Young MC Still On Planet Earth
Tossing that AutoTune shit aside for slowing down tempo and pitch, Young MC reminds us he’s still relevant with this new recording. Download only if Bust A Move isn’t just an addicting video game to you.
What Planet Is Kanye West On?
This year, for my birthday, I watched the VMAs. Every year, MTV becomes the relative you barely see anymore and gives you a present to remind you just how out of touch they are with your life. I never payed attention to these Jonas boys but if there is one word I want to use when describing my musical taste, it’s definitely “safety”. The night concluded with a performance live via the end of the world (apparently) from Kanye West debuting his new single.
Is there anyone more inconsistent than Kanye West? Don’t criticize because the man will literally fight you. Sure, he gives a pretty bizarre performance at the VMAs but you know what? I actually liked it. Kudos, Kanye.
You see, I really want to like Kanye West. I really do. The album he produced for Common was some of Common’s best work in my opinion. I think Kanye West is a uniter. He is the key to getting you closer to your “regular” friends; an act you can both sit down and enjoy. But man, he BLEW IT with his last album. In the war between him and 50 Cent, neither won. Both albums were horrendous.
But here we go again with a new single. It’s not another “Stronger” but you know I actually kind of liked that song when it first came out. Kanye is the king of putting out great singles that annoy the hell out of you a month after the fact. Anyhoo, now we have “Love Lockdown”. It makes you wonder where he’s going with all of this. After downloading 5 different leaks of it, I buckled and bought the single from iTunes and wouldn’t you know it, the production is still sloppy and gritty as hell. But you know what? Maybe that’s how I like my Kanye.
History Lesson: LL Cool J
Is Old Spice / LL Cool J killin’ it or what?
Fwiday with Don Rimini & TANZ / TANZ
So France’s own Don Rimini released a beast called “Hools” that absolutely crushes. It will probably be remixed to death but Swiss duo TANZ / TANZ throw their remix out there early. The result is epic.
Hey remember when I used to post a lot of music? Consider this the start of what I like to call “getting back on the horse”.
Divine Machine
Divine Machine is what happens when the love of analog meets the obsession of horror. And it never hurts to have one of the most talented tattoo artists in the country, Cory Cudney, taking his passion of said genre and plowing it through Buffalo, NY. One listen of any of their recordings draws so many parallels to Goblin or any other soundtracks of your typical 70s / 80s horror films. It’s one thing to try and recreate aura of the era, but it’s another to make it enjoyable, which Divine Machine does very well. You may remember another act that is currently dabbles in horror samples… a small French outfit named Justice. Pushing any sampling aside, Divine Machine could easily be mistaken for the real deal sounds of anything from Italian to early 80s American pulp horror. Remaining relatively low key, Divine Machine is quite an impressive sound.
Who Will Remix Paper Planes Now?
Continuing on with posting weekly Paper Planes remixes, this one comes from MC Chris. Is it time yet for M.I.A. to put this song into retirement yet? So many people have put their hand in this song at this point and unless something blows me away, this is going to be the last Paper Planes remix I post. Enjoy it.
Where Were The Parents?
In the 70s, your parents may have missed the boat on some things. They probably liked The Beatles and the Rolling Stones but then fell into disco and did tons of drugs and then OOPS! Kids! Now, I wasn’t around in the 70s. I’m only in my mid-twenties. But being the curious MP3 blogger that I am, I enjoy finding out about a lot of eras of music, especially the decade that apparently inspired a bunch of potheads to turn into a bunch of cokeheads; the 70s. Kind of like the 90s into the new millennium.
I had a nightmare dream that I had a son and daughter and they asked me “What did the people who didn’t like Kayne West listen to?” That’s when I dusted off my old 4th gen iPod from a box in the basement and played them Kylie Minogue? Right. So the point is, what did people who didn’t like ABBA and The Bee Gees listen to? Hmmm…..
Christian Gaubert was a composer for a lot of French films. In 1976, he created this epic disco track for a marginally decent documentary called Sex O’Clock USA. What is better? The fact something is called “Sex O’Clock” or the fact USA is tagged at the end? Does “Sex O’Clock” reference a specific time for sex or is that sometime usually before bed? Whatever the case, at least it had a halfway decent soundtrack.
