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Christopher Porter Christopher Porter is a freelance writer, editor and photographer based in Silver Spring, Md. He has a bad back and great hair.
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Christopher Porter

Monday

Susanne Sundfor: Ruins Within Ruins

Susanne Sundfor's wounded voice and densely worded narrative fuel the foreboding aura of "The Brothel." courtesy of the artist hide caption

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courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Susanne Sundfor: Ruins Within Ruins

Sundfor sounds haunted in "The Brothel," the nightmarish first single from her album of the same name. The song creeps through its chord changes, with droning keyboards and the shadowy sound of an electric piano providing the bulk of the music, but Sundfor's wounded voice and densely worded narrative are what fuel the tune's foreboding aura.

'The Brothel' by Susanne Sundfor

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Tuesday

LoneLady: Itchy And Scratchy

LoneLady's ability to focus on restraint gives "Immaterial" the skittering quality of a lost new-wave classic. Rebecca Miller hide caption

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Rebecca Miller

Review

Song Of The Day

LoneLady: Itchy And Scratchy

If it were 1983, LoneLady's debut album, Nerve Up, would surely fit in on the storied rosters of Factory or 4AD Records. Singer Julie Campbell's ability to focus on restraint gives "Immaterial" the skittering quality of a lost new-wave classic.

'Immaterial' by LoneLady

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

The Semi Colon Serves Up a 'Nigeria Special'

As The Semi Colon's "Nekwaha Semi Colon" progresses, the group's chanted, Fela Kuti-esque vocals elbow through a Cuban-tinged 4/4 Afro-pop beat, while an acid-blues guitar smacks them all with licks straight out of the Haight-Ashbury underground.

'Nekwaha Semi Colon' by The Semi Colon

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Burial: Beautiful Dread, Inviting and Sinister

Burial's "Ghost Hardware" features a warm Middle Eastern vocal hook, along with a clipped soul-singer sample featuring the words "love you" that hints at a desire for warmth and connection. But the crackly lo-fi production, the fall-off-a-cliff bass line, and nervous drums invoke existential terror.

'Ghost Hardware' by Burial

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Making 'History' with Familiar Ingredients

The Bell's wiry guitar-rock recalls many of the bands that came up in the wake of, or were contemporaries to, Echo and the Bunnymen. The group's debut CD, Make Some Quiet, draws on these influences, while also recalling the post-punk pop of Interpol.

'I Am History' by The Bell

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

Finding a Cure? 'Leave It' to Shout Out Louds

Shout Out Louds' "Tonight I Have to Leave It" opens like an homage to The Cure's "In Between Days," with rolling toms and acoustic-guitar strums alternating between two chords. That singer Adam Olenius sounds like The Cure's Robert Smith is no slam against his band's own, unfussy brilliance.

'Tonight I Have to Leave It' by Shout Out Louds

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

'Night Food' and the Corrupter of a Nation

Released in 1955, Calypso Quintet's "Night Song" was a huge hit in Jamaica, in no small part due to its sexually charged double entendres. Strangely, though, it took four years for the government to speak out about "Night Food" — on the floor of parliament, no less.

'Night Food' by Calypso Quintet

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

The Rumble Strips and a Tipsy Wake-Up Call

If the English band The Rumble Strips sounds slightly tipsy, that may well be because it is. Raw skills, however, can't hide the witty, warm and inviting soul in its songs — most notably "Alarm Clock."

'Alarm Clock' by The Rumble Strips

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Cheerleader Chants and Indie-Rock Dance

A genre- and decade-spanning mélange, The Go! Team's "Doing It Right" combines '60s pop, '70s funk, '80s rap and '90s sampledelica for a sound that's positively modern: confused and clever while still appealing to listeners' basic need to dance vigorously.

'Doing It Right' by The Go! Team

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Wednesday

Review

Song Of The Day

From Norway with Love, a Warm and Inviting Voice

The music on 21-year-old Norwegian Susanne Sundfor's "Walls" brings to mind a Scandinavian combination of Carole King and Rufus Wainwright. Sundfor's voice is as elastic as it is fervent, mixing an R&B belter's passion with a '70s folkie's sense of melody.

'Walls' by Susanne Sundfor

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

Glitchy Dance Music Meets Top-Notch Pop

Matthew Dear's "Deserter" sounds like a gem plucked from a compilation of early-'80s European synth-pop. His emotionless voice serves Dear's chilly new-wave perfectly, just as the song serves as an ideal introduction to his new album's icy pop excellence.

'Deserter' by Matthew Dear

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Thursday

Review

Song Of The Day

'Lay Your Head Down' and the Language of Beauty

On her gorgeous new eponymous CD, it's easy to forget that Keren Ann, a French singer of Israeli-Dutch-Indonesian heritage, is anything but American. "Lay Your Head Down" sounds like Cowboy Junkies once again paying tribute to Velvet Underground.

'Lay Your Head Down' by Keren Ann

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Wednesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Building Power Through Electronic Repetition

On "Come Out," tightly sequenced sounds and a rigid snare-drum beat provide a sturdy base over which 120 Days' members layer groaning drones, phased melodies and Adne Meisfjord's snotty vocals. The Oslo band eschews guitars on this nine-minute single, but it puts the "rock" in synth-rock.

'Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)' by 120 Days

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Wednesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Defining 'Jique' as Something Lithe and Worldly

Brazilian Girls' "Jique" is built on a dirty moan of a descending bass line, skipping drums, keyboard squelches and singer Sabina Sciubba's expressive vocals, which alternate between English and French. The result is irresistibly danceable.

'Jique' by Brazilian Girls

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Friday

Song Of The Day

Finding Love's Brighter Side, the Hard Way

"I was a lonely man, in a lonely bar, in a lonely city, in a lonely world, when she came in on the devil's arm," Favourite Sons' Ken Griffin sings during the opening verse of "Hang on Girl." The droning, driving song describes a man and woman who find each other and fight their way through the daily grind.

'Hang on Girl' by Favourite Sons'

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