mixtape maestro (2.0)

On this, The Killers’ fourth consecutive Christmas charity single installment, the Vegas boys team up with former touring mates New Hampshire indie-rockers Wild Light and the previously MM-praised The Bronx alter-ego Mariachi El Bronx to spin a beautifully Latin-flavored yarn about a big brown-eyed, “lovely señorita” named “Guadalupe”.

Second in appeal for us behind their 2007 entry “Don’t Shoot Me Santa”, “Happy Birthday Guadalupe” is essentially inspired after Mexican icon Our Lady of Guadalupe, but it sounds just as good when looked at as a holiday-themed, tortured love story between a man and a one-night stand bedmate he struggles to dismiss from his brain, while also suggesting a musical style The Killers should consider tackling on their next album (even if they do end up looking like Mariachi El Bronx style-jackers as a result).

Check out the “Happy Birthday Guadalupe” video below (all proceeds from the single go towards (RED), the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa) followed by the newest clip from Bronx’, “Holy”.

“Happy Birthday Guadalupe”:

“Holy”:

Mariachi El Bronx – Holy from Our Videos on Vimeo.

BONUS DL: The Killers “Read My Mind (Like Rebel Diamonds Mix)” (alt)

Packaged at the tail-end of an album whose entire prior mood was based in upbeat pop thrills, Day & Age‘s near-seven minute album-closer “Goodnight, Travel Well” felt too long, too broody and too dull in this context, a deflating punctuation to all the bright and shiny going-ons that preceded it.

When taken in apart from it’s trackmates though, the Killers‘ song immediately stands tall as an extraordinary monument, powerfully communicating the internal anguish and feelings of powerlessness that arise when one is forced to deal with the uncompromising reality of death.

“The unknown distance to the Great Beyond/ Stares back at my grieving frame/ To cast my shadow by the holy sun/ My spirit moans with a sacred pain,” numbly mourns Brandon Flowers in the opening verse, as sunless sonic detailings (bellowing orchestrations, doomsday tick tock effects) increasingly loom heavy and large around him.

As the arrangement grows ever more intense, so does his lumped throat ramblings, evolving through a striking array of varying inner-emotions (The lines “Stay, don’t leave me/ The stars can wait for your sign/ Don’t signal now” being the most heart-wrenching) before coming to a climactic release where he finally reaches some sort of closure towards his painful loss.

It’s a stunning masterwork that forces one to look at the Vegas boys in a totally new and different way.

Catch the equally amazing video, a collaboration between the band, UNICEF and MTV Exit to raise awareness of sex trafficking, below:

UK indie rock-ers the Noisettes might have been armed with an unapologetic, rebel blend of razor-sharp punk, classic rock, jazz and blues that drew heavy critical praise, and an eye-grabbing English/ Zimbabwean beauty of a frontwoman with a background in theater and the circus and an oh-so-cool government tag (Shingai Shoniwa), but sadly, all these elements combined weren’t enough to draw them much commercial fortune. With a sleeker re-formatting of their eclectic style on their latest cycle, though, the three-piece’s luck seems about to change.

Sounding a million years away from their earlier sound, new single “Don’t Upset The Rhythm” has already kicked off their year on a largely successful note. Mostly thanks to it’s inclusion in a new Mazda ad, but also due to it’s infectious indulgence in swirly, disco diva territory, the dance record has opened them up to pop audiences in a major way, looking to debut big on next week’s UK singles chart. This newfound mainstream success should only continue once ears get better trained on the equally peppy “Wild Young Hearts”.

The title cut off their upcoming album, “Hearts” isn’t as much of a giant leap from their previous sound as “Rhythm”, making it a better sell to the band’s longtime fans. Merging a Strokes-y garage pop feel with jazzy piano bits, the track nurses an appealing feelgood swing that’s perfect for Shoniwa’s ruminations on being young and having fun.

Yeah, she might have lost a boyfriend recently, but she “won’t weep” because “summer is here again” and, like every change of season, it brings with it the exciting potential for all kinds of new single-night adventures with members of the opposite sex. Every now and then, twinges of regret towards this frolicsome lifestyle float across her mind (“Somebody tell me tell me tell me, when will I learn?”), but she just as quickly casts off the sobering thoughts with a simple “Damn these wild young hearts” shake of the head, her interest in enjoying life while she’s still in her prime proving far too irresistible to give up.

A great tune to start the day off right.

Wild Young Hearts arrives in the UK, April 20th.

Wild Young Hearts

DL: “Wild Young Hearts” (alt)

Need another reason why the Noisettes need to be tagged as your favorite band of ’09? Below, catch their sublime Live Lounge cover of The Killers’ “When You Were Young”:

DL: “When You Were Young (The Killers Cover)” (alt)

An exquisite beauty from last year’s mildly reviewed Sam’s Town, “Read My Mind” gave us The Killers that we knew and loved: the glitzy, eye-lined Las Vegas band who bowed down with ’80′s synthesizers, shiny hooks and crypto-lyrics. Yes the song subtly gives in to the album’s Boss adoration a bit, but unlike the epic Americana rock displayed on “When You Were Mine”, this falls more on the side of the band’s familiar new wave influence.

Icy keyboards intro the song beautifully, like clouds parting for a warm, sunny afternoon. Each element that appears next only adds to it’s sense of aural perfection: a chugging guitar/ drum track lain underneath, Brandon Flowers’ slightly rough delivery, shimmery synth arpeggios and a blown out rock chorus in which the Springsteen edge is really felt and enacted faultlessly.

The song corners the push-pull of a couple veering in different directions. She’s growing up and ready to take things to the next level and is bummed that he doesn’t seem to be on the same wavelength (“You say you wanna move on and/ You say I’m falling behind”). Hurt by this turn of events, he’s determined to prove otherwise, believing a life without her is no life at all. But at the same time he also understands her need for a change, internally hoping that though their union may be taking a detour, she’ll find her way back to him where he’ll always await. “I don’t shine if you don’t shine”, he confesses with a tinge of gospel evocation.

It all sums up as another killer Killers tune and proof that though the band’s various influences may sway them in new directions, it’ll always be their new wave home that will find them at their peak.