The ICU

This new concept is simple - the illest, freshest tracks in hip-hop. These require your immediate attention:

Jay-Z - "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z just dropped The Blueprint 3 (maybe you haven't heard since he has only be promoting it on everything from the VMAs to Jay Leno for God's sake) and it is sick, if only a bit inconsistent. There is nothing inconsistent about the track "Empire State of Mind" though. This track could have fit squarely on the original (The Blueprint is probably my favorite of all of his brilliant albums) amongst the likes of "Izzo (H.O.V.A)" and "Heart of The City" (my all-time favorite Jay-Z track). With bouncing piano riff and a loose rhythm section Jay just slays the verse absolutely dominating the track. On top of all that Alicia Keys lays down the best hook of the year - if this song doesn't get you feeling some serious NYC love nothing ever will. I have listened to this song nearly 50 times since it came out a week ago (so the answer is yes I have problems). LINK

(Love this album cover)

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon (LP): "I got 99 problems and they all bitches" - best first line off a debut album I can remember. Still soaking in the new Cudi album that dropped today, Man on the Moon, but Cudi has crafted one of the most distinct and unique styles amongst the new up and coming MCs. His flow is smooth, slow, thoughtful and he drops gems like that first line often. Highlights are "Soundtrack 2 My Life" LINK, "Day N' Nite" (obviously), "Make Her Say", "Man on the Moon" and "Pursuit of Happiness" (which features MGMT and Ratatat to give him the indie cred, not like he needs it)

Enjoy,
MD

Best of the Best: The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses

(The Stone Roses' self-titled debut)

After posting about the Beatles, I have decided to institute a new section called simply Best of the Best. This section is reserved for the classics plain and simple. The Beatles themselves I had decided were above this categorization - they are in a category of their own. For the other mere mortals this is the best it gets. Thought Best of the Best had a better ring to it then Not The Beatles But Still Very Good.

Kicking off this section is one of the albums I have played most in my lifetime the self-titled album by The Stone Roses. It is somewhat fitting (and a huge compliment to The Stone Roses obviously) for The Stone Roses to be following The Beatles. In the late 80s, British music was stale and completely stagnant. The Smiths had broken up in 1987 and British pop music was in complete disarray. The Stone Roses came along and picked up the pieces where the Smiths had left off - taking the psychedelic pop sounds of the 60s and infusing it with some real rhythm. The Stone Roses pioneered (along with Happy Mondays) this "Madchester" sound and the result are staggering. More importantly they redefined Britpop - their influence on the British music that followed is huge. For starters, Oasis would never had existed without this band for two reasons: 1. they rip off their sound almost as much as the Beatles and 2. the Gallagher brothers decided to start a band after going to and because of a Stone Roses show (truth). Other greats like Beta Band, Spiritualized, Primal Scream - all hugely Stone Rose influenced.

The end of this story (like The Beatles too) is too abrupt. This album was their DEBUT and it is an absolute classic, consistently in discussions for best albums of that decade and of all-time. Legal disputes prevented them from giving it a proper follow-up until five years later with, the still good but nowhere near as good as the debut, Second Coming. By 1996 they called it quits.

Listening to the just released remastering The Stone Roses (20th Anniversary Legacy Edition) ever sonic texture is enhanced, each drum beat crisper, each guitar note more ethereal. This is the version you MUST get (it is $16.99 on iTunes or Lala but worth ever penny more than the other and this is from someone who has only listened to this new version today). It sounds as fresh, new and exciting as it must have been back in 1989.

Key tracks include "I Want To Be Adored", "She Bangs A Drum", "I Am The Resurrection" LINK, "This Is The One" and "Fool's Gold" (this one is epic, awe-inspiring genius - if you listen to one track listen to this one and it will hook you for good).

Listen to all the tracks on the remastered version for FREE once through on Lala.com. If you don't know this site, definitely check it out.

