June 2009
30 posts
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[New Artist] The Electric Brigade
I wouldn’t be surprised if a few people got tricked by The Electric Brigade. You would half expect them to be the newest member of Dim Mak with that name (thank god they are not), when in fact they would be much more at home on the next Underwater Peoples Records showcase alongside beachy, low-fi brethren like Real Estate, Julian Lynch and others. EB are two kids from Saint Petersburg, Fl...
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Will You Be There
Although there seems to be a lot of interest in examining his post-peak melt down, it would be ridiculous to ignore the impact Michael Jackson had on music. The original track, sample, and cover below represent little slices of his genius and the influence he had, and will continue to have, on pop music. mp3:Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror mp3:The Very Best - Will You Be There mp3:Discovery -...
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You are a fast explosion… and I am the embers
(photo via ) I guess all weeks are technically “good” for music, but this Tuesday was particularly good for new releases. Grizzly Bear endorsed, brit-pop loving, LA quartet, Foreign Born dropped their second album, Person to Person, today and it is quite fantastic. mp3:Foreign Born - Vacationing People White Denim also released their second full length today in the UK and it is a...
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Culture Club: End of the Year...
As a congratulatory present to all my graduating students from HHS, here’s my favorite picture of Alex Trebek, friend of CotP. Music -Sasha Frere-Jones on Sonic Youth and Anna Ternheim -Two AV Club interviews with Animal Collective and Thomas Mars of Phoenix Un-Music -More from the AV Club: an interview with Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds -Architects Journal lists its favorite architecture of...
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New The Very Best
I was a huge fan of The Very Best’s mixtape so I am excited to see that Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are back at it with a legit full-length debut. And in what is starting to seem like Vampire Weekend appreciation week here, the first single and title track “Warm Heart of Africa” has a great debut by VW frontman Ezra Koenig. Ch-check it out below. mp3:The Very Best - Warm Heart...
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Fever Ray - Triangle Walks [Video]
Another video for one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite albums of the year. I heart Karin Dreijer. The “Triangle Walks” single is officialy out 6/23 with a ton of remixes. (via StereoGum)
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"I'm a baaaaaad man."
Like Muhammad Ali, Fred Falke is a bad man. Fred Falke started out as a bassist before moving towards production in the early aughts. He’s somewhat affiliated with the Daft Punk family tree, having worked for several years with Alan Braxe, who in turn played with DP member Thomas Bangalter in Stardust. Braxe and Falke have since parted ways, so if this were a true, old-school family tree of...
In Response to Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief
I really enjoyed Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief’s (of FreeDarko) guest post on Straight Bangin’ on the state of hip-hop last week. Joey had asked him to come up with his favorite rap albums of the century (this century) and he only came up with six (Ghostface’s Supreme Clientele, Prodigy’s Return of the Mac, MF Doom’s Operation Doomsday, Dre’s 2001, Sacred Hoop’s Sleep Over and El-P’s Fantastic...
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Culture Club: Catching up with the interwebs
Cool project imagining some classic album covers as old Penguin Books Before I get to the links: the election, protests and killings in Iran are the biggest stories in the world right now, and while you all have your preferred methods of getting news, I urge you to follow the #IranElection hashtag on Twitter for up to date information. Also, Salon had a good breakdown on why we shouldn’t (and...
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Information Overload.
I’ve been digging the PS 22 Choir’s stuff for a little while (they’re the kids on all the Passion Pit jams on Manners), but they’ve reached the mountaintop with “Don’t Stop Believin’” from Journey. I just hope these kids remember singing this while they’re doing keg stands 10 years from now and someone puts it on to be ironic. (Big ups to...
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Discovery soundtrack rad surfing teaser
Glassy longboarding provides great contrast to the jerky electro-vibes of “Osaka Loop Line”. Check it here and head over to High Seas Film to learn more about the Picaresque project. Thanks to our boy Nate for the tip. Discovery’s LP is slowly becoming my summer soundtrack.
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Woods - To Clean [Video]
One of my favorite tracks off one of my favorite albums of the year. So yeah, I like it a lot. (via stereogum via P4K.TV)
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New Memory Tapes and Binary Playlist
The first single off Memory Tapes (previously Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes) first official full-length. A little more up-beat than previous works, but still that same signature removed sound. mp3:Memory Tapes - Bicycle ………………………………………… In other electro-worlds our new favorite crew over at Binary...
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White Denim - I Want to Run [Video]
I delightfully literal interpretation of Fits lead single, “I want to run” (via White Denim champion GvB) Just the latest addition to their bad-ass video collection. Fits is out June 22nd on Full Time Hobby.
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Quick Culture Club
Just a quick drive-by this weekend… Music -Check out Rappin Ass Thursdays from Fool’s Gold Records -The founders of Last.fm are heading on (corporate owner CBS is taking control) and they’re trying to cement their legacy. Stay tuned to this one…it wouldn’t surprise me AT ALL if the powers that be tried to turn it into a pay service, which would suck -After seeing Passion Pit play a 40 minute...
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These Arms are Mine
Listening to We Plants Are Happy Plants from Sam’s post below has officially confirmed that I am a dream-wave addict (if that’s what the cool kids are calling it these days). The song that really got me hooked is The Big Pink’s sublime “velvet”. (Did the cover art have anything to do with it, maybe, but that is neither here no there.) What both bands share is the...
