You sure have changed Sia.

Sorry, that was lame. Let’s start all over.

Sia, who happens to be one of my favorite artists ever, decided to give her fans a taste of what she’s been working on to follow up 2007’s Some People Have Real Problems. So yesterday, she Tweeted a download link of “You’ve Changed”, which will appear on her forthcoming album, We Are Born.

The first thing you will notice about “You’ve Changed” is that it is danceable (!!), something Sia hasn’t bothered to work with on Colour the Small One or Some People Have Real Problems. To be honest, she was probably too busy working on timeless modern classics like “Breathe Me” and “Soon We’ll Be Found” to worry about making you move your hips.

This change makes sense though, right? I mean, people don’t have real problems anymore, right? Let’s just dance.

MP3: Sia – You’ve Changed

Sia’s We Are Born will be out next Spring.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

The music video features Kyp in what appears to be a non-seedy hotel room playing his guitar. But then he starts pulling bodies out from under the bed and things get only slightly weird from there with some clay creatures and (gasp!) hand claps. Download “Give Blood” below:

MP3: Rain Machine – Give Blood

Rain Machine’s self-titled debut is out now via ANTI-. Buy it at Insound or at Amazon.

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Photo by Sarah Murphy Jurado

Holy crap is “ River of Love” cheesy. I mean, it’s called River of Love, seriously, by the group United State of Electronica – a band that self identifies as “disco pop.” Completely, unabashedly, poppy and over the top – the little snare hit, the snappy guitar riffs, and of course the alternately auto-tune-crooning and soaring-coed-chorus vocals.

From the first twenty seconds of this song you know exactly what the next three and a half minutes are going to sound like, the lyrics are the same old same old talk about love and girls and boys and yadda yadda… So why can’t I stop listening to it?!

This song is like a bag of mothafuckin’ Skittles — bright, sweet, unsophisticated, you were supposed to outgrow that sweet tooth years ago — but damn if you don’t want just one more taste. Keep this one on stand-by for 3 am makeouts in the summertime.

MP3: U.S.E – River of Love

U.S.E’s Loveworld is out now via Rebel Group. Buy the album at Insound or at Amazon.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Funnest music video of the year? Probably.

We are giving away the Cousins 7″ single. Entries will be accepted until the December 15th release date. Enter here.

Contra is out 1/11 via XL. Pre-order it at InSound or at Amazon.

Edit: Web Sheriff sucks.

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So a few weeks ago, CMJ was happening, and we were all running around like dance crazed party girls. Now that the dust has more than officially settled, we can tell you that some pretty cool shit went down. We talked to some folks. We caught some shows.

One of the people we talked to was Lucas Guerin of electro funk rock band Casxio. Emerging on the scene quite effectively with their EP Seventeen (released on The Hours Entertainment records) the video for the single views like an ode to 80s minimalist serenades to love ala Crying Game. Complete with fog machine, laser lights and the lone female professing her unrequited desire for a certain androgynous individual, it’s brilliant, really.

Casxio played a bunch of CMJ dates and barely had time to breathe, but we managed to get a few questions in.

You just played your first CMJ. How did it go for you? Were the kids dancing?

CMJ went swimmingly. The kids did move their butts.

How do you find the New York scene vs the LA scene?

The only real difference is that in LA we have the sunset strip. The kinds of bands that play the sunset strip are nowhere to be found in NY. I wont say whether that’s a bad thing or a good thing.

Did you get a chance to watch any shows in your down time (if you had any)?

Naw not really.

Your EP just landed and it’s like a really good teaser for your album. How’s it coming with that? Are you happy with what you’ve done so far?

Yeah I’m pretty satisfied. We’ve put a lot of hard work into this album and its been a long road. We’re not done quite yet but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I wont be happy till we get there.

Generally when a bands all buzzed about, people dismiss it as hype. Do you pay attention to what the blogosphere says about your music?

I read some of it but the fact is that, right now, the blogosphere has no idea what’s coming. The album is going to bring an entire spectrum of light to Casxio that people haven’t seen. The EP is simply an appetizer.

Your new video for “Seventeen” is brilliant. It’s like a Prince/Chaka Khan hybrid. How’d you conceptualize it?

When I wrote the song I had a very clear idea of who’s voice it was. It was a heartbroken 17-year-old girl. Every human is familiar with her. She comes out in moments of gut-wrenching vulnerability, heartbreak and loss. I felt like I had a responsibility to play her- to put myself in a vulnerable position. So that’s my end of the story. Hilton Carter directed it and had the idea of creating a clubesque scene a la MJ’s “Rock With You” video.

What are you up to right now, at this very moment (besides answering these questions)?

I’m writing music for an ad for Old Spice. Their ads are genius.

