Posts tagged with cut copy

06/22/2010

Summer Drive Mixtape!

As you hopefully recall, last month, we put together our first ever mixtape entitled A Blogwave Summer which was curated by 20 of our favorite music blogs, each contributing a track of their own and mixed together by none other than myself. Well, I had so much fun putting that together that I decided to do it again with a bunch of tracks of my choosing. There wasn’t really a theme at the onset, it was just a lot of mostly high energy (and, for the most part, extremely bright) tracks that I love, most of which I hadn’t heard until I started this site last May. When I gave it a listen this past weekend on a 4-hour solo drive up to Traverse City, I decided it made pretty great driving music, especially on a sunny day, and thus, Summer Drive was born.

I could have also very well called this mix dailybeatz 101, because for someone who doesn’t visit the site regularly, it’s a fantastic representation of exactly the type of music that we love here. In fact, most of these songs have been posted on this site at one point or another, so you may have heard many of them here already, but I must say there’s something to be said for the way that juxtaposition can really change the feel of a song.

Special thanks to CrystalSister whose picture I used for the mixtape artwork.

Just like last time, you can right click/save as the zip file below which includes the mix split into individual tracks as well as front and back covers. Or, you can download the full mix from the soundcloud player below (this is what I recommend as you are sure not to encounter any split second gaps between tracks which really hurt the flow) and you can save the front and back artwork from this post. Either way, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and please please PLEASE let me know what you think. I apologize for naming every mixtape “summer” something, but it’s what I love, and what the music sounds like for me. Check out the track list below.

Summer Drive mixtape (individual files)

Or listen and download one continuous file from the Soundcloud player below (what I recommend) by clicking on the down arrow on the right side of the player.

dailybeatz.com presents: Summer Drive by dailybeatz

Here’s a sample track from the mix that’s become one of my favorites the last few days. It’s the beautiful, flowing “We Ah Wi” by Javelin, which sounds like a breezy summer afternoon.

Javelin – We Ah Wi

buy it on We or amazon

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04/01/2010

spoon/deerhunter @ royal oak music theatre 3.30.10

First off, I kind of really like the picture above. It might be among my favorite live pics that I’ve taken.

A few years back I had tickets to see Spoon at the Majestic Theater. I can’t remember what happened, but for one reason or another I sold my ticket and couldn’t go. Then the following summer, they were playing a free show as part of the Detroit Tastefest (now known as the “Comerica Cityfest”, but it will always be the tastefest, just as the Fillmore will always be the State Theater, and the way that DTE will always be Pine Knob. But it was on the 4th of July, and I was on the lake, so I called my friend to say I wasn’t going. Then a few weeks later, they were closing out the last night of the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. I was at the B stage watching the famous/infamous Cut Copy 4-song festival-closing set and didn’t see them.

So when I purchased my ticket for this show, my fourth attempt at seeing Spoon (I really hope someone is reading that will get this joke, but here goes anyway. “Dan, the scholarship committee has decided to give you….a fourth chance.”) And somehow, some way, I made it there for the 3-band lineup. Since I’m always late for shows, I missed the openers The Strange Boys. Sorry for that.

But I knew I was going to get there in time to see the second band, Deerhunter out of the ATL (or thereabouts), I was not going to miss it. I’d seen them once before from the front row at Lollapalooza back year and took some shabby photographs, so I was happy to have another opportunity to hear them and to catch them on film with a legit camera.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the sound at the Royal Oak Music Theater (I don’t remember much about the Bloc Party show there a few years back, a classic night of debauchery for every one of my friends that was there, but I do remember the sound being awful), and this was no exception. The band sounded great from up front, but as soon as you moved back at all it was a muddled mess. It sucked because I knew they were ripping it. Of course, “Nothing Ever Happened” was one of the highlights, but the REAL highlight (perhaps because they didn’t play it the first time I’ve seen them, and it’s one of my favorite 2-3 minute ditties) was their closing “Disappearing Ink”, which they jammed out for probably 7 or 8 minutes. It was pretty killer, bad sound and all.

A few songs before this, Bradford Cox was informing us that even after we left the show that night, he would be with us. He would always be with us. Terrorizing us in our dreams, whether we liked it or not. I thought it was rather hilarious, especially since he was speaking all of this through an echo effect, making it even weirder/creepier. But I don’t think the rest of the crowd picked up on his humor. And just before the final song began, he apologized and said that he would try to redeem himself. And then the band played the aforementioned jammed out “Disappearing Ink”, and in my opinion, Mr. Cox more than redeemed himself, even though I never felt there was anything calling for redemption in the first place. And as always, you can see all of these pics in higher quality on the dailybeatz Flickr page.

I’ve posted this song before, but I just think it’s that great as a quick and awesome rock song.

Deerhunter – Disappearing Ink

buy it on Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange - EP - Disappearing Ink or amazon

So next up was the main event, Spoon, who fate and circumstance had prevented me from seeing live so many times before. I don’t really know what I was expecting out of them live. But whatever I was expecting was exceeded. I also learned something really interesting about myself. I recognize and can hum along to just about any Spoon song, but I don’t really know the names of any of them. Why is that?

