Hey, campers! It’s another beautiful Tuesday afternoon, and everyone knows what that means: a brand new What We’re Listening To! This is TNG’s weekly rundown of the music that’s currently melting our post-summer blues away. On the menu this week, we have: Walter Meego, The Beloved, Talking Heads, Alanis Morissette (whom Allison met last night, y’all!!!), CSS, Ibrahim Ferrer, Shugo Tokumaru, Gang Gang Dance, Manchester Orchestra, and T-Pain featuring Lil Wayne. (Hi, Parker!) Enjoy the madness below the fold…

Walter Meego—Voyager

Every now and then I upload a CD into my iTunes and then forget about it until I discover a great song on the internet, download it, and then realize that I already have the entire album. That’s just what happened with this album from the Chicago-based duo, Walter Meego. The tune I fell in special love with is “Girls,” but when I gave the whole album a listen to, I was amazingly surprised at how much my ADD-ear likes almost every song on it. The music is classified as pop, but less in the Jonas Brothers kind of way, and more in the electronic synthesized way. The music is happy, but the lyrics make me think it was written under the umbrella of heartache, so it’s great for listening to no matter how you feel. I rarely get enthusiastic about an entire album, but for real, folks, this one is good. Bonus: I just realized that they’ll be hittin’ up the Black Cat on October 12. – Stephanie

The Beloved—Happiness

Back to 1990, as the ‘80s have met an ignominious end beneath a barrage of MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, and the Milli Vanilli scandal. Blame it on the rain, baby. If you were paying attention, there was still cool shit to listen to—The Beloved obviously had ex-Heaven 17 legend Martyn Phillips’ number, and he lived on to produce Happiness, a trippy-sexy pop-trance powerhouse that found pale-eyed lead singer Jon Marsh alternately writhing around the backseat of a Rolls Royce and fucking his wife, Helena, in the video for “Time After Time” (no, not the Cyndi Lauper song, thank ya very much). It’s all so meaningful, especially when he sprouts the nosebleed. Helena Marsh later joined the band, but this is their best album (“Your Love Takes Me Higher,” and “Scarlet Beautiful” head the rest of a strong field). Hello, the sun is rising, and I’m up, up, and away for another week. – Philip

Talking Heads—Remain In Light

When 9-11 occurred, the first song that popped into my head was “Born Under Punches.” “I am not a burning building!” yells David Byrne against a weird amalgam of funk and jagged textured guitar. “Listening Wind” is a haunting tale of terrorism, and “The Overload” is the best Joy Division song Joy Division never did. The developing world’s unrest is personified in Afropop-influenced “The Great Curve,” and “Seen and Not Seen” is a like a Borges short story. This prophetic album really captures the zeitgeist. Globalization, urban anomie, and cultural clash are themes, while the music sounds like nothing I’ve heard before–or since. I get in a Remain In Light every fall. Byrne and Eno are releasing a new album after 30 years apart. Will it measure up to this one? – Craig

Alanis Morissette—”Hand in My Pocket”

So I am walking in Whole Foods in Glover Park last night, trying to decide if I want to spend 4 dollars on organic lemons, when I look up and see this petite woman with long wavy chestnut brown hair. “Hmm she looks familiar” I thought. “Renee,” I said to my girlfriend, “That woman over there looks exactly like Alanis Morissette.” Renee promptly shouted “REALLY!? We have to go talk to her!!!” As Renee approached the potential Alanis Look alike, I ran off and hid in the frozen food aisle, for fear of embarrassment. Renee and I randevouzed in the f
ish aisle (typical for lesbians). “IT IS HER ALLISON. IT’S ALANIS” I immediately got in a jealous fit of rage since I spotted her first! To solve this issue, we fake shopped for another 15 minutes circling the “Alanis area”, trying to figure out a way to re-approach her. Finally, we went up to her. Renee acted as a buffer. “Hi sorry, but my friend Allison loves you too-” to which I blurted “We love you! And I spotted you first, so I had to say hi!” Alanis laughed, turned to Renee and said “She saw me first.” I felt like the most popular girl in school. Now I am listening to Jagged Little Pill, one of the first cds I ever owned, replaying the moment over and over in my head. – Allison

