Don’t Be Frightened By A Brand New Beat

Cosmetique “Drink and Jive”

“Drink and Jive” has the lyrics and groove of an early rock and roll “let’s show you the new dance” song, but the tone feels very prim and English, with Sarah Churchill singing lines like “step out of the shadow and on to the dance floor” and “don’t be frightened by the brand new beat” with the gentle cadence of a school teacher encouraging her shy students to party. It’s definitely twee, but there’s an inexplicable dark current that brings a saltiness to a song that could just be sweet.

Buy it from Amazon.

Frost Children “Flatline”

On a musical level “Flatline” is an indie dance/blog house banger, the sort of song you could’ve played in a DJ set between Justice and Hot Chip at a party circa 2008. The sound is consistent, but the lyrics come across like fast forwarding through a bad relationship. The guy falls in love with a girl, and at first he loves the dumb happiness. Then he seems to spiral into despair, then suddenly it’s all aggression and accusations in the end. The Frost Children’s album is titled Speed Run, maybe this is what they had in mind?

Buy it from Bandcamp.