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


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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.

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

He Say, She Say

Once again, Cream Team has come up with something I have flip out about.

It takes about one listen to get why He Say, She Say copped one of the support slots on Yeezy's recent tour. The ballsy, dirty production from Million $$$ Mano, coupled with the sassy rhymes from Drea have that X-factor you instantly recognise as cooler and better than you. This, I dunno, gangsta-electro-disco, would work anywhere from the clurrrb to home - but I badly wanna hear it at a house party. That would be the hype.

Actually, I'd also kinda like to just bang these tracks in public for a reaction, cause Drea fires out some of the most graphically sexual lyrics since Akinyele, while avoiding the forced crassness of Lil' Kim. It's special.

He Say, She Say - Crash Dummie

Myspace

LOLye West

Proving advertising can be creative. (via SBTVC)

Czech bekanyenow.com for the rest of the campaign

Lay off the drank, Weezy.

NYC rap station HOT97's annual Summer Jam was on yessirday in NYC, and, amongst other, ahem, 'highlights' of this festival was the above: Lil' Wayne bugging out to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." In further WTFness, Weezy plinks out 5 minutes of improv guitar work (he's not exactly Buddy Guy) and decides to do half his twenty minute set a capella. At least he brought out Kanye for the "Lollipop" remix.

So it wasn't as eventful as Hov calling out Prodigy or The Game beefing the shit out of Fiddy in '05, but I still wish I was there. There's a whole bunch of other stuff from the day worth checking out at HOT97's YouTube Channel, especially if you're into hip-hop palling-about: Rick Ross' shirtlessness, Jim Jones and Juelz Santana still being idiot mates, half of Wu-Tang showing up for Alicia Keys' set, and about seven thousand interviews with rappers and DJ's dropping platitudes about what a great day it is. And oh yeah, more live footage of Kanye being the most fire human in the world right now.

HOT97 YouTube Channel

I know this is an mp3 blog BUT...

...this is kinda so balla I have to post it.

Nike Air Yeezy's. Seriously Kanye made a shoe.

Holy shit I love the idea that rappers can get pro model shoes. I don't wanna hear anything about 'collabo', I want them to be a PRO MODEL. See then I can assume that if (when?) I'm wearing them, they're actively making my raps better.

UPDATE:

This post counts now 'cause I just heisted this demo from Ye's blog

N.E.R.D - Everybody Nose Remix f. CRS and Pusha T

So yep that's Pharrell, Lupe, Kanye and Pusha T on one track. Sick party.

Bjork Steps Up

This new video for Wanderlust is something else. Somewhere between a short film, experimental art installation and music clip; this new video supports the case that music videos are an art form . The video was shot in 3D and features "a mixture of large scale puppeteering, live action acrobatics, miniatures, and CG".

It is directed by Encyclopedia Pictura who have a very interesting story-book like visual style. Definitely check out a few videos on their web page. This clip has even got Kanye West a little jealous... I wonder if it cost more than a million dollars?

G-Unit - Bottom Girl

Man, it kinda bums me out that my quality filter seems to have dropped off recently. I have to stop guiltily enjoying songs just cause they remind me of pop-rap from the late 90's which used to be the shizzle at house parties. Hopefully this isn't my musical Glory Days moment, because that'd mean I've got a quarter-life crisis coming on, and I'll have to sit around in dingy bars talking up mosh pit moments and how I knew all the words to 112's back catalogue...

So G-Unit's new one, just posted @ Fiddy's site, is called "Bottom Girl"... I can't even be bothered making a crack at how devastatingly chat that title is. The video is interesting though: it looks kinda like Fiddy's tried to do his own take on Yeezy's "Good Life" clip, with the emphasised words and the simple colouring. And, once again, he's come in a distant second to the Louis Vuitton Don. His raps are still so fluid and confident that it almost kinda saves the song, and even Tony Yayo sounds better.

Speech!

Straight up.

We Got It For Cheap Volume 3 is so balla. It could be anyone that takes some beats from recent months (or even years ago - omg!), lays some new raps over, packages and releases it for free, but in this case it happens to be Malice and Pusha-T, arguably the two dopest MCs going around (seriously fuck Atmosphere and that conscious rap, we want gangsta). And damn son are we lucky for it, ‘cause the best songs of the past couple years have come from these guys. And those that haven't come from Clipse, have been snapped up and worked on as part of the We Got It For Cheap tapes. This one got serious bounce. Again.
The beats speak for themselves: the duo takes on totes bangers like “Roc Boys” and “Dey Know”, do work on Kanye’s “Good Morning”, and even flip Funkmaster Flex’s old beat off The Tunnel, “Real G’s.” Inevitably, they torch it. Anyone familiar with Clipse word-play won’t be disappointed, nor will those happy with their traditional subject matter: they’re playing keys like Ray Charles, got more powder than Maybelline, are supplying the ghetto and got their face etched in a brick. It’s amazing that, after about 5 albums, they still haven’t run out of ways to rap almost exclusively about coke, even if they claim on this album that they're not part of the coke rap thing: sometimes they also rap about guns. And other times various things they’ve bought.
I fucking love it.
Skits are kept to a relative minimum, which we can all be thankful for, and the ones that are there include the decrying of a “tree-huggin-ass bitch” which everyone can enjoy. Ab-liva and Sandman, the other two members of the Re-Up Gang, feature throughout and spit some fire - each has a solo track, both of which are bumpin’. We Got It For Cheap Volume 3 isn’t going to topple Hell Hath No Fury, but it’s a stone reminder of how incredibly good Clipse are.


Clipse - Roc Boys

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Just Add Brion

Well known in music circles, multi-instrumentalist and composer Jon Brion has been killing it for many years with his quirky sounds and pop sensibilities. He is best known for adding his genius to other peoples music and films, having scored the soundtracks for films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love and I Heart Huckabees and produced albums for artists like Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann and Kanye West.

I dare say his instrumental touches on virtually every track of Kanye's album 'Late Registration' put that album over the top. Similarly his soundtracks add depth and feeling to the films they are put to. He has a real knack for recreating the nostalgia of the 'good old days' of pop music. This rare song as a performing artist from the 'Punch, Drunk, Love' soundtrack showcases his songwriting talents perfectly.

If you're ever in L.A. you can catch him at his weekly residences at the improvisation club Largos (or see the man in action on several instruments here) otherwise we'll just have to wait eagerly for his next golden collaboration.

Jon Brion - Here We Go

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Mellon Collie and Infinite Ego

To continue in the cruising vibe of the last few posts I thought I would pop up two tracks I have been chilling too - the first comes from a sweet new Smashing Pumpkins EP titled American Gothic which sees the band exploring their more relaxed side (hence the post title). While it still irks me that there is only two of their original members and Corgan's overdubs are all pervasive their is no denying the quality of this handful of tunes.

Smashing Pumpkins - Sunkissed (from the American Gothic EP)

Hot Chip look set to have another cracking year with the release of their third album - Made in the Dark. I have been lucky enough to wrap my ears around a promo of the new LP and am already tipping it as one of my albums of the year - while it may not have a killer smash in the vein of 'Over and Over' the diversity and slight touches of pop and humor make it an album to watch out for. In the mean time they have been hard at work creating remixes for all sorts, touring Oz twice last year and knocking out a sweet Essential Mix (which can still be streamed here for a limited time). One of the stand out track on said Essential Mix is their reworking of a Matthew Dear track which I can seem to get out of my head. An oldie but a goodie.

Matthew Dear - Don and Sherri (Hot Chip version)

In regards to the picture at the top of this post Mr West was the first person that came up when I googled the word ego. Honest.