Enjoy,
MD

The Beatles - "miss them, miss them"

The Beatles are absolutely the greatest band in the history of modern music - really almost indisputable. Their influence is profound. The are not just an influence on all music that followed but on our culture as a whole. They have re-released their entire catalog on (number 9/9/2009) with a significant re-mastering enhancing the sonic detail of each of their albums. In conjunction they have released The Beatles: Rock Band.

If you are only familiar with the Beatles catalog through radio and their best known hits (shame on you), here are my top few albums of theirs that you should pick up immediately:
The Beatles (Also known as The White Album)
Revolver
Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

And my personal favorite few songs:
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
"A Day In The Life"
"Let It Be"
"Dear Prudence"
"In My Life"
...and this list can go on forever which brings me to my next point...

I have always been fascinated with the amazingly diverse and brilliant catalog of the best band ever and what is so shocking ever time I think about it or read about it is just how quickly (just 6 1/2 years) they went from Liverpool unknowns to boy band superstars to the greatest most experimental pop artists we have ever known to leaving it all behind. At the end of his review of the re-released Abbey Road (obviously receiving a 10), Mark Richardson for Pitckfork sums it up perfectly:

"The Beatles' run in the 1960s is good fodder for thought experiments. For example, Abbey Road came out in late September 1969. Though Let It Be was then still unreleased, the Beatles wouldn't record another album together. But they were still young men: George was 26 years old, Paul was 27, John was 28, and Ringo was 29. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, had come out almost exactly six and a half years earlier. So if Abbey Road had been released today, Please Please Me would date to March 2003. So think about that for a sec: Twelve studio albums and a couple of dozen singles, with a sound that went from earnest interpreters of Everly Brothers and Motown hits to mind-bending sonic explorers and with so many detours along the way-- all of it happened in that brief stretch of time. That's a weight to carry."

Just by way of a fun comparison: my favorite band, Radiohead, put out their first album Pablo Honey in 1993 and their seventh album, In Rainbows in 2007. That is a little more than half the number of albums The Beatles amassed in 3X the amount of time (as we now stand almost 17 years into Radiohead's run). Even more crazy to think is that while Radiohead put out their magnum opuses in years 4-7 (OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000)), within The Beatles time together, they seem as on top of their game as ever with In Rainbows nearly as brilliant as those two apexes. What might The Beatles have continued to accomplish...

26, 27, 28, 29 YEARS OLD and they were done. Shocking and incredibly heartbreaking ever time I think about. But they sure as hell went out on top.

Best,
MD

Everything You Need to Know About (EYNTKA): TV on the Radio (TVotR)

(TVotR)

Background:
TV on the Radio is one of the most exciting bands making music today. Unfortunately, they announced today that as a band they would be taking a year off to pursue other interests and just live life. So I thought for all those not yet priviledged to their music, this would give you a year to learn their back catalog and get amped up for their return. The Brooklyn band melds a diverse array of genres from rock, electronic, jazz, soul to hip-hop. For me their music's focus is the beat. Everything centers around it and builds outward with subtle accents, textures and layered production from their production genius David Sitek. Their vocals are also fantastic led by singer Tunde Adebimpe with harmonies provided by Kyp Malone. Sitek though is the star and one of the most exciting producers in the game today working with other acts like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Liars. Which leads me into my next section...

Fact I Refuse To Acknowledge:
Sitek is also the producer behind Scarlett Johansson's reimagining of Tom Waits songs. Let's just move on...

