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Alphabeat “Chess” Alphabeat have changed significantly on a superficial level, jettisoning all traces of rock from their sound and diving deep into glossy ’90s pop, but the core of their project remains the same. Alphabeat are nostalgists, and whether they are lifting from ...

Lady GaGa “Teeth” You may have noticed that vampires and werewolves are very popular these days. This is not lost on Lady GaGa, whose apparent mission in life seems to be synthesizing themes from hyper-mainstream culture into hilariously campy works of bizarre, grotesque beauty. ...

Lacrosse “I See A Brightness” The verses of “I See A Brightness” are less like a conversation and more like a split-screen. The girl is the optimist, hoping for a resolution to her conflict with the guy, who is far more hurt and insists that their relationship is over. ...

Yo La Tengo “If It’s True” One of the tricks Yo La Tengo have mastered over the years is placing their quiet, unassuming personalities in the context of familiar song styles that are typically characterized by more glamorous vocalists. They’re not the first people to ...

tUnE-yArDs @ Bowery Ballroom 11/18/2009 Intro / Powa / “What’s That About?” / “Move To My Hood” / Fiya / Real Live Flesh / Hatari / “Do You Want To Live?” tUnE-yArDs “Hatari” As Mike Barthel wrote last night , tUnE-yArDs’ debut ...

Tegan & Sara “Arrow” A lot of people can’t handle criticism of any kind, and conflate it with conflict and cruelty. That doesn’t have to be the case. The singer in this song is requesting constructive criticism and “tough love,” and though it seems to ...

Felix “You Are The One I Pick” There is a distinct Moon Pix thing happening in this song, not simply in that Lucinda Chua’s voice somewhat recalls that of Chan Marshall, but in that it evokes the same sort of sad grey emptiness. There’s no solid center to the ...

Fuck Buttons “The Lisbon Maru” The Lisbon Maru was a Japanese freighter carrying Allied prisoners of war that was shot down by a US submarine in 1942. The ship should have had some kind of marker to indicate its cargo, but it did not, and so the US ended up killing hundreds of its ...

Amerie “Tell Me You Love Me” Amerie’s on her home turf here, brashly emoting over a hyper-kinetic beat. Some artists may run away from the aesthetics of their breakthrough single in the interest of avoiding one-hit-wonder status, but Amerie seems intent on making “1 ...

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down “When We Swam” “When We Swam” has its roots in old time-y rock ‘n’ roll, and as such places its emphasis on the hips, both musically and lyrically. The beat swings gently but with a flirty assurance, and Thao’s words, ...

Fela Kuti “I.T.T. (Part 2)” There are a lot of ways that a Broadway production based upon the life and music of Fela Kuti could go wrong or just be sort of unbearably hokey, but Fela! by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones is an excellent, engaging show that brings Afrobeat into an ...

tUnE-yArDs “Sunlight” I entirely ignored tUnE-yArDs for the better part of this year entirely because I don’t like the name, and every time I saw it in print in promo emails et al I figured it was just another boring band of dudes. This is not the case. tUnE-yArDs is the ...

Lily Allen “22″ Lily Allen is very good at writing songs that bluntly articulate deep, painful fears, particularly those rooted in extremely cynical conventional wisdom about how life works. Even when it is clear that she’s writing from a satirical perspective, it’s hard to ...

Julian Casablancas “4 Chords of the Apocalypse” The best songs on Julian Casablancas’ solo debut are the ones in which he sounds just like himself but not much at all like the Strokes, forcing us to reckon with the notion that the two things are not as synonymous as ...

Micachu and the Shapes “Golden Phone” The lyrics to “Golden Phone” are like an explanation for all of Micachu’s music: She’s fascinated by every bit of sound around her, but it’s somehow so elusive and overwhelming. The world turns, her body moves, ...

Charlotte Hatherley “Little Sahara” Charlotte Hatherley’s new album New Worlds is obsessed with color, to such an extent that nearly every track describes understanding experiences and emotions via color metaphors rendered in sound and words. The art comes from a synesthetic ...

Oh No Ono “The Wave Ballet” The singer — I’m not sure of their gender! — sounds rather like Geddy Lee, and the band makes the Arcade Fire sound like a very restrained duo. The song starts with a choral section, and builds to an arena ballad of symphonic majesty. ...

Here are some very good songs from albums I’ve recently given so-so reviews on Pitchfork. Please click through for the full reviews. Spiral Stairs “True Love” Kannberg’s new music mostly takes its cues from Neil Young and mid-period Bob Dylan, and to a certain ...

There are some occasions these days when I write about a song that I love for Pitchfork track reviews instead of this site. In case you do not follow my work over there, you really ought to pay attention to these songs, as they are both absolutely brilliant. These are only pull-quotes, by the ...