getting me down

jesus.

pick yourself up and get out on that dancefloor. south yorkshire's blawan has put out a couple of housey post-dubstepish tracks this year that caught my ear, but god damn if this one just won't get out of my head. it's like reznor and ross' social network soundtrack, with that deep dark bass and precision electro, but just packed full of energy in a way that doesn't overdose the track with sugar - and rounded out with vocals that carry just enough modification to match the overall tone.

just make sure to listen on a decent set of speaker/headphones, and press repeat in advance. just save yourself the trouble.

blawan - getting me down

gonna go fishing, down by the sea

see, wherever human being have been around
you see rectangles and straight lines
'cause we're always trying to straighten things out
and so, that's the very mark of our presence
i don't know why we do it
it's always been a puzzle to me

it's something of a throwback, i know. but it still makes me awful happy.

blithe field - bible school

she made me love

what's a 'grammy'?

bon iver - love more (sharon van etten cover)

love me like you used to

i came across class actress in a daytrotter session a lifetime ago. while i'm not sure her sound makes a good complement to rock island's stripped down, analog environment, i enjoyed the free music that was offered to me, and promptly... forgot about it.

lo and behold it turns out she's actually significantly better with studio polish behind her. elizabeth harper's 2011 release rapprocher is, composition-wise, a top-to-bottom exploration of 80's style retro pop, with her lazy, nihilistic voice adding a modern touch; the conflict between the two is really what makes the sound what it is. and what it is is quite, quite good.

and of course, she's fucking gorgeous. i mean, honestly... why do i bother at this point.

here's two songs that she made.

class actress - love me like you used to


class actress - weekend

i'm just saying you could do better

"he's a tourist."

"he vacations in people's lives. takes pictures, puts them in his scrapbook, and moves on. all he's interested in is stories. basically, leslie, he's selfish. and you're not. that's why you don't like him"

i hate drake. i love drake.

drake - marvin's room/buried alive (interlude)

god damn these people that remind me of you

as it would happen, that p.s.l.w track from the last post makes for just a darling little segue into this one.

based in fort lauderdale, arrange (@arrange_malcom) is a one-man post-dubsteb post-emo artist that's caught my ear these past few days. his debut LP plantation is up and available for download on bandcamp, and i would strongly recommend it. in a world where channelling the rawer side of emotion into music seems to necessitate screaming and song titles the size of small novels, arrange's minimalist lyrics and ghostly production value bring a depth back to my library that i didn't know i missed. and to add to the fun, it would seem he's part of something of a twitter friendship circle with ricky eat acid (@rickyeatacid) and germany germany (@grmnygrmny) that i can't help but hope and pray will churn out new beautiful tunes.

here's when'd you find me, and a rework of the same featuring sam ray himself.

arrange - when'd you find me


arrange - when'd you find me (ricky eat acid remix)

forget about the world

ricky eat acid is all i'm going to listen to again ever.

ricky eat acid - ONLY GIRL.


ricky eat acid + arrange - P.S.L.W.


everything he's ever done is available up for pay-as-you-see-fit over on his bandcamp. so listen to his music and then give him some god damn money.

all the things that we thought we were losing

this'll be brief, i promise.

first, childish gambino's camp drops momentarily, and i'm pretty excited. you can stream it over at npr, so if the darling glover piques your interest in the slightest, do check it out. 'heartbeat' has my ear at the moment, though if the rest of his work is any indication, i'll jump from favourite to favourite over the next little while.

second - drake's latest album/mixtape/whatever it is, take care, just arrived to much fanfare.

i couldn't be angrier.

i love love loved jamie xx and gil scott-heron's collaboration, and drake's take on the title track of his new creation... disgusts me. the man has a production team that's second to none, and yet his version of 'original' music is to take a gorgeous song, let rihanna (retch) repeat the lead vocals and then throw two verses over literally the exact same song with a drum beat added. no modification, no sampling, no musicality - hell, no original thought - just his ill-thought out words over somebody else's music. it's like the man is doing it solely for the attention.

oh.