Trivia / Hipster Cred Knowledge:
The band's first album was self-released and titled, OK Calculator - one of the least subtle references to a band influence I have ever seen (but pretty funny). Apparently (since it is not widely available and I have not heard it) it varies dramatically from what has become the TVotR song - it was more hip-hop and electronica. The band added Kyp Malone to the group and then released what is their more commonly referred to debut, Young Liars which catapulted them on to the scene with the brilliant anthem, "Starring At the Sun". LINK

Album / Song Highlights:
Young Liars (EP): The aforementioned "Starring At the Sun" and the subtler but just as brilliant "Blind"
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes: "Starring At the Sun" in its currently loved form and "Poppy" LINK
Return to Cookie Mountain: "Wolf Like Me" #6 on PMA's best of the decade here: LINK (Hard to disagree with that) and "Province" is my personal favorite.
Dear Science: This was my album of the year last year - just brilliant the whole way through. "Love Dog" is my other personal favorite. Also killer is "DLZ"

News:
Kyp Malone just released a single off his soon to be released solo album as Rain Machine with bizarre album artwork below. But this song "Smiling Black Faces" LINK is epic, brilliantly penned and beautiful. Album out 9/22.

Lead singer Adebimpe just did a new track with Massive Attack that's pretty cool too.

So there is likely to be more from these guys even if it is not as TVotR for now.

Enjoy,
MD

Introducing: The xx

The xx have been straight blowing up the blogsphere right now. You can't go on to Hype Machine or Elbo.ws without seeing their name at the top of every list. And that was before Pitchfork just slapped their self-titled debut album with its "Best New Music" label. If anything the hype is UNDERstated. This is the most exciting debut album I have heard since Clap Your Hands Say Yeah self-released their debut in 2005. I can only hope that the xx do a better job following up this debut than CYHSY has. But all signs point towards them being able to. The average age in this band is 20! (20...is this as depressing to you as it is to me) To paraphase a good friend, they are the Le Bron Jameses of indie electro alienation. These guys have nowhere to go but up and the maturity they show on this album is mindblowing. Unlike CYHSY, the xx already has an incredibly cohesive and distinct sound. They have clear influences from Massive Attack and Portishead, but their combination of electro, r&b even some bossanova is so focused every single note is precisely positioned to serve an emotive purpose. The dualing male-female singing (remenisant of Stars) is their calling card - both voices are strikingly beautiful and able to evoke staggering emotional complexity given their young age.

Listening to a debut album like this is why I love music, why I am obsessed with it and always looking for that new song, that new sound that will leave me completely speechless. The xx have crafted a nearly flawless and perfect debut - listen and enjoy!

"Basic Space", "Islands" and "Crystalized" are essential starter tracks: LINK

Enjoy,
MD

Introducing: Washed Out

(Ernest Greene, the man behind Washed Out)

Washed Out is a one man show out of Columbia, South Carolina playing glitchy, loopy electro pop (does it seem like I like that kind of music??) along the lines of Air France, Panda Bear, et al. For me he sounds like the missing link between Panda Bear and M83's Saturdays = Youth. The 80s is an obvious influence, but the music has a timeless quality to it - it is celestrial, breazy and incredibly versatile. I feel like I can listen to this on the beach, a long drive with the top down or getting ready to hit up the town. This versatility comes from Greene's playing with tempo and expectations - all the tracks seem to have push and pull between a dance track and an ambient one and almost all seem to end abruptly leaving you wanting more. "Feel It All Around" LINK is a perfect example of this. "New Theory" sounds like a MGMT track if they downshifted one gear. Washed Out just released their first EP Life of Leisure today and it is available for $3.99 HERE. I have already spun it through a few times - this is going to be on repeat for a while.

Enjoy,
MD

Introducing: Fanfarlo and Dinosaur Feathers

(Fanfarlo performing live)

Fanfarlo is a London based group with heavy instrumentation along the lines of Arcade Fire or Sufjan Stevens playing everything from trumpet, violin, mandolin to whatever else they can find. Their debut LP, Reservoir, was released earlier this year and with the help of producer Peter Katis (previous work with The National and Interpol) they have made quite the first impression. Fanfarlo follow the orchestral pop laid out by Arcade Fire, The National and Sufjan and Ra Ra Riot. The music is unabashed, openly emotional and brilliantly layered with complex instrumentation. The first track, "I'm a Pilot" LINK, feels very influenced by Arcade Fire with its driving bass line and repeated piano just building and building to its climax. These songs have movements and layers and just seem to build and build. It's not quite Aracde Fire but it is a very strong debut and will sure serve to hold me over until another one of AF's releases. Also check them out playing the Troubadour on September 15th!



