Land of a Thousand Words is one of the tracks on Ta-Dah that initially I didn’t think much of. It’s a bit slow and ponderous; I certainly didn’t think it would be good as a single (especially with tracks like Kiss You Off, She’s My Man, Paul McCartney and The Other Side to choose from)–but they went with the ballad, and made a fab Bond-intro style video, and I have to admit it’s grown on me. This Junkie XL remix is better than the original–sexy and lush, it would be perfectly suitable for listening to on your yacht with the wind blowing through your hair. And Gwen. Sigh. Double sigh even. The new album has been mostly panned–I haven’t given it a serious listen yet, but after reading reviews that call it things ranging from “lacklustre” to “sloppy afterbirth,” I’m not sure I want to. But Wonderful Life is in fact wonderful. It’s synth pop at its best, very 80s and very slick.

Stereogum called The Other Side “20% Supergrass / 80% Duran Duran” and I agree. It’s brilliant. Slick and dark and beautiful. And Read My Mind is my favorite off the new Killers album. Much better than Bones, the new single. Perfect mix of yearning and almost blasphemous synthesizer.