Ya Heard? Peaches, Gossip, Empire of the Sun

Talk to Me / Peaches

Ahhh...Peaches. The girl you most definitely wouldn't take home to meet your parents is back with another album full of sexually-charged beats and lyrics. Her latest, I Feel Cream, loses the guitar-based dance rock of Impeach My Bush and focuses on the dance floor. First single, "Talk to Me," places emphasis on Peaches' ability to sing, something that's often been overshadowed by her sex-centric lyrics.

Never before has Peaches sounded better in song, her voice commanding the attention and overriding all you thought you knew about her. She's blunt. She's crass. She's downright wicked at times. On "Talk to Me," she sings her ass off on top of a Soulwax track that will make you want to dance until you lose yours. It's the realization of a near-decade's worth of potential that's been hinted at on her previous three albums, but only now has finally proven worth the wait.


Heavy Cross / The Gossip

Portland, OR trio toils in obscurity for years, releases album that breaks through and makes them huge (well, in the UK at least) and returns with "Heavy Cross," the first single off Music for Men, the album that should wake us misguided Americans up to the minimalist funk/rock and soulful wailing of lead Gossiper, Beth Ditto.

"Heavy Cross" sounds like much of the Gossip's past work - a quietly building start with a cooing Ditto that quickly morphs into a tight-ass guitar and percussion jam with Ditto's bottomless lungs working out a lifetime of frustrations. It's an aesthetic that plays to the band's less-is-more work ethic and showcases one of the finest (and most underrated) female vocalists around. The Brits have a love affair with Ditto and Co. Here's to America catching the fever this summer.

Walking On a Dream / Empire of the Sun

Take the vocal styling and lyrical melody of Tegan and Sara's "The Con," the blips and beeps of hellogoodbye's "Here In Your Arms," and a chorus that emits a laid-back, feel-good vibe circa 1977 and throw them in a blender. Hit puree. Pour into a chilled mug and you will then drink back the deliciousness of Empire of the Sun's "Walking On a Dream."

The verses are nagging in their similarity to the aforementioned Tegan and Sara jam and the song itself is a synth /drum machine concoction that's equally airy and driving, but in a old-school, new-wave kind of way. But it's ultimately the chorus that elevates the song to "Summer Breeze" levels of chillitude and saves the track from being another contemporary example of failed class of '82 new-wave.