CSS—Donkey

CSS opened for Ladytron when I saw them a few years ago. Sometime during their first live track, I learned that CSS stands for Consei de Ser Sexy, which in Portugese means “tired of being sexy,” which seemed to fit the female lead singer’s unkempt hair, billowy t-shirt and overly shapely figure. I hadn’t bothered to research them beforehand and was pleasantly surprised by their performance, but alas not enough to go out and buy the record or otherwise research them. When the new album, Donkey, fell into my lap, I remembered their great 9:30 club performance and gave it a listen: It’s really good! Some tracks remind me of the harder edged, darker synth-dance-rock of The Faint, while others evoke more straightforward rock like that of The Strokes. Check out “Jager Yoga,” “Give Up” and “I Fly”. Oh, and I saw Alanis Morissette in Whole Foods. – Michael

Ibrahim Ferrer—Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer

I had to look for the name of this CD, because for the last few years it has been known simply as “the sunday morning cd,” as in the CD that is played in my house on Sunday mornings, often before I even get out of bed. I count all the CDs from the Buena Vista Social Club collection as treasures of a Cuba thought to be lost, but Ibrahim is special. If you have ever seen the film, Buena Vista Social Club, and know his amazing story, you understand what I mean. The ballads are beautiful, but my favorite song is “Que Bueno Baila Usted,” which had me dancing in my living room just now. – Ben

Shugo Tokumaru—Exit

You know that obnoxious friend who is always trying to push obscure foreign records on you when you’d rather just be listening to, like, the Gummi Bears theme song? Today, ich bin ein that friend. Shugo Tokumaru records low-fi pop out of his bedroom. In Japan. And it’s all in Japanese! And it’s so good. Don’t judge me. You can check it out for yourself when he opens for the Magnetic Fields on October 26th. – Zack

Gang Gang Dance—Saint Dymphna (Oct. 21)

Gorilla vs. Bear‘s blog radio show last night featured a couple of tracks off the forthcoming Gang Gang Dance LP Saint Dymphna. “Princes” and “Vacuum” are vastly different, the former a dancey grime track, and the latter sounding like a really slowed down My Bloody Valentine song. Like Santogold’s debut, this second one from Gang Gang Dance is supposed to be all over the map genre-wise, but moving in a more booty shaking direction. – Coach

Manchester Orchestra—”I Can Feel A Hot One”

“I Can Feel A Hot One,” by Manchester Orchestra, is the sort of dreamy song that I can listen to on repeat for days. Their sound is reminiscent of Bright Eyes, which is more apparent if you listen to the other tracks on MySpace, and a look at their web site shows that they’ve been listening to other favorite artists of mine, from David Gray to Elliott Smith, so it’s not surprising that I like them so much too. I’m constantly compiling a playlist in my head of music that I can put on when I bring girls back to my room to make out, and this song is right up there. – Ms Cavanaugh

ght="120" hspace="6" vspace="6" width="120" /> T-Pain ft. Lil Wayne—”Can’t Believe It”

It recently occurred to me that I never ever really write about the pop I like, although I’m kind of addicted to MTV Jams. Time to rectify that, I guess. Now, don’t get it twisted; this song is absolutely ridiculous. The vocoder, the lyrics, etc. I mean really, T-Pain? You’re gonna put me “in a mansion/somewhere in Wiscansin”? Lovely! Of course, I have a sense of humor when it comes to these sorts of things, so the silly lyrics are part of what makes it so fun. Most importantly, however, the beat is so smooth you can’t help but move your body. In fact, it moves your body for you, and to me, the mark of a good jam is when it makes your booty shake independent of your body. Most definitely aces in that regard. (Plus the video is so, so cheesy and so, so trippy. It’s amazing!) – Rocky

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