LimeWire Music Blog

Here at WSIBTW HQ, it’s our mission each week to steer you towards the new releases we think you’ll find most deserving of your attention. With that in mind, you can rest assured that we have no intention whatsoever of pointing you at the high-profile Christmas albums released this week by two of the most beloved singer-songwriters to emerge from the ’60s. We’re not naming any names, but if you’re thinking they rhyme with Job Killin’ and Steal MyFund, you might not be off the mark. Instead, we’ve lined up some up-and-coming electro-pop, some Brazilian bounce with a world-dance slant, and a couple of singer-songwriters who take their indie-folk roots out for a ride to new musical neighborhoods.

Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster
Thao Nguyen might have started out as a solo singer-songwriter/cellist pigeonholed as an indie-folkster, but it didn’t take her long to plug in and power up with her band the Get Down Stay Down. That said, Know Better Learn Faster marks the first time that she’s given those gettin’-down guys their props right alongside her in the credits, and you’d be right to guess that’s an indication of true integration between Thao’s idiosyncratic singing/writing style and the band’s propulsive-but-pop-savvy backing.

Imaad Wasif – The Voidist
Psychedelic-tinged sounds of both the heavy-rockin’ and laid-back-folkie varieties come to the fore on Imaad Wasif’s third album. Having worked with both the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Lou Barlow’s Folk Implosion, Wasif has a handle on both the brash and the modest ends of the sonic spectrum, and it shows in The Voidist. If Neil Young were still a scrappy up-and-comer, he and Crazy Horse might be turning out tracks not terribly far removed the work of the L.A.-based Wasif; but that said, this is no ’60s trip.

Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Young Texican electro-pop aficionado Alan Palomo is Neon Indian — although it’s only one of numerous musical aliases he’s already taken on in his short career — and he slathers his unabashed love of big, geeky synth lines and adorably amateurish drum-machine beats all over Psychic Chasms. Is Palomo out to single-handedly bring back the days of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Blancmange, or is he merely planting the synth-pop flag for a new generation to build upon in its own image? Either way it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and hey — you can dance to the stuff too.

Forro in the Dark – Light a Candle
This band of New York-based Brazilian expats, who began building up a buzz a couple of years back at NYC hotspot Nublu before busting out to the big time, have named their band after a Northeast Brazilian style of folk music. And while the sounds of Brazilian forro are certainly a crucial part of the sound on Light a Candle, they’re surrounded by a global whirlwind of styles, from jazz to reggae to rock to dance music. Guests like Brazilian Girls singer Sabina Sciubba and singer-songwriter Jesse Harris pop in for guest spots, too, broadening the sonic palette even further.