I can't believe I haven't already posted this. Yelle has a new album errbody! Gawwwwn git it! This is the first album I've actually 'bought' in a long time! It was definitely worth the $16.99.
Safari Disco Club. Now doesn't that just sound like a great time? She's throwing down a fresher, even more electric-disco feel on this one, going a little less hip-hop though sometimes getting a little more pop. As per usual, I can't understand a word she says but that just makes it all the more cool, and from what I've heard translated for me, she's a pretty kinky little thing.
Here's the title track. It's sexy.
Did anyone really ever do it like The Thin White Duke did it? I think probably not. The most original artist the world has seen, freaking people out with his 'new look' every other month, and genuinely still redifining style and the limits of being cool. I think this is one of his best moments.
Was there ever anyone better?
This song is, quite possibly my FAVOURITE SONG OF ALL TIME. EVER. That is possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to admit, considering I've got like a million favourite artists, let alone songs. Being someone who doesn't watch TV, just puts on music when I wake up, when I got to bed, when I come home from work, I chuck on the iPod, not the news. I've always got a song stuck in my head, at all hours of the day. Just ask anyone I've ever worked with. And to be able to pinpoint one song and say that it's my favourite of all time, well, it's gotta be a f***ing good one. Here's to you Mr Withers.
This song is just gets me every time, the groovy keyboard melody, the acoustic guitar and that damn high hat after the pause "*tshhh! *tshhh! *tshhh! DANG.
It always puts me in a good mood, gets me groovin away.
Well, that's enough fawning from me. Just listen to it and see if you don't agree.
The BEST FUCKING NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL YEAR... was news I should've heard last year. Rae, Ghost and Mef. One album. Fucking amazing.
Criminology 2.5, the first track and the best track. It's super rare that an album will kick things off with such a banger, but damn this is a good way to get things moving.
Ghost and Rae are as good, maybe better than ever, but man, Mr Mef is aging like single malt whiskey.
His flow, his lyrics, all of it. He's just one of those MC's that'll never get old and you'll never tire of.
This album came out last year and heck knows how it slipped under my radar, along with Ghostface's 'Apollo Kids', also another good'un.
I apologise for the shitty writing, it's hard to blog while Hank Moody is slaying womans all across TVLand. So I'll stop and let you listen. Download here.
I came across this just moments ago via Indie Shuffle. I read about her, clicked through to the first youtube clip I could find which was the song I've posted above. As I type this I am still listening to this song for the first time. The moment her voice appeared on the track I knew it was something special, and it keeps getting better. This song is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see what else she has in store. Exciting!
I reviewed this album for a mates magazine (www.surfinglife.com.au) which should come out in a month or so. I have around several hundred favourite bands, so I have to put them into categories. These kids have long held the title of Favourite Alt-Rock band of all time. Here's the review I wrote (pre-edit) for the mag:
In recent years it has become the wont for surf movies to be drowning in electro and hip hop. I for one have no problem with that,though it is at high risk of becoming played out. So if you need to inject a little rock back into your pre-surf psych up, here's the perfect remedy ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are back with a new EP that rocks as hard as you can possibly rock without being a metal band.
I don't usually like throwing around the term 'genius', but when these four dudes from the musical mine-field that is Austin,TX (responsible for other game-changing bands like Spoon and Okkervil River) pool their grey matter, there's a waterfall of fucking alt-rock brilliance that is unparralleled. When it comes to poetic, volitional lyrics and arrangement, originality and pure intensity of sound, ...Trail of Dead cannot be matched.
When there's music like this kicking around it makes one wonder, what's wrong with the world when there's dead-set retards like Ke$ha and Nickelback getting filthy-rich and while these guys remain relatively unknown.
"Tao Of The Dead: Part I" begins with a intro that's a somewhat slower, more instrumental affair, softening you up before they slug you with ten bruisers that'll thump you back to school. Rounding out the EP with "Tao Of The Dead: Part II", a 5-song combination-knock-out-epic. I believe, nay, guarantee that this will be the best rock album you will hear in for several years to come.
Disclaimer: Listening to tis album may result spontanious brain implosions and cause cranial fluids ooze from your eye sockets.
Minimal posts lately. No excuses, just laziness. But plenty of fresh new cuts for y'all. This is a song from a band that I've been hearing a little of on Triple J lately. It's not the one that's been lots of airplay, I tend to avoid posting those to try & expand horizons and spark interest a little more. The band is called Grouplove -great name- and the song is called 'Gold Coast'. A slightly slower one, and this band has a really cool sound. Most bands for me, are made or broken depending on the the voice of the singer and this is one of those bands whose sound is complemented so perfectly by this dude's drawly, broken voice. The imperfections are perfect and fitting, and the same goes for the music, it ain't perfect but it works so damn well. I'm babbling but I really like this band and sort of struggle to explain why. If you're into Modest Mouse then you'll most definitely like this band. I'm rather excited to hear what they have in store for us.
As I've said before, there is very little folk music I have any time for. Very little. But this kind gentleman named Sam Beam, also known as Iron and Wine, is one folker I have lifetimes for. His songwriting is somehow getting better and better with each new album and his sound, more diverse, more layered and more obscure. I freaking love it!
