mp3s for sampling only. you should really be buying this stuff on vinyl anyway. if you are the owner of a sound file, and would like it removed, holler at us.
I understand that Lykke Li has a bit of a crush on Bon Iver, so apparently she asked Justin Vernon and crew to lend their talents to this impromptu version of "Dance Dance Dance," shot Take Away Show-style around a fountain in L.A. Featuring some nice sunny harmonies and never-before-seen dance moves from Ms. Li:
Our weekly GvsB Sirius radio show aired today at noon and will replay at midnight EST on Left of Center. Brand new stuff this week from Nite Jewel, Little Joy, Crystal Stilts, White Hinterland, Amadou & Mariam, and more. You can listen right here, for free. Full playlist for this week + some mp3s after the jump...Labels: blog radio, mp3
Empire of the Sun's forthcoming Walking on a Dream LP is one of my most anticipated albums that's still left to be released in '08, based solely on the strength of the sublime title track. Until now. Luke Steele + Nick Littlemore are streaming 5 album tracks on their myspace page, and despite the totally annoying new myspace music interface, they're definitely worth a listen. "Standing on the Shore" is particularly tight. You can also stream an additional track here. Walking on a Dream is out October 4.Labels: empire of the sun, mp3
Labels: devendra banhart, little joy, polaroid
As usual, this year's Austin City Limits Festival was a laid back affair, made even more pleasant than normal by the relatively balmy weather -- we were blessed with a nice steady breeze, and even a few occasional clouds this year -- but I spent most of the fest running around trying to see as much as possible. Here are some highlights:
Labels: austin city limits festival, holga, polaroid
Labels: bodies of water, coconot, el guincho, mp3
In the latest installment from our friends at La Blogotheque, The Walkmen play one of my favorite songs from You & Me, "Four Provinces" -- apparently once called "Hey Leah" -- while taking a late-night, possibly drunken stroll through the streets of San Francisco earlier this spring. After you watch this clip, play around with La Blogotheque's fancy new player there to view another clip of the band playing "I Lost You."
Labels: blogotheque, flying lotus, takeaway shows, the walkmen
Aussies Cut Copy come to TX next week, and our friends at the Granada have hooked us up 5 pairs of tix to give away for Tuesday night's show. Email us at gorillavsbearcontests@gmail.com if you'd like to go, and I'll pick the winners on Monday. Their homies the Presets will kick off the party, and while I've never really gotten into them, CFCF's consistently tight remixes always tend to make me reconsider (via HRO):Labels: cut copy, granada theater, the presets, TX
Labels: beggars, el guincho, little joy, mp3, RATATAT
Labels: banjo or freakout, covers, invisible conga people, mp3
Here's the new video for Deerhoof's "Fresh Born," from their upcoming Offend Maggie LP. This nonsensical, slightly disorienting clip stars a confrontational stuffed gorilla with a mini-baseball bat, alleviating those concerns from the other day that the band had shed some of its collective eccentricity. Turns out that's not the case at all. Can't wait to see these guys at FFFFest.
Labels: fleet foxes, little boots, mp3, obama, wilco
Labels: amadou et mariam, damon albarn, esau mwamwaya, mp3
Labels: diplo, flying lotus, mp3, radiohead, remix
"Recorded over the summer of 2008 after many exhaustive months of touring, "Used To Be" contemplates the spiritual and physical effects of life on the everchanging road, love and getting older..."
Labels: beach house, memory cassette, mp3, weird tapes
Our weekly GvsB Sirius radio show airs today at noon + midnight EST on Left of Center. Brand new stuff this week from Little Joy, White Hinterland, Gang Gang Dance, Benoit Pioulard, Chairlift, and more. You can listen right here, for free. Full playlist for this week + some mp3s after the jump...Labels: blog radio, mp3
Labels: ariel pink, chromatics, glass candy, mp3, nite jewel, sibylle baier
I leave you for the weekend with this beautiful live footage of Fred Nicolaus + Daniel Rossen -- aka Department of Eagles -- playing the mesmerizing title track from their forthcoming LP, In Ear Park. Like St. Vincent's amazing DUMBO Session from last year, the performance was filmed high above the East River in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood at Atlantic Sound studio. Shot and edited by Eamonn Farrell and Bajir Cannon, and featuring a one sentence, off-screen cameo from Ed Droste.Labels: department of eagles, mp3, video
Coming on the heels of his endearingly awkward conversation with Zooey Deschanel, Brian Wilson rolled through the streets of London in the back of a cab on the latest edition of Black Cab Sessions. The legend sings the title track from his new LP, That Lucky Old Sun, but the highlight comes at around the 2:15 mark, when they break out an old classic:
Labels: brian wilson, contest, video
Labels: a-trak, james pants, memory cassette, mp3, xxxchange
Labels: little joy, rough trade, the strokes
Labels: gorilla vs. bear presents, mp3, polaroid, RATATAT
Labels: mp3, video, vivian girls
