The Leak(y) Album: Hard Candy

As the leak for Mimi's E=mc2 appears not to have hurt sales (est. at over 500k for this week), perhaps the sampling of 6 more tracks from Hard Candy (in addition to already released 4 Minutes and already leaked Candy Shop) will excite listeners to buy at the record store:

Give It To Me

This is to be her second single. There's wink in the rhythm link to 'Superfreak' before a break complete with Balinese Gamelan gongs.

Heartbeat

A heartbeat gives away to a layer of stuttering synths (reminding me of something from TRON) It's an ode to dancing as an escape from 'this complicated life' ...seems like she hasn't finished her dance floor confessions.

Miles Away

Beautiful, breezy song with Madonna ruefully ruminating on how love is so much easier at a distance. This should be released as a single.

She's Not Me

I love this song -- very Ring My Bell at the roller disco. Funky guitars over spare cascades of bells, cowbells and whistles -- all supporting cheeky, back off b*tch lyrics -- quite a treat.

Incredible

Twittering beats over a series of piano chords as Madge sings ruefully of beautiful beginnings gone stale. Then the bridge which comes in raging w/ electric guitar before giving way to a fluttering of more synths before jerking back into the sputtering beat/piano combo and veering into a breakdown. It seems like Madonna & Pharrell are trying to force the urgency of 'finishing what we started' through the schizophrenic sonics. To me, it's the most jarring and least accessible of the leaked tracks.

Beat Goes On

Radical rework from the demo leaked last year, both in sonics (a calvalcade of tinkling bells, synths, cowbells) and lyrics (thankfully jettisoning the 'always the bridesmaid, never the bride' reference for a more universal 'Just Do It' vibe). It bumps along nicely, sweeping Kanye along for the ride in a guest rap.

Here's a link to an article in The Sun with Madonna's own rundown on some of these tracks.

(UPDATE: Seems that Warner Bros. is more diligent than Universal in plugging leaks...check back next week for the full-on deluge!)