Music

Listen / MP3 / Music — 10 Comments
19
Nov 09

Sia – You’ve Changed

Sia Youve Changed listenYou sure have changed Sia. :)

Sorry, that was lame. Let’s start all over.

Sia, who happens to be one of my favorite artists ever, decided to give her fans a taste of what she’s been working on to follow up 2007’s Some People Have Real Problems. So yesterday, she Tweeted a download link of “You’ve Changed”, which will appear on her forthcoming album, We Are Born.

The first thing you will notice about “You’ve Changed” is that it is danceable (!!), something Sia hasn’t bothered to work with on Colour the Small One or Some People Have Real Problems. To be honest, she was probably too busy working on timeless modern classics like “Breathe Me” and “Soon We’ll Be Found” to worry about making you move your hips.

This change makes sense though, right? I mean, people don’t have real problems anymore, right? Let’s just dance. Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — No Comments
19
Nov 09

Rain Machine – Give Blood (Music Video)

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I personally find it rather frustrating when a band member decides to launch a solo career but simply ends up sounding like the original band he/she was originally a part of. It makes me wonder: what’s the point? But of course, that’s the fan talking in me and we all know fans have no regard for musicians lives or feelings and only want our music tastes to be satisfied. Nevertheless, I can say I am satisfied with “Give Blood,” Kyp Malone (of TV on the Radio)’s single off his solo debut. This is probably because I am a fan of TV on the Radio and, you guessed it, it pretty much sounds like them.

The music video features Kyp in what appears to be a non-seedy hotel room playing his guitar. But then he starts pulling bodies out from under the bed and things get only slightly weird from there with some clay creatures and (gasp!) hand claps. Download “Give Blood” below: Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — 4 Comments
19
Nov 09

U.S.E – River of Love

U.S.E River of Love listenPhoto by Sarah Murphy Jurado

Holy crap is “ River of Love” cheesy. I mean, it’s called River of Love, seriously, by the group United State of Electronica – a band that self identifies as “disco pop.” Completely, unabashedly, poppy and over the top – the little snare hit, the snappy guitar riffs, and of course the alternately auto-tune-crooning and soaring-coed-chorus vocals.

From the first twenty seconds of this song you know exactly what the next three and a half minutes are going to sound like, the lyrics are the same old same old talk about love and girls and boys and yadda yadda… So why can’t I stop listening to it?!

This song is like a bag of mothafuckin’ Skittles — bright, sweet, unsophisticated, you were supposed to outgrow that sweet tooth years ago — but damn if you don’t want just one more taste. Keep this one on stand-by for 3 am makeouts in the summertime.

MP3: U.S.E – River of Love

U.S.E’s Loveworld is out now via Rebel Group. Buy the album at Insound or at Amazon.

Music / Music Videos — 7 Comments
19
Nov 09

Vampire Weekend – Cousins (Music Video)

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Funnest music video of the year? Probably.

We are giving away the Cousins 7″ single. Entries will be accepted until the December 15th release date. Enter here.

Contra is out 1/11 via XL. Pre-order it at InSound or at Amazon.

Edit: Web Sheriff sucks.

Listen / MP3 / Music — 5 Comments
18
Nov 09

Little Dragon – Runabout

Little Dragon Runabout listenPhoto courtesy of Little Dragon’s Myspace Page.

Is there something in the water in Gothenburg, Sweden? The Knife, The Tough Alliance, Jose Gonzalez, Jens Lekman, and now Little Dragon – those damn Swedes just keep pumping out irresistible pop melodies in a variety of weird incarnations.

Little Dragon’s track “Runabout” is certainly a slice of quirky pop, but it is uniquely, wonderfully sun-soaked; the soundtrack to a leisurely bike ride on the nicest day of summer, when you’re headed to your best friend’s house or the beach or a BBQ. A whistling flute echoes the nouveau-nu-wave synth line echoes singer Yukimi Nagano’s light-as-a-feather voice, while groovy almost-Caribbean percussion keeps it all moving along. I’ve heard it snows in Sweden, but listening to “Runabout” makes you question the very existence of something called winter.

Elegant percussive flourishes abound, the bass-line hits that unobtrusive-yet-omnipresent spot all good bass-lines strive for, and Nagano repeating “Runabout…runabout the streets…” sounds like a prescription for fun.

