Glass Candy: "Warm in the Winter"

Could Portland become the next Brooklyn?  Maybe.  They already think they invented food trucks and the meme "Keep ____ Weird", so why couldn't they have invented indie rock as well?  Smug pretense aside, there is a veritable shitload of great bands coming out of the Pacific NW right now, and not only is Glass Candy signed to Italians Do It Better (this year's Mexican Summer, for those of you who don't read your Hipster Runoff) but I just noticed they put out an album called Geto Boys in 2009.  The Geto Boys had a song called "Read These Nikes".  Nike is based in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland.  Coincidence?  Yes, absolutely.

Moby: "After" [iamamiwhoami remix]

Ah, Moby.  Is there anyone in the electronic music community who it's easier to hate?  After doing his part to put techno on the mainstream radar with 1999's classic Play, Mr. Richard Melville Hall went on a decade long tear, destroying all that goodwill by releasing album after album of cookie cutter, water treading pablum (to be fair, contemporaries Chemical Brothers and Crystal Method hardly fared any better in the 'aughts).

I'd love to be able to call 2011's Destroyed an artistic comeback, but it's mostly just more of that nothing-embarrassing-but-nothing-great-either succession of beige electronic pop tracks.  I suppose if you cared enough you could probably find a couple of songs that grow on you with repeat listens, but it doesn't take repeat listens to dig the fuck out of iamamiwhoami's stellar remix of "After".  For a summer-friendly, laid back jam it's unseasonably fantastic.

Active Child: "Diamond Heart"

One of the things that for me justifies an occasional revival of older music - more homage than influence - is the continued advance of technology.  There is a ton of music being produced right now that was clearly intended to sound like it came straight out of 1983, but whereas 80's synth music benefitted from great studio production (under ideal, big budget circumstances anyway) it was always hampered by shitty, first or second generation keyboards.  In spite of that, artists like John Foxx, Gary Numan and a host of unheralded new wave groups proved that what was at the time new technology could produce entirely new styles of pop music that were far more than just guitar pop transposed for MIDI.

Active Child are one of those homage bands, but in 2011 you not only have the option of cutting edge production regardless of your budget, but with advances in software it really doesn't matter if you have a shitty keyboard anymore.  "Diamond Heart" isn't so much reinventing the wheel as celebrating what it's given us as a cultural entity.

Mazzy Star: "Common Burn"/"Lay Myself Down"

Don't know about you, but I'm not one to automatically get a fan boner when I hear a long dormant band is getting back together to tour. I need new material before I can get really excited.  Look, we'd all like to say we saw the Velvet Underground or Led Zeppelin, but face it: seeing those bands in 2011 doesn't in any way make up for missing them during their 60s/70s peak.  It's a false check mark off your "to do" list.

Mazzy Star is doing this reunion thing right.  For all intents and purposes the band is Hope Sandoval and guitarist David Roback, and though neither is really old enough to be burnt out or passed their prime on the live stage necessarily, I think reunion tours sans new material are really too commonplace to get worked up over.  I'd rather the Cars get back together and make a so-so album - easily one of the minor entries in their catalog - than for the Police to tour incessantly but not manage to eek out a single new track out of it.

Of course this ethos can always backfire if the band fails to build on old chemistry and just flat out embarrasses themselves on their new album (a lot of 70s/80s punk bands fall prey to this) but based on the two cuts leaked so far this sounds like a legit comeback effort... neither song is overtly catchy enough to make for a likely hit single but each has subtle charms that invite repeat listening.

Jon Connor: "Reppin' 4 Flint"

With Detroit becoming a hip hop mecca in recent years, it was a foregone conclusion that other rust belt MC's would come to make their presence known.  A couple years back it was Freddie Gibbs (Gary, IN) and now I'm banking on Jon Connor from Flint, Michigan to go national.  This may end up on his upcoming Vinnie Chase: Season Two mixtape or may have been intended as a standalone freestyle.  Playa didn't really say.

Pusha T: "What Dreams Are Made Of"

For y'all ain't know, Pusha T is one half of the hip hop duo Clipse (his brother Malice has yet to release any solo material).  This VIPS-produced track is the latest single culled from Pusha T's first official solo album, Fear of God II: Let Us Prey, releasing tomorrow.  Any song which samples both Rick Flair and a car starter refusing to turn over totally earns the misogynistic lyrics in the chorus in this blog's opinion.

[EDIT 1/8/12: adding official video]

  Pusha T - What Dreams Are Made Of by Pusha T

Duck Sauce: "Big Bad Wolf"

In a lot of ways Duck Sauce are what LMFAO would sound like if they weren't a studio concocted pop construct based on what black studio executives think white kids like to party to.  There isn't anything artistically forward thinking about them - they're clearly here to take the piss and enjoy themselves - but they have that kind of knowing wink in regards to their own idiocy that made the Ramones endearing.  It's still pretty manufactured, though; I don't think one would be inclined to listen to "Big Bad Wolf" over and over sans the video accompaniment, but in terms of using the music as an excuse for multimedia crossover opportunities I'd much rather endure Duck Sauce over something as vapid and completely devoid of value as "Party Rock Anthem", the LMFAO ditty that sickeningly went platinum in seven different countries.

Crystal Stilts: "Dark Eyes"

One of many bands taking Phil Spector's Wall of Sound concept into esoteric, psychedelic new directions, Crystal Stilts have been around for what seems like forever now, even though they've only been releasing music since 2005 (part of this may have to do with the fact that they were part of the trend of new bands having "crystal" in their names circa 2007-2008; see also Crystal Castles, Crystal Skulls, Crystal Antlers, etc).

Their In Love With Oblivion LP came out back in April but already they have a new EP, Radiant Doors, ready to ring in the holidays with suitably foul cheer.

CANT: "Believe"

Now this shit is kind of eerie.  I'm a bit of a skeptic, so when you show me clips of supposed unidentified flying objects I always assume there is some logical (usually atmospheric or militaristic) explanation and wonder why the footage always has to be grainy.  However, all these "found footage" movies that have come out over the last few years have gotten me in the spirit of suspension of disbelief - if only for entertainment purposes - so when you match this succession of "UFO" clips with the moody electronics of CANT's "Believe" I'm capable of getting suitably spooked.

Chelsea Wolfe: "Mer"

Chelsea Wolfe is on her third album (Apokalypsis) of droning dirge-folk, but with accolades from Pitchfork and NPR among others her moon is just now on the ascent.  I sometimes wish all these goth metal bands would take a listen to shit like this and Diamanda Galas realize that there are ways for expressive female voices to do "dark" evocatively without constantly pandering to the Evanescence and Nightwish crowds.