If you weren’t trying to make it work with this gig, what else would you be doing with your life?

Architect.

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Photo courtesy of Little Dragon’s Myspace Page.

Is there something in the water in Gothenburg, Sweden? The Knife, The Tough Alliance, Jose Gonzalez, Jens Lekman, and now Little Dragon – those damn Swedes just keep pumping out irresistible pop melodies in a variety of weird incarnations.

Little Dragon’s track “Runabout” is certainly a slice of quirky pop, but it is uniquely, wonderfully sun-soaked; the soundtrack to a leisurely bike ride on the nicest day of summer, when you’re headed to your best friend’s house or the beach or a BBQ. A whistling flute echoes the nouveau-nu-wave synth line echoes singer Yukimi Nagano’s light-as-a-feather voice, while groovy almost-Caribbean percussion keeps it all moving along. I’ve heard it snows in Sweden, but listening to “Runabout” makes you question the very existence of something called winter.

Elegant percussive flourishes abound, the bass-line hits that unobtrusive-yet-omnipresent spot all good bass-lines strive for, and Nagano repeating “Runabout…runabout the streets…” sounds like a prescription for fun.

All in all, a tightly crafted piece of danceable pop that should be firmly entrenched in your “recently played” to prevent depression until spring comes. I would say more, but I have to go dance with my new girlfriend Yukimi.

MP3: Little Dragon – Runabout

Little Dragon’s sophomore release, Machine Dreams is out now. Buy it at Insound or at Amazon.

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Don’t forget to rate the album at the end of the post.

Welcome back to Blinded By The Hype, the PMA feature in which we revisit albums once the hype has died down. In today’s world, music is released at a machine gun pace. It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type scene, and “lately” usually means this week. Rarely do we stop to smell the roses. Even good albums get overlooked as time passes. And we almost never – aside from year end lists – take a look backward. Hindsight is 20-20, and we’d like to apply that retrovision to set the record straight. Hence, Blinded By The Hype. A quick refresher for those of you who might have missed out on the rules the first few times.

1. Only full albums will be re-examined. Tracks are finicky enough to review the first time, and how a single track fares over the course of a few months is more an issue of personal preference than quality.  Album grades mean more, album spins mean more, therefore we’ll stick to albums.

2. Only albums that received 80+ grades will be re-examined. No point in re-opening old wounds. If it wasn’t good with the hype, it won’t be good without the hype. Sure, there are albums that get better with time. No doubt about that. But hype isn’t involved there – it’s tracks that are growers and lyrics that are layered. Totally different ballgame, we’ll stick to the initially well-received.

Ha! Rule Change! Since we haven’t had that many 80+ albums that really would change post-hype (Are we just that good? Perhaps.), we have decided to occasionally flip this feature on its head, re-examining albums that got poor reviews and deserve a better break. Just to keep you on your toes.

3. Only albums that are at least 3 months old will be re-examined. Hype is all about timing. When an album is released, there is an upswell of buzz that races around the blogosphere. Sometimes that buzz cycle extends for a couple months – there’s the leak, the first single, the release, the second single, etc. So we’ll wait until the dust settles before stirring things up again.

This edition’s focus? The debut album from The XX, aptly titled xx.

Artist: The xx

Album: xx

Release Date: August 17, 2009

Original Score: 59/100 (Rating Scale)

THEN:

“It soon becomes obvious that The xx are rather a one-trick pony: although first single ‘Crystalised’ is beguiling, the album’s ten other tracks seem like nothing so much as alternative takes on it – and what’s more, inferior versions that are more or less indistinguishable from one another. What originally seemed atmospheric and moody comes across as something closer resembling apathy: ironically, xx would be vastly improved by some of that pizzazz and swagger that can be so wearisome in other musicians.”

- Elle Hunt, Original PMA Review

“For what it’s worth I think you have confused ‘apathy’ with restraint, (a rare thing in music these days).”

- “Sixto,” Comment on Original Album Review

“Really don’t think you’ve looked as this record closely enough. It’s so inventive, so carefully-crafted and all about subtle tricks, tricks you seem to have missed.”

- “Jamie,” Comment on Original Album Review

NOW:

I’m not going to lie, I was late to The xx party. For some unknown reason, I resisted listening to these British wunderkinds for months, despite my friends’ urging. But when, finally, I let the needle drop on this piece of wax, I was hooked.

I listen to a lot of music in my everyday life – a lot of new music. And I’ve spent a fair amount of time pondering how our music consumption habits in today’s world affect the type of music being produced. In the blogosphere days of Annie and Passion Pit, it seems that a catchy hook and a quickly accessible beat are the tried and true formula for finding success. Most bands get one or two songs to make an impression, and most songs get 30 seconds or so to do the same. It’s no wonder that Hype Machine is consistently dominated by beat-forward remixes and other songs that immediately grab the listener.

