Final Track: 7 Must-Hear Songs Of The Week

It’s impossible to cover each bit of new music that comes out during the week, so every Friday, we’ll be doing an end of the week music roundup. It’s called Final Track, and we’ll count off a few songs released during the week that are worth giving a listen to. (Banner via)

Today, we’ve got selections from MIA, Shane MacGowan with Johnny Depp, Beach Fossils, and more.


“Leaving of Liverpool” by Shane MacGowan, Johnny Depp, and Gore Verbinski

“Leaving of Liverpool” is an old pirate shanty that’s been around since the 1880s, and it also serves as the first single off Hal Wilner’s Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys, a sequel to 2006’s excellent Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys. (Seriously, if you love lewd songs about death and sex and beer, download it now.) The latest iteration of “Liverpool” is sung by Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan in a gruff cough, with assistance from director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp. It’s the best thing Jack Sparrow’s done since becoming Jack Sparrow.

“atTENTion” by MIA

Being an annoying fan occasionally pays off. Says the song’s YouTube description: “M.I.A. leaked the song cos a group of worldtowners (such as @The_Chutzpah, @The_Perplex @normacriley etc) spammed all day asking her to leak something.” She then emailed the track, and its repetitive “-tent” rhyming scene, to @The_Perplex, and it quickly spread. “atTENTion” will appear on her upcoming album, Matangi.

“Jesus Piece” by Game, Kanye West, and Common

For more on “Jesus Piece,” check out the Smoking Section.

“Empty Promises” by Cass McCombs

Soft-spoken space-folk that sounds like it was recorded during the world’s longest rainstorm.

“Careless” by Beach Fossils

The members of Beach Fossils have spent most of 2012 playing in their excellent sideprojects DIIV and Heavenly Beat, but they’ll release a new album, Clash the Truth, in 2013. If “Careless” is any indication, it’ll begin right where their self-titled debut ended, with jangly guitars and a simple hooky melody.

“Scenic Cold” by Beirut/Katy Perry

More intriguing than anything else: “Scenic Cold” is a mashup of Katy Perry’s pop smash “Hot N Cold” with Beirut’s “Scenic World,” basically the exact opposite of anything by The One with Whipped Cream Boobs, from Vampire Weekend’s Rostam. If Perry’s next album is described as “Balkan folk,” you’ll know why.

“It’s a Bad Brains Christmas, Charlie Brown”

Happy almost Hanukkah, everyone.

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