White Hinterland auteur Casey Dienel will follow up her beautiful, wintry Phylactery Factory LP with an adventurous exploration of '60s French avant-pop on her essential new Luniculaire EP. The 5-song EP consists of three extremely ambitious and inspired covers of genre classics, and two outstanding new originals from Ms. Dienel (both in French, of course). While it's probably impossible for anyone to touch Francoise Hardy's sublime rendering of "Mon Amie La Rose" or Serge Gainsbourg's ridiculously cool "Requiem Por Un Con, Dienel definitely comes close here, making each of those standards her own. And the stunning originals that Dienel penned for the EP are even better: "Chant de Grillon" vaguely recalls the eerie textural dissonance of the Arcade Fire's "I'm Sleeping in a Submarine," but the song reaches another level on the strength of Dienel's haunting vocals:Labels: casey dienel, francoise hardy, mp3, serge gainsbourg, white hinterland
Labels: contest, gorilla vs. bear presents, mp3, RATATAT, TV On the Radio
Although the stunning venue and perfect weather might've played a small part, the 2008 Monolith Festival was one of the most enjoyable festival-going experiences I've had in a long time. Not sure if it topped day one, but here are some highlights from day two: All 4'11" of Sharon Jones absolutely killed James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," Band of Horses played a couple of great new songs and a rad Them Two cover, Tilly and the Wall's new stuff sounded surprisingly great, and Lovefoxxx of CSS brought the party in the most ridiculous getup I've ever seen. Also, as I alluded to earlier, TVOTR almost didn't even make it to the venue, then showed up with minutes to spare (looking sort of frazzled, I might add) and proceeded to play the defining set of the whole fest. Finally, Justice had the place bumping for the entirety of their set -- which was cut short due to technical difficulties -- to close out the party. I'll definitely be back next year. Here are some photos:
Labels: holga, Monolith Festival, polaroid
Labels: kanye west
Despite breaking down in Salt Lake City on their way to Red Rocks, and eventually arriving barely 10 minutes before their set time in a couple of rented Expeditions, TV On The Radio played the most inspired set of the entire Monolith Festival. Photos and recap coming later, but for now, here's the brand new video for "Golden Age," the Kyp-fronted first single from Dear Science. (via Spinner)
Labels: TV On the Radio, video
Labels: black lips, diplo, mp3
Our weekly GvsB Sirius radio show airs today at noon + midnight EST on Left of Center. Brand new stuff this week from Empire of the Sun, Gang Gang Dance, Salem, Get Back Guinozzi, Chairlift, Memory Cassette, the Ruby Suns + Esau Mwamwaya, and more. You can listen right here, for free. Full playlist for this week + some mp3s after the jump...Labels: blog radio, mp3
Labels: Monolith Festival, mp3, the monks
From Paavoharju to Lau Nau, some of the most beautiful, enchantingly bizarre pop music I've posted about this year has come from an unlikely source: the Nordic nation of Finland, and more specifically, the wonderful Fonal label. This admittedly has something to do with my fascination with the Finnish language; it's not exactly graceful, and at times it can even be a little jarring, but it has an entirely alien quality about it that I find really endearing. Anyway, here are a couple more weird-ass Finnish artists that I've been digging lately:
"Eleanoora Rosenholm and her six orphan brothers step up on the altar hunted by an unexplainable grief and misery. The nun has been desecrated in the monastery and the schools principal mutilated in the primary schools woodshed. A russian prisoner of war draws his last breath on a snowy potatoe field. The relentless fist of war strikes fire in the horizon. We will never understand why things in life turn out the way they do, for they form and grow deeper meaning despite of us. Chaos has its own will and its boot does not step to the General officers lash."Finnish people scare me. Here's the video/mp3 for the record's first single:
Labels: eleanoora rosenholm, joose keskitalo, mp3, paavoharju, video
"Released from the confines of the dancefloors' need for linear percussion or bass-reaction, the duo push on into an incredible headspace of dissonant sour spots and unstable arrangements. Deliciously sweet melodies flicker in, competing with FM radio snippets, opera blasts or offkey p-funk stabs, tied together with Spaceape's dystopian fiction. It's shockingly next level."It starts getting really dope around the time Kode9 loops a RZA beat from Liquid Swords. You're going to want to break out the headphones for this one:
Labels: beatles, covers, esau mwamwaya, mp3, ruby suns
Labels: a tribe called quest, mp3, q-tip, video, vivian girls
Here's the new video for Salem's "Dirt," taken from the band's unclassifiable Yes I Smoke Crack EP (out now on Acephale). The unsettling clip -- which the band directed themselves -- is dark, disorienting, and more than a little terrifying. Oh, and definitely NSFW or anywhere else. The song kicks in just after the one minute mark, and totally justifies my favorite description of these guys (from TTL): "the Cocteau Twins on a dirty south kick." Get uncomfortable:
Here's the brand new video from our dude Pablo Díaz-Reixa, aka El Guincho. The colorful cut paper collage, which features the Guincho getting down with a giraffe, a toucan, and a rhinoceros, is a pitch-perfect visual accompaniment for Alegranza!'s sunny tropical jams:
Labels: el guincho, mp3, video
I've briefly mentioned how much I like Brooklyn's Chairlift, and their new album Does You Inspire You continues to get quite a bit of play around here ("Planet Health" is still amazing). Apparently the dudes at Apple are fans too, as the band's bittersweet love song "Bruises" is featured in the soon-to-be-everywhere new "nano-chromatic" ad. Congrats to the band, this song deserves to be a hit. At least something good came out of that lame "Let's Rock" event from yesterday.
