Is this a fantastic Friday jam or what? For some reason, I never really checked out anything that’s been posted on RCRD LBL until just recently, but wouldn’t you know, it’s a veritable hot spot for musical gems. Kind of like this Grum remix of “I Wanna Be You” by NightBus. Even though the original has a total retro sound that has the potential to elicit dance moves not seen since 1986, the remix adds a really great beat that sort of puts to rest any doubt as to whether or not this one will be featured at my next party. I’ve really been into these sort of ultra pop remixes lately, mostly because they tend to put me in a really great mood. Go ahead, see if it works for you, too.
When the synth comes in right at the chorus….yeah. That’s it.
I know this song is super old, but I’m posting it anyway, just because I feel like it.
I think Ratatat was one of the first fully instrumental bands that I really appreciated. I was totally digging their “Classics” album and saw them live and it was a hoot (although, it was rather creepy how the girls up front were caressing the legs and inner thighs of both band members whenever they stood at the front of the stage. True story). And then I started listening to “LP3″ a whole lot more and I realized that as much as I loved “Classics”, I liked this album way way more. I know that some will heartily disagree (and hopefully some will heartily agree as well) but now when I listen to “Classics”, it sounds as if all of the songs came from the same family. Such is not the case on “LP3″.
No, this album was much more experimental (which I guess is reason enough why it’s not as well-loved). And I think there’s a whole lot more variety too. A much wider range of sounds and melodies. And I think in many ways it’s a much darker album (well, perhaps aside from the jubilant “Brulee”). My favorite track from this album, “Shempi”, is also perhaps among the more underrated Ratatat tunes. I know that this is nothing new to any of us, but I still think it’s worth giving it another listen. And I’ve been wanting to talk about Ratatat forever, so now seemed like a good time since we just found out yesterday that there is a new album on the horizon in the VERY near future. Get pumped WHAT WHAT
It should come as no surprise by now that I’m a huge fan of the French music scene. This sentiment was only further solidified when I heard a pretty cool track from SomethingALaMode or SALM courtesy of our blog friend Umstrum last week. SALM is the electronic strings duo of Thomas Roussel and Yannick Grandjean that combine, you guessed it, electronic elements with violins and cellos, two things I also enjoy. So they were really going to have to screw this one up for me not to love their tunes. Luckily and as expected, they did not. “GString” might be my favorite of the tunes I’ve heard thus far. Mostly because it sounds so distinctly like the French (and in this case, Parisian) music scene that I love so very much. Expect to hear more from me on these guys in the future.
It’s been a while since we last talked about Theophilus London but just today he dropped his new mixtape entitled “I Want You”. And I just finished listening to it for the first time. And I gotta say, it’s HOT. I think he covers just about every style imaginable in these 19 tracks, so there is definitely something for everyone. There are lots of great samples throughout, the most unexpected being, in my opinion, Jack Penate. Others I can remember off the top of my head were a FANTASTIC Ellie Goulding “Starry Eyed” remix (which sort of has a disco vibe going on and which goes directly into a great 80s sound in the subsequent track), Discovery, Vampire Weekend, and oh so many more. And in case you missed it in the title, this bad boy is FREE. Just go to the Theophilus London blog and download the zip file. I was a fan of Mr. London before I listened to this, but he just jumped up a few more notches with this great display of versatility. And for your listening pleasure, here’s that remix I mentioned above, but it would really behoove all of you to listen to the whole mixtape. I’m not exactly sure what to name this track, so I’m just going to call it exactly what its called on the album.
In today’s tough economic times, you can’t really afford not to download this free mixtape. It’s definitely great bang for the buck, even if there were a charge.
I first saw Sia live back in, I believe, 2008. I didn’t really know any of her music, other than “Breathe Me” and that she’d sung a few songs for Zero 7, but I didn’t even know which ones. But my friend was going, and I’m always down for a live show, so I tagged along. And. Wow. I was totally enamored/impressed/blown away by her show. I just remember thinking, “Damn, Gina! This girl’s got a set of pipes!” And ever since then, I’ve been waiting for the chance to see her again.
So this past Monday night, Diana, Julie and myself headed to St. Andrew’s Hall, one of my favorite venues in town, to see the Aussie in action. We got there just in time to catch a few songs from openers Girl in a Coma. I feel like I hadn’t seen a straight up rock show in a long time, especially with three lovely ladies on stage.
Before I get into the meat of this post, I have to inform you that posting all these images on my front page sometimes crashes it. So from here on out, I’m adding back in the “Read more” thing. But only for concert review posts. All other posts will remain as is. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. Read the rest of this entry »
After my failed attempt to see Sleigh Bells at Coachella recently, I’ve been ever more excited about their Treats LP which is finally going to be released on May 11 (and has miraculously not leaked yet, at least as far as I know). The twosome of Daniel Miller and Alexis Krauss are quite possibly the biggest buzz band out there right now (and really have been ever since last year’s CMJ festival), but I will luckily get a second chance to catch them live at this year’s Pitchfork Festival. I hear their stage presence is off the heezy. Apparently the two met when Miller was waiting on Krauss and her mother and mentioned he was looking for a vocalist. Just goes to show you why I liked chatting it up when I waited tables back in the day.
We just got our first taste at what the album might sound like in the song “Tell ‘Em”, which is really surprising in a good way. But I think it’s mostly because we were all used to listening to the demos that have been floating around for oh so many months now (and we liked them in all of their stripped down glory). So I, for one, was surprised to hear a much more produced track from the band. If nothing else though, this gets me (and everyone else) so much more excited for the album. Have I mentioned it’s being released in a week and a half and hasn’t leaked yet? When was the last time that happened?
