Cutting The Fat

No time for clever gimmicks or conceits here. I'm on deadline dammit. Recent things that are one thousand degrees:


Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

New Stones Throw artist Mayer Hawthorne has us over here at BW in a weeks-long swoon. Nat wants to have his babies. Lo-fi blue-eyed soul that sounds like long-lost Stax demos. LURRRRRRR.

(thanx to Stranger Dance for having a link when Badongo is bitching out)


Kid Cudi - Switchin' Lanes

It's fair enough to think that tracks recorded exclusively for video games should be retarded. They probably are, fundamentally. But Cudi's I'm-not-even-really-trying-here delivery suits the almost All Eyez On Me style beats. If you haven't yet, follow Dat New CuDi on Twitter cause he drops links to new tracks.


BLK JKS - Summertime (Carlos Ramos version)

BLK JKS are like a South African version of TV On The Radio - in that they sound similar, are amazing, and come from Johannesburg. Props to RCRD LBL for this track.


Body Langauge - Huffy Ten Speed

Neon Gold is ridiculous. We continue to worship at the altar. The consistency of the bangers over there is just unbelievable. This is my jam of the year so far.

8-Bit Heat

Check out this medley of rap songs done Nintendo style. Anyone know how to download it?

http://www.shotthen.com/2009/02/04/8-bit-hip-hop-medley/

Eyes Caught Fire

Who ever thought alt-country mixed with Nirvana could sound so good. Their name is The Mountain Apple Epidemic, their bio reads 'Used to have a band that was on the harder side of things, Tool-ish, now I try to rip off Wovenhand' and they are sublime. Like the soundtrack for a forgotten sequel to Deadman. Sample the album standout Eyes Caught Fire below or grab the whole album for free here.

The Mountain Apple Epidemic - Eyes Caught Fire

Myspace

Seek the light

Despite at least 18 months in the fickle glare of the indie spotlight, Bon Iver seems to be suffering very little fatigue, and certainly not with me or the rest of the BW crew - especially not after the amazing show we saw him play back in January.
There are plenty of live sets of Bon Iver floating around the interwebs now (NPR has two, also try Hard to Find a Friend) but I still felt compelled to post about The MySpace Transmissions because just about every live set I have heard Justin and company perform has been different. This has been available for just under a month now, but I only just came across it a couple of days ago. The set can be watched here or downloaded from the link below.
The stand out in this set has to be the beautiful version of Blindsided that runs to a full 7 minutes. However, stunningly constructed and performed versions of Emma, Flume and Lump Sum also appear.

Bon Iver - The MySpace Transmissions (courtesy of Howling Songs)

MySpace | Website

Speaking of magic...

I had the pleasure of catching Benga and Skream a few months ago at the ol' sweat pit that is Oxford Art Factory. Safe to say they fucking smashed it, moving quickly from banger to banger all with a set of cheeky grins.

The track below was not dropped (as far as my hazy memory can tell) but holy shit I wish it had been. All stripped vocals and soft rave bleeps new comer LaRoux (currently on tour with Ms Allen) brings on the goose bumps. Then in the last minute it simply cuts loose, releasing the tension with tough breaks and the kind of bass Skream is renowned for. Ace.

LaRoux - In For the Kill (Skream Ravey Remix)

Myspace | Website

Unexpected Monday Afternoon Magic

Good times for Adele. Last week (or so) she cleans up at the Grammy's, and now this absolute fucking banger of a remix of Hometown Glory appears courtesy of Chewy Chocolate Cookies. So the track has been mixed up a bunch of times, but this one kills facists and like perennial BW jam Sleepyhead, this proves you can get in and make nights in under 3 minutes.

Adele - Hometown Glory (Chewy Chocolate Cookies remix) [soundcloud download]

Update: zshare link was killed so it's a soundcloud d/l now.

This Isn't A Post About La Roux...

...weird right? Apparently there's other bands around, blogosphere.

I first came across Harlem Shakes a year or so ago after they did a Daytrotter session. Then, I found them super likable but just missing that extra je ne sais quoi. Now they've had a bit of time to mature as a band and I lurr the new direction they've taken. Mostly in that they've upped the fun and (metaphorical) thrusting factor, and are sounding tight. Kind of like if an English indie band heard themselves, then went back in time and grew up in New York instead. Their record Technicolor Health drops in March.

Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game

Myspace

Ahora bailemos...!