Saint Dymphna is the adventurous, genre-spanning new LP from Gang Gang Dance. "Princes," featuring East London's illest MC, Tinchy Stryder, is perhaps the most arresting, out of left field, interstellar-dancefloor-ready track on an album full of kaleidoscopic jams. Tinchy's "trying to get mainstream money," which would explain the urgency with which he attacks this insane Gang Gang beat. GGD's label calls it "the weirdest Grime track (or the weirdest Gang Gang Dance track for that matter) you've ever heard," and I would tend to agree with that sentiment. It's also my favorite track on the record:Labels: gang gang dance, mp3, saint dymphna
Labels: chromatics, kanye west, mp3
Labels: hail social, memory cassette, mp3, weird tapes
Labels: banjo or freakout, burial, covers, mp3
Labels: deerhoof, mp3, offend maggie
Labels: mp3, raveonettes, remix, trentemøller, vivian girls
Our weekly GvsB Sirius radio show airs today at noon + midnight EST on Left of Center. Brand new stuff this week from Empire of the Sun, Weird Tapes, VEGA, Madlib, Fan Death, Gang Gang Dance, the aforementioned Get Back Guinozzi!, and more. You can listen right here, for free. Full playlist for this week + some mp3s after the jump...Labels: blog radio, get back guinozzi, mp3
Labels: empire of the sun, mp3, remix
Labels: covers, love is all, video
Here's another one from Esau Mwamwaya + Radioclit's upcoming collaboration, which is shaping up to be about the very best thing ever. As I've mentioned before, guests on the record include Santogold, Vampire Weekend, the Ruby Suns, Marina from Bonde Do Role, BLK JKS, and others. The latest leaked demo, "Rain Dance," heavily features M.I.A.:
Labels: esau mwamwaya, m.i.a., radioclit, vampire weekend
Labels: bjork, covers, monolith, mp3, neon gold, passion pit
Labels: de la soul, diplo, m.i.a., mf doom, mp3
"My mindset when I still lived in Michigan was a lot of anticipation and uncertainty, so I think that definitely affected the songs I recorded while I was there. And when I got here I found a lot of sudden inspiration in my new surroundings, different circumstances and everything that I'm sure had an effect on the songs I recorded thereafter so sequentially it's almost chronological. There are a couple songs that are out of order, but the first half is, for the most part, from the first part of the year, and the second part is absolutely from the latter half."That "sudden inspiration" might explain why the second half of this record is made up of some of the best songs I've heard this year, including these two. Read the rest of the interview here.
Labels: benoit pioulard, kranky, mp3, temper
I realize I'm a little late on this, but since hearing the two stunning (and previously unavailable) Arthur Russell songs recently posted to Audika Records' myspace page, I haven't really had any desire to listen to much else. "Close My Eyes" and "Eli" will appear on Love Is Overtaking Me, an expansive collection of Russell's unreleased pop, folk, and country songs. The compilation comes out in October, and features mixing, restoration, and editing by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Go here to listen.Labels: arthur russell, grizzly bear, love is overtaking me
No Age's Randy Randall recently directed a short film, called The Foreigners, documenting the Altamont Apparel skate team's trip to Paris. Here's a teaser clip for Randall's film -- featuring Nouns standout "Ripped Knees" -- which offers proof that No Age jams are definitely better suited for scoring gritty old-school skate vids than clips of dudes riding around on fixies.
Labels: andrew reynolds, no age, skateboarding, video
Labels: gram parsons, hail social, mp3, weird tapes
...for a Lincoln commercial? Recorded in June by Chan and crew. Not bad, but I think my favorite version of Bowie's "Space Oddity" will always remain Langley Schools Music Project's heartbreaking rendition.
Labels: cat power, covers, david bowie, video
"Even with double digit-old tunes, Radio Friendly Unit Shifter feels right on time, connecting the dots between Sonic Youth breakbeats, weeded Lollapalooza rap, gloriously fuzzed-out one hit wonders and much more. No irony, no empty nostalgia, just a lot of music we love that shaped what we do today."Download the full hour-plus-long mix here:
Labels: catchdubs, mixtape, mp3, the '90s, the walkmen
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