Blaqstarr is the Baltimore DJ/producer behind M.I.A.'s "XXXO" and some the spaciest, squelchiest beats on her last two albums. He's been local club titan for years, and his first release on M.I.A.'s label N.E.E.T. presents his bizarre R&B aesthetic undiluted. Blaqstarr comes off like a Prince-style auteur who spends more time in dark alleys than champagne rooms. His gauzily processed production shrouds falsetto come ons and playalistic mumblings in a skeevy haze, perfect for torpid, booming tracks that deploy anything from layered girl-chirps to distorted guitars to a pilfered Cameo beat in service of massaging his psychedelic freak. If they really dance to this stuff in Baltimore, the city's weirder than The Wire let on.

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.