Elle King - Ex's & Oh's
A year after its initial release, Elle King's debut single is charging up the US charts. The track, about a fickle maneater, mixes risqué lyrics, kitschy fuzz guitar licks and an infectious chorus. The video has been accused of objectifying men. But given King is the daughter of former SNL actor Rob "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo" Schneider, that is only continuing a proud family tradition.
Crowded House - Help Is Coming
This rather obscure track, which Crowded House frontman Neil Finn wrote 20 years ago about immigrants en route to Ellis Island, is rereleased this month to raise funds to help alleviate the global refugee crisis. (The video has an intro by Benedict Cumberbatch, so you know shit just got real.) Nineteen million people, most of them Syrian, half of them children, are currently on the move worldwide fleeing conflict, hunger and persecution. Despite what the title and associated hashtag here claim, in truth, help may or may not be coming for all of those unfortunate souls. But winter most definitely is. So this small contribution would be, literally, the least you could do.
Destroyer - Times Square
Nicotine-stained and saxophone-swathed, the third single from Dan Bejar's Poison Season album is redolent of a thousand records you may heard before: Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby, Tom Waits' Closing Time, Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent and even Bowie's Young Americans. (The Canadian sings throughout in an English accent.) But its unabashed romanticism is hard to resist.
Dua Lipa - New Love
British-born, Kosovan singer Dua Lip has recently been signed up by Lana Del Rey's management team. On her first music video, she smokes, philosophises and goes milk shopping dressed in a bathrobe. It's like The Big Lebowski, just a little sexier.
