Ark is releasing, next month, Battle For Seattle a 10-song album of album of Nirvana covers by 50-something reggae artist Little Roy. The ubiquitous “Come As You Are” is transformed here by dub producer Prince Fatty, layers of good time organ support jabs of guitar and Little Roy’s warm tenor.
Little Roy – Come As You Are (Nirvana)Little Roy 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.0
Among other things new band Fiore sound like Neil Young, On the Beach era Neil Young (on some days my fav Uncle Neil LP). The hazy, faraway vocals and textures, the pick-axe strummed guitar leads played through a musty old down-ass amp. Fiore’s got a 9-track s/t debut at the ready and the b3sci-approved “Another Ghost” is one of many excellent tracks on it. Get familiar below.
Fiore – Another GhostRating 7.9
The Nero crew dropped into BBC Radio 1’s live lounge today and cut what can only be called an EPIC (all caps) session. The electronic act laid down blistering live instrument versions of single “Promises” and a cover of Friendly Fires “Live Those Days Tonight”. Courtesy of our buddy at Details of My Life (great blog you should check out ASAP) you can stream/dl both tracks below.
Nero – Promises Live @ BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Nero – Live Those Days Tonight (Friendly Fires Cover @ Radio 1’s Live Lounge)Rating 8.3 / 8.5
Anytime a new song with the name Breton attached on it surfaces its cause to get psyched. This time its the UK band handing off remixing duties on their track “December” to our fav and yours The Temper Trap. A big beat, a jumpy new bassline, and a vocal mixed down to Franz Ferdinand-esque depth-in-the-pa are a few of the updates you can expect your ears to be treated to. See what you think.
Breton – December (The Temper Trap Remix)The Temper Trap 
(Official) (Facebook)
Rating 8.5
“Wallow” is one of those magical moments when two disparate track components play out perfectly when in combination. London vocalist Py’s sultry croon is pure lounge and would be as much at home on a remix by Kruder & Dorfmeister as it is on “Wallow”. Throwing Snow’s instrumental is mindblowing (first off), its equal parts Portishead, Lulu Rouge spaced out hop but its also really modern-sounding it sounds of 2011 future garage/step/etc; elements of modern electronic music not cooked down quite this way before.
Throwing Snow & Py – WallowThrowing Snow 
(Facebook) (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.9
When we initially saw the lineup for Adult Swim’s singles program, we definitely had this jj/Ne-Yo collaboration as our most anticipated of the set. Does the icy “We Can’t Stop” live up to expectations? We’re “not sure yet”. Let us know what you think.
jj – We Can’t Stop (Feat. Ne-Yo)Rating ???
Various Cruelties, one of our fav new bands of 2011, are back with a strong return in the form of new single “Chemicals”.
Various Cruelties – Chemicals
Various Cruelties: (Facebook) (Bandcamp)
Rating 8.1
Wayne actually sounds pretty tough on this. Surprise! Production by Bangladesh.
Lil’ Wayne – Put the Light On Me (Prod. Bangladesh)Lil’ Wayne 
(Official) (Facebook)
Rating 7.8
Things continue to pick up for the Kids These Days crew. In what amounts to their biggest gig yet, the young Chicago band will play their hometown festival this weekend, Lollapalooza. And recently, they’ve opened for Raphael Saadiq and Snoop Dogg (pretty sweet). “Summerscent” plays like its title might suggest. Its pillar to post sunshine-y vibes, good time rhymes, and feelin’ great vox. If that sounds cool to you, you’ll probably wanna hit that play button about now. Do it now. Go.
Kids These Days – SummerscentKids These Days 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.0
There isn’t anything we don’t love about this track; the languid jazz guitar textures, the subdued vocal sample on the 1’s, the overdubbed claps on the downbeats. “Hook Up Mics” is legit. Get into Bulgarian beatmaker Kay Be below.
Kay Be – Hook Up MicsKay Be 
(Bandcamp)
Rating 8.3
Ambassadors sound a lot like the soul/electro-informed indie sound of 2011. Like the concept of that sound, not any actual band. No actual band sounds exactly like that really. There are contenders; TV on the Radio, and uhmmm I don’t know, tUnE-yArDs. Anyway, these blokes sound like TV on the Radio. A TVOTR that are playing high stakes. Ambassadors, with a track like “Unconsolable”, are band that is absolutely gunning for major label notice.
Ambassadors – UnconsolableAmbassadors 
(Myspace)
Rating 7.8
The Bullitts via Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and Supergrass link up w Mr. Badu for a psych-r&b (did we really just take it there) jam that sounds not quite like anything you’ve likely heard before (except those above bands).
The Bullitts – Run & Hide (Feat. Jay Electronica)
The Bullitts (Official) (Twitter)
Rating 8.3
