I've been spending a good deal of time going back and forth between Roswell, GA and Athens here. Besides the constant opportunities to lose my cool and consider running people off the road or follow them to their garage to teach them proper turn signal etiquette, I've enjoyed listening to my favorite radio station covering the metro Atlanta area: Album 88.5. GA State's broadcasts are far superior to Tech's 91.1 and even UGA's own overly pretentious 90.5. Despite my love for Album 88, I had never called the station before the fateful evening when they helped me discover Tobacco's "Hairy Candy." The track talks to the same sexually ambivalent part of me that recommends Crystal Castles.
Hairy Candy
FYI: Tobacco is a member of Black Moth Super Rainbow, a band I have little experience with. I will surely be raiding their catalog shortly.
In short, he went from hearing Mozart and Bach, to Coltrane and Monk, to Dre and Timbaland...
And from pianos and guitars, to drum machines and turntables
And he gots alot of stuff to get rid of...
Ishmal says it best. He works his magic on a whole slew of different instruments, and Shay-J offers a nice accompanying style and influence. The full album review and interview will be published in the coming weeks!
Click me if you feel like making a donation to the group.
The real songs refuse to upload, so here are some music videos.
This is my favorite song off M. Ward's 2009 release, "Hold Time". The song features Zooey Deschanel; I think Zooey has one of the best female voices ever...I mean, come on, we all saw Elf. Unfortunately, Deschanel's part is pretty minor in this song, but hey, she's still hot. The album as a whole hasn't been released yet, I listened to a leaked copy over the course of this week, and it's pretty damn good. In addition to Deschanel, the album also features guest performances from Lucinda Williams as well as members of Grandaddy and DeVotchKa. I hope M. Ward comes somewhat close to Athens this year...
lalalalalalalalalalalalalalaicantgetenough
HIPHOPADDICT
Bambara is a rock trio from Athens. I've had the awesome experience of hanging out with both Blaze Bateh and William Brookshire from the group, both are really cool guys. This song is from Bambara's debut self-titled album; it's my favorite song off the album. These guys are incredibly unique and have tons of energy, I'd absolutely recommend seeing them live if you get the chance. Let me know what you think!
January 19, 2009
Crystal Castles vs. the Little Ones
Etiketter:
crystal castles,
dance,
tbomb recommends
Evan was right to recommend Crystal Castles, but he forgot their bestest song, which is actually a fantastic remix of the Little Ones' "Lovers Who Uncover." I wish I could speak as highly about the Little Ones version of their own song, but I can't; it isn't nearly as sexy as this here remix by Crystal Castles.
Lovers Who Uncover
Here's a kind of guess quality youtube radio rip of U2's new single from their upcoming album No Line on the Horizon. It's typical U2 minus the Edge's obsession with guitar delay....so...I'm not a fan. I think it sounds like the band is going for a more organic and rough sound, but Brian Eno's sleek production kind of works against that. All in all, it's a disappointment.
January 14, 2009
Crystal Castles
Etiketter:
crystal castles,
dance,
debut album,
electronica,
non serviam
Crystal Castles - Courtship Date
Obsessive is the only word that can describe my listening habits of late. Crystal Castles is not the sort of band one can forget about after turning off their music. It lodges itself inside of your mind with an agreeable sort of tenacity.
Hailing from Toronto, Canada, this duo (Ethan Kath and Alice Glass) combines digital effects passages, dripping with synthesized drumbeats, with Glass' distorted vocals. Hot stuff.
Crystal Castles on Myspace
January 12, 2009
Minty Fresh Beats x (Jay-Z + Radiohead) = Jaydiohead
Etiketter:
jack scolloquial,
Mashups
99 Anthems
Change Order
What do you get when you have NYC hip-hop producer Minty Fresh Beats do a mashup of various Jay-Z and Radiohead songs? A badass fucking collection of songs, that's what. I'd even venture as far as to say this is better than Danger Mouse's Grey Album. Yeah, yeah, I know...you're skeptical because so many mediocre mashups have been done, especially with Jay-Z...but this one's different. Minty Fresh has a great ear for both beats and combinations. Furthermore, he's actually a Radiohead fan; proof is in "Change Order", which uses "Gagging Order" a beautiful Radiohead b-side with just two instruments acoustic guitar and vocals. I never thought in my wildest dreams that Gagging Order would work with someone rapping over it...but somehow it does. Enjoy.
I'm sure everyone has heard this song, but someone just recently showed me this video and...it's amazing.
Thank my Media Assemblage Theory Professor, Dr. Rai for this gem.
