April 2011
28 posts
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Think about it when you touch me there
[MP3] Dev - In the Dark
I think I like Dev. She’s fun and her tracks are slick, especially when produced by the Cataracs. I believe this particular song isn’t literally about dancing at a club, but rather about fantasies while masturbating? Fun times. Don’t you just love masturbation songs? “Tell me baby / if it’s wrong to let my hands do what they want?”...
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'Cause I just wanna love ya, baby
[MP3] Estelle - Break My Heart (feat. Rick Ross)
Estelle has got so much soul. I imagine it pouring like light out of her hair and eyes and fingertips, like she’s some down-to-earth yet glowing diva. She is literally overflowing with soul.
Anyway, this brand new track is silky-smooth R&B. It’s got what I like to call “a late-night-70s vibe”. The backbone pulse of...
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Love's the only rule
[MP3] Anni Rossi - Candyland
This song is sweet. The bleeps are satisfying, and you can clap along to it. “Down in Candyland / no one is a fool / love’s the only rule”. And yet, it has weight to it. Picture a two-ton piece of candy. Even as it talks about a kind of romantic idyll, the song glories in imperfection. “You got a smudge on your face / play it cool.”...
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Holy Holy
[MP3] Wye Oak - Hot As Day
It was almost 80 degrees out today, here near Philly. I saw those ripples of heat rising from the road in front of me as I drove. The air felt thick and muggy, and the green trees are already starting to wilt a little. My car was streaked with yellow pollen. It’s still late April, so the weather felt a little unreal. I was dazed as I drove, my mind almost...
1 tag
An Emotional Reaction Mix #2: that's a warming...
Tracklisting and download after the jump. This mix is for May and the gradual intrusion of summer weather.
(FYI, Clare Maguire is my goddess of the spring-summer winds)
Mochi Beats - Blessed Bass (Avicii + Big Boi + Nicki Minaj) La Roux - Cover My Eyes After the Smoke - Typical Weekend The Hood Internet - Shutterbugg In Miami (Big Boi vs Foals) Discodeine - Synchronize feat. Jarvis Cocker...
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lady killer
Would you like some literal sonic candy? You can’t get any sweeter than White Sea, the solo project of Morgan Kibby. You might recognize her voice from her semi-recent collaboration with M83. She taught herself Pro Tools and dropped an EP last year. I cannot wait to see what she does next. It’s all synths, alternating between faux iciness and teenage giddyness....
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You can rock your body but don't overdo it
I’ve been a fan of “Typical Weekend” by After the Smoke for a while. It’s a rad, laid-back track. On 4/20 they released a new EP including “Typical Weekend” and several other songs. You can stream or download at their tumblr, I recommend it.
After The Smoke EP by afterthesmoke
EP’s here, check it out.
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New Bon Iver record & details
The latest word is that you can anticipate Justin Vernon’s second, self-titled full-length LP in June. June 20th to be exact. I don’t know about you but I’m amped. I just wish we could expect Kanye to return the favor and collaborate on one of his tracks.
Seriously though. Wouldn’t it be awesome?
Album tracklisting and cover after the jump! (Spoiler: it’s a lot...
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Does it trouble your mind the way you trouble...
(Photo by Vans1966)
[MP3] The National - Exile Villify (new)
The thing about the National is how their songs sit on your chest. They knock you flat on your back and leap on your chest and settle there. You feel weighted down by ennui or melancholy or paralyzing insecurity, but then the song also works as catharsis. You think that these National dudes, and perhaps everyone, occasionally feels...
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Jamie Woon, Mirrorwriting
Jamie Woon, Mirrorwriting, April 11, Polydor, Score: 70
Last near I named his track “Night Air” as one of my top 100 songs. I swore I would definitely keep my eye on him and his first LP release. Fortunately, I was not too disappointed.
After releasing the single “Night Air” in 2010, Jamie Woon seemed to be poised to take the music landscape by storm. The BRIT school...
5 tags
More from Coachella
Watch Kanye West perform “POWER” and “Lost in the World”.
Watch Arcade Fire perform “Wake Up”.
You can watch performances by Two Door Cinema Club, Broken Social Scene, Mumford & Sons, and more at the Coachella live stream webpage. They have about thirty performances or so up, and it looks like they just started adding a least a few more.
I don’t...
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You can't stop the rain from pouring in, once the...
[MP3] Thao & Mirah - Hallelujah
This isn’t a Leonard Cohen cover, fyi. It’s a beautiful, melancholy song of its own. Thao Nguyen of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down collaborated with Mirah on an alternative-folk LP after they toured together in 2010. Their voices are lovely, going together like point and counterpoint.
Preorder the album.
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Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger but she ain't...
“LOL, did Kanye just change to ‘broke broke’ on purpose. Oh my god, he did.”
Last night Kanye West closed Coachella with an absolutely fantastic, one would say breathtaking, set farther marking him not only as a true musician, but an artist who has more than mastered his craft, and while I enjoyed as much as self-described “stan” would, there was one moment...
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An M.I.A. Fan's Retrospective
Commentary on M.I.A. and my top-ten songs in her current discography.
I’ve been a fan since 2007, I think. Once I heard Kala for the first time my mind was blown. I had to go back and listen to Arular as well. And Kala has become one of those albums for me—one of the ten discs I’d take with me in a desert island scenario that music journalists like to torture themselves by...