Dinosaur Feathers is a three piece out of Brooklyn playing experimental acoustic guitar driven jams like a combination of Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes (weighting these influences to varying degrees for each track). Like Animal Collective on their last album, MPP, Dinosaur Feathers have forged a pop sensibility out of their experimental madness and one that is uniquely their own. The results are on full display in their recently released EP, Early Morning Risers, which is available for FREE download on their website: http://dinosaurfeathers.com/. The title track hints at their past work in an a capella group at Carleton College, but the instrumentation slowly builds to a chorus with gibberish, electronic loops and acoustic jamming (is that a kazzo?) that somehow blends beautiful. Other highlight so far for me has been "Parallel July".

Enjoy,
MD

The Big Pink at The El Rey: Wed, 11/18

Tickets for this exciting new band went on sale today at 10am. Get them on ticketmaster for $15 each (or more like $25 when you add the Ticketmaster monopoly fees...oh how I despise thee).

Debut album, A Brief History of Love, drops September 22nd.

Read more about The Big Pink in my Introducing post on them from last month.

Enjoy
MD

NEW RADIOHEAD SONG...maybe

So the internet is all abuzz this morning from a potential Radiohead song leak on Radiohead fan site, At Ease. And for good reason. This song is sick - feels like a natural progression from In Rainbows....taking the beauty and technical perfection of its tracks and tweaking with the sound, adding imperfections and dissonance through its drones and slightly off-beat guitar notes. Feels like "Weird Fishes" meets "All The Best" (the new Thom Yorke cover I blogged on below). Loving this in all its dark beauty!

Thom Yorke spoke (sadly) recently about a new LP from the band being far off if not ever coming down the line (please don't let that be the case) in an interview in The Believer magazine. He did promise releases of new singles, maybe some EPs...so this seems to fit with the mold.

Check out the MP3 and some more of the backstory at Stereogum: LINK

Listen below:



Enjoy,
MD

New Jack White Song from It Might Get Loud

Written and recorded in about 10 minutes - "Fly Farm Blues" is meant more as a demonstration of the writing and recording process, but a sweet lick nonetheless from White. Though (as P4k points out) has a bit of a "Ball and Biscuit" feel to it.



Here is a clip of the recording from It Might Get Loud: LINK



Enjoy,
MD

Introducing: Volcano Choir

(Volcano Choir debut album, Unmap)

Volcano Choir is a new project from Bon Iver, who's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was one of the absolute best albums of last year. On this album, he joins forces with Collections of Colonies of Bees, a post-rock outfit from Milwaukee who play instrumental guitar driven experimental music along the lines of Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai. The combination is powerful - adding some brilliant instrumentation to Bon Iver's usually subtle backdrops. The first single off the album, "Island, IS", comes off like a panda bear meets dirty projectors at their more mellow state. At the 2:45 mark the Dirty Projector comparison becomes readily apparent setting up Bon Iver to lead the song to its beautiful climax. This is exciting stuff - I am desperately awaiting the release of the full length on 9/22. Check out the single NOW: LINK

(For Emma, Forever Ago album cover)

For those unfamiliar with Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago is a must. His album is meant to be listened to alone in the woods surrounded by some idyllic setting. His voice is haunting and the emotions he is able to convey are staggering. Try listening to "Skinny Love", maybe my favorite track of 2008, without being moved (on his myspace): http://www.myspace.com/boniver

Enjoy,
MD

R.I.P. John Hughes

John Hughes passed away yesterday at the far too early age of 59 from a heart attack. His films were staples of our youth (I may hold the record for the most Ferris Bueller viewings) and more than any other cultural artifact defined the 80s decade. Hughes was incredibly influential in his use of music in film from the Psychedelic Furs song that inspired Pretty in Pink (with one of the most brilliant soundtracks overall) to Ferris Bueller leading all of Chicago through "Twist and Shout" (my personal favorite). So much of what is going on in current music scene is influenced by the 80s music and 80s spirit embodied in his films. Many acts I have written about here from Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Phoenix, The Big Pink to Passion Pit have clear influences.

