New Phaseone July 12

Adult Swim will be releasing 8 tracks over the course of 8 weeks from artists that includes Madvillain, Washed out featuring Chairlift's Caroline Polacheck, Black Lips, and Freddie Gibbs track produced by Phaseone (among other artists).

Phaseone released an awesome mix tape, White Collar Crime, last year that was one of my favorite albums of '09. Not to mention his remix for Kollosus' "Breakin' Bread" for Adult Swim's ATL RMX mix tape. Stoked for the next 8 weeks of singles and the best for last Phaseone track.

Adult Swim Singles Program:

05-17 Superwolf (Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney)
05-24 Madvillain
05-31 Killer Mike
06-07 Washed Out [ft. Chairlift's Caroline Polachek]
06-14 High on Fire
06-21 Black Lips
06-28 LCD Soundsystem: "Drunk Girls" (Holy Ghost! remix) (video)
07-05 Cults (new song and video)
07-12 Freddie Gibbs (produced by Phaseone)


Kollosus:: Breakin' Bread (phaseone remix)

Radiohead:: Videotape (phaseone and frank heat remix)

Wierd Wives is 3/4 Surfer Blood

Weird Wives is composed of Surfer Blood guitarist Thomas Fekete, bassist Brian Black, and drummer/percussionist Marcos Marchesani and non Surfer Blood member vocalist Nick Klein. Check out a YouTube video of the group entitled "New Song" and song "Fudge" below. Both tracks are barbarian heavy trash-punk that strays from Surfer Blood's lo-fi/melodic balancing Astro Coast. Head here and here to pick up two Weird Wives EPs. A third will emerge soon on a 7 inch.




Weird Wives:: Fudge

The Story I Heard: Gorillaz/Plastic Beach

I have listened to Gorillaz Plastic Beach a lot since I bought it in March. Although Plastic Beach couldn't trump my love for Demon Days, it still tells a cohesive and imaginative narrative. The story extracted from Damon Albarn and co's newest album depends on the listener, but, there is no denying the presence of a story there.

As a person who is passionate about the creative process, I always try to figure out the motivation of my favorite artists. What gets Albarn from no sound at all to the wide range of aural style he is able to create here? I figure some musicians start with a rhythm or a chord progression and build outwards incorporating different instruments that compliment their original sonic idea. Another method could be starting with a narrative that inspires the music's direction.

Albarn might use both methods to write his music, but, Plastic Beach is definitely constructed on the foundation of a linear story. His story is made of moods, characters, and themes to which Albarn expresses through music. As a result, I have chosen to review this album by telling the Story I Heard while listening to Plastic Beach.
=====

Part 1 of 16

Introduction: "Orchestral Intro" (Featuring sinfonia VIVA)

Gorillaz:: Orchestral Intro (Featuring sinfonia VIVA)

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what you could have done differently so as not to stand in your current situation then you understand my predicament precisely. To make a long story short, there is a painting. A painting that looked like it was worth no more than an eye sore or cluttered garage so I threw it away. It bore no absolute significance until one night, as I watched the news, a few aching words chased one another across the bottom of my television screen: “Money Hidden Inside Lost Painting.” In some cruel twist of fate, the painting lost was the painting tossed. Not seconds after those words ran, a treasure hunt was set ablaze all throughout the immediate region of Normalcy. Every man, woman, and child took to every garbage heap, every pawn shop, every museum, even their neighbors’ homes in search of the money within this painting; art that I was the last to see and that is well on its way to Plastic Beach. 


Plastic Beach, much like the money inside the painting, is rumored to hold all of Normalcy’s garbage. It is where all of the things that complicate our lives are sent to be forgotten and never seen again. So it is said, but never actually seen. There is no commercial water travel to Plastic Beach because most corporations and governments deny it exists. Although this place is refused, with some investigation I found that imagination and sense of adventure are still alive in some. With a flimsy lead, I stand amongst many at the busy Normalcy harbor as the cacophony of the seaport orchestrates into a symphony that should score the most romantic departure. There is no certainty, no true liaison, no set path; the only way to Plastic Beach is with the aid from a group of radicals that call themselves the Gorillaz.