Last Sunday I skipped along to St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Sydney, for the first time in my festival life, with no idea who the bands were that were playing (apart from The Holdsteady and Four Tet) and had little motivation to find out. Surrounded by music aficionados, I was in nurturing hands. As the day rolled by and my blood sugar level dropped, I was pleasantly surprised to turn down one (of which there are only two) laneway and encounter something I knew would pep me up again - that being - tribal and thudding Spanish tunes.

El Guincho is one of those acts other artists get down to see, including, on that particular windy afternoon, the guys from Hermitude and Ryan Stively from Port O'Brien. The adorable man behind El Guincho, Pablo Diaz-Reixa, had everyone dancing for the whole duration of his set and I personally thank him for making me forget how sore my feet were and fooling me into thinking I was back in Spain. I was so excited when we ran into the man himself, on our way home.

I hope his album is playing at the next party I go to, as I can't wait to get down again.

Pedro with a drunk and over excited BW contributor, Nat.


El Guincho - Kalise

Myspace | Website

Are you watching closely?

It's very rare these days when a hip hop artist will stop you in his tracks. Lil' Wayne did it last year with Da Drought 3, but I feel this year we gotta get a little deeper, cerebral.

Jay Electronica is an artist who has been skirting the fringes of greatness for some time. He has produced tracks for Nas and Eryka Badu (who he has a live Twittered child with) and recently cut a track with Just Blaze. His breakout track Act I: The Pledge referances the film The Prestige and see's Jay spitting over fragments of Jon Brion's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack about UFO's and voodoo men. No drums in sight.

Check the slightly more conventional Renassiance Man below and stop the slow singin' and flower bringin' cause hip hop ain't dead yet.

Jay Electronica - Renassiance Man

Wikipedia

For Emma

A large slice of the BW crew were lucky enough to make it down to the City Recital Hall in the center of Sydney. The guest of honour was none other than the blogsphere's favourite son Justin Vernon and his rag tag gang AKA Bon Iver. The show, setting and company came together to form a sublime gig. Justin was both humble and charismatic with him and his band showing passion and startling musicianship for such a young band. Highlights included Skinny Love, re:Stacks and a stirring singalong rendition of The Wolves (Part I & II). Goosebumps all round. Check out one of the new tracks from the new EP Blood Bank below and if you have chance to catch them live make sure to grab it by it's scruffy beard.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank (Badongo)

Myspace | Website

Hey, Internet, Hush With All The 'Shoegazing'

It must get so frustrating for bands sometimes: one -usually kinda influential- blog attaches an descriptor to a band's sound, and it becomes the archetypal word to describe their output. We constantly heard about the 'African influences' of Vampire Weekend, simply because one of their song titles mentioned Kwassa Kwassa. Hercules & Love Affair couldn't be separated from their 'bringing back disco." It goes on. So pity Asobi Seksu, who have been lumped with "shoegaze." Not only is this inappropriate, does it even mean anything?

The band has a new album, Hush, dropping February 17th through Polyvinyl, and from what I've heard on a once-through it's at times dense, uplifting, bright, forceful, and or a million other things. It is appealing guitar-driven pop with some huge riffs, quite different from the Thursday Twelves remix that blew up and got them some burn all those months (years?) back. Importantly, it's not shoegazing, unless you really forced yourself.

Asobi Seksu - Sunshower (zshare)

Myspace

NOTORIOUS

So Notorious hit screens on Friday, and to go with it comes the official unofficial mixtape, hosted by Talib Kweli, which dropped today. All the tracks are mixed by DJ Grafitti, and of the two jams below, the Buff1 is actually tighter than Kweli's. Check em out at the zshares below, and cop the full tape here.

Notorious B.I.G feat Talib Kweli - Young G's (Astronote remix) 

Notorious B.I.G feat Buff1 - Niggas (Astronote remix)

Telephone My Brain Back plz.

I dunno whether it's because you discover the album late at night and there are no distractions, or whether some albums are just so expansive that they can utterly occupy your headspace. Whatever it is, Telefon Tel Aviv's Immolate Yourself did it. I listened to a little before bed and was like "this is too big." Then I tried it on the train, which is my main opportunity each day to really listen to something, and was still like "woah huge." And it hasn't stopped. Shit is transcendent. It's not that it has huge, obvious sounds, but more that -like M83 for example, or maybe Fuck Buttons- the tracks are so enveloping that you can't really concentrate on anything else, thanks to the white noise soundscapes and the driving melodies. And sometimes it seems like it should come across sparse and bleak, but it never quite does...  Anyway, enough of my inability to deal with complex music. 

