Various Production are gone from XL, but the English dubsteppers are no less shadowy and mysterious for the change. "Risen", from Various' forthcoming full-length collaboration with Gerry Mitchell as well as a Christmas package including a t-shirt and USB bracelet, does a similar "dubstep plus folk" as Jess Harvell described in last year's The World Is Gone, and as you'd expect, it's a lot more Halloween than ho-ho-ho. Organic drums and creaking squeeze-box keyboards of some kind loop over and over again in waltz-time, eventually joined by backing vocals that could be the oh-we-ohs of the Wicked Witch of the West's foot soldiers. Rather than sighing female vocals on top, though, we get Mitchell's avuncular burr, describing "fever vengeances", blood, damp gardens, and "lice scuttling around" in his hair. If lice were included in the Various t-shirt package, they'd have to tell us, right? Another reason to stay off the "naughty" list.

The precocious scamps of Cardiff, Wales septet Los Campesinos! have done animated videos. And they've done a really good live-action video where they argue about the relative merits of punk and twee-pop's most beloved icons. Recorded in Los Angeles, the video for "Death to Los Campesinos!"-- originally from their early, blog-circulated demo and now re-recorded as the first single from forthcoming full-length debut Hold On Now, Youngster...-- starts out looking like the video where Los Campesinos! decide: "Hey, we can play in a proper studio now. Let's make one where we're singing with headphones on like we're in some real 'We Are the World' shit."

But then balloons, confetti, feathers, kittens, rainbows, and stuffed animals start shooting out of the speakers, and soon Los Campesinos! are overwhelmed by the power of their own punk-charged indie-pop. As for the song itself, it's another reason to put exclamation points on your calendar next to... whatever day next year this album comes out. With all the frenetic energy, shouted hooks, glockenspiels, and bright, scrawling guitars of 2007's excellent Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP, the song also shows that all this touring and critical acclaim hasn't yet dulled their self-deprecating sense of humor, with lyrics about war economies, father Führers, artificial intelligence, robots, and leopards changing their spots. "I invented you, and I will destroy you," Aleksandra and Gareth Campesinos! sing to each other. They kind of did-- dig the Ramones-like noms de punk, the literal sign of their self-invention-- and let's hope they don't.

[from Hold On Now, Youngster...; due 04/01/08 from Arts & Crafts]

photo Tom Beard

The precipitation where I live took a decided turn toward "gross sleet-slush mix" yesterday (that's an official meteorological term), but you could still hear the school kids go "ella, ella" as they busted out their umbrellas. What, it wasn't enough for Rihanna and songwriter Terius "The-Dream" Nash to have the de facto Song of the Summer-- they had to extend their reign into the winter months, too? Apparently, yes: Brighton, England's Mechanical Bride have toured with Fur & Gold-wearing neighbor Bat for Lashes and Swedish chanteuse Frida Hyvönen, and the group's cover of "Umbrella" nicely suits not only such company, but also the coming cold season.

Mechanical Bride's MySpace describes their sound as "haunting folk", which should tell you a bit about what they've done with the song. Like Swedish "Umbrella"-coverers Montt Mardié, Mechanical Bride slow things down on the piano, but the English group's version is more atmospheric and bewitched, like the video for Bat for Lashes' "What's a Girl to Do" come to life on an inclement December morning. Strings and what might be glockenspiel play behind Lauren Doss's calmly expressive, Jeff Buckley-like vocals-- her "umbreller" pronunciation is charming, but her closing, pained whispers are pretty nearly overpowering. And the echoey bridge can make it seem, as I remember thinking around March every year I lived in Chicago, like summer never happened.

Stream:> Mechanical Bride: "Umbrella" (Rihanna cover)
[from the "Umbrella" 7"; due 12/24/07 on Transgressive]

Swedish pop group Sambassadeur revealed a not-so-subtle shift in direction with this summer's "Subtle Changes" single. The next single from the band's U.S.-bound sophomore album, Migration, is another ambitious step away from the understated post-Velvet Underground twee pop of 2005's Sambassadeur or 2006's Between the Lines EP. Instead, "Final Say" embraces the thrift-shop glamour of Saint Etienne, whose sample-dropping dance-pop influence happily seems to have been prevalent lately in Sambassadeur's hometown of Gothenburg.

