Pitchfork

July, she did fly, but not without producing a number of excellent new tracks. At the end of each month, we carefully resequence the previous month's finest and add a select few others to make it all work as one gigantic, neverending mixtape. The newest selections follow.

But first, speaking of mixtapes, Twitch (aka Keith McIvor) from Optimo put together an exclusive mix for us (and you). PFS 001 is a gleeful mix of Scottish undergound tunes, psych-rock anthems, UK pop-toppers, prog-rock epics, and Sonic Youth. To download a 100 mb zip file of this 73-minute mix, click here.

Now, on to the best of July:

>> Sunset Rubdown: "Up On Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days" [original post]
"An explosive, downright spazzy hook in the early going that seems channeled from some old maritime ballad, perhaps something heard on the coast of Nova Scotia, 1,000-some-odd km east of the band's Montreal home, then leads to going through a series of breakdowns, where the circus instruments drops away, Krug crackles his way through a bridge, and the song reassembles itself to work through one last variation at the end."

>> Justice: "D.A.N.C.E. (Alan Braxe remix) [original post]
"Five billion remixes later, and someone got it exactly right. God save Alan Braxe."

>> Les Savy Fav: "What Would Wolves Do" [original post]
"Let's Stay Friends as a whole is quite varied, but "What Would Wolves Do" nicely anchors the melodic end of the spectrum. The song opens with Harrington in a reflective mood, viewing the past through the lens of myth ("We huffed the sky into our mouths/ We saw the ocean and we drank it down") over jangly guitars and a mix of programmed and live drums, finally calling out to the pack with a gentle canine "ahh-ooo" howl. And then it erupts in defiance on the chorus, Harrington shouting down the cruel world and vowing that the band-- and, by proxy, their fans-- will show them, in time."

>> Studio: "Life's a Beach! (Prins Thomas Remix)" | [original post]
"The soul of Studio's album West Coast is the nearly 13-minute standout "Life's a Beach!"; Norwegian spaceman Prins Thomas-- like Studio an admirer of Manuel Göttsching-- doesn't so much reinvent "Life's a Beach!" as adjust its focus. With an emphasis on glistening synths over guitar riffs, Thomas' remix could soundtrack a hammock-bound afternoon in some remote tropical locale."

>> Of Montreal: "Tropical Iceland" (Fiery Furnaces cover; live at KCRW) [original post]
"On this B-side from Of Montreal's limited Suffer for Fashion single, Kevin Barnes and company tackle what is arguably Fiery Furnaces' most immediately engaging number. It's one quirky and occasionally brilliant indie band meeting another, and yeah, it pretty much rules. But there's another surprise in store: during the middle eight Barnes throws in a bit from Big Audio Dynamite II's "Rush"-- the original, appropriately enough, also jumped joyously from one sample to the next-- and all of a sudden he's halfway to a three-way."

>> Simian Mobile Disco: "3 Pin Din" [original post]
"What separates Simian Mobile Disco from other knob-twiddling dilettantes is the duo's acute pop savvy. On debut album Attack Decay Sustain Release, James Ford and James Shaw seldom forget that memorable hooks are more important than highfalutin concepts, packing each track with sugary analogue beats and never letting them outstay their welcome. "3 Pin Din", from their new self-titled EP, retains SMD's spirit of play but not the same sense of focus. Like "Tits & Acid", also featured on the EP, "3 Pin Din" tosses out acid squelches the way an NBA inside man throws elbows."

>> White Williams: "New Violence" [original post]
"Itinerant 23-year-old laptop recording artist Joe Williams, aka White Williams, plays pop music with a technological fascination that betrays his roots in the noise scene...this song from his forthcoming debut album Smoke falls somewhere between Dan Deacon spazz and the digital pop-rock of a computer-fixated group Williams probably wouldn't namedrop, Grandaddy. Take those chugging guitar chords, which Williams runs through all manner of filters and effects."

>> Louis Philippe: "The Hill and the Valley" [original post]
"You're likely to recognize the name Louis Philippe from his work with the Clientele. He's also got a new record of his own, An Unknown Spring-- a sumptuously orchestrated addition to an indie-pop career that dates back to the mid-80s. "The Hill and the Valley" could be the LP's "Here, There and Everywhere": a sophisticated paean to idealized romance. Softly oohed harmonies evoke the Beach Boys the way more recent lovebirds the Postmarks have also done, as Auclair elegantly compares his beloved to the dichotomies of his title. A lush percussion section bolsters wavy guitars and sparkling keyboards."

>> Professor Murder: "Dutch Hex" [original post]
"Forthcoming single "Dutch Hex" sounds like the Murder who "came to party" on "Champion": anxious bass groove, en-Raptured guitar stabs, and oozing synths. Sure, singer Michael Bell-Smith acknowledges "drama going down tonight", even "problems"-- but before he blows the whistle (gym-teacher's special) on that shit, there's this little matter of the beat."

>> Kardinal Offishall: "Graveyard Shift" [ft. Akon] [original post]
"Hip-hop isn't dead, Toronto rapper Kardinal Offishall proclaims at the start of his new mixtape with Curtis Sparks, Do the Right Thing. So why is the mixtape 90s-themed? Probably just for fun, because Offishall's "Graveyard Shift" kills the dead-or-not debate even deader, with the grim, vaguely unreal atmosphere of those hours when late nights becomes early morning."

>> Weedeater: "God Luck and Good Speed" [original post]
"If Dave 'Dixie' Collins was singing about petunias and bunny rabbits, he'd still scare the cool out of you. The frontman of Wilmington, N.C.'s Weedeater, Dixie (as he's credited in liner notes) sounds like he spent his adolescence living off bowl rips, Maker's pulls, and shot-gunned chasers."

>> Pelle Carlberg: "Clever Girls Like Clever Boys More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls" [original post]
"As the former frontman for Sweden's Edson and as a solo artist, Pelle Carlberg crafts vintage pop songs as vehicles for his velvety vocals, wry wit, and sophisticated cynicism, as if his shrink's office were on the top floor of the Brill Building. With a title that one-ups mid-90s Blur, "Clever Boys Like Clever Girls More than Clever Girls Like Clever Boys" is a how-do-you-do from his new album, In a Nutshell, that tackles gender politics among the hipster intelligentsia, scoffing at the ulterior motives and unvoiced desires of clever boys and clever girls."