” for “California Gurl”‘s existence.

Besides, if you look past the titular’s awful spelling of “girls”, the lame Snoop feature, the lyrics’ lazy (and/or awkward) “Cali is the place to be” signifiers and…hell, it’s overall corniness (the West Coast answer to “Empire State of Mind”,as it has been proposed, this surely is not), the track’s effervescent disco-ish sparkle can work wonders on a bad day.

Catch “California Gurl”‘s Candyland-inspired clip below, then afterward grab The White Panda crew’s mash-up of it with Trey Songz’ “Say Ahh”.

DL: The White Panda “Ahh California (Katy Perry x Trey Songz)” (alt)

Since apparently people weren’t buying into the hip-house flavor Estelle was working on her last single, the clubby flop “Freak”, it makes sense that the British singer would do a quick about-face and revert back to the sound that earned her her largest crowd.

For new cut “Fall In Love”, Estelle goes for a blatant, near note-for-note retread of her 2008 Grammy-winning smash “American Boy”, but it’s one instance where artistic laziness gets a pass, because really, who wouldn’t want a repeat dose of the winning lush R&B groove that backed that Kanye West-assisted number?

Released in two versions (one that features John Legend and one pairing Estelle with Nas), “Fall In Love”, in either incarnation, is an instantly lovable summertime breezer, tracking the blooming romantic interest between two strangers who, after passing each other on the street on a daily basis, decide to finally make a go at getting to know one another better.

Have to admit though, this would be a thousand times better if Estelle would’ve just went all the way re-do and nabbed another excellently ego-centric Kanye verse…

Grab a blending of both versions (hooked up by DJ Smu) below.

DL: “Fall In Love (Smu Mix)” (alt)

For most of 1996 and ’97, you almost couldn’t go anywhere on the planet without being bombarded on a daily basis with the sound of Mark Morrison‘s pinched, reggae-tinged chops hyping the “Return of The Mack”. The slickly produced number, in which he was found re-collecting his swagger following an ego-crushing break-up, enjoyed a seemingly endless stranglehold on several international pop charts, turning the Germany-born singer into a multi-platinum success damn near overnight. Then came an incident with a stun gun, followed by numerous other run-ins with the law, all of which helped bring a quick end to Morrison’s commercial fortunes.

Fourteen years after that mega-hit’s reign, Morrison is planning a comeback with the release of his fourth studio effort, I Am What I Am sometime later this year. First single “B’ Day” pairs him with another semi-forgotten ’90′s radio staple (G-funk icon Warren G) and, all Holy MTV-Jams-Hosted-By-Bill-Bellamy Flashback, Batman! jokes aside, actually doesn’t sound all that bad.

Atop the track’s better-than-decent, squelchy house party funk, Morrison and G spend their lines praising an champagne-assisted night of feel-good, with Mark’s still intact nasally tones (now, of course, seasoned with a lil’ Auto-Tune aid) urging everyone to “Be on your worst behavior”.

True, it’s likely that those mature folks raised off of G-Funk’s Greatest Hits and Morrison’s previous pop peak will enjoy this the most, but we could definitely hear “B’ Day” earning some spins amidst the Jason Derulo’s and Taio Cruz’ of the world this summer. Besides, if someone as random as Cypress Hill can re-emerge with a solid, hot weather banger in 2010 (still a shocker), why not these two as well?

DL: “B’ Day” (alt)

Summer may be months away in reality, but it definitely doesn’t seem that way when the feel-good buoyancy of First Rate People‘s “Girls’ Night” is spilling through your speakers.

Here, the Ontario-based seven-piece piece together a fetching swirl of indie rock, R&B and bedroom-pop style stamps, the song’s encircling male and female leads at times feeling like two different songs being mashed together in perfect harmony.

We’re not particularly clear what the two singers are going on about (something about sending postcards and crashing an all-female outing), but honestly we could care less, because what is fully understood, is that by the time this two-and-a-half minute tune has faded out on a sunny high of chirpy guitars and that crunchy, hip hop-esque drum track, we’re immediately hit with the uncontrollable need to hit “replay” so that we could be immersed in it’s catchy goodness all over again.

