This week’s track goes back in time to visit Through The Wire by Kanye West off of The College Dropout. Through The Wire was Kanye’s breakout single, launching him from celebrated producer to what would become one of the biggest names in rap. The story of the track is fairly infamous, recorded two weeks after a nearly fatal car accident with his jaw wired shut. You can hear his voice muffled talking through inflamed cheeks. The first few Kanye albums, starting with The College Dropout were all classics, with him moving more and more mainstream. I still recall Kanye as a producer, producing Common’s Be and Finding Forever, production on Talib Kweli’s In The Mood, vocals and production on Dilated People’s This Way (a fantastic track) and of course all the work on various Jay Z’s albums. A seriously talented guy.

This week’s track is This Is Why We Fight by The Decemberists off of The King Is Dead. I first heard this song on Live 105 which surprised me given their typically repetitive playlist. The song is really quite unlike any of the other songs on The King is Dead. The albums has most of a country/folk sound to it and isn’t really that poppy. The album is good and it’s without a doubt worth a listen, but This Is Why We Fight is probably the most accessible song off of the album.

This week’s track is a bit of a choose your own adventure. You can pick from My Life by The Game, off of LAX, or My Life as covered by jj off of jj no 3. As simple as that, you have a choice: do you want the hardscrabble, mean-streets, the-world-is-f’ed-but-The-Game-made it version or do you a Swedish duo singing in a dream-pop and drifty way that “They say you ain’t grindin’ until you die”. The track as originally recorded by The Game for the album LAX, and was recently covered by jj on their jj no 3 album. Both versions of the song keep the same lyrics but take a radically different way of delivering them. jj did this before on jj no 2 and it’s a fun trick. You don’t often hear hard-core rap covered by dream-pop bands, and it’s something I think we need to see more of.

This week’s track is Days Go By by Dirty Vegas, off of their self-titled eponymous debut. An older track, from 2002, this album and this track are a great example of turn of the century (fun to say that!) house. Pulsing bass line, plus very low key lyrics that are layered with what sounds like a little auto-tune make this a fun track. The music video is also worth a watch.

Turn of the century context: this song won the Grammy for best dance recording in 2003. To give a sense of the sounds of house and dance at the time, other nominees where Superstylin by Groove Armada and Gotta Get Thru This by Daniel Bedingfield. The Groove Armada track is in the same general genre as Days Go By, but Gotta Get Thru This has all the sounds of a late 90s dance track.

This week’s (weekend’s) track is Wonderman (featuring Ellie Goulding) by Tinie Tempah off of Disc-Overy. Wonderman is a high octane, bass-thumping synth-jamming track that immediately pumps you up. I think half the reason I picked this track this week is Ellie Goulding — her hook swings the track back and forth between hip-hop to electro-pop and I have yet to find something she’s done that I don’t like. The whole soundscape is uplifting, energizing and a great listen.

This week’s track is Shot Yourself In The Foot Again by Skream & Example, a little dubstep ditty I found at the top of Hype Machine’s popular music list this week. While I generally don’t like the really grimey/dirty dubstep, this song is more dance with a little bit of dubstep thrown in. The solid four on the floor thumps through, layered under a melodic synth line. The track tells the story, one so typical yet always gets retold, of priorities between having fun and committing. Unlike most tracks of the week, I find this song a lot more illustrative with the music video. At the breaks the director does a rapid set of flash-cuts which advance the two sides of the story quickly. Great song, and perhaps one of the few “dubsteps” song that I want to listen to over and over again.

This week’s track is Apply by Glasser off of her album Ring. I’m still not 100% what this album is about, or what kind of music it is, but it’s (a) interesting to listen to, (b) folktronica, and (c) mind bending. Applying layers of tribal drums, beats and haunting vocals Apply is a track that deserves listening to.

This week’s track is fitting for the coming Christmas weekend, Christmas Sarajevo 12/24 by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, off of their first album Christmas Eve and Other Stories. It’s basically a metal cover of Carol of the Bells, and who doesn’t love metal covers of old folk songs? I think I first heard this song in high school and if memory serves it was one of the first MP3s I ever downloaded (along with Oasis, Ace of Base and Quad City DJs). Every year, come Christmas-time, this song pops in to my heads as timeless and epic.