Something I've noticed about his music, aside from the accumulation of piles and piles of new instruments since his simple 'just a beard, a guitar and a whisper' method in the 'Endless Numbered Days' days, is the fact that he's now decided to let that beautiful voice out. He's actually singing rather than whispering or humming, and he's damn good at it. The last album, The Shepherd's Dog, was so fresh, so brilliant, and devoid of a song that could be singled out as 'not as good as the others'. This album is exactly the same, every song is so unique when you listen closely. A new instrument here, a tight break there, and skewing of rhythm or a dash of the funk. This man has got it all and I'm not afraid to fawn and swoon over this album because it is JUST THAT GOOD. He's surpassing Sufjan Stevens in the 'tricky arrangement' stakes and he's outdoing Bright Eyes in the 'unuasual, original lyrical themes' and... shit. Just go get it. It'll blow your mind.
Oui. Baguette. La Plage. Gerard Dipardeu. That's about the extent of my french. But Gosh heck darn do I love the music those hairy arm-pitted, smooth talkin, cig smokin motherfuckers churn out. This is my new favourite band and, well, their sound is just so damn cool. I have no idea what they're saying but sometimes it doesn't even matter. It's the feel of the song and, like Yelle, you can just get moving and somehow understand the vibe and then once you try & get the lyrics explained to you it turns out that it's EXACTLY the kind vibe you we're feeling! Get into this. Get into it now.
Wow. Stumbled across this absolute gem just now and had to throw it up. This is everything that is great about the 80's, The getups, the hair, the dancing black dudes, the funk, the tinfoil room, the name Orange Juice! Everything! So damn good!
Another Green Label Sound number. Very very cool. Good summer song: barbecues, beers & womans. However good this song is though, I think my favourite thing is that freaking bangin-ass shirt the kid's got. Check it! Looks like he stole it from a mexican he found sleeping under the tower while they were shooting the clip! I want it.
How good is this this beat. These kids are SO original I'm fucking digging it hard. Their song 'I go Away" blew my mind field when I first heard it and now this thing coming out (aside from Bang Bang Bang with Mark Ronson & Tip). Man, I can't freaking wait to see what they come out with next. If you can't tell, this excites me. Green label are kind of ruling at the moment, they were the ones who first threw us the first single from the best band in the world's latest album (Chromeo's ''Night by Night'' from the album Business Casual). Possibly the best song ever made, definitely the best song ever made by a french-canadian arab/jew combo. Do what you have to do to find this song and turn the shit up.
NYC's back baby!
Now this. This is cool. It was a good song already, then these chaps got their grubby mitts all over and made it super sweaty. Tres Miami. I've spent many an hour terrifying my neighbours with the bass from this thing. It rumbles. Foals are one of those bands that keep getting better and better and the more hype they get the better, because where there's hype and exposure, there's remixes. And when remixes like this roll in it makes me very happy. I hope this cut makes you happy too. Enjoy irresponsibly.
No idea where I came across this song but it's made it onto many-a playlist since I did, usually the summer/party related ones. Just makes you wanna fucking JUMP! I've only ever found one more song by these kids, called Sense of Height, which is a ripper track but it's got nuthin on this one. A little funk-guitar sliced up into a synthy dance-pop is always a good recipe and these cats nail it on the head. Hope there's more of 'em to come!/////
Rad song. Straight up rad film clip. Somewhere between Stand by Me and the Justice- D.A.N.C.E film clip! I can not get enough of those groovy-ass bass licks and there's something about those songs where there's a bunch of youngun's singin the chorus like that, all anthem-like and empowering that just makes you wanna high five your mates and then go roam the streets and punch out street lamps with a bat!
Fresh vibes from this relatively new bunch of kids on the block called Word's End Press. They got 'emselves a way cool sound. Very disco, bassy with heaps of good drum machine loops and man, when G.L.O.V.E.S got their hands on this thing, shit got super-classy. Rad driving singalong song you can bounce to, give your lungs and excercise on the chorus. I first heard this late night on triple J on a friday, when Nina Las Vegas was doing some kind of DJ set thing and this slid into the mix very smoothly. Don't know much about the band except for the fact that they're going to BLOW UP. Very soon. Get on this bandwagon right quick. This has made it onto my favourite discoveries of 2011 already, maybe #1 so far.
Jam on.
Really getting into my jazz at the moment. More than any other artist, I seem to be able to relate to Jamie Cullum the most. His exceptional choice in covers, his ridiculously smooth and playful lyrics, and his depth of knowledge of the genre of Jazz. I was on his blog the other day when he threw up his top ten albums of 2010. I had a little trouble finding them but the best one I came across by a country mile was a song called 'Illusion' by Gregory Porter. It's just a good old fashioned break up song, so simple musically and lyrically, but it's one of those tracks that just hits home because you can really hear the melancholy in his voice. Beautiful stuff.
So I'll post this track, plus my current favourite Jamie Cullum track, which is changing weekly at this point! So I don't just post electro and hip-hop! I love it all man! Enjoy.
