Thursday's Track Reviews

(Editor's Note: Sorry about the tardiness of this post!)
The Good:
Danielson - "Animal In Every Corner (Version)"; So this is on an upcoming album of B-sides and outtakes and other stuff, and amazingly this doesn't sound like it should have been any of those! Instead this is just another solid Danielson song and it's been a while since we've heard one of those so I think we should all get excited about it!
Grade: B

Jadakiss (feat. Jay-Z) - "Who Run This?"; My boy Lenny has been saying for months that the album to look forward to in hip-hop is the new Jadakiss album. Well judging by this track it's definitely something to get excited about (though now we have a new Kanye album to get amped about too). Jadakiss has always had a solid delivery but for some reason I don't think he's ever approached the level he deserves. Maybe this album, combined with a weaker year for rap, will help to boost him to the Kanye, Lil' Wayne level of MC's.
Grade: B

Juana Molina - "Un Dia"; Juana Molina has mastered the art of repetition in music, and this track is yet another glowing example of it. While the music chimes in and out, looping over and over her vocals shift all over the place, warbling too and fro and never sitting still. I have no clue as to what she's saying but it makes for a very cool listen.
Grade: B+

Love Is All - "Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites"; Fans of Love Is All's Nine Times the Same Song should be able to swing right back into their love affair with this band after hearing this tune. It is just as fast and hard hitting as anything on the last album and it is ferocious in its approach. And I love that hard hitting drum bit in the middle to death!
Grade: A

People Under the Stairs - "The Swan Fever"; I'm not sure if the static, record player sound found on this track is purposely there or part of a poor download and if it's purposely there then I'd probably say it's not necessary, but the rest of this track is the shit for sure! This is like some old school Jurassic 5 stuff right here and there's nothing wrong with that. Full band sounds in hip-hop will never get old!
Grade: A

Track of the Week:
DeVotchKa - "Clockwise Witness" (The Field remix); Loyal readers know of my disdain for remixes, but for the first time in a long while I have found one I thoroughly enjoy! I am not surprised when you look and see that it's The Field that has remixed the song but I am a bit surprised that it would be a remixed DeVotchKa song that drew my admiration. I'm not the biggest fan of their music, but the toy piano and subtle sound of this song give it an atmosphere almost like that of a lullaby. It's absolutely beautiful and soothing and thoroughly enjoyable!
Grade: A

Old School Track of the Week:
R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"; This week the wonderful music blog, Pop Songs 07-08, finished it's goal of writing about each and ever song R.E.M. has ever written and recorded (Accelerate excluded). The blog was a wonderful read each day, giving insight and thought into each song by the legendary band, it even made you second guess your hatred of Monster! It wrapped up with the classic and appropriately titled track above, always one of my favorite R.E.M. songs and I'm sure it's one of yours. Anyway, just wanted to pay tribute to one of my favorite blogs this week.
Grade: A+

The Bad:
Keri Hilson (feat. Lil' Wayne) - "Turn Off"; I know this is not a dedicated Lil' Wayne track but it just goes to show that not everything he touches is gold. Hopefully he got paid a lot to appear on this weak ass track.
Grade: C-

Video of the Week:

Vivian Girls - "Tell the World"; This is more or less a pretty simple, though definitely cute, video. But this time around it's more the song that is driving the video to be the best of the week not so much the visuals. I absolutely love this tune, but then you probably knew that already. Anyhow, enjoy the video too.
Grade: B+