Playlist Pleasures #1

This is what's spinning my wheels this week

1. Arcade Fire Funeral - "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" is a blood-pumping, fist-raising, hyperglycemic pop masterpiece. The album seems flows out of that song's center, ending "In the Back Seat" with Régine Chassagne's voice soaring over churning strings, breaking your fucking heart. (Update - now you can listen via Rhapsody!)
   
2. The Futureheads The Futureheads - Wire meets The Jam. Throw in Gang of Four surpremo Andy Gill at the recording's helm and you just might think you're back in art school circa 1983. Still feels original, busting at the seams with ideas and hooks galore. (Update - Now you can listen via Rhapsody.)
   
3. Elliott Smith From a Basement on the Hill - The record hangs heavy like a warm wet coat. It ranks as one of the saddest records I've ever listened to, and it's difficult to hear without his tragic end overwhelming the album's every note. But it plays out like a movie you watch over and over thinking it will end differently, every song progressing the story to a happy ending that slips through our fingers. Listen via Rhapsody.