I Was So Confused

Pleasure “Out Of Love” – You know that point in some songs (most especially new wave tunes) when the sentiment of the lyric overcomes the singer and they reflexively close their eyes for a moment and swoon as they hit a higher note? It’s a glorious thing, and most good songs about new infatuation tend to do this at least once, if not a few times over. This new single by Pleasure sounds as though it was engineered to maximize the impact of these swooning moments, and so when they come, the rush is exhilarating and sorta exhausting. “Out Of Love” is a sublime mix of gleeful synthpop bounce and sad-eyed melancholy, and though there are some echoes of Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass,” it tosses out that song’s cynicism and wounded pride in favor of an entirely earnest sweetness. (Click here for the Pleasure MySpace page.)

Dan Deacon “Okie Dokie” – Dan Deacon’s absurd, cartoonish electro-punk is like being assaulted by a street gang of Pokemon characters. It rocks out and hits you hard and fast, but it never stops seeming cute and silly even when the track accelerates so much that the electronic snare hits begin to sound more like rapid gun fire than any kind of musical instrument. (Click here for the Dan Deacon website.)

Elsewhere: Eric Harvey on why going to see Girl Talk play a live gig may not be a very good idea.