"Up to Our Nex"Robyn Hitchcock
The great psych-rock surrealist struggles—in unerringly tuneful fashion—to get over, under, and around the feeling of falling in love. "So rad!" "How sad!" Neither. Both. Beautiful.
"Life in Marvelous Times"Mos Def
Over a triumphant beat, Mos futurizes and postulates a Brooklyn of sidewalk sin and sympathy, then concludes, "We can’t be alive in no time but now."
"Raindrops" Basement Jaxx
Pop music's MDMA moment came and went. This track brings it back—giddier. Go kiss a stranger.
"This Tornado Loves You"Neko Case
Anthropomorphizing meteorological phenomena sounds like the stuff of kids' music; Case's breathy coo puts an end to that idea real fast.
"Bulletproof" La Roux
A perfect pop hook backed by bubbly eight-bit bloops and delivered by a ginger-pomp'd cross between Annie Lennox and a replicant. The superhuman league.