Dead Weather Perform Sea of Cowards LIVE on MySpace

Dead Weather will perform their 2nd album, Sea of Cowards, LIVE on MySpace Music and band's MySpace page from the Live Room at Thrid Man Records in Nashville, TN on 5/3 at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST. On 5/2 MySpace will stream Sea of Cowards for 24 hours leading up to the live performance.

Also, embedded Ustream players at both Third Man Record and Dead Weather websites will show the new album playing on vinyl via live camera and audio stream on Friday April 30 at 10 AM PST/1 PM EST from both Nashville and Los Angeles with surprise guest DJs.

Did you get all of that?

MGMT to play Letterman Webcast

MGMT will perform a live on Letterman webcast show from the Ed Sullivan Theater Tuesday May 11th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT. This follows their Saturday performance on SNL in which they played "Flash Delirium" and "Brian Eno" from their most recent effort Congratulations. This performance should not be confused with their actual performance on the Late Night Show. It will be a web cast show at CBS.com that follows their televised performance. The webcast will be a full set that spans both Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations.

related:

Pitchfork sat down with the core duo of MGMT to discuss their new road-less-taken album.

SNL (the rhythm guitarist should be on the actual show with those facial expressions):

"Flash Delirium"



"Brian Eno"

beach house/"zebra" (uk radio edit)

While, I haven't been able to pick up the new Beach House album, Teen Dream, I have been able to listen to a few new tracks via live performances for Daytrotter and Pitchfork TV. The current release, via Sub Pop for the "Zebra" UK Radio Edit, just gives me an excuse to discuss one of my favorite songs of twenty-ten.

Beach House is primarily a two piece made of Victoria Legrand (vocals and keys) and Alex Scally (guitar); and as in any two piece it is important for each member to play to their strengths. "Zebra" showcases Beach House's understanding of this notion with the song's beautifully executed vocals and resonating guitar.

Where some songs are outright upbeat or others are straight-up-downers, "Zebra" resides in the gray area. Legrand sings an ode to the zebra with rhythmic elongation at the end of each line as if her words become a mist. You would have to talk to her to really know if the zebra stands for something more or represents a real person. However, I opt out of such analysis and merely decide to make one assumption: her song is not about the physical animal, but, the majestic spirit of the animal's deception.

Deception is usually represented as maniacal and immoral. However, Legrand chooses to marvel at its beauty. The the Zebra's deception is ornate within the meshed black and white stripes, further incorporate in the desert environment. "Zebra" poses a moral graying that makes you wonder if most things we consider bad can actually be valued. Her voice and words are musically complimented with Scally's guitar that lingers with downtrodden optimism and elevates to a triumphant tone. "Zebra" exemplifies Beach House's power of deception through their ability to mesh tone .

"Zebra" (UK Radio Edit) was taken from Beach Houses' limited Record Store Zebra EP.

Beach House:: Zebra (uk radio edit)

Future Islands/"Tin Man"

"Tin Man" is aptly named for it's center piece, the Steel Drum, and the metallic sound it creates. This sound is then layered with lead singer Samuel T. Hering's words or reconciliation and self discovery that he is the Tin Man (a man with no heart). "Tin Man" is clever in lyric and execution, however, it is not what is said that stands out, but, how these words are sung. Hering explodes out of your headphone speakers with guttural emotion and possessed character. While, Future Islands can find many companions within the verging artists found on most music blogs, it is Hering that distinguishes the band as something to be taken seriously.

"Tin Man" can be found on Future Island's Thrill Jockey debut, In Evening Air, out May 4th.

Future Islands:: Tin Man

[via pitchfork]

Surfer Blood/ Astro Coast

I still buy music. I might not buy a lot of music, but, it's mostly because I can't afford to. So I take a few things into account when I let myself loose in a record store:

One, the packaging. Buying music isn't often about the actual sound as much as it is about what the album art looks like. If the album art is shit, drab, inconsequential, then you might as well download the album because you're not missing the tangible artwork. So as I browse, a checker boarded Jaws-like shark ferociously emerging from the water lures me over. It's Surfer Blood's Astro Coast.

Two, recommendation. Was the album heralded by countless blogs and the most stringent of critics? Well, Astro Coast did get a 8.2 by Pitchfork and is in the Amoeba "We Recommend" section. I now stand face to face with an impending purchase.

Three, to support the artist. I could just go home and download this for free. But what about the cover. Cover? Who cares about that shit...free is free, effortless, no decision, no consequence, freeeeeeee.

