Give Me Three Wishes

CSS “Alala” – The name stands for Cansei de Ser Sexy, which translates to “tired of being sexy.” And that more or less describes this girl’s vocal style – it’s that blasé cool-chick tone, like Kim Gordon reborn as a Brazilian party girl. It’s the sort of voice that forces the audience to endlessly parse every inflection, trying to figure out where pithiness and sarcasm ends and actual flirtation begins. The track is a total gem, seamlessly blending punk and electro in a way that feels far more organic than most other attempts. It really just sounds like they wouldn’t know how to do it any other way. (Click here for CSS’ official site.)

PdL “Happiness” – Some songs are about bursts of euphoria so exhilirating that you can barely hold yourself together while hearing them, and I’ve posted a lot of those over the past few years. This selection is more about relaxed moments of contentedness, and when your life goes still for a few seconds and you realize “wow, I am soooooo lucky.” Lucky to be alive, lucky to have the life that you live, and in the case of this song, lucky to know a person who can make you so very happy. How happy? Happy enough that the singer is willing to sing an incredibly silly (and sweet!) lyric like “you can be my new recruit for the happy team” without one iota of embarassment. (Click here for PdL’s MySpace page.)

Elsewhere: Maria Tessa Sciarrino never stops being awesome.