song reviews
Aerosmith
"Legendary Child"
For the past two decades, Steven Tyler has pushed Aerosmith toward power ballads while Joe Perry has lobbied for hard rock. It seems Perry won the argument for this comeback single. "Legendary Child" – from the band's first studio album in eight years, due this fall – is built on stacks of guitars, though it sounds like the band was too busy blasting away to bother with much of a melody. Instead, you get a so–so tune and Tyler–esque wisdom, like "Sticks and stones... | More »
Yeasayer
"Henrietta"
This Brooklyn band calls its upcoming third LP "demented R&B,"and the alluringly weird first single makes good on that promise. Over hot molasses dub bass and flowery keyboard spritz, Chris Keating croons a ballad to Henrietta Lacks, a 1950s cancer patient whose cells were used for the polio vaccine after her death. But he delivers it with feeling – like they've got a hot date tonight on the astral plane. And the mix of creepy–as–hell crush and first–rate hist... | More »
The Killers
"Go All the Way"
This cover of the Raspberries' warmly catchy power–pop classic (which appears on the Dark Shadows soundtrack) is fairly straightforward. But Brandon Flowers' querulous voice lends the track an otherworldly urgency that's well matched to the film's sweetly macabre tone. Related• Photos: Random Notes | More »
Alanis Morissette
"Guardian"
Morissette's warble still has the power to peel shingles off rooftops. "Guardian" is an oath of fidelity, presumably to a lover, but when she begins yowling the chorus – "I'll be your keeper for life as your guardian" – it sounds like a threat. Listen to "Guardian": Related• Photos: Random Notes | More »
Rick Ross feat. Usher
"Touch 'N You"
"What's the problem with these rappers? They don't know how to play it cool," Usher says on the intro to Rick Ross' latest single. For Ross, playing it cool means having producer Rico Love slow the tempo, bringing in Usher for a sexy chorus, and laying on muy suave rhymes ("Rose petals on her bed, I walk in unannounced"). As always, high romance is inseparable from high finance: "She kissin' on me, biting on my bottom lip/In the Galleria all I get is 'Buy me this.... | More »
Scott Weiland
"Breathe"
Smooth and warm-hued, this monster ballad – from the Avengers soundtrack – could be a fossil encased in amber. In fact, it's an ode to numbness: "You... erase away the black and white," Weiland croons over cock-rock guitar. It's almost heartbreaking. Related• Scott Weiland Talks 'Avengers' Tune, STP Anniversary Tour | More »
Kitty Pryde
"Okay Cupid"
High school-age mall employee and avowed Justin Bieber obsessive Kitty Pryde is this millisecond's internet-rap brush fire. But the Floridian's debut single is arresting well beyond its novelty appeal. Over a sumptuously screwed beat from Lil B and A$AP Rocky producer Beautiful Lou, she floats a drowsy, giggly love letter to her cigarette-breathed, drunk-dialing boyfriend ("you got my simpin' and singin' the Frank Ocean"), mixing adorkable lines about writing his name on h... | More »
Crookers feat. Style of Eye and Carli
"That Laughing Track"
From the dudes behind that toasty remix of Kid Cudi's "Day 'N' Nite" comes this electro-house ruckus. Built around insane laughter and rubbery beats, it targets that wee-hours moment in the club when you think your head might explode. Then the DJ drops this, and it does. Listen to Crookers feat. Style of Eye and Carli's "That Laughing Track": Related• Photos: Random Notes | More »
Metric
"Youth Without Youth"
Glam sugar with a bitter core: Perennial indie crush Emily Haines drops a wasted-youth anthem with scarred poetry like "We played blindman's bluff till they stopped the game," over a bleak- bubblegum stomp. Listen to Metric's "Youth Without Youth": Related• Metric Play Acoustic 'Youth Without Youth' | More »
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