Instant Playlist - November 29 2012

Julia Holter

Gold Dust Woman (Mojo)
Los Angeles singer-pianist Holter serves up a haunting, reverb-heavy take on this rock classic, which was originally recorded by, um, Hole. Or somebody like that.

Blind Moon

Nothing Left to Lose (Independent)
Strangely vintage-sounding dream pop, like John Lennon singing a ’50s sock-hop slow-dance number as produced by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields.

Majical Cloudz

What That Was (Arbutus/Merok)
Montreal dude sings an ode to his friend Neil in a lush baritone over a lo-fi Casio beat. And that about sums it up. Who is Neil and why should we care? No idea, but it sure sounds purty.

Quiet Kids

The Party (Independent)
Think the Flaming Lips with the freak factor dialled way back and the pianos and pop elements pushed to the forefront. Did someone say almost regal, not to mention warm, fuzzy, and totally tasty?

Kyle Brenders Quartet

Roach (18th Note)
From the sound of this dark-alley-jazz number, someone was definitely sucking on a roach or two packed with a strain of reefer named something like Pink Panther Incapacitator.

The Prodigy

Smack My Bitch Up (Major Lazer remix) (XL)
Diplo has his squelchy, caffeine-buzzed way with the most offensive song of 1997. The title, of course, comes from a sample of lyrics originally performed by, um, Chris Brown. Or somebody like that.

Pissed Jeans

Bathroom Laughter (Sub Pop)
Can we just say that Pissed Jeans has the worst band name ever? If the Pennsylvania four-piece keeps making raging, caustic garage punk like this, though, we can overlook that. Almost.

John Antoniuk

Chicago (Rawlco Radio)
The song is called “Chicago”, but instead of playing South-Side blues, John Antoniuk evidently has a thing for wide-open spaces in the country. The downbeat, acoustic-guitar–worshipping alt-country, that is.

Dustin Bentall & the Smokes

Ballad of Billy Cowsill (Aporia)
If Dustin Bentall’s fiddle-swept, dusty ode to an underground legend leaves you thinking anything, it’s that Billy Cowsill might have been the coolest badass ever to walk the streets of Vancouver.

The Noble Thiefs

Sunset Stabbings (Pipe and Hat)
Brings to mind the Chili Peppers if they’d wanted to be Thelonious Monster instead of the second coming of Funkadelic. You can dance to it, but you’ll have more fun stabbing someone to it, preferably at sunset.

Solange

Lovers in the Parking Lot (Terrible)
When she layers her silky-smooth singing over this song’s stuttering beat, Solange shows that she deserves way better than to be known mostly as the little sister of, um, Mariah Carey. Or somebody like that.