As the show began, I decided I would wait a few songs with my friends before I tried to get some photos, after all, nobody had told me that there was a 3-song limit or anything, and once I left I probably wouldn’t make it back to my friends anyway. So as I entered the pit in the middle of the third song, I took about 10 pictures and was told our time was up. Disaster. Luckily I got a few that were half-deece. So luckily.

As for the performance itself, I think I was surprised by a few things. The first is the energy. I don’t usually think of Spoon as a super high-energy band, I think I consider them more kind of laid back rock. But they were firing on all cylinders, in my opinion at least, and the crowd was enjoying it quite a bit. The next thing I really liked was the pretty cool light show. It wasn’t anything extremely over the top, but it always worked really well with the music. There were these candle looking lights that at times looked a little MTV Unplugged, but all in all it was visually entertaining. The band was in front of these color changing giant geometric shapes that provided a nice contrast against the black backdrop. And the third thing that surprised me was their use of effects throughout. I think this was especially apparent in the official “really cool song that I sort of forgot about and didn’t really know that I liked so much until just now”, which in this case was “The Ghost of You Lingers”. I think it just doesn’t sound like anything else they’ve got, and it was pretty great live with the lights and effects and whatnot.

The band came out for what I remember as a 4-song encore which included (I think) “I Turn My Camera On” among a few others and closed with “The Underdog”. I think this show made me realize how much I really like Spoon even though I don’t usually think to listen to them. But that seems to be the way I feel about so much music lately, so it’s always nice to rediscover.

Here’s one of my favorites from their recent album Transference which I kind of dig and which I was happy to hear live. It’s got a nice breakdown in the second half that I enjoy. Just promise me you’ll wait for it. And then look at the couple of pics I was able to snap.

Spoon – I Saw the Light

buy it on Spoon - Transference - I Saw the Light or amazon

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02/15/2010

cut copy – lights and music (moullinex remix)

Since so many of us are depressed and/or bitter after yesterday, it seemed like a good opportunity to brighten the world’s collective mood. For all of the talking about Cut Copy that I’ve done after discovering them during their abbreviated 4-song set to close out the 2008 Pitchfork Festival, I don’t think I’ve ever posted any tunes of theirs. I’m not sure why this is but when I heard this remix recently, it was clear that now’s the time, the time is now.

“Lights and Music” is undoubtedly one of the highlights of Cut Copy’s breakout album “In Ghost Colours” and Germany’s Moullinex has done quite a good job remixing a song that I didn’t think I would be able to like any way other than in its original form. From a little internet research, it appears that Moullinex has recently added an extra L to their names, perhaps so as not to be confused with Moulinex, the company that makes kitchen appliances, like food processors and mixers, coincidentally. Don’t be surprised to see a few more remixes later this week.

Cut Copy – Lights and Music (Moullinex Remix)

2 comments

02/05/2010

delphic – counterpoint

the third album released this year that im kind of obsessed with right now is “acolyte” by uk band delphic. special thanks to peabs for telling me about them in our pre-coachella preparation of excellent bands we need to catch. this album is an excellent example of pitchfork completely missing the mark. i mean, the production on this album alone is worth the 5.0 rating, without even taking the songs into account. in other words, this album takes on a whole new life when listened to with headphones. nice job being terrible, pitchfork. i, for one, would recommend this album to anyone who enjoys friendly fires or cut copy or having fun. im hoping that the low pitchfork rating will turn people off to them so that we will have a clear path to the front of their crowd for their coachella performance, because i think its going to be a good one, perhaps reminiscent of last years legendary 12:30 PM friendly fires set on the hottest day of the whole damn year. we almost passed out in our dance storm, but it was oh so worth it.

the song that i seem to find myself always listening to from the album is “counterpoint”, which i believe is the first single released last year prior to the album. it seems to be a sort of breakup song, with a man seemingly wandering around town aimlessly, telling himself over and over that nothings wrong. the lyrics are a great contrast to the music, which is upbeat and danceable and electro-pop-y like no other. if you like any of the groups i mentioned above, i dare, nay, double doggy dare you, to not love this one.

delphic – counterpoint

buy it on Delphic - Kitsuné Maison Compilation, Vol. 7 - Counterpoint or amazon

2 comments

07/27/2009

atlas sound – walkabout

atlas sound live

did everyone recover from their first sunday without a song this week? i hope so, because thats the way things are gonna be around here from now on, so get used to it. todays song is maybe the timeliest of any song ive posted so far because it broke throughout the blogosphere just last week. but since its now a week later, everyones pretty much heard it anyway. the song is the newest offering from atlas sound, the solo project of perpetually skinny bradford cox, probably best known for his band deerhunter. he collaborates with noah lennox, aka panda bear, whos also a member of animal collective. i actually saw both of these guys at 2008 pitchfork fest (it always comes back to pfork fest, doesnt it?). panda bear was of course playing with saturday headliners animal collective, and bradford cox was part of the “make some shit up to play to keep the crowd pacified until cut copy makes an appearance since they are running really late” crew . it was a very…interesting..performance, but i gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was put in the precarious situation of improvising entertainment in light of an unavoidable delay. and i like deerhunter.

