Children of Pop :: "I Know"

A big, psyched-out circus tent, Children of Pop's "I Know" slams forward on the back of big guitars and a head-trip chorus, "Take control of your mind." Maybe it's the seeming lack of a preposition that engenders an aesthetic of absolute immediacy, the word, "of" smashed and then lost in the urgency of the hook. Maybe in the spiraling world of the refrain, there isn't time for grammar; maybe there isn't a need. Like the Flaming Lips blended with Death From Above 1979, "I Know" is an edgy and memorable jam, built for the sky and the losing of the self in it.

Kishi Bashi :: "Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!"

A spinning and home-spun arrangement, Kishi Bashi returns with "Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!". His trade-mark string concoctions and plucks - a feature of his time as touring violinist for Of Montreal, as well as his stunning debut last year - appear only at the opening and closing of this A-side from coming 7" single. The rest of the track is an ebullient guitar progression colored with hand-claps and a winning hook. The arrangement's swimming qualities, awash in a sea of sonics, recall the Flaming Lips, Animal Collective and some of David Byrne's most confessional moments, a moment locked between theory and chemistry.