Yo yo yo

All of our files are down, we know. We're all kind of busy right now but we'll figure something out eventually. The music must go on right? The world needs our mp3s!

This summer I'm listening to Nagisa Ni Te, check out their album "On The Love Beach." How's that for some avant garde mp3 blogging huh?? HUHH?????

Could have been a jackrabbit [Skygreen Leopards]

New Skygreen Leopards!
New Skygreen Leopards!

The new album, Gorgeous Johnny, is good. "Just in time for summer." California California California San Francisco, "lazy," "slow," "kind of hippy." I dunno what to say about music anymore. Skygreen Leopards are my favorite band from SF, so I'm just happy to listen to be able to hear new stuff, they've been off and on over the past few years.

The Skygreen Leopards - Gorgeous Johnny [Gorgeous Johnny, 2009]

The Skygreen Leopards - Paid by the Hour [Gorgeous Johnny, 2009]

King Khan sound from Japan [The Ton-up Motors]

The Ton-Up Motors live at Bar Jam in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Finally spending time in Japan yields a good new band. The Ton-Up Motors played an amazing show when I saw them a few months ago, playing a very LOUD style of rock that reminded me right away of King Khan. The lead singer is crazy although not in the don't-give-a-fuck way like Khan, more in an "oh my god is he gonna kill me?" kind of way. Click on that first picture to see his facial expression better, he's really into looking right at people in the audience. It's exciting, I enjoyed it.

The band plays soulish punk rock, and the singer has the Suntory-and-cigarettes voice to back it up. The recording of their album was a little bit cleaner than I would like, but I think you can still that they're a real rock band. Enjoy!!

Note: I used online translation for some parts of the titles, so the English is not exact. Strangely enough I am most sure about "Right Hand Man Fire"

The Ton-up Motors - Stupid Smile (バカ笑い大将) [Soul is Dynamite, 2009]

The Ton-up Motors - Our Ballad (俺達のバラッド) [Soul is Dynamite, 2009]

The Ton-up Motors - Right Hand Man Fire (右腕ファイヤー) [Soul is Dynamite, 2009]

BRUTAL BASS SOUND [RSD]

I'm living in Japan now. A friend here recently sent me an email with a link to a mix he did, saying "enjoy brutal bass sounds." I've never really gotten into dubstep (still do not understand Burial except when paired with Four Tet) but this is gonna do it for me.

RSD - Jah Way

I Was Wondering How You Felt.

I'm going to go with this.

1) Wowee Zowee (Black Out!)
2) Slanted And Enchanted (Zurich Is Stained!)
3) Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Stop Breathin'!)
4) Brighten The Corners (Stereo!)
5) Terror Twilight (You Are A Light!)

Pavement – Black Out [Wowee Zowee, 1995]

Black Moth Super Rainbow

----[[[[]]]]----

Black Moth Super Rainbow – American Face Dust [Eating Us, 2009]

Major Lazer

MLlll

Major Lazer: Diplo, Switch, Santigold.

Thank You For Making This Happen, God.

Major Lazer – Hold The Line [Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do, 2009]

UPDATE:

Major Lazer – Hold The Line (Ghislain Poirier Remix)

Great moments in Hey! Student comments

La Dentista! has left a new comment on your post "AFX Coachella set [Aphex Twin]":

I Saw Aphex Twin this year, on the 4th of April. It was BRUTAL.
After 2 hours of awesome acid/techno, the visuals were replaced by autopsies of transexuals and sickening scat porn.
Nobody danced, nobody leaved..You werent sure why you were still looking at the screen, while the most gruesome noise was coming out of the speakers at 120 dB.......
It took about 25-30 minutes till the promotor pulled the plug out.

Only Richard D. James could get away with that!

Hey! Student Mixtape #1

Today's a particularly wonderful day in New York City, a balmy though pleasant 85 degrees and sunny. To celebrate what I'm calling the first day of Summer in NYC, I bring upon our loyal readership the inaugural Hey! Student Mixtape.

I laid down this 30-minute bite-size mix earlier this afternoon. Styles that can be heard run from italo disco to french house to electro revival, and all of it will surely get you in the dancing mood.

Hey! Student Mixtape #1

Tracklist:

1) Five Letters – “Tha Kee Tha Tha”
2) M.E. –“R&B Drunkie”
3) Alan Braxe – “Most Wanted”
4) Material & Nona Hendryx – “Bustin’ Out”
5) Kaos – “Feel Like I Feel”
6) Was (Not Was) – “Out Come the Freaks”

Any feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!

Not-new Super Furry Animals

SFA OK

Matt's post about the new SFA album comes at an interesting time, as I have just been heavily digging their last one, Hey Venus!, which is great. It never showed up on my radar, but I picked it out while flipping through the catalog at this place in Phnom Penh which sells you mp3s. Such is my laziness...

