The Beat Hunters - "Angie's Night". A fine, sleek mashup of Angie Stone's "Wish I Didn't Miss You," with some Nightmares on Wax ("Les Nuits") and Bjork ("Hyperballad"). It's a breezy twilight with long, dark stretches of water. Angie sounds perfectly velvet over the sweep of strings, the stuttering jazz guitars and organ. As with all the best mash-ups, the way that the Beat Hunters (Phil Neumager) has put this song together, it feels totally effortless, obvious. The casual repetition of strings emphasizes the sleepiness of Stone's voice, the slow candle fade. It's gorgeous. Neumager's a french designer/illustrator who's released a few house tracks and has put together a fine portfolio of bootlegs.

Loretta Lynn - "Have Mercy". Hopefully everyone caught the track that Matthew posted, but if you ask me, this is the gem of Van Lear Rose. Electric blues with crashing White Stripes flourishes, courtesy of producer/arranger Jack White. It's explicit without giving it all away, fiery while remaining its composure. With the martial drums and pushy, freespirit electric guitar, Loretta Lynn's not begging for mercy - she's making a confident, tight-lipped 'suggestion'. The jazzed down bridge shows the marked contrast between "she" -- loose, flimsy, a passing fancy -- and the brash, strutting power of the singer. "You listen," she warns at its end, and you imagine earrings that glint like knives.

elsewhere:

new and noteworthy mp3blog: The Suburbs Are Killing Us.

Music For Robots has been so good lately that it's making me crazy. Variety out the wazoo, and (almost) all of it is extremely, deliciously fine. One of the very best mp3blogs out there right now, and I don't say that lightly. While you're there, be sure to nab the fine soul of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

It's gonna scroll off the page shortly, but Stereogum's got a more-than-worthy alternate mix of Modest Mouse's "The Good Times Are Killing Me". It doesn't exactly revolutionize the track, but I prefer it to the final version. You will too. This version's closer, busier, more distracting. There's more of a racket, and the walls are thinner. What's more, for those of you who were a-wonderin', the tap-dancing clearly is just that.

Tofu Hut is out of transition week and although I'm still the intermediary for john-on-the-move, the tracks now come with full and healthy commentary.