As I hold a Burbank Label copy of Van Morrison's Hard Nose the Highway and have this weirdly overzealous conversation with my purchasing conscience, I pick up Astro Coast; and not pick up like actually buy it, but just pick it up, hold it in my hands, look at it, feel its weight, debate the risk vs. reward... This is $15 I'm never going to get back. Will Astro Coast give back?

This might seem melodramatic, if it wasn't a serious consideration. Lets face it, buying things these days is hard. I only buy yellow tagged items when I go grocery shopping . Oh I can save 60 cents on a bottle of salad dressing. DONE! So when I barely can squeeze out 2 bucks for Hidden Valley over the store brand (forget Newman's Own), $15 for a piece of art seems like a guilt in-fueling luxury. I place the album back on the rack.

But, look at this art work...I haven't seen cover art like this in a while, Amoeba recommends it, even Pitchfork didn't banish it, not to mention I would be totally hypocritical if I didn't buy it seeing as the only reason I am buying Hard Nose the Highway is because its front cover is of an astonished, salvation seeking Japanese shepherd looking towards the celestial night with cows made of stars behind him and on the reverse cover a portrait of Van Morrison poised in thought with an astronaut-point-of-view-sized moon serving as a backdrop. And of course what about the artists man, think about the artists (in a blown away, last breath before entering total enlightenment)...the artistsssss.

So I buy it. That wasn't so hard. Hard Nose the Highway and Astro Coast...that'll be $30 dollars. $30 dollars! Easy enough. Do I need a bag? I don't need no stinking bag. But for $30 dollars I'll take two. One for each purchase.

I get into the car, open it up, and am further impressed by the packaging. When you lift up the disc its reveals the jewel case background of an elderly couple sitting beneath an umbrella on the beach looking out on crashing waves. This coupled with the front cover of a ferocious shark gets my analytical juices flowing. What lives beneath the ocean surface? Of course lots of marine life...but, most pertaining to the Surfer Blood's name and cover art...the shark. The two packaging elements of the cover art and jewel case background contrasts. One's violent the other calm. Are the artists themselves eluding that their music like the effects of their packaging exudes a sound that feels like there is some danger, something darker beneath the surface. Will there be a contrast of sounds that are eloquently balanced to create the optimum music experience? Was this worth the 15 bucks?

No such luck. Surfer Blood's Astro Coast is not a shabby record, however, as an album it lacks a certain depth. Astro Coast has some juggernauts but not 10 of them nor $15 worth. "Swim" was the first single to hit the web and is a huge echoing anthem. It plays with catchy guitar riffs straight from '94, an island shuffle, and vocal production that is more Detroit Rock City than Vampire Weekend. I can see the mic getting turned on the crowd for the chanting "swim to reach the end." "Slow Jabroni" or "#8" (as I like to call it..."put on number eight!") epitomizes my original expectations and hence I consider it the lynchpin of the album. #8 is lazy and hazy with sweet falsetto vocals, layered over a drudge guitar, and loose string bass. It channels the feeling of insomnia or the worst rainy day hangover. But this is merely the beginning because upon the lyrical ultimatum "take some time to figure out, cause if you don't you're gonna do with out" a more pleasant tone is brought to surface. The Ibuprofen kicks in, the rain stops, the clouds lift, the road shines, you car is clean, and lead singer, John Paul Pitts, sings so lightly something so heavy in meaning, "there are no praises that are left to sing. There's just a wilderness of shame. If I knew you'd push away so savagely, then I'd back off. So take it easy on me, take it easy on me, take it easy on me." A true contrast of tone that eludes to something existing beneath the surface. Likened to all the things unsaid, the underlying agenda or feelings that embody the disenchantment that comes at the end of a relationship; #8 is the aural execution of this subtext.

Overall, Surfer Blood is awesome. They put forth a strong record full of moments. Perhaps it's my current financial rigidity that puts so much pressure on an album or just that everyone these days can only afford life changing experiences. And for that I tell myself, "hey buddy, cut these Surfer Blood dudes some slack." I do. I have. I've worn out Astro Coast on the most recent El Nino-Los Angeles, murky and overcast days...simply to drive to, not to change lives. However, just know you can skip the two bag trip, and buy numbers two and eight.

