Karaoke Wish List: June 2007

It's been a long time since we rock and rolled. Apologies.

1) Rihanna, "Umbrella" It would take a monumental event—plague of frogs, month-long power shortage, Chinese Democracy—for this not to be the song of the summer; I can't remember the last time I went for a walk and didn't hear "'ella, 'ella, 'ella" echoing off the street like a car alarm. For the next three months, there will be ironic covers, sincere covers—hope among hopes—a Prince cover, as that fuzzy dirge that kicks in halfway through is begging for a glyph-guitar solo.

2) Art Brut, "Direct Hit" A Sunday-morning hangover anecdote with a particularly well-executed "woo-oooh-hooo."

2) Avail, "Simple Song" New Wave, the forthcoming album from Florida punkers Against Me!, is my favorite record of the year so far; part of the reason why is that it reminds me so much of Avail, a hardcore band that I worshiped in the early to mid-'90s. I've said this before, but when will some karaoke company realize the nostalgia potential for songs like these?

4) Fall Out Boy, "I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears (And None On My Fingers) If records are to be treated as living, breathing objects—a belief held by many music nerds—than Fall Out Boy's Infinity On High was produced within an inch of its life; there are times when there's so much compression on the guitars, it actually hurts my ears. But it's packed with a half-dozen great tracks, all of which are yet to be officially released as singles. "Ringing" starts out as a Chicago*-style white-boy snap-along before dropping a truly stellar chrous. It must be fun to sing, because it's certainly great to play on guitar.

5) Franz Ferdinand, "All My Friends" (LCD Soundsystem cover) The best New Order song since "Regret."


* the band