Françoise Hardy - "je n'attends plus personne"

This is like the grandmother to that Kills song. I have a French grandmother, and I really like to imagine her swaying to this song. All its chin-up resolve and grit, all its wholly awesome buzzing guitar and orchestral stabs. The Florida wind softly blowing through her silver hair, standing proud on her balcony, overseeing the Tallahassee skyline, thinking about the thousands of people her life has brushed, like when you let someone go in front of you in a parking lot, or when you wait for them to finish on the payphone, or you accidently include their groceries with yours, or you get a wrong number, or you get served by them at a restaurant, or you kiss them once and forget their face, or you trip over their bag on the subway, or you hug them because you have to, or you pick up their wallet off the sidewalk, or you catch them singing to themselves and on and on and on as it fades out. The song actually continues, it's just that you can't hear it anymore. [Buy]

Rafter - "Candy Sprinkles"

This crashes like a cloud onto your lap and plays around like some lovely banjo pet. I'm being cute because I'm under the spell of this blue moon dreamstate puffball with baby cooing samples and tiny shakers that sound, for reasons unknown to me, that they're being shaken by a child. It's completely "a certain way" but tonight, the bass is just right, like a comfy seat, and the lyrics, even the "ahhhs", reach a kind of Flaming Lips-level simplicity and effectiveness. I'm not afraid to like it. And saying that makes it true. [Buy]