Here’s one of those demo tracks that we’ve been enjoying for so long. “Ring Ring”, even though it’s a bit more laid back than some of their other tunes, is one of those songs that sounds like a lazy, hazy summer day (a description I’m almost positive I’ve used before). Besides the chilled out tempo, the guitar strumming, sliding up a few notes at the end of each phrase, really adds to this sentiment. Juicy.
You probably haven’t heard about Avan Lava quite yet (though they have been covered on a few blogs already), but I’ve got a hunch that you will soon be hearing more about them. The group is made up of two guys, Tom Hennes and Le Chev (who you may know as the DJ touring with Fischerspooner most recently), whose real name is Michael Laine Cheever. They’ve got that “can’t quite put my finger on how to classify them, so I’m not going to try to and am just going to enjoy the music” vibe. Definitely a cool sound though throughout the “Vapors” EP.
I actually really dig all 5 of the songs on the EP, but some favorites are below. Give them a listen and give these guys some love if you like what you hear. I believe they just played their first live show last week and have some more scheduled around the NYC area, so check out their website and go catch them live if you can. The group is also giving away the EP for free for a limited time, so make sure to stop by their site if you like what you hear.
I’ve been a big fan of The National for a few years now, so while I was excited about the upcoming album, I was a little worried that it was going to be, for lack of a better word, boring. The National can take on many styles and tempos, but I felt like they’ve been going towards that really slowed down style, and hoped that there would be some more variety on this new album. They’ve really taken to working on the instrumentation in their songs, which is always great, but I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn things into a snooze-fest. Let’s find out.
1. Terrible Love – Just like on “Boxer”, this album starts with a slower song, but it’s nice. Sounds a bit fuzzy, but not sure if that’s just my headphones. Wondering if it will pick up like “Fake Empire” does. YES, it just did. Really quick drum beat, great vocal harmonies in the chorus. Ok, I liked this one a lot more than I expected to when it first started.
2. Sorrow – Much more upbeat start than the first song. This one sounds much clearer as well, so I guess the fuzz of track 1 was intentional. Instrumentation is extremely warm. It’s a song that could have been a straight up slow song too so it’s nice to have the consistent double time drum beat. Sounds like a choir just chimed in. Nice song.
3. Anyone’s Ghost – Now that’s more like it. I feel like the National does dark songs and bright songs really well. This is the first taste of the darker side of the band. The drum beat sounds distinctly National-esque. Really unusual chord changes at times. I think I prefer the darker National, so that is right up my alley.
4. Little Faith – Something a little electronic in the intro. Didn’t expect that at all. Again, really nice layers and instrumentation. And again, the drums really keep the song pushing forward where the vocals are a bit slower. It does pick up a bit at the end, but overall I didn’t think this one was very memorable.
5. Afraid of Everyone – One of two songs on the album I’d already heard. Dark and mysterious, just how I like the National best. It’s maybe the highest notes we’ve heard from famously deep-voiced singer Matt Berninger. I think I hear a clarinet in there somewhere. For some reason this song reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. Even as dark as this song sounds, the music is still full and somewhat warm. My favorite song so far, but it might just be because I’ve already heard it a few times.
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio – Here’s the other song that I’ve heard quite a bit. While this one has been growing on me a little bit, this is sort of what prompted me to form my notion that this album could be a bit “boring”. Sure, it sounds nice and all, but I just feel like it stays the same throughout the entire song. It is somewhat of a nice contrast, however, coming right after the dark “Afraid of Everyone”.
7. Lemonworld – I like the intro. It sounds familiar but fresh. Musically it reminds me a lot of “Mistaken for Strangers” and I’m OK with that. I’m sensing a bit of a buildup in the works. Really subtle violin in the background. Didn’t build up as much as I expected it to, but it did become a lot warmer as it went on. Not a bad tune.
8. Runaway – Slower tune. Actually I feel like I’ve heard this one a long time ago as well. Maybe they played it when I saw them last summer? And I remember it being a bit of a yawner back then too. The horns really fill up the space nicely, but I personally just can’t always get into tracks like this.
9. Conversation 16 – A refreshing start after that last tune. I do like when it gets a little brighter in the second half of the song. Although I’m pretty sure he just sang, “I was afraid I’d eat your brains ‘cause I’m evil.” It’s an interesting contrast to have these really morbid lyrics sung over such pretty music. But yeah, I’m digging this song a LOT.
10. England – Cool piano intro, I like the chord progression. Sort of unexpected. Interested to see where this one goes. And so far it hasn’t really gone anywhere, but there’s still time. Ok, there’s definitely a buildup happening right now. Better. This might be the loudest point on the album. Even so, I feel like it never gets as far as it could go.
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks – Another slow jam to close out the album. It’s nice to listen to, but it’s just not very memorable. Another quasi-buildup that doesn’t seem to really go anywhere.
So let’s summarize. It’s definitely a really good album. Musically, it’s full of depth and layers and from what I picked up lyrically, it’s not bad, although a bit more abstract that I’m used to from the National (I tend to prefer their straightforward lyrics, a la “Karen”). I really liked the darker tunes in this album, and I liked some of the brighter tunes. But some of the brighter songs, while the instrumentation was really nice, sounded kind of generic to me. It’s almost as if the songs I didn’t really care for on Boxer added in some strings and horns and tried to pass themselves off as new, but I still think that those songs are well written and produced, just not my style.. Ok, that probably sounds a lot harsher than how I mean it. As of right now I like it, but don’t love it, but I’m actually pretty sure that will change after a few more plays on the ole ipod.
The National – Anyone’s Ghost (removed by request)
Here’s “Afraid of Everyone” as we were asked to remove “Anyone’s Ghost”
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