Stan's List

Single of the Week

It’s hard to figure what the best part of this track is. The dusty old reggae loop, Lily Allen’s cool London drawl or that little thing she does with her voice when the chorus comes. It’s the purest bubblegum pop, dressed in an array of 21st Century gear, but just as reliant on a sweet, infectious little melody and catchy rhythmic bounce as any great pop tune. Her sassiness comes out in the vocal, where she dismisses the appreciation of a cheating ex-admirer with the right amount of flippancy and vulgarity. Get this track, Smile, for “free” today—it’s one of our favorite pop tunes we’ve heard in ages.

Discovery Download

Sometimes there can be a pretty good excuse for not dancing: certain physical ailments, spacial restrictions and funk-free music are all pretty good reasons for not hitting the dance floor. But barring the first two: this “free” Discovery Download—Don’t Be Shy—basically rocks you from head to toe within the first few seconds. Think Basement Jaxx at their freakiest and you’ve got an idea of the sort of wiggly disco-funk on display here. Now get down ad get involved.

Single of the Week (Spanish)

This Chilean quintet [Los Bunkers] takes its inspiration from the first wave of the British invasion (the Kinks, the Who, the Rolling Stones), but are filtering its sound through a newer wave of that genre’s offspring (think Oasis or Franz Ferdinand). Ven Aqui takes a bare-bones reggae skank and builds it into a crunchy riff with hand claps and just a little bit of stylish attitude.

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