Christian Gaubert - Baby Come On
Contrary to popular belief, the are more than two music acts that came out of Canada that don’t include Rush or Bryan Adams. Erotic Drum Band sure had some great albums such as “Plug Me To Death” and “Touch Me Where It’s Hot”. Jesus. It’s disco’s Spinal Tap. This percussion heavy disco act was blazing in Canada. Americans simply didn’t know what the fuss was about.
Erotic Drum Band - Plug Me To Death
And what would dance music be without a little Latin flavor (ie Ricky Martin)? After Fernando Arbex split with his drug-fueled blues band-mate in the early 70s, the next logical step was writing disco music. And that is just what Fernando did. Not to be confused with the bandit from the children’s tale The Bible, Barrabás, was Arbex’s next project.
And if you haven’t noticed, this stuff is a bit catchy. So throw some of this stuff in your next mix. If any of this followed whatever Ed Banger song you were playing, you’d have instant disco cred.
Shrouded In Secrecy
Among a lot of the garbage you can find on MP3 blogs, sometimes you come across some real keepers. There have probably been two real great acts that Discodust and Winnie Cooper have brought to my attention that I really need to start hearing more of. But instead of rehashing the same songs you can find on said blogs, here’s a couple different pieces.
First, The Golden Filter. No one knows shit about them. But this stuff is ridiculously hot. The end.
Second, Diskokaine pretty much came out of nowhere… sort of. If you needed further proof that people from Austria also make the best websites, you should should probably check out this. But here’s “America Fcuk Yeah” which samples AOL Instant Messenger (Mac version). I shit you not.
Diskokaine - American Fcuk Yeah
And a great music video for another song:
Genghis Tron Remix Series
Genghis Tron is one of those bands that cross so many genres and boundaries in taste that it’s really not hard to enjoy at least something they are doing. Back when I used to run Kitchen Distribution with my friends, these guys were always one of our favorite acts to roll through and paved some memorable moments at our humble little art space. The success they’ve attained over the years is really well deserved for just how soft spoken and genuine these guys really are, which really is a complete mismatch for their music; loud and bananas.
So today Genghis Tron announced some details of their remix series of their last album Board Up The House. It’s five different releases on five different labels. And to top it all off, they’ve really pooled up some talent to produce what will no doubt be some fascinating music. Everyone from Dntel to Black Moth Super Rainbow to Lucky Dragons to Telefon Tel Aviv is taking a stab at this.
To wet your taste buds a little, here is Rob Crow (of Pinback and Goblin Cock fame) taking a crack at Things Don’t Look Good:
Bloody Beetroots Mini-Mix
XLR8R just posted a nice little mix from The Bloody Beetroots and it nearly disabled my speakers. It’s pretty loud. From XLR8R:
Hailing from Italy, The Bloody Beetroots are currently making gritty music for dirty dance floors worldwide, with performances booked in three different continents over the next few months. Despite a busy schedule of rocking parties and swigging Grappa, the Marvel-masked duo found time to cook up a mini-mix of their latest tracks and remixes for the XLR8R podcast. The eight tracks here include reworkings of MSTRKRFT’s “Bounce” and Cabaret Voltaire’s “Sensoria,” as well as a few cuts of the duo’s own work. Energy is in no short supply here, so prepare yourself to work up some electro-tinged sweat.
Tracklisting
1. The Bloody Beetroots feat. Congorock “ROMBO”
2. The Bloody Beetroots feat. Cècile “Have a Mercy on Us (Preview)”
3. Mstrkrft “Bounce (Bloody Beetroots 90’s Remix)”
4. The Bloody Beetroots “Yeyo”
5. Cabaret Voltaire “Sensoria (Bloody Beetroots vs. Sirbilly Remix/Bootleg)”
6. The Aston Shuffle “Stomp Yo (Bloody Beetroots Remix)”
7. Mstrkrft “Bounce (Bloody Beetroots Remix)”
8. Cazals “Somebody, Somewhere (Bloody Beetroots Remix)”