Sidetracked

SPECIAL AUDIO EDITION
Little 500 artist are previews on this week's Sidetracked podcast.




SONG: Lollipop
ARTIST: Lil Wayne

Maybe this song is Lil Wayne’s way of making us take a long, excruciating look at recent pop music. “Lollipop” is a compendium of all things ’00s R&B/rap: the vocodered vocals, the cheap blip-beep drum track, the thinly veiled sexual innuendos. Gone is Weezy’s trademark free-flow word play. Gone is any rapping at all. If this track is some sort of protest, point taken. Either way, it sucks.
Grade: D

SONG: Beat It
ARTIST: Fall Out Boy feat. John Mayer

Somebody’s been listening to my prayers. In an eagerly anticipated collaboration, tween angst rockers Fall Out Boy borrow all-around toolshed John Mayer’s guitar playing to botch one of Michael Jackson’s best jams. Between Rick Ross’s Trilla and Rihanna’s allusion to “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” on “Don’t Stop the Music,” MJ revivalism has been especially trendy recently. This track shows it’s hard to beat the original.
Grade: C+


SONG: Nude (Holy Fuck Remix)
ARTIST: Radiohead

In another attempt to show how totally progressive they are, man, Radiohead challenged fans to remix the band’s most recent single “Nude.” The top contender right now is by Canadian electronica duo Holy Fuck, who turn the original track’s stoner mellowness into crack-fiend anxiety with fidgety percussion and a noisy bass line. Check out the other submissions at www.radioheadremix.com. So far, nobody’s submitted a remix with a verse from Young Jeezy or T-Pain.
Grade: B

SONG: Rebel Side of Heaven
ARTIST: Langhorne Slim

Wannabe-vagabond Langhorne Slim hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., but clearly belongs somewhere a little more rootsy. This song, which comes from his self-titled album due at the end of this month, is a boisterous folk tune that offers a fitting motto going into the grand finale of Little 5 week: “And though we have sinned / All of our lives / We ain’t goin’ to hell / We’re goin’ to the rebel side of heaven.”
Grade: A