Anna Persson's whispery vocals are still a big part of the group's charm, but her words get outshone here by the jet-set production: massive 1980s synth-pop snares, skittering hi-hats, and touches of tropical percussion underlie a deft, trebly guitar riff and reverb-dripping synths. Persson harmonizes with herself on the hook-- "Is this my final say?"-- and a choir of baritones grows to fill the arrangement as the track concludes. When the instruments drop out, the baritones are joined by the marching of feet, leaving the mood appropriately bittersweet for the galloping B-side, "Crooked Spine", which features a rare lead vocal from singer/guitarist Daniel Permbo.

The Matador blog has posted "Baltimore", a new track from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' upcoming record Real Emotional Trash. Everything is coming up Baltimore these days, it seems. I'm only getting a quick second with the track, but it is long (six-and-a-half minutes) and jammy, with a big guitar solo at the end. It also mentions sleestaks, which is always a good thing. You should also check out Malkmus' interview with Pitchfork's Paul Thompson here.

MP3:> Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: "Baltimore"
[from Real Emotional Trash; due 03/04/08 on Matador]

Malcolm Middleton is killing 'em over in the UK with "We're All Going to Die", the morosely upbeat fourth single from the former Arab Strap half's third album, A Brighter Beat. Radio One DJs are lobbying for the Scottish singer-songwriter to capture the fabled Christmas No. 1 spot, and even competing against the likes of The Black Arts', well, "Christmas Number One" it's an easy sentimental favorite. Where we wrote that Middleton's 2005 Into the Woods "tends to indulge in songs about songs, which, like reviews about reviews, can be either a crutch or a coup, depending on execution," his latest single goes straight for loneliness and death-- and nails the execution, too.

Sad, swooping keyboards put a wintry frosting over rattling, peppy guitars and Middleton's deadpan holiday cheer: "When you can't sleep at night/ And there's no one to hold you/ Remember that I'm going through the same." And the video, directed by Tom Haines, follows a sadsack Santa stumbling around the city in his misery, gazing longingly at a female mannequin. Guess everybody knows what's on his Christmas list. BUT IT'S THE ONE THING SANTA CAN'T BRING.

[from A Brighter Beat; out now on Full Time Hobby]

Chicago MC Kid Sister gave a little manicure and pedicure lesson to local buds Kanye West and A-Trak in the video for "Pro Nails", posted earlier this month, but who knew she'd be sending her words of wisdom all the way to Australia? Though the original track had plenty of, um, polish, Sydney electro-house dudes Bag Raiders have given it their own cosmopolitan shade on this remix for the vowel-haters at RCRD LBL. Sleek, European-sounding filter-disco synths glide over the intro, becoming shorter and stabbier when a four-on-the-floor beat kicks in beneath Kid Sister's fast-talking verses.

About midway through, the rapper's voice gets cut up over rapidfire synth arpeggios, right before an over-the-top, guitar-like instrumental break worthy of Chromeo or a 1980s TV speedboat chase. Ever present, though, is the song's catchy (if increasingly annoying) chopped-and-screwed hook: "Got her toes done up/ With her fingernails matching." It's the kind of remix that makes a club-friendly track even more so, but because it downplays Kid Sister's smiling, charismatic delivery-- part of the appeal of the original "Pro Nails", plus earlier tracks like "Control"-- it can't help but be a bit less distinctive than the original.

MP3/Stream:> Kid Sister: "Pro Nails (Bag Raiders Remix)"
[original track from the "Pro Nails" single; Kid Sister's debut album is due in 2008; both on Fool's Gold.

In just a couple of years, Evelyn Morris has gone from drumming in hardcore bands to being named as the opening act for Sufjan Stevens' upcoming Australian tour. Under her Pikelet alias, which shares its name with an Australian word for "pancake," the Melbourne-based artist records layered, percussion-heavy ambient pop that makes her transition seem perfectly natural. Take "A Bunch", from Morris' self-titled 2007 Pikelet debut on Chapter Music (the Melbourne imprint that's also home to previously Forkcast, Jens Lekman-approved indie-popper Sly Hats).