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The Knocks EXCLUSIVE
We’ve got a CotP exclusive this afternoon from our friends over at HeavyRoc Music! You can stream tracks from B-Roc and Andrew WK’s collaborative project Damn! The Mixtape in various places and the album will be out soon, but for the moment, plug in your headphones and enjoy. It’s unclear how to classify The Knocks’ breakout dance jam “Can’t Shake Your Love.” Part of me says it’s electro pop,...
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Culture Club: Major Link Dump
Tons of links today, let’s get to it… Music -ALERT: Mos Def’s brand new album, The Ecstatic, is available as digital download for $3.99. Just click this link and select the “Buy Album” next to the play/next controls. I’d provide the direct link, but it only works if you click on the album’s myspace page -Speaking of, credit Mos Def for creating some buzz through these “live in...
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Friend
It is officially hot-as-balls here in DC so there seems no more appropriate time to be listening to Jesse Kanda, aka Friend, whose aesthetic is far more south-pacific than rainy London, where he calls home. I am really looking forward to his upcoming EP, Shima, with expectations that the island vibe of “Doki” sticks around. If his take on “Last One Awake” is any...
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Video Doizen: Bill Withers and Eugene Mirman
I’m stoked someone decided to make Still Bill, on Bill Withers. This looks terrific. Eugene Mirman of Flight of the Conchords spoke at his high school alma mater’s graduation last week…funny stuff: “Don’t forget to follow your dreams, unless your dreams are stupid.” “Good luck with everything and don’t become addicted to heroin, unless you want to be a great song writer.”
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InSound + CotP Contest Winner
Congratulations to Liz Rowley for winning CotP’s first ever give-away. Liz won the oh-so steezy No Age shirt you see below: Full disclosure, we are good friends with Rowley here at CotP, but our partners at InSound picked the winner so just good karma I suppose. Big thanks to all the guys at InSound for providing the shwag and taking care of all the logistics!
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Homonyms! Part Deux
Right, well, I’m cheating a bit here, but this was too good a string of songs to not do. As always, I write the blurbs with the time constraints of the track I’m writing about. Here are your homonyms for “take me home,” in alphabetical order: Brother Ali is part of the Rhymesayers crew out of the Twin Cities. He’s an incredibly talented MC who’s been putting...
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Culture Club: 6/5/09
Good batch of links today… Music -Santigold called BS on her label for putting the kibosh on Terry Urban’s Southerngold mixtape -NPR’s Carrie Brownstein (formerly of Sleater-Kinney) wrote a fantastic retort to the British press’ fascination with the weight of the Gossip’s Beth Ditto. If you read one thing I link to all week, read this -From P4K, John MacLean’s 5-10-15-20 Non-Music -Dave...
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NightWaves and Glass(er)
Before discussing the tracks I’ve been digging on, let me begin by saying that I’m thrilled when up-and-coming or unsigned bands use Twitter, social media and blogs smartly to help build an audience. I know, I know…this isn’t a big realization, but I’ve just seen some very savvy use of the technologies available in the last few weeks. Rather than relying solely on...
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Video Doizen: 6.4.09
Two quick videos today… FADER TV catches up with Gavin Russom aka Black Meteoric Star Current Music follows Mos Def through Osaka for a really well-shot version of “Casa Bey” And if you’ve got time to kill this summer, and the weather sucks or you’re sick or not outside for some other reason, I suggest David Lynch’s Interview Project. It’s just getting...
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Grizzly Bear w/ Here We Go Magic [9:30 Club -...
As Sam mentioned below I got the once in a life time chance to go to a Grizzly Bear show with VIP tickets, which for 930 basically means I get to stand in a roped off area to watch the show and feel kinda like a dousche. But I was happy to suffer the sinister glares of my fellow concert goers to watch Grizzly Bear with an amazing view of the stage and no drunk kids bumping into me. My parents...
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Culture Club: Quicky
Quicky Culture Club today…peep Shaq with the Friar Tuck at left… Music -I’m pretty excited for Discovery, the Daft Punk/Auto-Tune influenced side project of Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles -Lots of good stuff in this week’s New Yorker, but most of it’s subscriber-protected, two good pieces here from Sasha Frere-Jones on Major Lazer and The Hypnotic Brass...
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When remixes go awry...
(EDIT: I mistakenly used the word “craptastic” about the Stardust vs. Justice mash-up…that was actually meant for different Stardust remix and then in my haste to get this piece up I didn’t read through and edit. My sincere apologies for misrepresenting the mash-up go out to it’s creators. I actually really enjoy that track and appreciate that they didn’t...
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Doizenberry: All Aoki Edition
All Aoki (featuring other people’s music), all the time (in this post anyway). The first two videos were found over at HeavyRoc (Full disclosure: I’m attempting to incite an online riot of three of my boys who don’t like Steve Aoki)
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Julia and The Knocks
(Yes, that’s Samuel and Mr. JPatt) I would be remiss if I didn’t first mention that Julia was once called Tepperware, if jokingly. Julia is a new(-ish) artist working with our friends over at HeavyRoc; she got her start working with Frances and The Americans before branching out. Most would couple her soulful voice with a strumming folk guitar, but our boys B-Roc and Mr. JPatt, best...