why do i like this song? probably because it sounds like exactly what you think a collaboration between atlas sound and panda bear would sound like. youve got all the poppy blips and beeps of atlas sound, and youve got all the reverb of panda bear. the first time i heard this track it didnt really do much for me, but after giving it a few more listens im pretty happy with it. happy enough that it makes the cut into playlist of songs on my ipod that i really like. without further ado, i present to you “walkabout”, which is only about a week behind the times in terms of the blogosphere, so thats not too bad when you think about it.

atlas sound w/ noah lennox – walkabout

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05/30/2009

tv on the radio – halfway home

tv on the radio

in honor of me receiving my ticket to bonaroo today (im kind of confused since nobody was home today when they dropped it off, but im not asking any questions), i decided to write about tv on the radio, one of the bands im most excited to see at the fest in a few weeks. and by a few weeks i mean less than 2(!!!!). thats partially because i was supposed to see them 2 or 3 summers ago at st andrews, and out of the millions of shows ive gone to, theyve been only 1 of 3.5 shows that have gotten cancelled. the other two, coincidentally, were both paul oakenfold. one time his bus allegedly got stuck in some sort of snow storm, so at about 1 am they finally told us he wasnt gonna show up. the second time, we got there and found out he was at the venue, but sick in his tour bus (the infamous night when julie got her hair curled at clutch cargos). the .5 is when cut copy was supposed to close out pitchfork fest last year and their flight got delayed or something like that. by the time they got to the fest and set up, they only played 4 songs before they had to stop because of the curfew. so i think that counts as a half, because i dont feel like i saw them live, even though i technically did.

anyway, some other reasons im pumped to see tv on the radio live: 1. they are totally sweet. 2. their last album, dear science, is totally sweet. 3. the lead singer, whose name i didnt know (its kyp malone), but who i know is also the lead singer of iran, has awesome crazy hair and an awesomer beard. 4. redemption. i think those are all of the main reasons. its also kind of my destiny this time because, in general, every band i really want to see at bonnaroo this year is scheduled to play at the same time as another band i really want to see. all, except tv on the radio. ironically, paul oakenfold is also playing bonnaroo, and is only up against girl talk, who is always fun, but who ive seen many times already. so double (techincally triple) redemption is to be had in just a few short days.

anyway again (i really need to work on those segueways), im not sure why i like todays song so much. i like the weird chord changes in the chorus, the beat changes, and the way that the chorus is different every time, but it still usually rhymes with a lot of the previous lines. i know that didnt really rhyme, but give me credit for trying to find a third rhyming word for at least a minute before i gave up. you know how sometimes you hear an opening track to an album, and you think it sets up the whole remainder of the album perfectly? thats this one for me. and you and everyone we know.

tv on the radio – halfway home

TV On the Radio - Dear Science - Halfway Home buy this track on itunes
buy this track on amazon

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05/25/2009

crystal castles – vanished

crystal castles

in the car on a drive this morning, i heard hipster runoffs episode of blog radio on xmu. they were laying down the sickest beats ever, to the likes of the twelves remix of metrics “help im alive” and a pretty nuts remix of vampire weekends “the kids dont stand a chance” which far surpassed my expectations, then a similar sounding remix of cut copy’s “lights and music”. while im usually sort of annoyed with his intentionally droll and nonsensical commentary, today was especially on point. “tell me about yourself. i want to know about you. i want us to be soul mates. like that death cab for cutie song. soulmates body. i want to love you. i believe in a thing called love. the darkness.” this really has nothing to do with anything, but it did keep me in the electronic spirit.

i first heard crystal castles around the same time that i first heard cut copy.  they were both completely different, but in my mind they both had a lot of the same thing going on, namely solid beats and electronic instrumentation.  sure, crystal castles was a lot harsher and sounded more nintento electronic (which happens to suit them well), but i still lumped them into one category.  so i was pretty surprised when i told a few others to give them a listen and they had crazy feedback like “why are they just screaming the whole time” and “my music was playing on random and this came on and freaked me out”.  this is probably my fault for grouping them with cut copy, but i still thought people should give them a shot, so i recommended this track specifically. some would argue it doesnt even sound like crystal castles. in the end, even if you dont like the screams and the 8-bit sounds, the chances of you enjoying this track are still strong to quite strong.

ill be seeing them in a few weeks at bonnaroo and im still deciding if im excited or scared for the experience. if memory suits me i think they may be one of the uber-late night acts, so theres a chance that people will be too worn out by that point to trample me. ive heard very mixed reviews of their live show, seems to be a love it or hate it thing, but i guess theyre a love it or hate it kind of band.

EDIT! 5/28 — thanks to katie for pointing it out, but weve just learned that this is actually a cover (an awesome cover, i might add) of the song “sex city” by van she. which explains the title of the song. interesting tidbit!

crystal castles – vanished

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Bonus Track Version) - Vanished buy this track on itunes

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