Girls Girls Girls

Plain and simple, there are some girls that have been killin' it lately. In swarms. These are the girls that are currently shaking my tree.

M.I.A. : If you've spent more than a minute near a music blog in the last few months, then you know M.I.A. While I liked her first release a couple of years back, it's "Kala" that has me going. "Paper Planes" sails in on The Clash's "Straight to Hell" riff and works in the first gunshot-chorus that's ever caught my attention. Then there's the 12's remix of "Boyz" which is my "walking into the house party, feeling good" tune of the month.

Brooke Wagonner: Cross the street for an entirely different sound out of Brooke Wagonner. String swells and a nice piano bounce (not to mention the Fiery Furnaces-esque middle eight) drive home the transcendent beauty of the lyrics to "Hush If You Must" ("because I'm not very adequate, not very merry, oh i try; not very tempting, and not very pretty, but I'll get by...").

Taken By Trees: Next, my "I'll take anything that sounds remotely like Camera Obscura" obsession continues with yet another Swede. Now that I've completely worn myself out on the original version of "Lost And Found", the Tough Alliance remix has pumped new life into it for me. Regardless, I'm a real sucker for the subtle plod of this one.

Kate Nash: Lastly, it's the "new Lily Allen" (thank the UK press for that one, though her "Foundations" did go to #1 there) of Kate Nash that is my tune of the week. Her debut LP "Made of Bricks" has some real gems, including the perfect "We Get On". To the degree that I understand "how girls are" (using that term loosely and it's a 3rd-grade education at best), I think this song utterly realistically and poetically captures the rollercoaster of an unrequited crush (and, guys, how often have you, in your incomparable egotism, thought that you and some girl that's never looked twice at you would "get on"? yeah, exactly). "I conducted a plan to bump into you most accidentally, but I was walking along and I bumped into you much more heavily than I'd originally planned; it was well embarassing...". And the "clincher" (delusional?) lines for me: "I don't ever dream about you and me, I don't ever make stuff up about you and me, that would be considered insanity; I don't ever drive by your house to see if you're in, I don't even have an opinion on that tramp that you're still seeing; I don't know your timetable, I don't know your face off by heart; but, I must admit that there is still a part of me that thinks that we might get on...". It's genius. Seriously, it is.

M.I.A. - "Paper Planes".
M.I.A. - "Boyz" (The 12s Remix).
Brooke Wagonner - "Hush If You Must".
Taken By Trees - "Lost And Found" (Original).
Taken By Trees - "Lost And Found" (The Tough Alliance Remix).
Kate Nash - "We Get On".