The songs on this album are definitely up to the standard set by their "golden" albums like Radiator and Guerrilla. (I like Phantom Power a lot too) This one has a track called "Baby Ate My Eightball." That's a funny title, plus the song is good.

Super Furry Animals - Baby Ate My Eightball [Hey Venus!, 2007]
Super Furry Animals - The Gift That Keeps Giving [Hey Venus!, 2007]

New Super Furry Animals

The SFA

Haven't heard the whole album, but wanted to post this song, as this is the Internet age, and I've already lost my patience somehow.

Before I go, though, I'd like to take a moment to celebrate the fact that, you know: SFA are great. Rather: Were, are, will continue to be. Some of my fondest memories of college are biking to the cleaners to Rings Around The World – especially 'Receptacle,' right before it descends into a Gwarr-y hellscape.

Well done, guys.

Super Furry Animals – White Socks / Flip Flops [Dark Days / Light Years, 2009]

Blitzen Trapper

So, Blitzen Trapper. I like these guys okay...Say, 7 out of 10. It's easy folk, and, for all of the Pavement comparisons they get, they're actually much closer to something like CSNY: good'n'pretty'n'kinda'boring. However, when it comes to their Big Hit, Wild Mountain Nation, I've got to tip my hat, avert my eyes, bow in gratitude, and slink backwards out of the room. Malkmus, who ended up doing a few shows with them last year, summed the situation up nicely:

I was blown away by that (song). But then Janet’s like, ‘That song is absolutely amazing, but don’t worry, not every song on the album is that good. They’re not going to completely shred us.’

Honestly, I'd be shocked to see these guys doing any shredding whatsoever, let alone of the fucking Jicks. But this song will make your day, gar-on-teed.

Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation [Wild Mountain Nation, 2007]

Two dancefloor burners

Nothing much to report here. Just two tracks of pure disco enjoyment, and a picture of Superpitcher to get you in the dancing mood.

Mark E - R&B Drunkie (10/10 hotness factor)
Panthers - Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Disco Dub) (like 8/10)

In The Studio: Dan Deacon

Above: Dan Deacon puts the finishing touches on his new LP, Bromst.

"What's the significance of the title?"
"Bromst? It's like when a dragon wakes up and it's not horny, but it knows it could easily become, ah, horny."

New DFA goodness [The Juan Maclean]

image courtesy Google Reader

I think the new Juan Maclean Album is a small success. Less Than Human was kind of like the underrated #7 hitter to LCD Soundsystem's cleanup swagger. (These are the kind of metaphors you get with an off-brand mp3 blog) It made sense for LCD and Juan to tour together back in 2005 (the Sony Playstation tour, ha) but that's not true anymore: LCD has stayed somewhat close to a "rock" sound on the last couple of albums, but Juan Maclean is going very electronic on this album.

With the exception of the single "Happy House," this album is not quite ready for the dancefloor, but it's pretty close. I think Juan might be just be waiting for a couple of friendly remixers to come along to really make these songs bump.

In a way this album is like what Out Hud did going from their first to second albums - this one is a lot more stripped down, closer to the dancefloor and features female vocals (from LCD's Nancy) up front.

The Juan Maclean - The Simple Life [The Simple Life, 2009]
The Juan Maclean - No Time [The Simple Life, 2009]

Lazpod

Damian Lazarus, founder of Crosstown Rebels

Lazpod is a monthly podcast collated and curated by Damian Lazarus, founder of the excellent UK-based electronic music label Crosstowns Rebels. Yet despite Crosstowns' pension for the electronic, Lazpod is surprisingly varied and illustrates Mr. Lazarus impeccable and incredibly diversified taste in music. In short, he's what DJs should aspire to be.

A musical grab-bag, Lazpod plays everything, including:

Tropicalia

Spaghetti Western soundtracks

80's Top 40 synth pop

Nursery rhymes

Minimal techno

70s funk and soul

Golden age rap

Obscure covers of famous pop songs

This is what radio is supposed to be: non-discriminatory. Lazarus' motto is "if it sounds good, than play it."

You can download Lazpod here. Some of my favorites are Lazpod 4 (it's got one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now") and the South American infected Lazpod 8.

Nimoy!

Music To Watch Space Girls By

I can't claim to be much of a Trek watcher, but for whatever reason, I've always had a particular admiration for the work of Leonard Nimoy: His two autobiographies (I Am Not Spock [1977] / I Am Spock [1995]), his wondrous turn in Information Society's Pure Energy, his recent jaunt into BBW photography. Which is all to say I was not surprised, my friends, to find myself in awe of this -- his 1967 opus, the secretly great Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space.

True, it may appear like some shameless, assembly-line bit of Trek-schlock, but in time, I've come to think of it as A.O. Scott does The Wrestler: "It’s a bit phony, perhaps, but to refuse to embrace [the subject's] deep hokiness would be to cheat yourself of some of the profound pleasure it offers."

