PMA | Pretty Much Amazing

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Trey Songz f/ Drake – “The Usual”

I’ll let you in on a little secret — when it comes to R&B, all I really look for is sex. You know, the type of sleaze that made R. Kelly so iconic in the early and mid 90s. Contemporary artists like The-Dream and Drake understand this and bring the right balance of cocky swagger and sexytime to the track. I’ll be completely honest here and just say that my familiarity with Trey Songz’ work peaks somewhere around his high-profile, high-swagger collaboration with Drake; “Successful” from Drizzy’s So Far Gone mixtape. On “The Usual”, Trey Songz is reunited with Drake to make up what is shaping up to some sort of R&B dream team making dream sex jams, just how I like. Hear/download the song over here.

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Wait What (of The Notorious xx Fame) – This Is Real Life

At the heels of his unbelievably popular The Notorious xx mash-up album, DJ Wait What has released This Is Real Life, a project that brings the hip hop kids and hipsters together — a popular notion these days. With pairings like Diddy vs Sleigh Bells, Mase vs LCD Soundsystem, and Nas vs MGMT, you are going to want to check out the well-crafted This Is Real Life. (Continue Reading)

DOWNLOAD: Free Radiohead Live DVD

On August 23, 2009, Radiohead played in front of a massive crowd in Prague. The band handed out video cameras to a number of fans who were to shoot the concert from different angles. Footage from several dozen cameras were then edited and clipped together, with a high quality audio recording of the concert, to create this live DVD — and, true to form, Radiohead are giving the entire thing away. (Continue Reading)

RECOMMENDED MP3: T.I. – “Pledge Allegiance To The Swag” f/ Rick Ross

While this is not the first new piece of T.I. music that’s hit the web (or iTunes) in the last few months, I can now say that the King is back and actually mean it. Despite a poorly chosen song title, “Pledge Allegiance To The Swag” is near-eights minutes of raw hip hop prowess from both T.I. and the Teflon Don himself, Rick Ross. Production is spot on, courtesy of the constantly delivering J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. (Continue Reading)

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Hump Day Playlist Vol. II

An extension to our regular PMACAST, we will have short weekly Hump Day Playlists to help get over the usually crappy first few days of the week and roll down the still somewhat crappy hill that leads to TGIF, #followfriday’s and the overall weekend. Listen to this week’s 10-track playlist in the embedded player above. Full tracklist and mp3 download can be found below: (Continue Reading)

NEWS: Chiddy Bang Album Pushed Back to 2011, Mini-Album in October

Chiddy Bang’s debut album, The Swelly Life has officially been pushed back to early 2011. Earlier, the 19-year-old duo had mentioned a late Fall release. Well now, CB are releasing an eight track “mini-album” on October 11 aptly titled The Preview. Like Xaphoon put it, “The main purpose of this release is to give our fans some new music whilst we finish recording our debut album, Swelly Life. It’s called The Preview because it gives listeners a glimpse of what’s to come on Swelly“. (Continue Reading)

WATCH: The Pass – “Vultures” Music Video + Music Blogger House Party Contest

Louisville’s up and coming The Pass continues pouring out its steady stream of electro-pop goodness, with “Vultures,” a brand new song off their debut album, BURST. At first glance, the “Vultures” music video looks like a crazy house party, but hidden somewhere in this party vid are a few dozen references to music blogs. Naturally, they’d go for this concept for a song called “Vultures”. Watch the video above and read more about the contest here.

WATCH: Cee-Lo Green – “Fuck You” Music Video

Watch Cee-Lo music video for his future-classic single, “Fuck You” at his Facebook page.

STREET DATE: 08.20.10 | EMUSIC | AMAZON| INSOUND | ITUNES

RATE ALL DELIGHTED PEOPLE:

There’s a moment at the end of Sufjan Stevens’ All  Delighted People EP, almost fourteen minutes into the record’s final track, “Djohariah,” where the drums are replaced with a synthetic beat that pulses behind the ebb and flow of a male and female voice and Sufjan’s repeated refrain of “Djohariah,” the name of his sister. I think it’s the most beautiful moment on an EP full of beautiful moments, a brilliant condensation of everything that makes Sufjan Stevens one of the most impressive artists releasing music today. He has a phenomenal voice. He tends toward epic orchestration, in scope and in scale. He is uplifting and crushing, confident and vulnerable. He embodies the ongoing struggle between organic sound and machine-made noise. And now, after five years in the shadows and repeated allusions that he may never return to releasing music, he’s back. (more…)

NEW/DOWNLOAD: Big Sean x Chiddy Bang x Hockey – “Too Fake”

Earlier today, Kanye West approved MC Big Sean released his new mixtape, Finally Famous Vol. 3 with some crazy guests including Drake, Bun B, Asher Roth, Chip The Ripper and PMA favorites Chiddy Bang. CB sample & beats maestro Xaphoon Jones produced the tape highlight and Hockey-samplin’ “Too Fake”. You can hear the track here.

NEW: Matt & Kim – “Cameras”

Matt & Kim’s new single, “Camera” is the funky tube-powered Summer’s End jam many of us have been waiting for; get ready to blast this in all white on Labor Day next Monday. (Continue Reading)

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Jay-Z – “Most Kingz” (feat. Chris Martin of Coldplay)

“Most Kingz” is a sort-of brand new track from Jay-Z and Coldplay front man Chris Martin. (Continue Reading)

DOWNLOAD: Wild Nothing – “Golden Haze”

We are rather infatuated with Wild Nothing (real name, Jack Tatum) at the moment. As if releasing a wonderfully wistful and nostalgic debut album wasn’t enough, Wild Nothing is preparing to drop a new EP sometime this Fall, aptly titled Golden Haze. The EP’s title track is as hazy and, er, golden as you’d expect. Like most Wild Nothing tracks, within the song’s first few seconds, Tatum’s influences are candidly placed on display. The Cure instantly comes to my mind with “Golden Haze,” specifically. But this inescapable sense of déjà vu doesn’t last very long; before you know it, you’ve consumed yourself in yet another shoegaze dreamscape thought up by Wild Nothing. (Continue Reading)

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Kanye West & Raekwon Remix Justin Bieber’s “Runaway Love”

I’m sure it must be worrisome how many times I’ve had to use this Justin Bieber tag on this blog, without regretting it. While the Biebz isn’t being slowed down by 800% and sounding like Sigur Ros, Kanye West and Raekwon are rapping alongside his vocals for “Runaway Love” over the “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing ta Fuck Wit” beat. (Continue Reading)

WATCH: Arcade Fire – The Wilderness Downtown / “We Used To Wait” Interactive Music Video

Watch the interactive music video experience for Arcade Fire’s “We Used To Wait”, off their excellent Suburbs LP. Video is best experienced in Google Chrome.

WATCH/LISTEN: Vampire Weekend Cover Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Goin’ Down”

At a show in Vancouver, Vampire Weekend put their Contra aside to cover Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 hit, “I’m Goin’ Down” from his massively successful and now classic Born in the U.S.A. album. Check out a fan-shot video of the cover embedded below: (Continue Reading)

VIDEO: Björk watches Robyn Cover “Hyperballad”

Robyn performed this glistening cover of fellow mononymous songstress Bjork’s “Hyperballad” at this year’s Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. The sort-of-great, sort-of-awkward bit is that Björk was present and watched the whole thing. While there’s no doubt that Robyn did a great job with the song, it’s hard to decipher what Bjork’s reaction was. I think I see a tear in here eye, was she moved or insulted? Watch the cover here.