This Brooklyn band calls its upcoming third LP "demented R&B,"and the alluringly weird first single makes good on that promise. Over hot molasses dub bass and flowery keyboard spritz, Chris Keating croons a ballad to Henrietta Lacks, a 1950s cancer patient whose cells were used for the polio vaccine after her death. But he delivers it with feeling – like they've got a hot date tonight on the astral plane. And the mix of creepy–as–hell crush and first–rate historical research makes for nerd–soul magic. 

Related
• Photos: Random Notes

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.