Surfer Blood:: Swim (to reach the end)

Surfer Blood:: Floating Vibes

Cibelle/"Lightworks" Video

So, I must be getting jaded by the blogosphere because there is less and less stuff that wow's me to the point where I need to hop on and spread the word to the 10 people that actually read this thing. But this can also serve as a note to self: "Cibelle and her "Lightworks" is so stimulating and vibrantly eccentric that she is an artist to watch out for."

I haven't heard of Cibelle prior to watching the video (for her cover of Raymond Scott's "Lightworks"/Dilla Donuts track/currently revisited by DOOM on his '09 release Born Like This), so I did some research. Cibelle has emerged from Sao Paulo, Brazil, with music that has been deemed unclassifiable, but, best as "tropical punk." She has a multitude of EP's and two full length albums The Shine of Dead Electric Leaves (2006) and Cibelle (2003). Her method has been described as "imagining a world, and then going to fulfill this world with the appropriate sounds and textures."

Her next album, Las Venus Resort Hotel, drops this Spring via Crammed Discs. Based on pictures and minimal exposure, I can best describe her (with no intention to type cast) as an M.I.A. fashioned Bebel Gilberto with a more "punk" than hip hop attitude. Although she has been performing since the age of six and her first LP was in '06, she seems fit to break in 2010.

Video here or below.

Free Energy/ "Hope Child" at Brooklyn Bowl

Ray Concepcion beautifully captures Free Energy's "Hope Child" for Pitchfork's "Tunnelvision." Free Energy is derivative music that stylistically could fit any Almost Famous classic rock mold. On record they sound like a more populist version of the Hold Steady-like bar band which is no reason to head over to their myspace, however, the video below is worth the 5 minutes.

Gil Scott-Heron/ "Me and the Devil" Video

First thing, in I'd say about a month (check my last post date), that sparked a "I need to share"/"I need to discuss" fire in my brain.

Directors, Coodie & Chike and Michael Sterling Eaton, portray skate culture as a mysteriously deviant voodoo gang. The video captures the sweeping movement of skating within the haunting city night. Like most videos out there, "Me and the Devil" isn't exceptional or "post-worthy" because they well...are in congruent to the song or are just flat out flat. However, for me Gil Scott-Heron's voice and consequential musical track brings about powerful images of a man that has once lived, died, and now speaks to us from the beyond. (Not to say he is Jesus or anything, but, he sings like a man on the brink.) The song over shadows, but, the video compliments nicely.

"Brother Sport" Video

Animal Collective continually prove they are a factory of ideas. Vision and execution pervail in this childish psyche explosion of color. Feels like a coloring book laid over/then integrated with real life images.

Is it summer yet?

"Big Wave Rider" by Rainbow Bridge.

Pigeons/"Tendress"

Pigeons' "Tendress" is the sound of dark seduction. The echoing psyche guitar or high pitched whine of female vocals where female control projects images of sorcery and black magic. A woman winging within the hallows a dark basement huddles over your voodoo. Where will the needles land? "Tendress" can be found on the Lunettes 7" on Soft Abuse.

Pigeons:: Tendress

Mos Def/"24 Hour Karate School"

Kanye posted new "24 Hour Karate School" from Mos Def. Track was produced by Jay Z beatmaker Ski Beatz. Track showcases all the low key too high to pronunciate flow that we all have come to dig.

Beck's Record Club/Skip Spence's Oar

Beck's Record Club is currently covering Alexander "Skip" Spence's Oar. Jamie Lidell sings vocals on "War in Peace" which features some great guitar solos by Wilco guitarist Nels Cline. "Weighted Down" features Feist on lead vocals and has a deeper impact than "War in Peace." Regardless, both tracks are amazing and caused me to immediately add Skip Spence's Oar to my Amazon Wish List. I suppose that's the point of all of this.

Winter Mix-In a Recession

*disclaimer: The songs in this mix are songs that I enjoy and figure people should hear. If you own the copyright and want them taken down, please contact and I will do so.

The Holidays are an emotional running in from the cold. A time to warm near a fire place, eat until stuffed, and pass along some long overdue love in form of material gestures. Today, in 2009, it is a greater struggle to the confront the chill that Winter poses. The contrast between gloom and cheer is never more apparent than in the month of December.