All in all, a tightly crafted piece of danceable pop that should be firmly entrenched in your “recently played” to prevent depression until spring comes. I would say more, but I have to go dance with my new girlfriend Yukimi. Continue reading →

Feature / Music — 15 Comments
18
Nov 09

Blinded By The Hype? The xx – xx

Don’t forget to rate the album at the end of the post.

Welcome back to Blinded By The Hype, the PMA feature in which we revisit albums once the hype has died down. In today’s world, music is released at a machine gun pace. It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type scene, and “lately” usually means this week. Rarely do we stop to smell the roses. Even good albums get overlooked as time passes. And we almost never – aside from year end lists – take a look backward. Hindsight is 20-20, and we’d like to apply that retrovision to set the record straight. Hence, Blinded By The Hype. A quick refresher for those of you who might have missed out on the rules the first few times. Continue reading →

Listen / Music — 4 Comments
18
Nov 09

Arctic Monkeys – Fright Lined Dining Room

Arctic Monkeys Fright Lined Dining Room listenPhoto by Kirstie Shanley
“Fright Lined Dining Room” is one of the three unreleased tracks to back the Arctics’ second single “Cornerstone” off Humbug, which we were crazy about .

Alex Turner told Uncut Magazine that he wrote the song “one morning, quite quickly” adding that, “there’s something to be said for writing in the morning. At other points in the day you’re a bit more defensive. I saw it as a challenge to write something in a major key, but that wasn’t cheesy.” Truly profound mister Turner. You all will be glad to discover that “Fright” is not cheesy in the slightest. In fact, I think fans who purchase the single are going to be quite pleased to hear this little bonus. Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — 11 Comments
18
Nov 09

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Hysteric

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Hysteric listen

Karen Dancing In The Rain (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Osheaga 2009 Montreal) by Anirudh Koul

Rarely am I at a loss of words. Rarely is “wow” the only thing I am able to express audibly. “Hysteric,” when played live, is one of the few songs that make the words fall out of my head and out of my reach. Continue reading →

Listen / Music / TV Shows — 15 Comments
17
Nov 09

Music From Gossip Girl: Season 3, Episode 10

Music From Gossip Girl: Season 3, Episode 10 listenLady GaGa on Gossip Girl
Last night’s episode of Gossip Girl featured a lot of Lady Gaga (and even a performance by GaGa). So much that it was almost ridiculous. This GaGa injection was, no doubt, in promotion of Lady GaGa’s upcoming album The Fame Monster.

The episode prominently featured Monster “Bad Romance” and “Made in the Dark” — in fact, after Lady GaGa’s performance of “Bad Romance” on Gossip Girl, the song has climbed to the No. 1 stop on iTunes. But the standout GaGa track featured on Gossip Girl had to be that fierce Beyonce and Lady GaGa collaboration. Continue reading →

Listen / Music / Music Videos — 9 Comments
17
Nov 09

Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able

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In many ways, the new music video for “Ready, Able” matches my feelings for the lush track off of Veckatimest, one of the year’s best albums.

The video’s best moments (see colorful melting at :47, potential alien abduction at 1:53, and awesome clay, stop-motion transformations at 3:26) come at the song’s most thrilling moments- jolts of orchestration and psychedelic jamming are recreated with colorful, magnificent feats of claymation. The video is also strange and original, much like the song with its oddly unorthodox buildup and structure.

Most importantly, the video and the song match in that I’m not sure whether I like either of them, but something definitely keeps me watching or listening. As with many Grizzly Bear tracks, “Ready, Able” is about the musical moments, the breakdowns of choir chants and lavish instrumentation it builds to. If  you’re not patient enough to wait for those moments in the song (and the accompanying visual moments in the video), Veckatimest has probably already been shoved to the side on your iPod.

That aside, “Ready, Able,” while much-loved by the blog world, is not even one of my favorite songs on the album, and its selection as a single surprises me. There are too many tracks on Veckatimest that don’t stall, or make you wait, and are brilliant throughout. Those tracks really can hook a listener not yet convinced by the sounds of Grizzly Bear. “Ready, Able” cannot, and will only allow haters to continually point out that Grizzly Bear can, at times, be boring.

Buy Veckatimest and other Grizzly Bear releases at InSound or at Amazon.

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