Music to Pick Up/Download

DAVID BOWIE VS. KCRW

Related Content

• Hey You "Homo Superiors" — Go to This!
  February 23, 2012
• Five Bizarre Social Networking Sites From Musicians
  May 10, 2012
• David Bowie and a dog named Felix
  April 19, 2012
• Ashley Huizenga on Sex, Starvation, and Art
  April 5, 2012
• Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List
  March 23, 2012

More About

• David Bowie
• Cliffie Swan
• Aphex Twin
• New Age Music
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Like this Story?

Get the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Make sign up easy with:

Golden Years

[EMI, available June 7]

In honor of Bowie recording Station to Station in L.A., a quartet of our very own silky-voiced KCRW DJs decided to remix the album's first single, "Golden Years." From Anthony Valdez's version, which hints at Kajagoogoo's slyly sexy synths ('80s babies, remember "Too Shy"?), to the industrial stomp of Eric J. Lawrence's, to Chris Douridas' sparsely funky remix, all the boys turned Bowie out. But Jeremy Sole's Afro-funked-up take got Bowie simmering and our hips swiveling. Sexy.

CLIFFIE SWAN

Memories Come True

[Drag City, available June 21]

Cliffie Swan — whom you might also know by their previous name, Lights — serve up a My Bloody Valentine–meets-psyche-rock-influenced mix of reverb-heavy guitars and smoky, restrained vocals. "California Baby" features a haunting hook and plenty of guitar effects to soak up the vocal harmonies; "Yes I Love You" is a mix of hard rock, folk and psyche. They've been compared to Fleetwood Mac, a tremendous compliment with which we happen to agree.

BB&C

The Veil

[Cryptogramophone, available June 7]

(Raw) Power Trio music by alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Jim Black and next-level avant guitarist (and accidental celebrity through membership in Wilco) Nels Cline. We could tell you this is a live recording of two long, improvised pieces of metal-jazz performed at John Zorn's experimental New York club the Stone, but this is so much more than the mere factual. It's body-electric music that will hit you hard in brain, heart and crotch. Ideal cleaning-the-house music for sound freaks.

MARK MCGUIRE

A Young Person's Guide to Mark McGuire

[Editions MEGO, available now]

Never mind the stupid title: This is a beautifully curated compilation of some of the compositions released by the 24-year-old guitar, tapes and guitar-synth prodigy between 2007 and 2010. Rather than despair over hunting down all the limited-edition CD-Rs and tapes put out by the Emeralds savant, just relax to two CDs of sophisticated ambient music in the Eno/Aphex Twin tradition. Virtuoso new age music for jaded souls.