music is commerce, and i'm familiar with the notion that some treat it as more commercial than others. but there is a solid line between respectful use of a legendary (and recently deceased) artist's work, and the sheer pillage of said work for profit. and toronto's finest just trampled right the fuck over that line.

so get back in the studio. write something. create something.

be an artist.

don't let it get to you

it's been a good 9 months since we've heard from vampire weekend, and i'd be lying if i didn't admit - i miss them a tad. that ivy league swing has a way of melting into the nooks of crannies in your mind, and unlike some i just loved contra - the band's growth from a one-note sound to the wildly eccentric, influence-hopping sound their sophomore album offered up struck a chord with me. classifying it with some of more experimental-soft-indie bands out there (here i refer you to appendix a: yeasayer, dirty projectors, yacht) contra was just so much more... digestable. the string arrangements added a delightful second layer to more than one track, and when i came across an eastern influence or two it brought a smile to my face, not a furrow to my brow. lord help me, but i am anglo-saxon to the core, and this form of musical colonialism just works for me.

anyhow, much of the advance in the bands's sound can likely be attributed to "multi-instrumentalist" (whatever that means) rostam batmanglij. like all good 21st century muses, the products of his mind cannot be contained therein, and must be spilled across today's moleskine notebook - the tumblr page. aside from from arrangement work on the side, he's also worked up a couple semi-instrumental tracks, wood and don't let it get to you. the former pulls heavily from bollywood with a smattering of that lovely wine-and-cheese string work that makes a lot of vampire weekend so cheeky, while the latter features an african-inspired machine-gun dreambeat that will have you struggling to keep still in your chair. i'd love to hear more 'weekend soon, but for now... this, this'll do.

rostam - wood


rostam - don't let it get to you

i hope that you're dreaming of me

it's always interesting what you come across during the wee hours of the morning.

this gem is a deep cut off of mark ronson's 2010 release record collection. alex greenwald's barbershop quartet-ish lyrics work well off of ronson's hop-skip-and-a-jump drumbeat, and rose elinor dougall's sleepy chorus is the perfect complement to the track's wistful theme. it's just the song to accompany your late-night angst in a way that isn't, well... obnoxiously sappy.

it's brooding for the 21st century.

mark ronson & the business intl - the night last night ft. rose elinor dougall, alex greenwald

sunny on the inside

you guys, i done goofed and i know it.

i stopped posting, and the world of webernet music kept on a-churnin'. beirut's latest came out and RAC made like... three more life-changing remixes and a new black keys single came out and it's so much go damn fun, i can't help myself

in any case, we'll get to all that in due time. meanwhile, here's a little glass candy. they're portland-based and work with italians do it better, who also happen to host portland/montreal hybrid band desire, with whom we've already had something of a tryst. see if it does anything for you.



in an entirely unrelated matter... now i'm not one for waxing poetic about the lives and welfare of our furry friends; in fact, i may be known for playing a little cheeky republican from time to time, just for kicks. but just a couple of days ago, a few gatineau (that's in quebec, for you non-canucks) police officers got a little slap-happy with the sidearms and gunned down a few stray steers because they 'posed a threat to the public'. my green-thumbed (well... more like green-all-over) classmate camille labchuk does a much better job of covering the story over at huffpo canada; but all you have to do is watch the video to really get a sense for what's going on here. aside from the fact that these trained and uniformed officers can't seem to make contact with an animal the side of a smart car at a range of 5 metres (and expend enough ammunition to stop a humvee in the process), the only danger the poor thing seemed to have posed was eating a few reeds and perhaps knocking over a lawn ornament or two.

i mean, jesus h. christ people. it's the twenty-first century. the poor things were off to be made into hamburger anyways, but no person or creature deserves to be slowly (and inaccurately) shot to death on the side of a highway. show a little class.

eternal sunshine

what am i thankful for?