Man and Wife, the Latter (Damaged Goods)
Manana
Survival of the Fittest/ It's a Jungle Out There
This band feels a lot like Conor's original Commander Venus. Really raw, punk and emo influenced, angsty Conor screaming and jamming out with a lot of rock and power. Desaparecidos, in the discussion of the disillusionment of suburban American in the face of culutral homogenity and commerciality.
How superficial can we get?
Blitzen Trapper is an experimental folk band out of Portland; I found them through an online Sub Pop sampler and thought they were pretty sweet. Furr is a really chill folk song with some mild sonic experimentation in the midst of the really clean production. It struck me as a song that would go well in a Wes Anderson movie.
Oh, sorry about the lack of posts over the break. No more breaks for a while. I hope.
Dinosaur JR - Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
Broken Social Scene - Feel The Pain (Dinosaur JR cover)
No Age - It's Oh So Quiet (Bjørk cover)
I know I'm a bit late, but I'm finally following up Jack and Girl Scout's cover song sharing. First up is one of the 90s best bands covering one of the 80s best. The in-your-face guitar solos, heavy soundscape and raw vocals of Dinosaur JR combined with the excellent lyrics and ingenious melody of The Cure makes for a cover song that truly takes the best from two worlds. The only downside is the very odd ending. Don't start worrying that there's something wrong with you mp3 file - it's the same on the physical album.
Next is Broken Social Scene, a 00s band covering their heroes from when they grew up: Dinosaur JR. I love this cover because the band's just strutting with positive attitude and genuine love for music - it's not hard to imagine how good the atmosphere in the crowd must have been as well during the recording. Also, this song is great because Broken Social Scene here give a rare explicit reference to their "heavier rock" influences. Influences that have only been hinted on in a very few songs, such as Cause = Time, which is quite different from the band's usual post rock and ambient influenced music.
Finally, one of my favorite new discoveries this year doing a cover of one of my absolute favorite female artists. I saw Björk live in Japan in February, and saw No Age at a festival in Norway in August. Both shows were stunning experiences that I'll remember when thinking back on the music year of 2008. Imagine my excitement when I found this song a few months back - No Age doing a spectacular rework of a Björk classic. I became a No Age fan at their concert, and this song made me even more confident about the great potential the young duo has.
I hope everyone survived their final exams, and wish you all happy holidays!
Foundations
Mouthwash
Even though Kate Nash is kind of old news, everyone can appreciate a bad-mouthed girl who sings with a thick cockney accent and is the absolute queen of piano pop. Her songs are catchy as hell and, at times, absolutely inappropriately hilarious. I was introduced to Nash by a lady friend of mine who found her while perusing through Paste. She asked if I'd ever heard of her, and then started belting out her songs a cappella with a perfect english accent, and I was hooked.
When Nash was younger, she fell down the stairs and broke her foot and was subsequently bed-ridden for several weeks. During that time, her mom bought her an electric guitar and she taught herself how to play and began songwriting. I'd like to think that if I was ever bed-ridden for a long period of time, I'd be as productive, but I doubt I'd ever be able to write something as clever as Foundations or as catchy as Mouthwash. Check her out, she's sexy as hell.
Eels - Dog's Life
Eels - Efil's God
Eels is the brainchild of American multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett. In fact, the Virginia-born musician residing in Los Angeles is practically the whole band (being the only consistent member through the years), although it is marketed as a proper band, not a solo effort.
What really makes Eels special are the soothing melodies combined with the bittersweet lyrics, that touch upon the tragic and the sad, but never in a sulky, self-pitying way. It seems that no matter what kind of hardship Everett faces, he will be able to describe it in an ironic and somewhat optimistic way, and he often combines the sad content of his lyrics with happy, upbeat melodies.
Eels' 1996 debut album, Beautiful Freak, gave them attention around the world thanks to the international alternative rock hits Susan's House and Novocaine for the Soul. But after this success, Everett found himself struck by tragedy as the death of his mother caused him to be the last living member of the four-piece family he grew up with in Viriginia. E found his father dead when he was 19, his elder sister committed suicide in 1996, and shortly after his mother was dying of lung cancer. The second album, 1998's Electro-Shock Blues, deals with all these deaths, but in an astoundingly optimistic way.
In 1997, Everett recorded the song Dog's Life: A beautiful, happy little song depicting how difficult it can be being a human, and he comments how nice it must be being a dog. Everett sings he doesn't "care for" his human life, and would prefer the untroubled life of a dog. The song never made it to the following year's album. Being dissatisfied with the song, Everett instead turned the whole song around and made its literal antithesis: The song "Efil's God".
Besides turning the title "Dog's Life" backwards, and taking a sample from the song and loop it backwards (with the consequence of creating a haunting, bizarre melody), it's also lyrically the exact opposite: "Efil's God" is all about accepting the life and fate we've been given. The song takes the viewpoint of his dying mother in her hospital bed, who instead of panicking and fearing death just calmly proclaims: "efil's good and the time is right / I'll bundle up and slip away".