Telefon Tel Aviv - Helen Of Troy (zshare)

Myspace

Avalanches, hit the showers.

As the world slowly waits for what is becoming the hipster version of Chinese Democracy, a new Avalanches album, a whole bunch of like minded artist have risen in their place.

One such plucky newcomer is the generically named Metaform. Apparently spending five years in social isolation, slowly crafting a masterpiece that comes across as a mix of the aforementioned Avalanches and pre-hyphy DJ Shadow.

Check Pch below for a taste of his sample heavy vintage sound, and hunt down the whole damn instrumental opus. You wont regret it.

Metaform - Pch

Myspace | Website

Neon Flames

Neon Gold's unbelievable track record for finding shithot bands continues. This time it's Giantess, whose jams are being produced by Passion Pit's Ayad Al-Adhamy. Which makes total sense when you hear the track. A saccharine -but not cloying- fun explosion. More please.

Giantess - You Were Young

PBJ have nothing to worry about because they're on the money

Ye just dropped a new Peter, Bjorn and John tune on his blog. His usual garble spouts about how much he loves the drums... and I have to agree with him: the beat is money! But the track will be HUGE because of the singing children sample. I'm convinced it's the fastest way for musicians to cash in.


Peter, Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About


MySpace | Website

Postcript: In before Pitchfork - BITCHES!

And finally (for 08)

So 2009 is upon us and all those lists are played out but I couldn't resist posting a few final treats I found kicking round the place.

First up is a tasty 2008 wrap up show that my man Mark Ronson rolled out Boxing Day. Peep the track listing and grab the mp3 here.

Second is an impressive wrap up coming from VJ blog, Accent Feed. A list of the top 10 Innovative Concert Visuals. Anyone who has been to a concert in the last few years knows that every act feels to need to melt your brain with flashing lights (hell Kanye even wrote a song about it). Next level shit right here.

Tracks of the Year (Alex)

Through sheer saturation and ubiquity, it’s hard not to declare 2008 the year of Sex On Fire and just be done with it. But too much good music came out this year that got lost in the fury that was the KoL, MGMT, etc explosion. What follows are my personal faves, to tessellate with the heat Nat dropped below. All are linked to individual zshares.

Bishop Lamont – Grow Up
Dre produces one of the hottest beats of the summer, in classic restrained Dre mode, and Bishop Lamont furthers his claim on being the new saviour of West Coast rap. So fresh.

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Hands-down banger of the year. The most exhilarating and life-affirming sub-three-minute experience since bungee jumping.

MGMT vs Notorious B.I.G vs Justice – Nasty Feel (DDPesh rework)
When someone gets a mash-up right, something like this happens and it’s so epic. Brooklyn's DDPesh come through with another rework that's so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Horse Feathers – Albina
It’s so mesmerizingly pretty, and then you listen to the lyrics and go “oh - woah. That is so bleak,” but the song is made all the more beautiful for its honesty and discordance.

Lykke Li – Little Bit (AutoErotique Bootleg Remix)
I posted a whole album worth of Lykke Li mash-ups in my Best Albums list, but this remix is so much fire it can’t be skipped for that reason. It takes a sparse, delicate song and turns it into a total banger, without losing the tenderness of the original track. (thanks to the good folk of creamteam)

Grouper – Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping
Their album was super close to making my top five for the year. It would've made a top ten Although it’s only short, this is a song to get lost in.

Arthur Russell – I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face
I’m totally with P4K on this one. What is it with Arthur Russell? A track that should be mundane by any other standards is siphoned through Russell’s vulnerable sincerity and accomplished structuring, and so it talks to somewhere deep inside.

D. Gookin - Glad I Met You

Puts bop in your stride and gets your smile out. Catchiest song of the year?

Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep

My favourite song off one of my aforementioned favourite albums of the year.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

The forceful passion of this song, and the damage in it, makes the idea of spending a period of alcoholism in the wilderness seem compelling. This would have been available from Nat Albums of the Year list, had it not been quietly assassinated by the fire Nazis.

Happy 2k9 all: may it be as fruitful as 2k8 was.

