Gianmaria Testa - "Per Accompagnarti". For those of you who are dying for more new Wilco (sorry), here's something that resembles A Ghost Is Born, in its own humble way. Sure, there aren't any blazing electric guitar solos; nor is it a stupid eleven-minute avant-dance piece of shit (Wilco's "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" is rather awful). But "Per Accompagnarti" has the earnest, coffee-house feel: piano, upright bass, acoustic guitar, dusted drums, a muted trumpet. Testa even sounds like Tweedy, only more Italian. I first heard Gianmaria Testa on the stereo at a Second Cup, (no joke,) and liked it so much that I got up and asked what was playing. "Per Accompagnarti" is taken from 1996's Extra Muros, but La valse d'un jour is also excellent.
The Streets - "You're Fit But You Know It". Subpar (one-channel) radio rip of the new Streets single. It's Mike Skinner in his bouncy, silly mode (and I've always preferred his meditative, bittersweet side), but still, there's much to like. What's good is the trenchant guitar riff that underlies the whole thing, the understated chorus hook, Mike's I-know-it's-awkward-but-fuck-off lyrics: the cardboard "so/when/i/looked/at/you/standing/there," and "chips and drinks"; the off-key "don't/you/just/know/it" the wry "yes yes, oh yay"; the wonderful "i'm all right / don't touch me," and the return to bounce which follows. Of course, The Streets isn't exactly Dizzy Rascal, and this isn't a brazenly brave track; what it is is damn entertaining, clever, good-natured and generous with its laughs. I would like to hear this song in commercials.
(re my wilco source. it's private - sorry. i'm sure that the leak will disseminate quickly, though. if, in a couple days, there's still no sign of ghost on soulseek, i'll post another track - but i don't intend for said the gramophone to become the www equivalent of a 0-day irc room.)