Sidetracked

ARTIST: B.O.B. feat. Amy Winehouse
SONG: Grip Your Body

First of all, I don’t think Amy Winehouse knows she’s “featured” on this track. It includes a chopped-up six-word sample from her song “Stronger Than Me” put over a drum track and nothing else from her. Second, who the hell is this B.O.B. character, who “gets things moist like Spongebob,” anyway? I think I’ll listen to Outkast’s “Bombs Over Baghdad” instead. GRADE: D+

ARTIST: The Raveonettes
SONG: Dead Sound

There’s something unsettling about The Raveonettes. Maybe it’s because most of their songs juxtapose a happy-go-lucky drum track with eerie guitar twangs and frail vocal duets. Maybe it’s because sometimes they put ghosts in their videos. Either way, they make solid music, and “Dead Sound,” from their 2007 album Lust Lust Lust, is as good of an example as any. Just don’t listen to it in the dark. GRADE: A-

ARTIST: Enrique Iglesias
SONG: Donde Estan Corazon

OK, here’s what I’ve deduced from the video and my limited Spanish knowledge: Enrique’s pouty expression suggests he’s either doing mental math or he’s upset about something. He keeps referencing “un pasado” that he can never return to, then breaks the fourth wall and peers into my soul through my laptop screen. Oh, and now kids are singing. Conclusion: Nobody does Spanish melodrama like Quique. GRADE: B+

ARTIST: Justice
SONG: Genesis

Who would’ve thought that cross fanatics Justice – the Christian dance duo that draws its inspiration from a higher power – would sell out and let Cadillac use its music for a commercial? On the one hand, I’m outraged. On the other, whatever. The song is a post-apocalyptic, electronica take on everything Michael Jackson and really makes me wanna drive an Escalade. Besides, Daft Punk did a Gap commercial. GRADE: B+