Former Stylus scribe Kareem Estefan lets us in on what’s rocking his iPod lately…

Amina – Skakka

Icelandic string quartet Amina has collaborated with Sigur Ros on its last two albums, and predictably, the press for the group’s debut EP, Animamina, revolves almost exclusively around this fact. Yet Amina immediately sets itself apart from Iceland’s biggest non-Bjork export – quite simply, these songs are small, while Sigur Ros’ music is huge. “Skakka”’s magic lies in the crackling noises that open and close the piece, in the minute percussion, and in the majestic progression the keyboards undergo without climaxing. Beautiful, glacial, all that, yes, but this won’t soundtrack the teary-eyed denouement of any film; it’ll be the backdrop for a haunting early scene which subtly echoes through the rest of the feature, only amounting to anything in the audience’s minds.

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Barbara Morgenstern & Robbert Lippok – Sommer

To quickly depart from Amina’s Nordic temperatures, it reached into the upper 80s this week in New York, and thus, I’ve been in continual search of the right summer tracks to play. This one captures the lethargy of the season wonderfully, especially in the way Morgenstern’s airy humming glides over the coolly removed piano chords. It’s a remarkably organic electronic piece, too, blending folk guitar into the mix as seamlessly as the disco effects that emerge towards the end.

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Need New Body – Poppa B

The closest thing to an earnest song Philadelphia spazz-rock group Need New Body has written, “Poppa B” is a simple, charming ode to lead singer/banjoist Jeff Bradbury’s “dancing shoes.” Orchestrated with banjo and piano, the track finds Bradbury lamenting a break-up in (clumsy) detail – “I don’t even have no clothes anymore / That’s not my problem that’s yours” – before reassuring, “I still have my dancing shoes.” It’s a hackneyed sentiment, sure, but if you’ve seen the band live, you can certainly picture its members stripped of possessions and cloths, careless smiles on their faces as they rock out like the John Zorn fans they are. Actually, if you’ve seen them during the summer, you probably don’t need to imagine.

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