The Rob Gordon Shuffle: 3/28-4/3

Back-to-school mp3 blog edition! Sorry about the delay.

1. Of Montreal – “The Party’s Crashing Us” (Download)
Oh my God. Oh my God. Dance-punk may be dead, but synth-pop certainly is not. This song sounds like a song by The Cure – as performed by the Care Bears. From The Sunlandic Twins, which everybody seems to be ignoring because they put out a record last year and quick turn-arounds are frowned-upon in indie-rock land. Ryan Adams is going to be skewered by the time album #3 comes out.

2. Petra Haden and Bill Frisell – “Satellite” (Download)
A jazz guitarist and a violinist/moonlighting back-up singer for the Decemberists take an already floating Elliott Smith song and launch it skyward into a hazy psychadelic stratosphere. From their self-titled collaboratory album, which is just great (and puts Petra’s Who covers record to shame).

3. Tom Jones – “What’s New, Pussycat?” (Download)
Tom is overbearingly masculine. He sounds sweaty, bare-chested, and flat-out drunk on this track. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll laugh again. Taken from the glorious Look Of Love box set.

Tom Jones alone should tide you over until next week.

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The Rob Gordon Shuffle is a weekly Sunday rundown of fascinating songs and albums without any particular regard to genre or timeliness. It is absolutely not a top 5.