Yes: Nimoy – perhaps the only Jew on Earth gifted with a listenable baritone – really seems to've put his heart into this album, and that is what makes it so endlessly, inconceivably good. This thing has everything from the solemn spoken word to the lighthearted '60s romp, from mini-plays ("A Visit To A Sad Planet") to torch songs ("Lost In The Stars" -- co-written by Kurt Weill!), and even a bizarre closing track about a sea war ("Amphibious Assault"). Why Nimoy took this so seriously, and how he actually ended up succeeding, our simple human minds may never be able to fathom.

Oh, Music From Outer Space. If only we had more things like you down here on Earth.

Leonard Nimoy – Spock Thoughts [Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, 1967]
Leonard Nimoy – Highly Illogical [Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, 1967]

Some More Fine German Electronic Music [Efdemin + Mobilee Records]

Germany continues to be the leader in fresh electronic music. Home to many of the best electronic music labels (Kompakt, Bpitch Control, Perlon, Trapez, et al), I feel like Germany's electronic music scene is difficult, nay impossible, to beat today. A couple of fresh new mixes from some Germans are here to continue the streak.

First up, Efdemin. Efdemin's self-titled debut made it on my top ten list for 2007, and with good reason. Efdemin's style is certainly minimal but also efficient, milking sonic pleasure from the smallest musical elements, such as a dry snare or simple bell chime. His smartly titled mix CD, Carry On - Pretend We're Not in the Room, is equally as wonderful, mixed with deep house ("Soul Revival"), mimimal techno ("Blank Scenario") and even spoken word ("Watcha Waiting For?"). The spoken samples are perhaps the standout element of this mix - the beat verses in "Watcha Waiting For" are wonderfully abstract, and the use of a Gus Van Sant short, Do Easy ("Doiicie (A)"), and Gossip Girl monologue (gasp!!!) are clever pop culture nods. Here's a couple of tracks from the mix below:

The Showroom Recording Series - Watcha Waiting For? [Carry On- Pretend We're Not in the Room Mix, 2008]

Minilogue - Doiicie (A) [Carry On- Pretend We're Not in the Room Mix, 2008]

Next is the inaugural podcast from Mobilee Records, another fine German mimimal techno shop. Though strictly mimimal techno, abstract vocal snippets are peppered throughout to give the mix an organic feel. Something great to listen to at night to melt away the daily grind.

"Relentless Nights" (Mobilee Records Podcast 001)

These podcasts are set to be released on a monthly basis, so RSS junkies, update your reader apps!

Finely Cut Electronic [Rex the Dog]

adorable aesthetic with a bite

I first got turned onto Rex the Dog when I heard his single "I Look Into Mid-Air" on the nearly perfect Kompakt Total 6 Compilation in Winter 2005. There is an undeniable sonic and visual aesthetic with this fantastic cut-up electro artist. First, the music: Rex the Dog produces bangers that are sonically dense, finely cutting synths, drums and vocals in hyper-rhythmic fashion. Second, the visual: Rex the actual dog (pictured above), who is featured in all of Rex the Dog's music videos and cover artwork, is absolutely adorable. Who says electronic music lovers can't "feel"?

Case in point: watch the music video for the song "Bubblicious" below and if you aren't smiling and nodding your head in absolute glee, I owe you a coke:



Also, for your listening pleasure, check out two additional Rex the Dog tracks below:

Rex the Dog - I Look Into Mid-Air

The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog remix)

Dub Punk [The Ruts + Mad Professor]

Still waiting for "Volume 2"

Music inherently is an art form that builds on itself, often developing new genres by mixing previous ones. Rock sprung from jazz and the blues, house music from minimalism and disco, hip-hop from funk and so forth. However, sometimes new music forms are created by literally slapping two seemingly opposing genres together to create something wonderful. Such is the case with the marriage of punk and dub.

Lately I've been listening to a great piece of "dub punk" called Rhythm Collision, an LP produced by the punk group the Ruts and modern dub aficionado Mad Professor. Originally released in 1982, Rhythm Collision is two music genres bringing the best out of each other. Filtering punk music through dub gave the former greater sonic diversity, while dub itself was given greater notoriety and respect by attaching itself to a popular music genre at the time. While punk groups like Public Image Ltd., the Clash and the Slits made punk music that incorporated elements of reggae and dub, Rhythm Collision represents a rare musical work where the two genres are given equal standing.

Ultimately, Rhythm Collision is proof that what's on paper doesn't necessarily translate to what is practiced. The seemingly contrary marriage of dub and rock is now widely accepted, with many modern rock bands, particularly those of the dance-rock persuasion, emphasizing dub in their musical compositions. It's safe to say that Rhythm Collision helped bring that reality to fruition.

The Ruts/Mad Professor - Push Yourself (Make it Work) [Rhythm Collision LP, 1982]

The Ruts/Mad Professor - Weak Heart Dub [Rhythm Collision LP, 1982]