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Take me for want I am, I don't really give a damn.
[MP3] Maluca - Hector
Every so often I come across a new artist that I fall in love with almost—probably “definitely” but every much so—instinctively, and I felt this way when I first heard Maluca’s debut single “El Tigeraso” approximately two years old. However, call it a fake out if you must but I am not hear to blog about that track (though I wholeheartedly...
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Blog Updates
I’d been thinking about expanding this blog from just a one-person effort, but I wasn’t in a rush because the addition(s) would have to be JUST RIGHT. I finally asked my friend Crystal to be my first contributor. I really like her perspectives on music and culture, and to be honest she has turned me onto some great artists like Maluca and Siobhan Donaghy. Our tastes are similar but...
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Why Aren't They A Bigger Deal? feat. Siobhan...
Siobhan Donaghy, original member of the British pop group Sugababes, released an acclaimed album Ghosts in 2007. It didn’t make a massive splash in terms of sales or charts, and this was after her first album in 2003 had trouble with promotion and singles as well, after her first solo song “Overrated” was a success… I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY SHE ISN’T STILL...
4 tags
Break a mirror, roll the dice
[MP3] Alex Turner - It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind
He’s a charming lad, that Alex Turner. This is wistful, melodic acoustic music, alternately nostalgic and melancholy, and five turns in the opposite direction from the Arctic Monkeys. Submarine is a really lovely EP. I never thought I would be describing his music as lovely, so there you have it.
Buy Submarine.
Speaking of the...
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You're the one for me, you're my fantasy
[MP3] Theophilus London - Century Girl feat. Devonte Hynes
This song is mellow and faintly spaced-out, but I have no idea how to describe it. It defies genre. Groovy electro-soulful-rap, maybe? Ha ha no. I just want Theo to collaborate with Andre 3000 in the near future.
Check out his last mixtape, I Want You.
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They can't take my winter palace
There’s new Santigold out today, featuring the rock goddess Karen O. You can stream it over this way and check out the interview about the track.
I’ve missed Santi, and Karen is always welcome. But yeah, this song is magic. I’m so excited for when we can finally get our hands on Santi’s next album. Apparently she is working hard to get it released!
(Thanks to Pitchfork...
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Rain came into my house
[MP3] Blaqstarr - Big Bills Ft. Flosstradamus and Caroline Polacheck
DJ (and friend of M.I.A.) dropped this the other day. Check out the rest of Blaqstarr the mixtape, featuring my girl Maya, Rye Rye, Mos Def, and more. You can snag it for an email address. And if you are thinking “It’s almost warm enough for summer and I just want to dance!”, this is the mixtape for you.
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I'm lovin' the chase
How about some West-coast electropop (is that a genre? Oh well. If not, I just made one up like everyone else these days)? The LA duo Uh Huh Her have a new EP out, Black and Blue. I love the title track in particular. You can stream it below.
Uh Huh Her - Black And Blue by wonkymixes
Get your hands on the EP at their website.
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You had a broken heart but it just got stitched
[MP3] Donnis - Ring My Bell (feat. Dev)
Ringalingalingaling my bell
This song just skirts annoying on its way to being UNBEARABLY CATCHY. It’s the sort of song you listen to and right away you’re like OH YEAH but at the same time you can see yourself being annoyed by it maybe, forty listens later.
So, I recommend listening to this song exactly 39 times. The hook is sublime.
Check...
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The Kills, Blood Pressures
The Kills, Blood Pressures, April 4th, Domino, Score: 78*
*I really like the ratings system used by Pretty Much Amazing so I’m gonna stick with something like that. I’ll make a post that breaks it down in more detail, but I’m guessing you can follow lower numbers = bad - higher numbers = good kind of thinking, fantastic reader. Also I’ll usually go with album covers for...
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Hot to Trot
Aretha Franklin - One Step Ahead Xaphoon Jones - Aretha Franklin - One Step Ahead (Empire State Riddim)
Mos Def - Ms Fat Booty
Don’t you just love it when you (re)discover the song your favorite rap track sampled? I honestly think Ms. Fat Booty is one of the best rap songs of all time. OF ALL TIME. And Aretha is one of the greatest singers of all time. Timeless stuff. I also dig the...
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SICK for the weekend
It’s a Yelle day, honestly.
[MP3] Metronomy - The Look (Fred Falke Remix) [MP3] Yelle - Le Grand Saut [MP3] The Hood Internet - In The Air Ce Soir (Phil Collins vs Yelle)
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There's dusk in the desert, heaven at the gates
[MP3] Clare Maguire - I Surrender
It’s a shame that even after the release of her LP Light After Dark, “Ain’t Nobody” remains Clare Maguire’s best song. Her voice is something else, her album is not. I don’t think it’s as bad as some of the British music press would have you believe, but I was really hoping for something more freeing, less calculated.
...
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Sweetness, I was only joking
I have like three album reviews (The Strokes, The Kills, Jamie Woon) in draft. Writing them is like pulling teeth. I don’t know why this is. Maybe I can’t be the sort of blogger who does them. I GUESS WE’LL SEE AND TRY NOT TO BE TOO DISAPPOINTED EITHER WAY.
[MP3] Tennis - Long Boat Pass
In the meantime, TENNIS. I’m a little late, but better late than never....