...

a wonderful take on the defining song of one of my favourite movies of all time. producer brenton duvall takes the hook from jon brion's collecting things and sneaks it under neat mike posner's save your goodbye, updating the daydream-inducing acoustics and piggybacking them into 2012 with a little drum-and-synth work. this track's begging for a remix, but for the time being i like the unpolished version.

brenton duvall - phone rings goodbye

i give you a five minute window

i saw Drive just a few hours past.

i don't quite know what to make of it yet. it was stylish as hell - plenty of aerial shots of los angeles, of topless strippers standing idly by as a man's hand is reduced to a congealed mess,  of gosling staring soulfully (blankly?) through the windshield, out the window, at people, at objects, at seemingly nothing at all - but i'm not sure that there really was any... substance at the end of the tunnel. plenty of people suffered gratuitously violent ends and there was some hint of larger organized-crime concerns, but these elements do not a great drama make; and for a movie named with a single action verb, said verb played a miniscule role in the actual film itself. as much as i am a lover of the pregnant pause, for a character whose background is left entirely to the imagination, gosling's "driver" character is obnoxiously mute, leaving us to question whether his silence truly stems from an inner torment, or just because he ain't so good with the mouth-sounds (or perhaps for other reasons).

in any case, being the stylistic vehicle it is, the film puts its music to the forefront and left me with a few tracks that, while a bit off the beaten track, bring 80's miami back in a bold way. kavinsky & lovefoxxx's nightcall opens the film and does so brilliantly, and desire's under your spell plays a pivotal role in one of the movie's few truly poignant emotional moments.

kavinsky & lovefoxxx - nightcall


desire - under your spell

d'you wanna play with me?

it's no lie, I love songs that sample audio tracks of children. they are wonderful and adorable and so full of imagination, I don't know what to do with myself. it may come across as a bit of cheap gimmick from time to time, but when it comes to my dearest M83... I have the utmost faith in its artistic authenticity. Speaking of, it might be a bit of an early prediction, but Hurry Up We're Dreaming has my unconditional sponsorship for best album I've heard this year. It's explorative and soaring and emotionally poignant and just... everything I love about music. i clearly have a soft spot for raconte-moi un histoire, but i would recommend the full album with everything i have. don't waste any time - get it. any way you can.

M83 - raconte-moi un histoire

as restless as we are

you guys, did i mention this remix group i'm into called RAC?

givers - meantime (RAC mix)


this second track has a backstory to it, and rather than try to paraphrase it and misappropriate it for my own, why not read it straight from the source? and follow 'em while you're at it?

RAC - 1979 (ft. Liz Anjos)

homegirl drop it like the nasdaq

kettle corn! that's a fun-time snack!

i gave up on pretty much anything that the terms "rap" or "hip-hop" can be applied to a while ago, with a few notable exceptions (j.cole, blakroc, probably kanye west too - i'm a white guy in his 20's, fairly sure that i was legislatively mandated to listen to dark fantasy). but in a world dominated by mindless hashtag rap, the consistently hilarious donald glover's alter ego childish gambino is taking off, and i'm happy to follow in his wake. i don't quite know what it is about his music that i enjoy so much - his stripped-down beats seem almost amateurish at times, and his aggressive steal-your-white-girlfriend lyrics seem at odds with his happy-go-lucky day job. maybe it's leftover loyalty from back during his derrick comedy days (i remember being frustrated by constant blank stare responses to my "girls are not to be TRUSTED.... by kevin" routine), or maybe it's the guy's ability to put lyrics out there that test the boundary of acceptable (wait... are you talking about MY girlfriend?) while still getting a chuckle out of me.

here's bonfire, and keep your ears peeled for camp, his latest expected this november.

childish gambino - bonfire

a special tribute

o hai there.

terribly sorry i didn't notice you; i was just moving to another country and such.

my love for jamie xx is far from a secret at this point; on several occasions i have expressed my considerable enjoyment of his remix work and his groundbreaking collaboration with the late gil scott-heron, and the xx is and shall remain one of my favourite low-key albums in the whole universe. like any good producer, his releases are few and far between - he seems to have mastered the art of pacing, and i feel like i've had a chance to thoroughly process almost everything he's put out there, as opposed to gobbling it up too fast or losing interest, as i am prone to do with artists who go AWOL.

