Posts published during December, 2009
on this last day of 2009, i would like to officially declare 2009 the year of the remix. as i looked back through the 200+ posts in 2009 (we just started this operation in may), i noticed that nearly 10% of them were remixes, and uber-killer remixes at that. sure, not all of these were actually released in 2009, but they were loved by me in 2009. so just in case you missed them, heres a quick list of some of my favorite remixes of the year, plus another great one from this year that i havent posted yet (but youve no doubt heard it around the web already).
vampire weekend vs miike snow – the kids dont stand a chance
radiohead – everything in its right place (gigamesh remix)
metric – help im alive (the twelves remix)
the temper trap – sweet disposition (alan wilkis remix)
mgmt – electric feel (justice remix)
and making its world debut on dailybeatz (despite its actual world debut everywhere else months ago), the sick dance club remix of a song that was already a total dance song, courtesy of a-trak and yeah yeah yeahs.
yeah yeah yeahs – heads will roll (a-trak remix)
BONUS: and since 2009 was the year of the remix, how about a remix of 2009? as he has the past few years, dj earworm has created a mashup of the biggest pop songs of the year. regardless of your opinions on any of these songs as standalone tracks, you have to admit this remix of the billboard top 25 of the year is kind of cool. its like a cornucopia of the guilty pleasures of 2009, spliced up just enough that you can justify pretending that you cant pick out all the songs just to feel better about yourself. if not, you can check out the list of songs on his website.
dj earworm – united state of pop 2009
in honor of the impending new years eve, the usual friday danceapalooza is taking place a little early this week. the idea is that you will have time to add one more awesome tune to your carefully planned NYE playlist. the track (thanks to mike for this one) is by gui boratto, a brazilian dj and producer whose website features some incredibly creepy album art. i pretty much seem to love anything a brazilian dj touches for some reason. gui also utilizes a monome, a jon alexander favorite. if you are into the unassuming start with the big buildup and many ups and downs, you will likely enjoy this track. youre just sitting there trying to figure out whats going on, wondering when something big is going to happen. and then you get to the 2:02 mark, and all holy heck breaks loose, temporarily. this is maybe my favorite kind of electronic song, full of peaks and valleys with an overall really happy sound. it gives you a chance to collect yourself and then shortly thereafter rock out again. i think it would be insane for fellow brazilians the twelves to remix this one and put their extra funky spin on it.
gui boratto – no turning back
buy it on 
or amazon
ready for more upbeat fun? good, because todays tune is from brooklyn via missouri sixsome white rabbits from their 2009 release “its frightening”, produced by spoon frontman britt daniel. ive been loving this one for oh so long and its definitely worth sharing even if youve heard it before because it exudes energy. when the little guitar riff enters the song on top of the driving drum beat, it just really ties the whole song together, much in the same way that the rug from the big lebwoski tied the whole room together. ive heard these kids are a pretty fun live show as well but i havent gotten a chance to catch them yet, so i can neither confirm nor deny, but it seems as though they would be. so please, take a listen and have a little fun.
white rabbits – percussion gun
buy it on or amazon
for all of you who are back at work this monday morning, sucks to be you. im probably sleeping as you read this. but im also feeling sort of sick, so i guess the joke is on me. but hopefully this tune will brighten your day just a little bit at least. its by japanese artist shinichi osawa, and i think it marks the first time weve posted about a japanese artist which is kind of strange that it took us this long. Read the rest of this entry »
to close out the holiday season, i figured i would post an all-time classic from my all-time favorite christmas album. which of course is “a charlie brown christmas” by the vince guaraldi trio. if you dont have and adore this album, you are a horrible person, end of story. its the soundtrack to maybe the most classic christmas cartoon of all time, “a charlie brown christmas” of course.
if you are in fact a horrible person and are not familiar with this album, its essentially a jazz combo playing all of our favorite christmas hits, plus a few originals (at least im fairly sure they are originals) like the ever-haunting, somewhat creepy but always lovable “christmastime is here”, “linus and lucy” — that piano track that you may not recognize by name, but certainly recognize as soon as you hear it, and todays ditty, “christmas is coming”, one of the more upbeat tunes. i love jazz combos, and sort of sometimes hate christmas carols, but when you combine the two, im definitely down to enjoy it. its a must for anyone who wants to get into the holiday spirit but cant stand hearing country christmas songs on the radio. and the bonus is that when you listen to the album, you are constantly reminded of “a charlie brown christmas”, and hence a piece of your childhood.
vince guaraldi trio – christmas is coming
buy this on or amazon
in the spirit of the season, a holiday-inspired charity track that you should purchase if you enjoy it. this should really be called “fucked up featuring everyone ever – do they know its christmas”, and by everyone ever, i mean tegan and sara, GZA, kyp malone (of tv on the radio), andrew w.k., ezra koenig (of vampire weekend), yo la tengo, bob mould, kevin drew and even david cross. and they are singing the famous band-aid track from so many moons ago, and all for good causes: justice for missing and murdered indigenous women, DTES power of women group, and sisters in spirit. even though the original track is pretty americacentric (or i guess more specifically christian-centric), it doesnt mean its not a memorable track that got a pretty nice facelift.
it stays pretty true to the original, but still gives you those warm fuzzies inside when you hear it, and a few more when you picture all those great artists in a room, standing 3 around a mic, on 2 or 3 steps so that theyre all on different levels. and then the camera shot changing to close ups of whichever set of 3 happens to be singing at that time. you may also remember the star-studded mockery of this scenario on 30rock, with the season ending “he needs a kidney”. its nice to see that a hardcore punk band can still have a heart. especially since they reportedly spent most of the prize money from their polaris prize putting this bad boy together. so happy holidays to all, and to all a good night.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
buy this track on
heres another great tune from 2009. the band is real estate out of new jersey. and luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), the band has no relation to snooki, the situation, jwoww, and the rest of the ever entertaining but slightly horrifying “jersey shore”. and since real estate is totally chill and awesome, im pretty sure the jersey shore crew wouldnt listen to them either, since its not house music (“we were just dancing to house music! thats how you dance to house music!”).
maybe thats a reason to like real estate in fact. but a much better reason is this song, “beach comber”. this song didnt catch on with me off the bat but after repeated listens its been rolling around in my head more and more lately. the fun and relaxed vibe totally reminds me of a lazy day at the beach. and for the second time this week, a nifty little outro to carry us from the world of listening to this song back to the world of not listening to this song. but i usually just listen to it again.
real estate – beach comber
buy this track on or amazon
and now, a few tunes from earlier this year. this ones been on the list for some time but hasnt been posted til today. its a killer track by new york duo the golden filter. well, theyre now in new york, but stephen hindman is really from ohio, and penelope trappes is from australia. the interesting part is that theyve become relatively well known ’round these parts all without releasing an album or EP, just a few one off singles.
they released their first single early in 2009 and its pretty flippin great. if you are in the market for some block rockin beats, look no further. let the dance party commenceth. because i feel like christmas eve eve is sort of a mini thanksgiving eve, meaning everyone likes to party on this night. ok. im tired. i would like for you to now listen to the song and tell me that you love it.
the golden filter – solid gold
buy this track on amazon