On this song, Morris puts gently murmured lyrics about "making out" over a thumping kick drum, toms, and tambourine, while twinkling harp strums and her own ghostly backing harmonies close in around her. "To all of those that I've loved so dear," she begins, about a minute in, with delicate, unusual phrasing. As the track continues, the words become a mantra, and delay effects give the primarily acoustic affair some additional druggy atmospherics. It could be an offbeat koan for romantic Aussie adolescents as easily as a pop song, and like a pancake, it can be enjoyed anytime, morning or midnight.

MP3:> Pikelet: "A Bunch"
[from Pikelet; out now on Chapter Music]

Look into the minds of Telepathe (pronounced "Telepathy", but you knew that) and you might see hippies chanting, morning dew glistening like shoegaze ambience, or a gang gang dancing like the cast of "Soul Train" fucked up on ecstasy and Björk. The Brooklyn group of Busy Gangnes, First Nation's Melissa Livaudais, and Ryan Lucero have turned each of those visions into aural reality over just a handful of official releases to date. "Chromes On It"-- which will appear in slightly different form on the band's forthcoming full-length debut, produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek and expected sometime next year-- finds Telepathe merging a few of those disparate impulses into some kind of chant-encircled alien abstraction of post-FutureSex pop.

Recorded with former Don Caballero bassist and current Good Morning guitarist Eric Emm at his studio, the track develops out of distorted, guitar-like synths and electronic percussion that stutters and pans left to right but always hovers around the edges of the beat. Higher-pitched synths zip and unzip overhead. As for Gangnes and Livaudais, they don't sing much differently than they probably speak; although obscured a bit by the round-like melody and elliptical lyrics, their subject here seems to be just the typical pop, hip-hop, or r&b scenario of meeting a potential lover on a night out. "We can do the real bang bang/ But first you gotta know my name," they sing. The Spice Girls would probably appreciate the sentiment, but it's just as easy to see why TV on the Radio's Sitek might've been drawn to the post-apocalyptic production. And when Telepathe sing about "taking over", a DJ Khaled mash-up creates itself in my head. Listen!

MP3:> Telepathe: "Chrome's on It"
[via MySpace; the Farewell Forest EP is out now on Social Registry]

Blood on the Wall's Awesomer made Nick Sylvester gushingly nostalgic for his own personal early-1990s, as remembered in 2005. "Junkeee...Julieee...", from the Brooklyn trio's forthcoming third album, Liferz, has me nostalgic (in a good way) for Awesomer. Brother-sister songwriting duo Brad and Courtney Shanks, plus drummer Miggy Littleton, are still scratching the museum polish off of the throat-rending loud-soft stonedness of your favorite 90s indie-rockers in a way I totally would've dug back when I was texting Nick terrified last-minute questions about track reviews ("mp3 for that Grizz Bear rmx?") round about when Awesomer dropped. It sounds pretty good now, too.

In fact, if "Junkeee...Julieee..." feels so familiar you think you've heard it before, well, you might not just be lapsing into premature senility. The track appeared in a rough, live take on The Believer's 2006 music-issue compilation CD (compiled by Matthew Derby and Pitchfork writer Brandon Stosuy). On Liferz, this whoa-ohing tale of a "picture perfect" junkie who just won't quit (and needs the narrator to hold/load her up) doesn't have quite the same lo-fi scraggliness, but that's OK. With a trilling, goofily thrilling guitar solo and dank Velvets-y narcotic rush, it's still-- how Pixies say?-- gigantic. You can't go back and remake that I-like-you mix for Casey G., but you can make something new to get nostalgic about.

[from Liferz; due 01/22/08 on The Social Registry]

Ike Turner died yesterday at the age of 76. It's hard to give the man his due. Despite having a claim to the earliest rock'n'roll recording with the Kings of Rhythm's 1951 hit "Rocket 88", people still think it all began with Elvis. Even today, Ike is a cheap punchline for unimaginative comedians like Tyler Perry and is better known for abusing his wife and serving time than for making music. But he was an ace bandleader and a solid musical foil for Tina Turner, who sings the hell out these songs. Instead of glamorizing or romanticizing, let's simply acknowledge a man who contributed a great deal to popular music and who kept playing piano and guitar like a badass until his death.

Ike & Tina Turner: "I Smell Trouble" (Soul to Soul Concert; 1971)

Ike Turner: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (Montreaux Jazz Festival; 2002)