College Candy’s Weekly Playlist: Friday, June 6th

Mixing early rock and roll in its purest and delightfully dirtiest heights with eye-winking Hoodoo mysticism, Who Do You Love is one of the most revolutionary songs produced of its kind. It was written by the recently deceased musical legend Bo Diddley and covered to various degrees of success by George Thorogood among many others. As it happens, Diddley’s version is by far the best, playful, mysterious and light years ahead of its time.

Trip-Hop has sort of inexplicably become one of my favorite genres. Many music critics attribute the founding of this genre to the Bristol-based group Massive Attack with the release of its amazing debut album, Blue Lines. The album features the track Unfinished Sympathy, which has been remixed within an inch of its life by dozens of famous DJs. Again, the original version is the best. It represents the band’s oeuvre beautifully: dark, sexy, esoteric and strangely danceable.

I know it’s kinda sacrilegious to say, but I think that Radiohead’s latest, In Rainbows, has usurped The Bends to become my favorite Radiohead album.

The first track on the album, 15 Step is a killer song that incorporates all of the things that give Radiohead the greatly deserved reputation of being God-Like in a totally uninspired landscape. It’s catchy, complex without being inaccessible, and strangely melodic despite the synthesizers.

Finally, a cover song that I think is better than the original (and that the original was sung by Aretha Franklin says a lot). Alt-country goddess Neko Case covers Runnin’ Out of Fools on her 2002 masterpiece Blacklisted to total badass affect. It’s a down and dirty song about being done wrong; sad, yes, but damn if it isn’t sassy as hell.

Brooklyn indie rockers Yeasayer made a splash at 2007’s South by Southwest and have since released their debut album, All Hour Cymbals.

My favorite track from the album is the first single, Sunrise, a “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel” with a damn good beat. What is so great about this song, and, really all of Yeasayer’s music, is that it original without being inaccessible. If you are a fan of bands like TV on the Radio or Animal Collective, you should enjoy Sunrise, and Yeasayer’s nostalgic and spacey vibe.

College Candy-June