What They Do

Just when you thought Gamble and Huff couldn’t possibly get any more adorable, I give you “Backstabbers.” Refusing to fade out at the end = classic.

Bill Callahan “Diamond Dancer” (mp3) Wherein the guy who can claim affairs with Joanna Newsom and Chan Marshall lets his smarmy, folk-Lothario come to the musical fore in full bloom; maybe its the “using my own name now” thing. In the process, though, he produces the best imitation, during the song’s refrain, of 1973 Bowie, while that Bowie is simultaneously imitating 1970 Bowie, I’ve heard, perhaps in a long time. (Drag City, 2007) (buy)

Sahara Hotnights “Visit to Vienna” (mp3) If the world continues to be relatively fair, there will always be room somewhere within the “musical landscape” for well-made brassy chick pop metal. “Vienna” is the Hotnights vacationing in a different way than, but while sounding perfectly similar to, the Go-Gos. It opens What If Leaving is A Loving Thing, an album that proves that this “musical landscape” includes albums with no American distribution. (2007, import, as yet || or, Swedish iTunes)

Patrick Cleandenim “Until You Said I’m Gone” (mp3) Basically, what we’d have if Rufus Wainwright had grown up summering in the Hamptons. The best part of the song: the opening piano shape-shift, you’ll hear it, reminding me that “What You See Is What You Get” is not really all that different from this. (Ba Da Bing, 2007) (buy)

The Dramatics “Hot Pants in the Summertime” (mp3) While I’m at it, here’s a slo-mo, scatalogical and string-laden update (not a cover, mind you) of Sly’s sentiment, stripped from same. Sssssssssss. (Stax, 1972) (buy)

Pizzicato Five “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (mp3) Also appropriate for a solstice, also not a cover, also segues nicely from the Dramatics, also has the same number of syllables in the song title. Perhaps my favorite big-budget Japanese Vegas showtune. At the end of this song, after the applause dies down, I see a guy with several tigers prancing onto a stark-white stage, inaugurating some sort of contest. (Sony, 1989) (buy)

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Snort:

via espn.com, obviously.

Snort II (vaguely drug-related, slightly older):

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When I was 5 or 6, I remember clearly wishing that my adult life would very closely resemble this particular video and song: