Florence and the Machine’s ‘Lungs’ is my current go to album in iTunes. Florence Welch, the singer with the incredible vocals, reminds me at times of Janis Joplin, Melanie, or some bizarro girl Freddy Mercury. All the tracks are beautifully multi-layered, sounding at times that an entire orchestra is backing her up. I’m really enjoying this entire album, check out Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) (and here’s a remix featuring Switch that is muy diggable) and Howl to get into it yourself.
Michael Jackson’s death has brought out a lot of weird shit (as if it wasn’t going to, or something). But in the midst of Joe Jackson’s dead son-capitalizing and interviews with Bubbles (you’re a class act, CNN), there’s this: a truly bizarre video of MJ in the backseat of what must be an Escalade, busting it to R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)” while wearing a trucker hat. Oh, Brett Ratner is there too. Doi.
And speaking of the obvious, we can all agree that “Ignition” is the best song of the 2000s, right? Right!
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When Seth Shukovsky of Little Red Robot and Merlin Bronques of Last Night’s Party decided to make a love child, they set the mood with a little track from Nid and Sancy titled Kidzz. The result is a nice little piece of motion graphics.
The track is nice, too.
Founded on electro, Nid and Sancy make it interesting by throwing in a slice of punk and some rap for good measure. Out of Belgium, N & S are sure to peak some aural interest to anyone willing to lend an ear. And their threesome with LRR and LNP can’t hurt, either.
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So I have this weird thing with Animal Collective. I love them and have for a long long time, but I truly believe you only need one album from them. As soon as I give their new joint a few listens, I’ll usually delete the previous album I have (save for a track or two). I know, I know, this is crazy. Everyone believes I’m crazy in this age of terabit externals but whatever, screw you. This really has nothing to do with the song I’m posting, except for the fact that its a Pitch Lab remix of My Girls, the very strong lead single from AnCo’s exceptional Merriweather Post Pavillion. Its great and super dancey.
If you haven’t heard already, 3Oh!3 and Photo Finish Records received some serious news this week. Don’t Trust Me became their first ever number one single in the country this past Monday. Congrats to them, and my friend and roommate’s home girl, Colleen’s boyfriend, Gabe, (3Oh!3′s manager). Yeah, I know people.
But if you haven’t noticed by the image above, this post isn’t about 3Oh!3, it’s about Acid Girls.
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The King of Pop is dead, its sad really. However, if it had to happen, and I’m pretty sure death does, at some point, have to happen, I’m glad it happened in the era of the interweb. Aside from hysterical happenings like the internet falling apart, the recent output and posts of his music is outstanding (…have you check hype machine’s most blogged artists recently?) both in terms of quantity and quality. However, I have to give hotbizzies mucho credit scouting this track from Hood Internet. It’s Ratatat and Billie Jean and it sounds as good as you’re hoping.
Thank you Fluxblog for turning me onto a track that seems destined for OURHYPE. Over a Lady Gaga sample, Kid Cudi leads off, followed by Kanye, ending with the smoothest wet blanket in the game-Common. Oh yeah, and A-Trak on production. Make Her Say has it all. Great hooks, funny raps, and some great scratching and drums. Yes, thank you Fluxblog a bunch.
I’ve been waiting for an excuse to post White Rabbits, and their show at the Bluebird on Friday is as good as any. Their new album ‘Its Frightening’ is outstanding, and along with the new Phoenix, has been amongst my constant summer listening. I sort of like to think them of 2009′s Broken Social Scene, a six piece band switching between lots of different instruments and frequent guests. The opening track on ‘Its Frightening’ Percussion Gun is excellent as is Lionesse.
White Rabbits (with The Subjects and Crocodiles) – Bluebird Theater 6/26 – $13
Tomorrow night at the Hi-Dive in Denver, Paper Bird will be celebrating the release of their second album and the beginning of their tour. Should be pretty awesome! They’re an amazing group from Denver and incredibly talented. They’ve played many shows throughout Denver and Boulder including Monolith last year, and will play the upcoming Mile High Music Festival. If you can make tomorrow night it promises to be entirely worth it!
Paper Bird Release Party @ Hi-Dive
Wednesday, June 24th
9:00 PM
$10
Livin Lucky – Paper Bird (via Songs:illinois)
Blue Sparks – Paper Bird (via Songs:illinois)
There’s an interesting moment at the beginning of Wale’s mixtape 100 Miles & Running in which he proclaims, “I couldn’t get any drops from any famous people, so I’m just gonna say what’s up, dude.” And he said, “What’s up,” in a big way with an outstanding piece of mixtape magic. But when you bring greatness like The Mixtape About Nothing, apparently things change, as Back To The Feature stands in stark contrast; it’s packed with so damn many guests that the track list reads like an encyclopedia of typo-laden stage names.
The tape’s title states that Wale is fully aware of this, but the hit/miss end result suggests that Wale isn’t necessarily better with a little help from his friends. Even still, there are some killer moments here.
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There are certain cultural happenings that will command my immediate attention, or perhaps more accurately, my immediate dollars. Pixar movies are one example, Super Smash Brothers is another, and most importantly-Beck. I heart Beck. I heart him a lot. He sounds wonderful no matter what genre he’s in and I love the fact that he’s in a lot of them. Whether its the party sound of Midnight Vultures, the hip-hop inspired Information, or the mournful Sea Change, Beck always sounds great. So I’m extremely excited about his new pet project, ‘The Record Club’. Beck and friends get together for one day and cover an album they love in its entirity and release it song by song on his website each week. Kicking things off is the first track off of the outstanding Velvet Underground & Nico, Sunday Morning. Unsurprisingly, I love this too.
Let’s be honest. Stop-motion died like a million years ago. Somehow, though, there continues to be relevant stop-motion videos surfacing on an almost-daily basis. Almost as mystifying as the ceaseless parade of this animation style is how people pretend like it never died to begin with, myself included.
Maybe its because of videos like We Have Band‘s You Came Out that manage to be innovative and intriguing with a hackneyed medium. Directed by David Wilson alongside Fabian Berglund and Ida Gronblom from Wieden + Kennedy, You Came Out was shot over 2 days amassing almost 5,000 still images with no use of video whatsoever.
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