Little Wings - "The Shredder". This is my favourite track off the new Little Wings album, Discover Worlds of Wonder. I saw Kyle perform in Montreal last month, and it was a strange and lovely little evening. Whereas I expected a cardigan-clad Stuart Murdoch type, I was met with a bronzed, lazy-smiling surfer dude. I had my doubts as I glanced at him before his set began, but once on stage - nope, there he was, sounding just right (unselfconscious, singing as quietly, easily true as he could). Little Wings, I realized, wasn't mopester music, but surf-folk closer to Jack Johnson - only, um, mining deeper depths. This song is creamy as foam on a beach, the latest in a series of songs about the Shredder... skateboarding and driveways filter out over cool drum skittering, casually plucked guitar, and - hooray hooray! - twee handclaps.

Eminem - "We As Americans". This is a leaked track from a mystery recording by Eminem, rumoured to be an upcoming EP (if not an album proper). The sound quality's not 100% but it's just fine. The production's fascinating, like a slowed, wary, deconstructed take on "Lose Yourself." I like the song a lot - the chorus slides out like a lizard - and the verses are up to the usual Eminem calibre. It's "serious" Eminem, but that's always what I've preferred... it oscillates from cautionary observations to i'm-so-dangerous grandstanding: I'm not yet sure whether I like what he's saying... but he does actually state that he'd like to see the President dead. That boy just keeps raising the stakes!

addendum: the Eminem track appears to be called 'we as americans'. i apologize for my source's foolishness!