I Should Write A Song About You

Robyn “Crash and Burn Girl” – Though I am very pleased to see that Robyn’s “Konichiwa Bitches” is slowly gaining in popularity on the internet and among critics, I worry that the rest of her new album is being overlooked. I can’t overstate the excellence of this record – with the exception of the brief and entertaining skits that punctuate the first half of the running order, virtually every song is post-worthy, not to mention hit-worthy. On an album full of unlikely musical choices for a Swedish pop singer, “Crash and Burn Girl” is actually pretty close to what one might expect from one – slick eurodisco with minimal beats and sampled strings, almost like the house flip side to the record’s first single, “Be Mine.” (There’s certainly some lyrical continuity as well, but then again, almost every song on the album is more or less treading the same bad-breakup ground.) The dynamics are brilliant, particularly when the song shifts from the string-based hook to verses backed up entirely by an electronic kick drum, followed shortly by a fluid bass groove that must sound amazing on a loud, high end soundsystem. (Click here for the official Robyn site.)

April March “Sugar” – This is another entry in a semi-regular series of posts dedicated to revisiting songs that were staples of my old mix tapes and cds circa 1996-2001. There’s really no place else to put this version of “Sugar” in a sequence other than at the start of a cd or a tape side. The intro is key to the song’s appeal, as it piles on pleasing rhythmic and melodic elements until a gorgeous ringing guitar motif comes in about thirty seconds into the track. March’s voice could do to be a little less flat, but her girlish charm matches the whimsical tone of the arrangement perfectly. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)