I’ve mentioned before that I’m a singles guy more than an albums guy, and true to form, I bought five individual songs this week to throw on my main iPod playlist, from favorite to least favorite:
“No Sex for Ben,” by The Rapture. The lyrics are amusing, but that’s only good for one or two listens. What makes this one of my favorite songs of the year is the sound, almost like an undiscovered Prince Paul confection from Paul’s Boutique, sparse yet layered with a percussion track that jumps straight off the wax. The song is a diss record aimed at a DJ named Ben Rama who said something (maybe?) bad about the Rapture, which led the band to call for a boycott in Rama’s bedroom, so to speak. It’s pointless lyrically, although I like the like about Rama “looking like a poor man’s Arthur Baker,” which is the sort of allusion the Beastie Boys love to make – except they’ll make fifty in one song, instead of just one.
“Float,” by Flogging Molly. I readily admit to being a sucker for Irish-tinged rock or folk. I liked everything I heard from Carbon Leaf and had a soft spot for Black 47. I love David Downes’ arrangement of the traditional Irish folk song, “Dulaman,” which is a lot more listenable than the Clannad version, even if it’s far less authentic. But somehow Flogging Molly escaped my notice until I caught “Float” on WFNX earlier this week. It’s a faux Irish-folk song, sung in a Corkonian accent (although lead singer Dave King is from Dublin, not Cork), with a catchy chorus and well-orchestrated build to a stomping finish.
“Lake Michigan,” by Rogue Wave. I could have gotten this for free last fall or winter, when it was the Starbucks free iTunes download of the week, but never got around to grabbing it. I’ve long had a theory that pop/rock songs with quickly-sung lyrics, like “Lake Michigan’s” single-breath stanzas, have a higher chance of crossover success. I have no idea why this is, but I’m subject to it, as I definitely hear the appeal of the fluid, almost rotating lyrical lines in Rogue Wave’s harmonies.
“Let’s Dance to Joy Division,” by the Wombats. Apparently, “wombat” is the Australian term for “arctic monkey.” Again, it’s a one-joke song, and not even a particularly funny one, but this style of pseudo-frenetic, punk-influenced pop-rock has grown on me.
“Sequestered in Memphis,” by The Hold Steady. Pretty strong Replacements vibe here with the kind of smirking irony that works in tiny doses but gets a little old when the “Subpoenaed in Texas/Sequestered in Memphis” line is repeated as a sing-along chorus over mechanical hand-claps. The music makes the song listenable, with a sort of driving, bar-band feel, but the lyrics are just too Replacements/Bruce Springsteen, apparently part of an album-long concept about a murdered woman in Memphis. The singer’s voice reminds me of Paul Weller’s.
