Artist / Smith Westerns
Track / All Die Young
Album / Dye It Blonde

All Die Young

I first fell in love with this track as the opener to Ryan McGinley’s short film, an intimate portrait of Smith Westerns and Girls at last year’s Pitchfork festival.  Drenched in dream-pop 80′s goodness and reminiscent of John Lennon’s ‘Oh Yoko‘, I think it might be an early contender for the best song of 2011.

Artist / Local Natives
Track / Cecilia
Cover/ Simon & Garfunkel

Cecilia

Check out the must-watch video as performed from the courtyard of “Gorilla Manor”. LOVE. “Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart, you’re shaking my confidence daily. Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees I’m begging you please to come home. Come on home.”

Artist / The Dream Academy
Track / Please Please [...]
Album / Ferris Bueller

Please Please Please [...]

You’ll recognise this from the art museum sequence of FBDO – an instrumental cover version of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want”, by The Dream Academy.  Director John Hughes originally chose a classical guitar solo with a lot of rubato but it performed badly with test  audiences.

Artist / Gil Scott-Heron
Track / I’ll Take Care Of U
Remix / Jamie xx

I’ll Take Care Of U

If you haven’t already heard Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie from The xx have a new remix project due for release Feb 22nd titled We’re New Here (a rework of the original albums sessions from Scott-Heron’s acclaimed I’m New Here). You can pre-order the limited edition vinyl box set which I’m off to do. Right. Now.

Artist / Dirty Beaches
Track / Lord Knows Best
Album / Badlands

Lord Knows Best

Vice speculate that Alex Zhung Hai actually started Dirty Beaches as a “pre-emptive attack on bird-decorating oil giants BP”. Whatever the reason, I dig his 60′s inspired lovelorn sound and am eagerly anticipating his debut full-length album titled Badlands. Due out March 29.