Then there is M83, the brilliant French electronic music producer, who raves about Hughes and his influence specifically on his latest album, the exceptional Saturdays=Youth, which Anthony Gonzalez (M83) credits a big debt to Hughes' Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club. Saturdays=Youth is a Hughes film soundtrack for our current time. The video below is for M83's "Kim & Jessie" - it has all the teen awkwardness, angst, simplicity and beauty that embodied Hughes' work.




Below is another video that surfaced a few months ago mashing up Phoenix's "Lisztomania" with the brat pack. This was user-generated, but it created so much buzz that the band has been talking about it in interviews. Love this -



And just for fun I have to include this:



Enjoy,
MD

It Might Get Loud!

A movie with Jack White. The Edge . JIMMY FUCKIN' PAIGE. All sitting around talking music and guitars AND writing music together!! If there is anything else you need to hear to go see this movie then you should stop reading this blog.

Movie opens August 14th.

This preview gives me chills...




Enjoy,
MD

Stream The Big Pink's A Brief History of Love Now!

(The debut album cover)

Hot off being featured in my Introducing column, The Big Pink are streaming their whole debut album over at their website, http://musicfromthebigpink.com/. The album won't be released until September 22nd in US so check it out while you can now!

Enjoy,
MD

Ruminating on (500) Days of Summer

I saw the fantastic film, (500) Days of Summer, last night and am still contemplating its overall impact. What I do know is that you must see this film, even if only for the completely novel take on the romantic comedy and most of all the incredible art direction - this is one of the most innovative and impressive directorial efforts I have seen in a while and it comes from a music video director, Marc Webb, making his feature film debut...amazing. While this blog does not focus on movies, this movie has music at its core and the soundtrack plays beautifully (and hilariously when Hall & Oates "You Make My Dreams" kicks in).

The movie introduced me to a relatively new band, The Temper Trap, from Mebourne, Australia that writes grandiose atmospheric guitar driven rock anthems and "Sweet Disposition" is a perfect example. The song comes on like an old-school U2 cover, but quickly takes on its own character. They just released their debut album, Conditions, in Australia and are releasing it in the UK soon (no US date yet). However, they have a ton of songs on their myspace page so check them out: http://www.myspace.com/thetempertrap. They worked on the newest album with producer maven, Jim Abbiss, behind the debuts of Arctic Monkeys and Adele so they should be household names in no time. Here is "Sweet Disposition": LINK

(Mark Kozelek is "just one of the out of focus guys" on the far right)

On the car ride back from the film, I stumbled upon an old favorite by Red House Painters, their cover of the lyrically brilliant "All Mixed Up" by The Cars (cover was recorded in 1996 and is found on the incredible record, Songs for a Blue Guitar). The song felt like a perfect fit for the film (for one of its more meloncholy moments) and captures (for me at least) the film's central theme. Matt Kozelek, leader of Red House Painters and also of Sun Kill Moon, is a master of the cover. He takes this already great Cars song, strips it down to its core and allows the lyrics (and his haunting voice) to stand front and center. (Fun fact in my research: Matt Kozelek is the bassist in Stillwater from Almost Famous) Watch the video for Red House Painters' "All Mixed Up": LINK

Here are the stunning lyrics:

she shadows me in the mirror
she never leaves on the light
and some things that i've said to her
they just dont seem to bite

it's all mixed up (x4)

she tricks me into thinking
that i cant believe my eyes
that i wait for her forever
but she never does arrive

it's all mixed up (x4)

she said leave it all to me,
everything will be allright
she said leave it all to me,
everything will be all right

she's always out making pictures
she's always out making scenes,
she's always out the window
when it comes to making dreams.

Enjoy,
MD