So it’s a testament to The xx’s staying power that they’ve managed to grab more than a small number of ears with a record that is, to say the least, unassuming. xx has a constant groove, a laid back feel that immediately drops the shoulders, unclenches the teeth, eases the stress headache. It’s an album that grows on you, from a band that counts on you giving them the time to let the music do the work.

The closing phrase of xx, on the song “Stars,” is a microcosm of the album. It’s a humble halt, a tempered close that leaves notes hanging with little resolution. The xx’s debut lives as it ends, not with bangs, but with whimpers. It’s not going to rock your socks off and it’s not going to soundtrack your next party. But it will slowly make its way into your consciousness until you’re singing along to a track you didn’t even realize was playing.

It’s no surprise that this album suffered from hype backlash the first time around. Upon first listen, it is unremarkable. It’s not a boring collection of tunes, but it certainly is easy to let one bleed into another, creating the possibility for subtlety to be mistaken for blandness. Oliver Sim’s voice strays pretty close to generic singer/songwriter territory – a range that is generally shunned by the Dave Longstreth and Kevin Barnes loving indie rock world – and is the type of velvety smooth that reminds me of alt-rock radio stations. There are slow guitar solos that don’t seem to drive anywhere, lingering without any sense of urgency. It’s unclear what type of band The xx are, let alone what they want to be. And we don’t like things that we can’t put in a box.

But outside that there box, The xx have made a damn good record. It’s not unremarkable, it’s understated. It’s not dull, it’s developing. It’s not simplistic, it’s seductive – The xx aren’t going to reveal too much without a commitment from you. No matter how you see xx, it’s certainly not a series of variations on “Crystalised.” That song is far from a mission statement; at best it is a snapshot of what the group does best – well-balanced male and female vocals, controlled drumming, and plenty of space buffering each note, all resolving to a catchy (but not overly so) chorus. Songs like “Basic Space” and “Islands” follow that formula nicely without being reproductions – they gently push on the boundaries of the sound that The xx have established, creating wonderful sidesteps along the path through the album. When you reach the end of that path and the final notes of “Stars” fade away you realize, hey, there was a lot more to that than I originally thought.
84/100

Rate the album:

Chris Barth is a columnist here at Pretty Much Amazing. You can read his more succinct daily posts at his music blog, The Stu Reid Experiment.

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Photo by Kirstie Shanley
“Fright Lined Dining Room” is one of the three unreleased tracks to back the Arctics’ second single “Cornerstone” off Humbug, which we were crazy about .

Alex Turner told Uncut Magazine that he wrote the song “one morning, quite quickly” adding that, “there’s something to be said for writing in the morning. At other points in the day you’re a bit more defensive. I saw it as a challenge to write something in a major key, but that wasn’t cheesy.” Truly profound mister Turner. You all will be glad to discover that “Fright” is not cheesy in the slightest. In fact, I think fans who purchase the single are going to be quite pleased to hear this little bonus.

Buy the Cornerstone 10″ at Insound.

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Karen Dancing In The Rain (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Osheaga 2009 Montreal) by Anirudh Koul

Rarely am I at a loss of words. Rarely is “wow” the only thing I am able to express audibly. “Hysteric,” when played live, is one of the few songs that make the words fall out of my head and out of my reach.

I was fortunate enough to catch “Hysteric” live at one of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ famously hyperactive shows this summer, and I was spellbound by the beauty of this track in a live setting. Through the sea of sweaty bodies, ran through a warm calm and a sense of camaraderie. It was a beauty not fully realized on the album version of “Hysteric”. This song was meant to be experienced live and not at Urban Outfitters.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have just released an iTunes Originals album, which features studio tracks, an interview, and a handful of acoustic versions of tracks you already know. It’s not much of a release, but the acoustic “Hysteric” bundled in there is, as I have tried to explain, beyond words.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Hysteric (iTunes Originals version)

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Other pretty much amazing happenings in the music blogophere that I probably won’t be writing about:

Watch Lil Wayne’s The Carter Documentary in its entirety at First Up!

Listen to and download Amerie’s “Tell Me You Love Me” at Fluxblog. It’s really f’n great.

Gorilla vs Bear has the music video of the Golden Filter’s “Thunderbird” available for your viewing pleasure — oh and an mp3 too if you want to grab that.

Download the latest compilation by the electro label Kitsune over at Hot Biscuits.

The Sound of Arrows remixed Penguin Prison over at Neon Gold.

Vinyl and Vodka have Beyonce and Lady GaGa’s music video for “Video Phone” (not to be confused with “Telephone”) available for you to watch.

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