while i wait eagerly for whatever it is that he has to offer next, this BBC essential mix is just lovely - a full hour plus of carefully selected and tailored tracks that do to my ears almost what his original work is capable of. pro tip - if you really want it, it is certainly possible to find a downloadable copy of this online, should you look carefully enough.

jamie xx - BBC essential mix (august 27, 2011)
Jamie xx Essential Mix by Young Turks

just cause it feels good

goodness gracious children, you should probably go out of your way right now and check out active child. the alter ego of LA-based pat grossi, i suppose this act could be considered a union of M83 and the weeknd, with a dose of harp thrown in for good measure. 2011's You Are All I See is getting a fair amount of attention on the blogs, and while i'm still digesting this one (it's not a one-take product, that's for sure), the hype seems to be warranted. feast your ears on playing house - featuring how to dress well, an act that i cannot connect with how hard i try, this one's got a synth hook that'll keep you coming back.

active child - playing house ft. how to dress well

BIRP: i hope the moon is listening

i am nostalgic for a decade i've never known.

future islands - before the bridge


from the july 2011 BIRP

fall creek boys choir

sweet mother mary jesus.

i can't feel a damn thing

okay cats and kittens, it looks like this is going to be a double-post evening but this is an emergency and cannot wait.

i was as skeptical as anybody about the weeknd - it seemed he was about to be snapped up by the drake/lil wayne production team and mashed into whatever godless machine took drake's initial appeal and transmogrified into that mess called thank me later. but this week's free release, entitled thursday, is just as good if not better than house of balloons - it's dark and sexy and faded in all the right ways. everybody's pretty excited about life of the party, and with the club-worthy guitars i suppose i can see why, but the zone is by far my pick of the litter; abel's voice works so well when it's layered over such a devastatingly distorted acoustic sample, and just when you thought he was about to be swallowed alive by his own ego, drake does the track justice with a surprisingly understated verse. pick this one up fo' free as soon as you can.

the weeknd - the zone


the weeknd - rolling stone

birthday

happy birthday to me.

blithe field - crushing

you gave to me all i know

i'm getting pretty fucking excited about glasgow, pals.

(FYI that is a place i am going to live in pretty soon).

anyhow, here's some music by a band named bombay bicycle club. they are from london (i'm detecting something of a trend here...), and while you won't find shuffle on it, i would highly recommend their sophomore effort flaws - it's soft and cheerful and poignant without straying too far into melancholy. they'll be playing the barrowland in early october, and you bet your boots i will do my darndest to be there.

bombay bicycle club - shuffle


and for dessert, here's a song about wolves by a man named ben. yes it is from the latest danny macaskill video, and yes i do owe a finder's fee to brother dearest for this one. enjoy.

ben howard - the wolves


p.s. i'm working my way through a couple of month's worth of BIRPs, so expect a little something off the beaten track in the next couple of weeks.

next to a family portrait drawn when you were four

yes, it has been put front and centre in a mediocre rom-com featuring the most glaring age gap in recent film history, and yes, i am very late getting it on here, but the middle east's blood is still a lovely, lovely song with a hook that you will end up humming under your breath for a time. and while we're on the topic, the recordings of the middle east is quite the delightful collection - a little experimental and a little ambient and a little indie folk, it's the perfect album to put on in the background and read, or play board games, or whatever it is that you like to do during your quiet-time. take the time to listen to soaring closer tsietsi - it takes some nerve to re-introduce vocals after a 5-minute violin solo, but it's done gracefully here. months you'll find on their debut studio album, titled i want that you are always happy, and is also worth a proper listen.

and then shed a tear, because sadly they have decide to retire gracefully as of just a week ago. shame shame shame.

the middle east - blood


the middle east - months

for when you're going off the rails

let's get right to it children.

the vaccines are probably the best solid rock band i've heard out of the great british isles since the arctic monkeys happened back in say, 2007ish? (sure they are probably still around but really now). they formed in 2010, and they are from london, which is always a good thing, and they have only made one album so far and it is called what did you expect from the vaccines and it is great rock music. post break up sex is one of those honest songs about how sex and love and relationships really work and how they usually get fucked up, and also i like the music that is in it too. do yourself a big favour and pick up this album, while you still have a few summer weekends left to squander drunk on somebody's balcony somewhere.