In a Recession, isn't depressing or pessimistic; however, it starts with the understanding that it is cold outside, it is poor outside, it is hard to live during the Winter. As the mix plays, it, like us, seeks refuge in warm tone and Holiday flavor. Due to time constraints, it isn't a fine tuned mix; but, In a Recession is a rough sketch of how this time of the year feels to me.

May we never be too proud to come in from the cold and accept a warm meal. Once inside, may we never forget what it was like to freeze, nor, hide from what it means to live.

[DOWNLOAD]

winter mix- in a recession (68mb)

winter mix 09- in a recession

Best of '09: Animal Collective/Merriweather Post Pavilion

Tons has been said about Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, so its hard for me to say something that hasn't been already. I suppose, when you set aside the record itself, this album is far larger than the sound Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), and Geologist (Brian Weitz) created. This album marks the emergence of a creative powerhouse. From the cover/packaging to the actual music itself, nothing is bland and nothing is expected. Most writers always solute the blank page. The idea that the power within any creater is the ability to make something out of nothing. When listening to music (especially the basic variety) you can usually come to the conclusion of how one achieved the sound. Try doing that with any song on Merriweather Post Pavilion. I can remember upon first listen wondering how the fuck a band could conceptualize such an intricate sound. Animal Collective, like everyone else, started with a blank page and through whatever process made intricate electronic music palatable to the masses.

"My Girls" descends from the universal unknow to a shimmering array of vocal harmony and wet percussion that expresses an apologetic need for simplicity, "there isn't much that I feel I need/a solid soul and the blood I bleed/But with a little girl, and by my spouse/I only want a proper house." SImplicity in ethos, but, never in its musical expression, MPP contains songs that need multiple lessons. I remember giving my brother, college age, the CD already knowing that this disc best plays to the ears of those that aren't still hearing "Poker Face" on a weekly basis (my brother doesn't subriscribe to the GaGa but its party music and hears it nonetheless) I thumbnailed a few tracks for him, noting my infatuation with "Brother Sport" and that it is a "song that grows on you." A month later when we met up at Coachella, I asked him what he thought of MPP. He liked it...nothing special,but, he liked it. Perhaps he didn't get it. I asked about "Brother Sport." He claimed it was the song he liked the least. This couldn't be true. "Brother Sport," in a panicked spurt of description, is fire, it is revolutionary, it is my favorite. He needed another listen. I countered with simply playing it on the way to the festival. I can't remember his exact words, but, I do remember him realizing what made the song so special. Its magic lying within the prolonged build up of electronic twinkle to then drop off into resonate vocals and light tribal percussion. This traditional song structure plays like that of a great realization and is the most potent way to arouse emotion. Perhaps my brother didn't understand it to this degree, but, he absolutely felt the wonder.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is full of these moments. So it is no surprise, that Animal Collective orchestrated an album that was talked about, mulled over, understood, and misunderstood. Amidst the pumping bass, Beach-Boy-like vocal harmony, and electronic sampling, Animal Collective calmly says, "all you need is your mind and a few simple tools to be something special."

To the blank page.

Animal Collective:: Brother Sport

Animal Collective:: My Girls

WU LYF/"Heavy Pop"

The mysterious group/artist WU LYF is something to get excited about. I have never heard anything like it and wouldn't know what genre to compare it to. "Heavy Pop" is a piece of work that shows the potential of music as a way to paint an environment. Listen to it and decide where you think the singer is. Is he on an island, at the beach, in a studio, in a club... Where you are coming from is equally, if not more, important than what you have to say.

I saw him singing in a prison-like 4x4 cement room. Crying out madly for attention and despite his isolation. While, there is a bed of instrumentation, the singer feels utterly alone and a times you often loose sound of the guitar and drums. What has been called "Heavy Pop" is cathartic, love-deprived, tortured, and a well executed musical emotion.

WU LYF:: Heavy Pop

Alex Bleeker and the Freaks/"Oh Boy" (girls cover) ft. Molly Sarle

Alex Bleeker and the Freaks along with Molly Sarle of Mountain Man covered an unreleased Girls' song "Oh Boy." As posted by Chocolate Bobka, Bleeker and Sarle give a truly emotional and heartfelt rendition of the song. The song is mournful while trying to be hopeful. You could hear a pin drop at this live show hinting that this is undeniably a gripping piece of music.

Alex Bleeker and the Freaks:: Oh Boy (girls cover ft. Molly Sarle)