PMA | Pretty Much Amazing

ceo is the Tough Alliance’s Eric Berglund, but more importantly, ceo is making some of the best music I’ve heard all summer. Signed to the deceptively impeccable Sincerely Yours, the Scandinavian record label that brought us jj, ceo has released his debut album, White Magic today via Moderular in the US. Do yourself a favor and order the album at the ModShop. Download White Magic‘s fantastic first single, “Come With Me” for free below:

ceo – “Come With Me”

VIDEO PREMIERE: Chiddy Bang – “Sooner Or Later”

Here is the latest music video from PMA favorites Chiddy Bang. You may remember “Sooner Or Later” as one of the first Chiddy Bang songs we ever posted back in February of 2009. Now, the song is included in Chiddy Bang’s Opposite of Adults EP, their first US release. Look out for Chiddy Bang’s debut album, The Swelly Life. It should be coming at the end of August. Watch “Sooner of Later”.

Bon Iver – “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)”

With no announcement of a sophomore LP, Bon Iver has most recently contributed to a tribute to John Prine, in the compilation Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: The Songs of John Prine. You can listen to Justin Vernon cover Prine’s “Buised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)” here.

SUMMER PERFECT: ceo – “Come With Me”

ceo is the Tough Alliance’s Eric Berglund, but more importantly, ceo is making some of the best music I’ve heard all summer. Signed to the deceptively impeccable Sincerely Yours, the Scandinavian record label that brought us jj, ceo has released his debut album, White Magic today via Moderular in the US. Do yourself a favor and order the album at the ModShop. Download White Magic‘s fantastic first single, “Come With Me” for free here.

Big Boi – “Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty” (Full Album)

You can now listen to Big Boi’s highly anticipated solo LP, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, through this exclusive Myspace stream. Listen to it here.

A mysterious new jj track has surfaced, courtesy of Swedish label, Sincerely Yours. The label dropped this mp3 with only this message: “here’s to those moments when the illusions of separation collapse and we are one, we are life. here’s to bonds stronger than blood. cin cin.”

“ceo birthday”, an ethereal rework of 2009′s smash hit, “Birthday Sex” by Jeremih, comes by as one of jj’s most simple and most beautiful songs to date. Download it below: (more…)

The Antlers – “VCR” (The xx cover)

The Antlers stopped by WPGU to perform “Kettering” and “Bear” from their lauded Hospice LP, as well as a cover from another highly regarded 2009 LP. The Antlers covering the xx‘s “VCR” sounds like the best thing in the world right now. (read more…)

jj – “ceo birthday”

A mysterious new jj track has surface, courtesy of Swedish label, Sincerely Yours. The label dropped this mp3 with only this message: “here’s to those moments when the illusions of separation collapse and we are one, we are life. here’s to bonds stronger than blood. cin cin.” (read more…)

Bon Iver – “Come Talk To Me” (Peter Gabriel Cover)

Out of the dozens of Record Store Day releases unleashed last Saturday, Bon Iver and Peter Gabriel’s split 7″ was the one I lusted after most. The single featured Justin Vernon covering Peter Gabriel’s “Come Talk To Me”, a returned favor for Gabriel, who covered Bon Iver’s “Flume” for his underwhelming covers album, Scratch My Back. (read more…)

Band of Horses – “Factory”

With their new album, Infinite Arms out May 18th, Band of Horses are giving away a third free download. This time, album opener “Factor” has been provided by the band for free download purposes. (read more…)

Blonde Redhead – “Not Getting There”

Not since 2007′s brilliant album 23, have we heard any proper new music from New York’s dream-pop vets Blonde Redhead. That is, of course, until the widely-celebrated Record Store Day brought us “Not Getting There”, a Blonde Redhead track featured in 4AD’s one-shot 12″ Fragments, which also included new tracks from Gang Gang Dance and Ariel Pink. (read more…)

Vinyl giveaway details at the end of the review.
jj
jj nº 3
Secretly Canadian
out March 9th
81 /100
[Rating Scale]

Rate jj’s jj nº 3

jj are, intentionally, a fairly mysterious band. The duo seemed to appear out of nowhere earlier last year, producing blissfully sweet indie pop that had immediate appeal. In a year when Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors were moving experimental sensibilities toward the mainstream, jj sounded like they were headed in the opposite direction. It’s a vision that has steered them well thus far, and they’ve stuck with it on their sophomore release. It is easy to imagine the songs on jj n°3 as avant garde house remixes of bubblegum pop tunes.

The band, rather than pushing their pseudo-derivative mainstream pop inclinations into the background, confront and embrace them immediately on jj n°3. Opening track “My Life” covers Lil Wayne’s autotuned chorus from The Game’s song of the same name – the lyrics of which are drawn from Birdman’s “So Tired” – before concluding with the ubiquitous chorus from ATC’s techno megahit “Around the World,” which itself was a cover of Ruki Vverh’s “Pesenka.” Re-read that sentence and try to process it, I dare you. In equation form:

Or something like that. I think calculus might get involved somewhere along the line. Regardless, the point is that it’s a bit of a curveball of a first track that certainly encapsulates the diversity of influences convergent in jj’s music. “My Life” kicks the album off on a strange note, sure, but that note – however out-of-left-field it may be – does not linger for long. (more…)