11. Cherrywine, "Dazzlement" (Bright Black, DCide/Babygrande) A decade after making a national splash with the late, great boho-rappers Digable Planets, Ishmael Butler returned with a nasty funk band and a smart debut album that split the difference between early Funkadelic and latter-day Organized Noize (OutKast, Goodie Mob, and the Dungeon Family's production team). "Dazzlement" is a party jam with teeth: "Everybody's so fly," Butler sing-speaks over jittery guitar and icy, snaking keyboards. "Everybody's so thugged out . . . everybody looks so high." There's a self-mocking edge to Butler's voice, though, that simultaneously revels in and looks askance at the proceedings he's describinga rare and welcome critical voice in a genre that seldom questions its own motives. M.M.
12. Jeff Samuel, "Iya" (12-inch, Trapez) Cincinnati transplant Samuel is one of the brightest producers identified with a clubland substyle, microhouse, that isn't exactly starved for talentindeed, it boasts some of the most imaginative dance producers in the world right now. On this recent A-side, as on all his work, simple and playful does the trick. "Iya" maintains the same basic motif throughout, a frisky, clipped little three-note keyboard riff with a gurgling bass note adding even more jaunt to its step. But it's what Samuel does behind it that counts: A juddering little signal tone here, a dewy-eyed melodica countermelody there, scissor-snap hi-hats and crackling glitches sprinkled on the beat like confetti. It figures that Samuel is also a video game sound designerhe knows how to get the most from each sonic element. We want him to be successful and not to quit his day job. M.M.
THE BLOOD BROTHERS
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13. Lusine, "Slapback" (Push EP, Ghostly International) Clacking and popping, curdling and skipping, splintering into microbe-sized splashes before your very ears, the beats on this ultraminimal cut from Jeff McIlwane's latest four-song vinyl slab seem too skinny to fill the speaker conesuntil you turn the volume up and let their funked-up strut seep into your bloodstream. The background noises don't hurt, either: Atmospheric shudders ripple and sway, and when a ghost echo of a synth part sidles in at the two-minute mark, the song opens up without really changing much at all. McIlwain rides it all out over a thick bass undertow every bit as assured as his rhythms are nervous. M.M.
14. Rosie Thomas, "Gradually" (Only With Laughter Can You Win, Sub Pop) What lifts Thomas far above the post-Lilith crowd is the way her powder-soft voice and achingly gentle instrumentation mask a tone of defiance. Listen to "Gradually" once and its piano and chorus of far-off voices could lull you to sleep; listen again and you'll hear a quiet girl asserting herself for the very first time: "All this time you thought I was weak when/I was just pretending." Near the end, she ruminates on the bittersweet future every one of us faces: "I will get older/I will get wiser/I will get slower/I will see clearer." N.S.
15. Death Cab for Cutie, "Tiny Vessels" (Transatlanticism, Barsuk) We end as we began, with Ben Gibbard crooning to us, only instead of being crazy in crush and surrounded by laptop pings and whistles, here he commiserates with Chris Walla's guitars about the emptiness following a one-night stand: "We'll pretend that it meant something so much more/But it was vile, and it was cheap/And you are beautiful/But you don't mean a thing to me." He's not feeling sorry for himself, thoughjust trying not to look back, failing, and attempting to learn from his mistakes. Next time, dude. Next time. M.M.
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