In The Name Of Decency

Luomo featuring Jake Shears “If I Can’t” – Jake Shears is a fairly versatile singer, but he usually pushes himself to ostentatious extremes — giddy rave-ups, soaring power ballads, Gibb-y disco falsetto. He’s good at taking a song to a logical stylistic conclusion, and that goes for his more understated work just as well as the campiest numbers in the Scissor Sisters repertoire. Shears’ new collaboration with Luomo finds him complementing the Finnish producer’s low-key, nuanced grooves with a hazy, restrained performance that gets across his pleasant vocal melody without distracting from the details in the arrangement. The resulting track is full of restless energy, soothing tones, and a nearly subliminal anxiety. (Click here to buy it via Luomo’s MySpace page.)

Fluxcast #12 – This very special episode of the Fluxcast features nothing but string quartet arrangements of well-known pop and rock songs. Enjoy! The tracklisting will be on the Fluxcast site later in the week, but if you’re feeling impatient, that information can be found in the metadata of the mp3.