Annie Lennox, SING Public Service Announcement

Annie Lennox's efforts in the fight against AIDS are longstanding and commendable. It's a privilege to share the work she and her nonprofit SING are engaged in: to get people in South Africa tested and treated for HIV, and to eradicate the stigma against those who are positive. Indeed, Annie is herself not HIV+, but her point with the shirts she's made fashion of is, So what if I were?

Thank you, Ms. Lennox, for fighting the good fight in often sorrowful times.

Toby Keith, "American Ride"

Where the idiotic guy who advocated lynchings a few years ago (and I still haven't fully forgiven Willie Nelson for his involvement with that, though I guess going Top 40 with "Beer for My Horses" paid his bills for the decade well enough) returns with coded language about a "tidal wave come across the Mexican border" (oh noes! the immigrants are invading!) and cautions "don't get busted singing Christmas carols" (oh noes! the ACLU atheists are invading!) to play on some of Christofascist America's deepest fears. I suppose for racist Middle Americans, disbelief in diversity would indeed be cause for sarcastic appreciation of "this American ride." At least Toby left the President and other African-Americans out of this one.

Friday Funtime: Pop Argot Goes to the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell

For all of you who are gonna be firecrackin' this weekend: I did a 4th of July Funtime set last year (I was a bit angrier toward our nation at the time) although I wish I'd linked to more of those. Ah well, y'alls know how to navigate YouTube.

Instead, I'll celebrate the convergence of two of America's most American concepts: fast food and corporate merger. It's hard to explain its appeal, but this summer's novelty hit manages to laugh at itself while laughing at franchise marketing, overconsumption habits, stoner disorientation, and belief of the hype. But ignore the original version of "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" by Das Racist (cute name, that: it deflects the criticism it simultaneously invites). Instead, go with the funked-up, popped-out, Propeller-headed Wallpaper remix, which gives authority to its absurdity. Really, what summarizes 2009 America better (on a hamburgers-and-hot-dogs holiday, no less) than "I got that Pizza Hut / I got that pizza gut / I got that pizza butt / I'm at the Pizza Hut"?

Drake, "Best I Ever Had"

I'm not opposed to sampling. I roll my eyes when samples are used in excessively obvious ways (see: Puff Daddy's mid-'90s karaoke), but I admire the creative potential of the form and wish licensing weren't such a damn hassle. (Flo & Eddie, I'm looking at you.) Repurposing existing material is an art in its own right.

But I get really, really disappointed when an old song I love is sampled in a novel way - and wasted on a horrid new song that doesn't deserve such a production assist.

L&Gs, I present Drake's current Top 10 hit "Best I Ever Had," a worst-of-year candidate except for that inspired interlacing of (if my ears aren't failing me) the billowing bass and tinkling piano of the opening notes to Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' "Fallin' in Love." (Note that I've substituted the "clean" version of Drake's hit - not because I'm a prude, but because it's too depressing a trend in 2009 that someone should go Top 10 with a chorus hook that goes "You tha fuckin' best.") At least the sentiment of the sample is retained, if not the dignity.

Pete Doherty, "Broken Love Song"

Quite possibly the best new song I've heard in 2009 so far has been "Broken Love Song," a self-descriptive tune from troubled rocker Pete Doherty, who is known in the States only as the drug-addled, off-again, on-again boyfriend of Kate Moss. His previous bands the Libertines and Babyshambles did nothing on the U.S. charts despite being highly revered in the U.K. (and despite being not-half-bad efforts, Babyshambles' "Delivery" in particular being a grand post-Kinks rave-up).

But Doherty's new solo album, Grace/Wasteland (sucky title, sorry) is a consistent winner and deserves to score on these shores. It's even more Ray Davies-infused than his previous efforts, betraying a thoughtfulness that it's easy to forget he has. The severely drug-addicted are often deprived by outsiders of their humanity and their feelings - which is a sad and somewhat ironic thing since for so many, drug abuse stems precisely from an inability or unwillingness to cope with one's humanity, one's feelings. I hope he finds a road to redemption. And as Myspace is streaming the entire Grace/Wasteland album at present, I hope you'll check some of it out - or at least "Broken Love Song," a jagged cry of life in a cell.

PS: That aesthetically stunning video was actually produced for a Babyshambles song, "French Dog Blues," hence the mis-synched vocals and instruments in its repurposing. But I'm thinking those aesthetics and illustrations really suit the new song much better.

MGMT, "Kids"

I've been thinking about a lot more new music lately than usual, and have been struggling for two days to figure out what I want to say about MGMT's "Kids," my favorite single of 2009 so far. The song dates to last year - I've never claimed to be a trendspotter - but only this month has moved into the Hot 100, in some part because of its wonderful homemade fan video. More precisely, the YouTube description of the video was just as helpful as the video itself to my appreciation of the song:

Just to set the story straight: the facepainted kids in the video are a boy and girl from Los Angeles, two friends of mine, names Raf and Abby. MGMT was not involved in the making of this video, however, they became involved down the line. The story goes like this:

December 2007: Rushing to make a due date for a USC Music Video class, I ask my friends Raf and Abby to appear in my video. I like the way they bounce off of each other despite completely different personality types, and think they both have interesting faces. Raf didn't want to shave so I didn't push him. We shot in one night, I cut overnight, turn it in and call it the worst thing I've done so far.

January 2008: On a whim one night while visiting home in Austin, Texas, I throw the video on Youtube just for kicks.

April 2008: Ray Tintori, who has directed 3 official videos for MGMT, finds my fan video online and invites myself and my two actors to come to New York to appear in MGMTs next official video for Electric Feel.

May 2008: We go to New York and have a great time on the set with the band and all their friends.

I'm rather hypnotized by Raf and Abby and their polarities. Throughout the video, Raf, with his sorrowful mascara'd eyes, is a pained mask of thoughtful concern, while Abby comes off as arrestingly carefree and hopeful - particularly at the 1:14 mark when she lip-synchs, "We like to watch you laughing."

As a statement from a younger generation, that's a heartwarming line, in ways I (as an almost middle-ager who doesn't always laugh enough) can scarcely articulate. It makes me think of the brighter souls I've seen among the twentysomethings: a former roommate of mine and his friends in San Francisco whose communal ways have been a lift to my spirit on recent trips there; a friend here in NYC whose declared mission is "to give all my love to everyone around me." These kids with heart are a world away from previous glimpses I've had of their generation: the young men who "broke shit" at Woodstock '99, the young women so devoid of self-worth that they willingly disrobed and humiliated themselves all through the '00s for Joe Francis, for YouTube, for Asher fucking Roth, for whoever had a camera at the ready. MGMT's "Kids" presents not just a different kind of soundtrack but a different kind of life. Perhaps these kids are raising themselves and each other, with reassuring sympathies like "Decisions to decisions are made and not fought / But I thought this wouldn't hurt a lot / I guess not" (the most straightforward line in an otherwise spare and impressionistic lyric). Whatever the case, they're coming out all right.

And perhaps "Control yourself, take only what you need" is the best advice anyone of any age could be giving right now in this, the year of the new austerity. Either way, there's a dual concern and joy to "Kids" that I'd likely have missed had it not been for Jon Salmon, Abby Fuller and Rafael Pulido. Thank you for making me smile and think.