the vaccines - post break-up sex


the vaccines -wreckin' bar

that's not our deal

you guys i usually don't get too stirred up about music videos, but this one just makes me giddy. best coast's our deal featuring chloe grace moretz, donald glover, maeby "maybe tonight" funke - even iCarly's up in the mix. check out the mtv uk link below (only way to see it in canada right now) and i'll get a proper embedded version soon, i promise i promise.

http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/supervideo

the city is my church

oh hey y'all,

do you remember M83? I DO! anthony gonzalez is the creator of one of my favourite songs in the entire universe AND one of the best album covers ever - it's like playing pictionary for angsty 80's/90's movies - AND one of the only musical acts i know of named after a particular region of outer space (unless perhaps you count young galaxy)

well in any case he is back with a new single, midnight city, and i am smitten. the track is layered, varied, and features the soaring vocals unique to M83 that always remind me of flying. take a gander and see if it tickles your fancy; and be ready to pounce when hurry up, we're dreaming comes out sometime this year. maaaaybe NOW?

how about now?

M83 - midnight city


M83 - we own the sky


p.s. i wrote and posted this FROM MY CAR. it's the FUTURE, you guys.

don't you know that you're making me blue

okay by now you should have an idea of how i am rather fond of tennis. so imagine my glee when i learned they decided to put together a cover of 60's sweetheart brenda lee, and better yet, release it to the webernets free of cost. the breezy duo brings their unique sound to this classic track, adding a new twist to lee's classic lyrics; and if this track is any indication, we can expect great things from their sophomore effort.

and if you're curious, check out their blog for a little background on the band (and a sizeable dose of adorable).

tennis - is it true? (brenda lee cover)


p.s. we've swapped over to hulkshare for technologic purposes, with the megabytes and the electrons and the science.

they're calling me home

do i... do i really need to say anything? anything at all?

ellie goulding - lights (RAC mix)
Ellie Goulding - Lights (RAC Mix) by RAC

you took these lies and made them true

it b-b-baffles my mind that in a world where you can't even turn on the tv without hearing the black keys, New Orleans' generationals can't get any love from the mainstream. these guys have been delivering good, solid bluesy indie rock for a while now, starting with their debut Con Law back in 2009 through the Trust EP and finally this spring's Actor-Caster. i can't say enough good things about this album - it's bold, varied, and refuses to quit from opening track all the way through to the end. i double-dare you to pick up a copy and take it with you on your next road trip. i... kind of want to be their friend?

generationals - you say it too


generationals - greenleaf

why even try to change

straight from my dear mother's playlist (i kid you not - i have long given up being cooler than her) here is the song that is going to make your summer - theophilus london's suave cadence backed by some sugar-coated vocals and polished off with RAC's secret formula.

one of these days i am going to find a way to communicate why it is that i love andre, andrew and karl so much (and correspondingly, why i can't abide by any any other remix artists). normally i cringe to see the songs i do love so butchered for a dance-hall hook (keep your GRIMY PAWS OFF ADELE) but RAC continues to surprise and delight.

theophilus london - why even try (RAC remix)


as an aside - turntable.fm. how does one access this in canada. HOW.

maybe i'm crazy

whoa!

somewhere along the way we crossed over the 3k landmark. while only a footnote in the grand scheme that is the internets, i am nevertheless rather proud of myself. i am going to go make an ice cream sundae.

here's some monarchy.

monarchy - maybe i'm crazy.

it's sensible

so i went away for a weekend, and apparently everybody has decided without me that foster the people have delivered the song of the summer. it has the words 'kicks' in it and sounds appropriately lazy for a summer song and has a bassline and everybody is cool with that.

what the heck, you guys?

if you had all had the decency to ask my opinion on this - i got opinions - i would have steered you firmly in the direction of metronomy's The English Riviera. i've been over at loose lips more often now that baby brother is writing for them, and mik's given it a glowing review, which is good enough for me. it's doing to the summer of 2011 what Oracular Spectacular did to 2008; giving just enough dance pop and tempo to make a sunday barbecue work, but leaving you with a somewhat darker undertone that, after everybody's gone home, will have you staring at an unattended pool noodle as it lackadaisically traverses an empty pool at dusk, wondering how the fuck you ended up here.

