Track of the Week: Lights by Ellie Goulding

This week’s track is Lights by Ellie Goulding, off of either her American debut An Introduction to Ellie Goulding EP, or her British debut Bright Lights. I first found this track on the Hype Machine twitter top tracks. I’d never heard of Ellie Goulding but a quick set of searches revealed she’s sort of a big deal in the UK, having topped the BBC’s Sound of 2010 chart and some other accolades.

This particular song is a great synthpop (or better yet folktronica!). The track opens with some nice synth tones (best to listen in headphones to get the full effect). It builds slowly adding in the vocals and a drum beat to hold the song together. The songwriting is enjoyable as is the Ellie Goulding’s raspy, reaching, vocals. Her voice stands great alone, and fills out the entire song when overdubbed.

Track of the Week: Tron Legacy (End Titles)

This week’s track is Tron Legacy (End Titles) by Daft Punk off of the Tron Legacy Soundtrack. It’s Tron. It’s Daft Punk. It’s pretty epic. Based on the visuals from the trailers and the epic and soaring music from Daft Punk I’m pretty sure the movie will be a sight to see. The eponymous track is probably the most Daft Punk-y of the tracks with a quick tempo and pulsing beats, and easily has the most single appeal of the tracks of the album. I highly recommend the entire album.

Track of the Week: Bright Lights Bigger City by Cee Lo Green

This week’s track is Bright Lights Bigger City by Cee Lo Green off of The Lady Killer. This entire showing by Cee Lo is fantastic, the album holds its own from start to finish. It’s also apparently done quite well in the charts, and been reveiwed well by music critics, so perhaps I’m a bit late to this one, but the album stands out as an incredible hip-hop/soul/funk album.

This track, Bright Lights Bigger City, starts with a huge synth line all alone before it builds in to percussion, and then vocals. Cee Lo’s distinctive brings the song together, and soars (remixed in) through the chorus. This song stands out to for me, but the album has no shortage of good music.

Bonus Track!

This week is a two-for-one. Also in the mix this week is Dr Dre’s theoretical first song leaked from Detox, named Kush. Featuring Akon and Snoop Dogg, it’s a classic West Coast banger with signature Dr Dre piano lines and thumping beats. If it’s a sign of what we can expect off of Detox, it may have been worth the wait.

Track of the Week: You Got Me by The Roots

This week’s track is You Got Me (featuring Erykah Badu) by The Roots off of Things Fall Apart. This is one of my favorite R&B / hip-hop songs of all time. Co-written by Jill Scott, the lyrics are simple, poetic and potent and weave together to story of a trust and love between Erykah Badu and Black Thought. There are so many good things I love about this song, from how relatable the lyrics are, to the percussion of ?uestlove, to the sound evolving to an Amen-break-esque tempo towards the end, to the live instrumentation that makes the sound warm and enveloping, it’s a fantastic track from 1999 that deserves a revisit.

Track of the Week: Take Me Out by Atomic Tom

I feel like an unwitting slave to a meme and a clever bit of marketing, but this week’s track is Take Me Out by Atomic Tom. This track stumbled across my path when watching the best of YouTube and the incredible video of Atomic Tom playing their entire song on iPhones meant I had to go over to give the band their due credit by purchasing their album. A fun rock/pop album, this song is probably the best. In some ways, I like the YouTube/iPhone version better than the album version. The raw sound of the YouTube track gives it an incredible texture. The actual album was recorded in an apartment, for which it has an amazing sound and spacing. I suggest giving this one a listen, to both versions. You’ll be rewarded with a great meme and a song to match.

Track of the Week: The Dream by Groove 8

This week’s track is The Dream by Groove 8, off of Debut. Grove 8 is a little jazz/funk/fusion outfit I first heard at the 2009 Fillmore Jazz Festival playing on one of the side streets, off of the main area. Out of North Carolina, I’ve only heard them that one time. Their debut album, named Debut, contains only one vocalized track which is this week’s track.

This song is perhaps the most accessible. While not overly jazzy nor overly funky it’s very laid back and, well, easy to listen to. It doesn’t reach too far but hits a sweet spot for vocalized jazz, with the vocals adding a nice lyrical layer and the funk instrumentation still getting a chance to be funky.

Track of the Week: Earthquake by Little Boots

This week’s track is Earthquake by Little Boots off of Hands. This is the second appearance of Little Boots in track of the week, the second track off of Hands. This mostly recrossed my path as I upgraded from the single I previously had of Stuck on Repeat to get the entire album. Firmly electropop and squarely solid, Earthquake a good bit cheesy, but totally fun.

Track of the Week: We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP

I thought I was super hip when I first heard this track on MTV in Istanbul a month ago. I listened, thinking, “wow, what a hip little track, with its snazzy beat and provocative title. Nobody back home has ever heard this song before, I’ll be the coolest kid on the block.” Back in the states, I looked it up on YouTube, and it had over 27 million views. Ego: smashed. Double whamie came when I looked it up in iTunes and saw it was on the Jersey Shore sound track. Ego: doubleplussmashed.

Needless to say, this week’s track is We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP. This track is equal parts latin, electronica and fun. Very synth’ed out, all the vocals are super processed as is the rhythm. While I’d classify this as a dance track, I don’t think I’d ever hear it in an American dance club. I’m waiting for some DJ to make a ripping 160bmp dance mix of this and watch it tear up the dance scene.

Track of the Week: MoneyGrabber by Fitz & The Tantrums

We’re back with a fresh track this week, MoneyGrabber by Fitz & The Tantrums, off of Pickin’ Up The Pieces. I haven’t found that much about them in the regular press or anything, but they’ve got a great sound, a kind of soulful pop sound. The sound brings you a bit back to Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black but with a more modern-pop sound.

This specific track, MoneyGrabber, is a fun horns and piano and great singing. It’s a great representation of this group’s sound. The lyrics are amusing, and full of whimsy, while the chorus is catchy and draws you in a way a great pop song does.

Track of the Week: Lionheart by Emancipator

Track of the week is back, baby! This week’s track is lionheart by emancipator, off of soon it will be cold enough. And we’re back this week with a very low key track that I first heard on the Stargate Studios 2009 Reel (I highly suggest you watch if you want to see how TV is made), and then rediscovered when @inxsingh sent me a link to the entire Emancipator album.

The entire album is a wonderful juxtaposition of strings and piano and other classical instruments over solid drum lines. As an example, the song eve has an amen break-esque drum line on top of which are processed vocals and violins. Lionheart in particular carries it’s melody on a wonderful combination of electric guitar, violins, and a piano riff. On a day like today when it’s early August but out my window all I see is fog and the mid 50s, this is the kind of music that will bring you up slowly and get you ready for a day.