Hear all 5 Songs We Can't Stop Listening To:
1. Glass Animals picks Erykah Badu – “The Healer”
Dave Bayley (front man): One song that I can’t stop listening to, and that I haven’t been able to stop listening to for about five years or so since I found it is “The Healer” by Erykah Badu. There are lots of reasons why I can’t stop listening to it, but it’s got such a soulful vocal. And I think Erykah Badu does that so well, she writes amazing soulful vocal lines.
And the production is also totally next level. It’s done by Madlib, who’s a huge hip-hop producer whose produced some incredible tracks. I’m obsessed with all his production. Production that’s so simple, but so effective. Very few elements, but they all compliment themselves absolutely perfectly and make a kind of greater whole.
- Glass Animals will be playing at the Riverside June 3.
- Erykah Badu’s album, "New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War)" came out in 2008.
- Listen if you like: Stones Throw Records, heavy beats, minimal production
2. Shamir – “Call It Off”
On the show, "30 Rock," the main character, Liz Lemon, became a famous relationship advisor with the catchphrase “Deal Breaker.” As an advisor she called people out and she told it like it is. And it worked because her advice wasn’t vague, she told people exactly what to do. Which is what they wanted to hear.
“Call It Off” is the new “Dealbreaker” Shamir will take your call, and tell it like it is. He’ll give you his honest advice. Really, if you call 1-844-4SHAMIR, he will give you relationship advice. And if you don’t want to talk it out, dance it off to his song.
- Shamir’s debut album, "Ratchet," is out now on XL Recordings
- Listen if you like: LCD Soundsystem, sass, relationship advice
3. Lady Lamb – “Billions of Eyes”
Not every moment of happiness needs to be a big one. In fact most of them aren’t. In this song Lady Lamb sings about getting on a train at the last second and the other train riders smile knowing her relief, and for a second she feels their compassion and imagines that they are family and then she sharing a weird story with them about her great aunt’s corpse being exhumed by the Vatican and recognized as a saint. It’s all right in the middle of this song.
Lady Lamb has this sense of wonder that is one of those little things that makes me happy.
- Lady Lamb’s album, "After," is out now on Mom + Pop.
- Listen if you like: wonder, daydreaming, Alvvays
4. Tame Impala – “Disciples”
The first couple of times I listened to this song, I thought, “I really like this song, but it’s unfinished. It’s not quite two minutes long, and it doesn’t really come around.
But then I was reading an interview with Kevin Parker, the mind that is Tame Impala, and he said this song is about the soft rock of AM radio in the 70’s. And it all clicked.
It’s like your turning the dial on the radio and this is the song you stop on. This is the sound that you want to hear. It’s not that it’s incomplete, it was just playing on another station before you got to it.
- Tame Impala’s new album, "Currents," will be available July 17, on Modular Recordings.
- Listen if you like: 70's AM radio, psych, surf
5. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment – “Slip Slide”
I knew Chance the Rapper was going to release an album this year. And even though he released a couple of songs as The Social Experiment, and Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, I thought of it as a Chance the Rapper album. I’ve really only wanted to give him credit. But this is not a Chance the Rapper album. It’s not a Social Experiment album. There are tons of featured and guest spots from big artists, but not one is mentioned. The point is that it’s not any one’s album. It’s everyone’s album. It can be yours, too. Chance the Rapper is giving it away for free.
- Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment’s album, "Surf," is out now. It’s on iTunes for free. The Social Experiment does not have a record label.
- Listen if you like: musical egalitarianism, new hip-hop, having fun
- Check out our review of the full album.