Expect a full-length debut from FRP sometime later this year.

DL: “Girls’ Night” (alt)

After peeping this live performance of Calvin Harris’ summery-tastic “Ready For The Weekend”, we’re now even more inspired to catch one of his shows in person, just so we can pogo with glee to this (and fully absorb the aftershocks of Mary Pearce’ sirenic wail) while half-sloshed and stuck in a stinky pit crowded with swarms of other tipsy boppers.

Our only gripe: Lip-syncing may be a no-no with the Live Lounge people (understandably) but “RFTW” in this context would have been a lot more satisfying if Harris had allowed in the studio version’s heavily vocal-processed latter verse bits as opposed to his somewhat buzzkilling lower-range (or just chucked off that entire section entirely, since we’d rather have Pearce’s magnificent hook arrive a lot quicker anyway).

Catch a clip of the performance as well as a Mary-led cover of Kasabian’s “Fire” below:

How much of a bummer is it to know that Summer has already reached it’s mid-way point? We know, we know, we shouldn’t even dare speak of such depressing things, but HEY!!, at least we got the new single from psych-pop British band The Clientele to help perfectly soundtrack the month and change that’s left of this warm season.

Drifting along a breezy sea of dreamy jazz and bossa nova flourishes and “bah-bah-bah”‘s that pierce the air with such sweetness they threaten to give our ears cavities, the group’s latest ’60′s-hugging nugget “I Wonder Who We Are” is so sunny, it’s virtually impossible not to have a smile draped across your face when immersed in it’s aural pleasantries.

It’s the first single from their upcoming fifth long-player Bonfires on the Heath, due in October.

DL: “I Wonder Who We Are” (alt)

During the summer of ’96, you couldn’t go anywhere without the inviting anonymous female vocals and giddy booty bass bump of Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo” being blasted from some passing vehicle or neighborhood window. And even if it was heard close to two million times a day, nary a complaint was made, because the song was THAT GREAT.

Fast forward a decade and some change and this one-off smash has lost none of it’s feel-good appeal, especially when updated with a choppy B-More stutter-swing courtesy of the consistently solid remixer DJ Solly.

DL: “My Boo (Solly Remix)” (alt)

Arriving just in time to coincide with the triple-degree peaking temperatures of the season, “Mercy Mercy”, the debut single from new Swedish pop quintet Le Kid, is about as perfect as perfect can get when it comes to blissful, summer-ready pop.

It’s got chirpy pin-up babe vocals demanding potential male suitors to “wind me up” and “treat me right”, effervescent “nah-nah-nahs”, a lovely brush of horns on the hook and spunky cheerleader chant interjections that spell out the band’s name…and, oh yeah, it also happens to have as a main chunk of it’s musical source, a nearly too distracting sample of Girls Aloud’s ’08 contender for perfect pop, “Can’t Speak French”, which gives it a nice dose of familiarity.

Catch the video below:

Ragga-froggy-voiced curioso Sean Kingston is back, and while his latest effort “Fire Burning” might not have the power to distance him from the novelty whispers that will probably always surround him, it’s conveniently armed with a dancefloor-ready charge that’ll surely earn him lots of spins alongside the Lady Gaga, Flo Rida and Black Eyed Peas tunes currently dominating Top 40 playlists.

In need of someone to blame for your inability to break from under “Fire Burning”‘s spell? Target producer RedOne, the man behind GaGa’s trio of Top Ten hits. He envelops Kingston’s disinctive growls about some dame’s mesmerizing “birthday cake” (read: ’09′s version of a badonkadonk) in a spirited assault of gleaming synth work and buzzing bass sounds that may come across a bit chintzy when heard while alone, but when heard blaring from the DJ’s speakers while stuck within a mass of drunk and sweaty party-goers, feels like the peaking moment of an excitement-filled Friday night out.

From the album Tomorrow, due August 25th.