Sometimes I Feel So Nice

Deerhunter “Wash Off” – The stakes always seem very high in Deerhunter’s best songs, and even though it’s not always clear what’s happening in them on a literal level, there’s certainly a sense that no emotion, idea, or fictional construct is going to emerge from them unchanged or entirely intact. “Wash Off” consciously steals its central motif from krautrock, but it’s in the interest of pragmatism rather than pastiche. Like the most memorable Neu! songs, the music feels as though it is accelerating toward some endless horizon, but unlike that band’s rather serene compositions, Deerhunter seem to be in a hurry to achieve some form of transcendence, periodically kicking at their effects pedals for moments of inspired rocking. When they rock out, they sound as though they’ve let their spirits run free from their bodies. Joyous isn’t quite the right word given their solemn tone, but it’s halfway there. (Click here to buy it from Kranky.)

James Brown “Call Me Superbad (Cornelius Rework)” – James Brown would’ve fined Cornelius into the poor house if he was actually a member of his band. The first minute of his reworked track seems like a handful of false starts, but it eventually settles into a groove that seems to move diagonally away from Brown’s vocal performance. It all comes together by the time the horns kick in, but it always feels as though it’s about to tip over and fall apart, as though Cornelius is playing a thrilling game of musical Jenga with Brown’s song. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: Peter Birkenhead on the problem with Oprah and “The Secret.”