metronomy - the bay


metronomy - loving arm

amor fati

perfect for a sunny sunday, washed out has let us into his head with a little taste of the upcoming within and without. stepping out from behind the faded indifference that has come to be the hallmark of much of his music, Amor Fati is a little more forward and poignant, but doesn't stray too far from the original washed out model, and goodness am i taken. have a listen, and feel free to join me in my laborious (albeit mental) wait for the july 11 release.

washed out - amor fati

all is silent now

oh hello. i didn't see you there.

so instead of providing any sort of exposition, i do believe i'm just going to leave you with a host of interesting songs, and you may make of them what you will.

el perro del mar - change of heart (robyn's rakamonie remix)


bombay bicycle club - dust on the ground (banjo or freakout remix)


i break horses - hearts (rar mix)


nicolas jaar - keep me there

you were meant for me

hey mac!

okay so i'm usually skeptical of compilation albums - bad memories of much dance '99 i s'pose - but it would seem that some of my favourite purveyors of ye fynest musiks are making a tribute album and it seems swell. the reason being, of course, that the subject material is buddy holly, with his trendy glasses and swing-inducing basslines. the album, adorably titled 'rave on buddy holly', is set to feature the likes of my morning jacket, florence + the machine, and (inexplicably) kid rock, plus the black keys, and my personal favourites, zooey and m. ward, which i've provided to you below. have a listen, get excited, and hey, take a little time to sift through some of the man's original tunes. you might be surprised at what you find your head bobbing along to.

she & him - oh boy (buddy holly cover)


the black keys - (ummm, oh yeah) dearest (buddy holly cover)

everything could change

oh hey there's a new rac mix out and it sucks and i fucking hate it.

noah and the whale - tonight's the night (RAC mix)

i'm moving past the feeling

there are no words.

no words to do it justice.



mr. little jeans - the suburbs (arcade fire cover)


also this asobi seksu remix is pretty swell.

asobi seksu - perfectly crystal (beach fossils/spirit animal remix)

playing for the heart and the soul

if one were to be so inclined to combine crystal castles and florence + the machine, the result might sound just a bit like austra. this Toronto-based (!!!) trio has been gathering a little attention lately, first with a NOW magazine cover locally and more recently a feature up on iTunes, and deservedly so - their brand of goth-tinged electronica is instantly memorable. the mix of vocals and instrumentals strikes a new balance on every track of their debut Feel It Break. Lead singer katie stelmanis' operatic voice will hit a nerve you probably didn't even know was there, and if the above photo is any indication, it would seem she's kind of a secret hottie. check out the lead single Lose It and slightly heavier dance-y Beat and the Pulse below.

austra - lose it


austra - beat and the pulse

you can't keep this up for long

what's the skinny, baby doll?

miracle fortress is based in montreal, but they make up for it by making wonderful delightful indie music (see what i did there?). they were shortlisted for a polaris prize a few years back, but came up short behind patrick watson. their latest album 'was i the wave' just came out a few weeks ago, and while i wouldn't exactly heap praise on it, spectre is just way too much fun - it's an 80's movie in 4 minutes, all drawn-out synths and drum machines and hoppy lyrics. give it a try, see if it fits.

miracle fortress - spectre


also, just because i like you so much, here's some wild ones.

wild ones - you're a winner

little waves our bodies break

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.

take the next 5 minutes of your life, donate your e-mail address and go get the new bon iver single.

i never thought i would love something that goes by the name calgary... but i love this, and it goes by the name calgary. oh so very much.

i wish this dream comes true

i have NO idea what is going on with this track. i don't know who van mccoy is, and i recognize some daft punk lyrics but i don't know what they are doing in here, and troupe gammage sounds like a travelling french dentistry convention. but i love love love RAC and this is gold and i just don't know why i am surprised by these guys anymore, everything they do makes me happy.

van mccoy & the soul city symphony - the hustle (rac edit ft. troupe gammage)