Economy — “Winter Recording Fiasco”
I have no idea what Economy is, nor anything more about the “Winter Recording Fiasco” than what the musical collective posted to its Bandcamp page, but judging by that information, it’s the Zanzibar! Records folks exploring their weirdness.

These songs are droning and creepy, pulsing with what sounds like bass keyboard and rhythmic lyrics like “keep the species alive.” They’re also topical enough to title a song after a certain dictator of North Korea, recently deceased.



The Rapture — “Sail Away” remixes
While The Rapture’s full-length fell a little more flat than I’d hoped, it had a couple of standout singles, and “Sail Away” was one of them. Cut Copy gives a signature tribal contribution, Aeroplane’s starts out sparse before blowing up into a full-on house rave, and Cosmic Kids win the award for choppiest chop-up. Their spacier, hypnotic take, complete with long-echoing, mixed-up vocals is about as different from the original as you can get. Thanks, DFA Records!



Laura Gibson — “La Grande”
Plaintive, pretty singer/songwriter Laura Gibson visits Opolis in February with Breathe Owl Breathe. Take this opportunity from NPR to get to know her.

Josh Sallee — “Ride Out”

What immediately grabbed me about this song was the cheesy, Grandma-giving-the-thumbs-up art, which initially triggered what I call a “whack-novelty” reaction deep within my brain. Then the track kicked in and I got all excited for his forthcoming album, “Probably Flaws.” Dude’s got skill, and it’s fun listening to him dance around the melody on the “Birthday Sex” sample. As solid a local hip-hop track as I've heard in a while.