Personally, I love both songs. Songwriting at its finest, from one of America's greatest living musicians.
Fiona has a beautiful name and a beautiful voice. It's the same somber, spinning style of the original sung by John Lennon on Let It Be. I've always been a sucker for a woman's voice, and the utter reassurance of the song and its power and history hit me every time. It's a very good cover of a classic while still retaining her vocal style and of course the feminine touch.
Where is My Mind?
I just recently rediscovered my absolute favorite cover of all time: Nada Surf does the Pixies. I may even venture to say that I like the cover more than the original; it's brilliantly produced and more sophisticated than the original, but then again, the Pixies were never going for sophistication, so I guess that's a little unfair. Anyway, if you've never heard it, give it a listen, it's a really interesting take on the original song.
M83's Teen Angst (Montag Remix) from the Teen Angst EP
Montag remixes M83 in one of my favorite songs by the Frenchie, Teen Angst.
The simple, repetitive lyrics set against the pulsing and dissected duet vocals lamenting the downward spiral of humanity in our teenage angst of existence.
How fast we burn!
How fast we cry!
The more we learn,
The more we die!
The more we learn,
The more we cry!
How fast we burn!
How fast we die!
I hear the planet crying now.
I hear the planet crying now.
Also, to add to jack, here are tracks 2, 3, and 4 from the Don't Save Us From the Flames EP. Combined with the track he already posted, you would now have the complete EP.
Until The Night Is Over
Don't Save Us From The Flames (Superpitcher remix)
Don't Save Us From The Flames(Boom Bip Remix)
Enjoy.
Ulrich Firelord: Breaker of Mountains
That's I Wrestled A Bear Once. The songs on their debut E.P. is absolutely unclassifiable. Indeed, one of their web banners says it all: "Fuck genres." Going from from absolute chaos grind metal, to smooth progressive jazz sections, to danceable synth-driven electronica, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE possesses one of the most schizophrenic sounds I believe I have ever heard. Their lead vocalist is a woman, which is also something unique in the metal world.
This band is not for the faint of heart. But if you have an open mind and a willingness to hear a band so unique you'll never, ever, ever hear anything like them, then they come highly recommended. Their E.P. very quickly entered into a more-than-regular rotation on my iPod and a very special place in my heart <3333.
IWRESTLEDABEARONCE on Myspace
Of course, only one of their songs is really even worth a listen. In terms of consistency, their 'albums' leave a little to be desired. I'd go so far as to say that Brokencyde has captured lightning in a bottle with "Get Crunk." It's a great song, if a tad bit long and repetitive, and if you can forget that the kids who made it really are the equivalent of four monkeys sitting at synthesizers who manage to come up with a Crunkcore masterpiece.
Don't watch the following (or listen to other Brokencyde songs) if you want to have any respect for them. Also, if anyone out there knows of any Crunkcore artists with actual talent, I would LOVE to hear about it, kthx.
Ryan and Randy, this post is for you.
Brokencyde on Myspace
On recommendation of a certain lady friend of mine, I made my way to the Georgia Theatre this past Monday, December the 8th, to see Ivan Neville's New Orleans funk band, Dumpstaphunk. I've been a sucker for funk music ever since Funkadelic's "Hit It And Quit It" showed up on a friend's late-night cruising playlist, so I figured I'd give these guys a try.
Jacksonville natives Inca Maya opened up the show and were an extremely pleasant surprise. Playing a hard-hitting instrumental fusion of rock and funk that displayed an excellent understanding of how to keep people on their feet, these relatively young guys are definitely worth a listen if you're into picking up on some kick-ass funk.
Of course, Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk were the high point of the funkstravaganza. These guys jammed through an awesome setlist that had the crowd moving for the entire performance. Some interesting and welcome song choices peppered the already awesome evening; a few choice P-Funk covers, and an inspired funk take on The Sopranos theme song.
I highly recommend that you go out of your way to see either band if they come to your town. Unfortunately, I have songs by neither, but both have material posted on their respective websites, links to which shall be posted below.
Dumpstaphunk Official Website
Dumpstaphunk on Myspace
Inca Maya on Myspace
Don't Save Us From the Flames
I figured I'd follow up girl scout's post with an M83 post so you can juxtapose the two -- you definitely get more of a cold feel with M83. This track is my favorite cut off Before The Dawn Heals Us, M83's third major release. M83 is a French electronica/rock duet (maybe it's just one guy now...I always get confused about it) who specialize in heavily layered sounds and tons of reverb. For me, they're hit or miss: I think they're either genius or they fall flat.
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