K so this blog is probably going to get less attention from me. I'll be putting more energy into MCV MCV, and probably posting more tunes straight to Tumblr. Here are some quick hits:
Track in my head: Sebastien Tellier - Roche which I posted to Tumblr. So smooth. So synthy. So French.
Here are some new tracks off of Flying Lotus' next album, Los Angeles.
Muxtape is a very simple site: just upload some tracks and you've got an instantly shareable mixtape. Nice UI.
Did you know that Clinic recently put out another album? Did you know that it sounds like all their other albums? Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Clinic has been playing the same songs for 10 years now. Why they continue to exist is a little bit beyond me – yes, Internal Wrangler and Walking With Thee were great in their day, but... really? Still playing the same old punk-filtered-through freak circus punk? Maybe there are die-hard Clinic fans out there who really need more of this stuff, and actually, Clinic are still “good.” The songs I’m posting here are "good." Clinic know what they want to do, and they do it well. They get paid along the way, too, and I’m happy that they’ve built the success of their early EPs and albums into a long career. Anyway, these songs are a good introduction to Clinic, because really any song from their entire catalog would do.
Clinic - Free Not Free [Do It! LP, 2008]
Clinic - Emotions [Do It! LP, 2008]
Thanks to my friend Rainbo Video, I've been blessed with the complete discography of Kompakt records through 2006. Every so often I'll dig through and check out a random album. Lately I've been listening to Michael Mayer's Immer mix, which shows how textures and clicks can be formed into something danceable, or at least something highly head-noddable. It gets a little too melodramatic for me towards the end, but the first 9 tracks or so are all really good, especially 3-9. You can download the best one right now, or just grab the album from the second link. I've posted a lot of Kompakt stuff already, but this is a really good introduction to the label.
Carsten Jost - You Don't Need A Weather Man (Superpitcher remix) [Immer, 2002]
Michael Mayer - Immer
It's always a good sign when multiple people grab you to say "dude, you must see this band." This happened to me a couple of months ago with Cornelius, and I'm glad I went. He and his band (collectively, the Cornelius Group) put on a very enjoyable rock show, with extremely technical audio-visual synchronization. He's not doing anything that's going to rocket him to the blog stratosphere, but if you like rock music (ha) these tracks should be up your alley. Let me just mention now that The Smashing Pumpkins sit at the top of my own personal Olympus of rock bands, and I hear some of those arena-rock leanings in Cornelius, especially "Beep It."
Cornelius - Beep It [Sensuous LP, 2007]
Cornelius - Music [Sensuous LP, 2007]
So, when is Boom Bip going to hit the big time? He's a couple of albums in to his career, he already picked up and moved to LA, and his last solo EP was killer. Now comes Neon Neon, a project with Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals. While I'm personally excited about this project, and the two songs I'm posting couldn't be any better, I'm not sure this is what he needs to be putting out right now.
The name of the group and the title of the album, Stainless Style, pretty much give things away here. On last year's Sacchrilege EP, Boom Bip put together a sound that borrowed heavily from disco and 80's pop, while also keeping in touch with the 'maximal' style that will define 2007. (Justice? Good, but also overrated, my friends, let's see a second album) Stainless Style takes that sound and ditches any pretension of being dancefloor-friendly, leaving behind loads of 80's pop references. The first few synth stabs of "I Told Her on Alderaan" would sound cheesy in almost any context, but Boom Bip can pull it off. "Steel Your Girl" is a tremendous pop song helped out by Gruff's sweet-sounding harmonies.
As great as this music is - it's easily the best thing I've heard this year - I can't help but feel that Boom Bip could be producing club hits on par with the other heavy hitters in the indie dance world. I love Gruff and SFA, but Boom Bip doesn't need help from that audience. I personally welcome more songs about Princess Leia's home planet. I really just want to see Boom Bip make a run at the pop world, though. Hopefully this is a start. Who would stop him?
Neon Neon - I Told Her on Alderaan [Stainless Style LP, 2008]
Neon Neon - Steel Your Girl [Stainless Style LP, 2008]
Hey! Student's role within the music blogging community should be to feed on the scraps that more prolific bloggers have left behind. I would be more aware of this situation, and possibly be able to contribute things that are actually new, if I were to read more music blogs. Frankly, though, everyone's opinion is worthless, you guys are all two-bit hacks, and your taste is horrible. I don't have the time, let alone the willpower, to download your puny offerings.
With that, I present to you Hey! Student's BEST SONG OF 2007, which you should definitely download. It's "Map of Africa," by Map of Africa. This CD was featured in the front window of many Japanese record stores, +1. It's also got a sweet, enigmatic cover, so +2. Really, I like this music because it's not trying to do anything too trendy for these modern times, it's just a couple of dudes playing simple songs that don't sound overproduced. If you read the lyrics to "Map of Africa" you could easily think this is a product of nauseating irony, but no, he does just want to make a map of Afirca "all in your pretty bed, babe." Seriously!
I also highly recommend the other track here, "Bone," which has a great keyboard line. How many songs of the past year can claim that?
Map of Africa - Map of Africa [Map of Africa LP, 2007]
Map of Africa - Bone [Map of Africa LP, 2007]
