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.

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.

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 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.

This week’s track is Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner, off of the A Matter of Time mixtape. Somewhat unusual for a TOTW, I first heard this song off the radio, then found it again when it showed up on the Hype Machine’s popular charts.

It kicks off with an old school overdub sound over an electric guitar, but less than a minute a the modern electropop sound kicks in that carries it through the rest of the track. While the production is catchy on it’s own, it’s fairly minimal and Mike Posner’s scratchy voice and the fun / interesting / amusing lyrics give you something to sing along to. Espically amusing is the lines he borrows from Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, which is quite apt given the overall story of the song.

You got designer shades
just to hide your face and
you wear them around like
you’re cooler than me.

This week’s track is I Need a Dollar, by Aloe Blacc. I first heard this song as the intro song to How To Make It In America, HBO’s new show chronicling the life of two young men hustling in New York City to try to enter the fashion business.

Lyrically great, and searching soulful, the song centers around the coming of bad times and the path towards losing one’s job. It’s acutally a pretty sad song of a man in desperate need of a break. Even though it has a pretty classic soul sound it was recorded Feb 2010, which makes me feel like it codifies the life millions of people must be going through as they lose their jobs or fall on hard times during the recession.

I had a job but the boss man let me go
He said / I’m sorry but I won’t be needing your help no more
I said / Please mister boss man I need this job more than you know
But he gave me my last paycheck and he sent me on out the door

It’s Wednesday and I’m already ready for the Weekend, this week’s track from the Black Eye Peas’ Bridging the Gap. While typically I’d go on for a while waxing about why I like this particualr track, I think most people probably know this song. I’m going to spend a few inches lambasting the fall of one of the greatest acts in hip-hop.

I remember vividly when I went and saw BEP play  in 2001 at the University of San Diego. Live drum set, real instrumentation, a DJ, no Fergie and one of the highest energy shows I’ve ever seen. At the end of the show will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo were all outside signing autographs on ticket stubs and milling around. I wonder where my signed ticket stub is these days. I remember hearing BEP on Jurassic 5 and Ozo albums back then, all with innovative sounds and a positive message — very different than typical West Coast / LA rap.

Then came Fergie. And Where Is the Love. And My Humps. And the nail in the coffin, Boom Boom Pow. Look back at their track, Original, with these verses:

Many people can’t be real, so they gotta chase the steel
What the deal? Is it really all about the bills?
What’s the thrill? I’d rather have my soul fulfilled

So sad, that’s exactly what they’ve become.

A little bit of a change of pace this week, track of the week comes off of Armin van Buuren’s Universal Religion Chapter 4, it’s Roger Shah & Signum’s Healesville Sanctuary (Roger Shah Mix).

On a early morning like today, after I’ve been napping on the train trying to catch some sleep before I arrive to work this is exactly the kind of music to wake me up when I get off the train, put the headphones in the ears and walk in to the office. It’s a Friday and if you’re looking for a wake-me-up, put this track on and it’ll set you straight.

The is a beautiful little trance track, that starts over soaring vocals and plucked strings. This mix is recorded live, and there’s an energy as the crowd gets in to it. As the first progression builds the cheers and whistling from the ground grows as everybody is waiting for the melody to drop. In typical trance style the song goes huge, drops away again and the crowd goes wild waiting for the same beat the second time. Give it a full listen through to hear both halves of the song.

The entire Universal Religion Chapter 4 mix makes for a great 80 minutes of solid trance. It was was the latest work available from van Buuren for a while but A State of Trance 2010 was released at the beginning of the month so expect a TOTW from that later in the spring.

FYI: unfortunately the YouTube link is a slightly different mix from the email than the van Buuren mix, so listener beware.

The second appearance of local band Montana 1948 in track of the week, this week’s track comes from their latest album Picket Fences, Don’t Be Too Late. I first heard this song about a year ago while going to a MT48 show in San Francisco. It had been at that point one of the first songs they had written after their Tiny Drawings EP. Like most Montana 1948 songs, it’s a catchy, pop-y rock song that finds the chorus stuck in your head after a while. When I last saw them at Cafe du Nord, I took a few friends and over the next few days we all ended up having some of their songs stuck in our heads.

My favorite parts are the bridge at about the 3m mark, and the strong close as the band jams over the singer’s lyrics. If you’re in the Bay Area, I recommend going to one of their shows. They have great stage presence and are a ton of fun to watch play. “don’t don’t tell me no / don’t, don’t tell me no”