DOWNLOAD: Medicated Kisses, "Kill the Queen" (mp3)
When we told you last year to keep an eye on Medicated Kisses, we were thinking that frontwoman Alanna V's soul-fired belt might carry them to the top of the emo-pops: their "A Wolf Among Lilacs" sounded like Paramore with more metal and an even better singer. But on "Kill the Queen," a teaser for their debut album, they're aiming higher: they ditch their young-punk stylistic affectations and let Alanna carry them to the mountaintop. A pulverizing power-blues frames a tour-de-force, old-testament vocal performance: "Don't you know I made you, now baby I will break you," she sings, wrathful and gospelized, like Christina Aguilera fronting Rage Against the Machine. Grab the track above, then catch them February 19 at T.T. the Bear's Place.