Tracks of the Year (Nat)

As promised in my now MIA Best Albums post I now present my top tracks of the year. Lets hope this one survives the blog wilderness. Please note that I'm feeling a little lazy and I have put all the tracks in one easy access ZIP file.

Tracks of the Year (Nat)

Young Love - Mystery Jets featuring Laura Marling



A quaint little English ditty about love made all that much sweeter with a cameo from Laura Marling and an inventive film clip.

Mr Carter - Lil' Wayne featuring Jay-Z


From an album full of standouts this one rises above the rest. Just Blaze lays down the best chipmunk soul since The College Dropout while Jay-Z pretends to pass the torch too his fiercest rival.

Hold On - Holy Ghost!


Nu/new/neu disco, or what ever the hell you want call it, exploded this year. Holy Ghost! were at the forefront with this pop space synth workout.

My Turn - Basement Jaxx


While the Jaxx have been knocking out interesting LP's for years now nothing has ever come close to their debut. Until now. My Turn captures is a more restrained side of the pair and uses the considerable talents of Devonte Hynes aka Lightspeed Champion to craft a tasty slice of emo electro.

Tear You Down - Brookes Brothers


Until recently High Contrast was the king of drum and bass single and remix. New comers Brookes Brothers have been kicking around for a while but it was this soul sampling banger which put them on the map and threatened to turn BW member Alex into a bonafide candy raver.

Pjanoo - Eric Prydz


Pjanoo was everywhere this year. With a huge showing at both Miami and Ibiza as well as remixes from Fred Falke and BW favourite High Contrast. All white noise, huge build ups and THAT piano line shit was guaranteed to get you reaching for the lasers.

Frayed - Hermitude/ Don't Mind - Calibre


These songs sit together as tracks that emit a certain mood. They both use dusty piano lines and muffled soul vocal to create beautiful emotive music. Deep.

Golden Cage - The Whitest Boy Alive (Fred Falke Remix)



Hands down my track of the year. Shimmering synths, clean drums and dash of french touch mixed with naked vocals of Erlend Oye. Audio bliss. Enjoy the amazing film clip for the original above.

Tracks of the Year (Nat)

Albums Of The Year (Alex)

To be honest, we here at BW didn't really discuss the logistics of posting individual Best Of lists in a year that saw us agree firmly on the releases of a certain few bands. Which is rarer than you might think. To avoid redundancy, see Nat's post for two albums which will probably make a heap of Best Of lists worldwideweb-wide, with mine no exception:

Passion Pit - Chunk Of Change EP

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

There were albums this year that had moments of sheer individual brilliance, from people as diverse as T.I and Bob Dylan, but it only seems fair to include the albums which got the most overall burn. So, as dictated by my iTunes play count, I present you the other 3 best albums of 2008 :

Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak

Kanye's decision to move beyond his comfortable, highly successful mould as a hip-hop producer is demonstration of a commendable ambition, and largely unsurprising for someone with an ego as healthy as his. Like him or hate him for his bold claims about being 'the voice of a generation', with 808's, Kanye has managed that rare feat that is sporadically achieved in pop music: the ability to craft an album that will influence the sound of pop music for the immediate, and perhaps lasting future.

(On a sidenote, anyone unconvinced by the new material should try to catch a live show, as some of the BW family did last night. Moments of earnest indulgence from Mr West did nothing to stymie a concert that at times reached obscene levels of fun.)

Kanye West feat. Kid Cudi - Welcome To Heartbreak

The Hood Internet - Lykke Li minimix

I thought Lykke Li's album was amazing in and of itself. But it seems to have been the most fertile ground for people wanting to do mash-ups or remixes since Paper Planes. The Hood Internet's signature approach pairs her transcendent vocals with a range of sweetly tessellated beats, from the beautiful ambience of The Field and Gui Boratto to dancefloor bangers with Hercules & Love Affair and Booka Shade. When quite often mash-ups can be merely "oh that's kinda clever," these six little gems leave you more "oh woah that's better."

The Hood Internet vs Lykke Li - minimix (via The Hood Internet)



Air France – No Way Down EP
This was my go-to ‘in transit’ choice. It works equally well as background music to a book on the train, or when I’m skating somewhere, or when I’m just walking. Which is not to say it’s a white noise thing: the songs all just have a way of being present and feeling so appropriate to being in motion. Sort of like when a song sounds right at the beach, and you zen out a little.

Air France – Collapsing At Your Doorstep