random($foo)

I’ve heard of these guys for a while, but didn’t actually hear them until I caught one of their tracks on XMU – that Satellite radio’s been handy since I’ve been iPod-less. I think this was actually originally released back in 2003.

• Shout Out Louds – Please Please Please
  

Trying out the XSPF Web Music Player. You know, this would be pretty easy to hack/combine with the Playlist GM script to play MP3s in your browser…

I’ve still been digesting a lot of the stuff that came out from last year, but hopefully, if one good thing comes out of my iPod dying, it’s that I’ll finally have space/opportunity to load new music more regularly. In between that, a couple of tracks worth mentioning:

• Skalpel – 1958 (Quantic Remix) (bio) – Polish Ninja Tune producers working exclusively with Polish Jazz samples. The Quantic Remix gives it all a Soul Orchestra flavor.
• Hotei vs Rip Slyme – Battle Funkastic (buy) – I came across this pretty randomly. Apparently, Rip Slyme are pretty popular hip-hop artists, in Japan at least. I’m totally in love with their old-school funk asthetics.
• Swearing at Motorists – Waterloo Crescent (site) – a two-piece singing about the life of the brow-beaten, a lot of these songs are surprisingly catchy

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any music, mostly due to insane busy-ness. Before I left I caught Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the National at the Troubador. CYHSY wasn’t bad, but The National blew me away. Audree has pics. I also caught The Go! Team @ the El Rey last night, who were great fun (site).

I’ve been completely too busy to hunt, but luckily 75 Minutes does an awesome job of highlighting a huge diversity of great new music. The most recent show features a song from Think Differently Music Presents: Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture, a new collaboration featuring not only Wu-Tang members, but others like MF Doom, Aesop Rock, Del tFH, etc. Sound hot? It is.

• Casual, Rock Marciano, Vordual Mega & Tragdey Khadafi – Think Differently [5.3MiB MP3]

Jason linked to the video for Sia’s Breathe Me, which is quite nicely done. I still have to say though, that Four Tet’s remix makes a night and day difference.

This Gold Digger (“George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” Remix) [8.7MiB MP3] is genius. via Mefi

• Comments don’t appear to be hurting Kanye West
  

  So how can Kanye West go on national television and passionately accuse Bush of not caring about blacks one week and still be riding high the next as a bestselling rapper and corporate pitchman?

  Pretty obvious, right?

• WEST’S GOLD DIGGER ROCKETS TO NUMBER ONE
• KANYE WEST TOPS US ALBUM CHARTS
• Jay-Z backs Kanye West’s telethon outburst
• Crooks and Liars: Breaking News: Kanye West: George Bush doesn’t care about black people”

Last year, The Notwist toured with Themselves. When I saw them at the El Rey, they had already started playing together and mentioned they were releasing an album together. And here it is.

It doesn’t all quite work, but some of these are the best songs The Notwist have ever put out.

• 13 and god – Men Of Station

DJ Yoda recently dropped an awesome mashup on Annie Mac (via Jaime, via Fader Blog):

• DJ Yoda – Annie Mac Mini Mix 19-05-2005 [5.8MiB MP3]

Yo La Tengo has just released a retrospective CD (streets 3/22), Prisoner of Love, that’s pretty great. Among the tracks of outtakes and rarities (in the limited edition triple CD version only) is an awesome acoustic version of Tom Courtenay [4.7MiB MP3].

So good.

Wow, Bloc Party‘s new album, Silent Alarm has caught me by surprise. I haven’t been this excited about an album in a while. I’m loving it. A lot. Here’s their opener:

• 01 – Bloc Party – Like Eating Glass.mp3 [8.0MB MP3]

Looks like they’re going to be in town right after SXSW. (Hmm, Troub is sold out already)

• 21.03.2005 Pomona, CA Glasshouse
• 22.03.2005 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour

Not feeling so hot today, but it’s been a while, so I thought I’d kick off the new year with some new music.

First, for some leftovers from 2004:

• Seu Jorge – Starman [4.3 MiB MP3] – My favorite of the great Portuguese David Bowie covers from The Life Aquatic soundtrack. The album also features some of Mark Mothersbaughs (Devo) orchestrations. The Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op track is awesome (RIAA)
• Gravenhurst – Black Holes in the Sand [11 MiB MP3] – I happened on this pretty randomly, but was glad I did. Meticulous dark pysh-folk. The lead singer keeps a blogspot diary.
• Pinback – Fortress (Live) [5.4 MiB MP3] – Pinback (Pinbackfreak is a much more useful site) is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Unfortunately I missed them when they were in town in December. This is a live version of Fortress (Summer in Abaddon), from a tour EP, Too Many Shadows.
• Kings of Convenience – Sorry or Please [7.0 MiB MP3] – Erland Oye’s DJ Kicks amazing mix was one of my favorite albums this year, but his Kings of Convenience album is no slouch either. It takes a few tracks for it to really pick up, but well, listen for yourself and see if you don’t dig it. (RIAA)
• The Arcade Fire – No Cars Go (CBC Radio 3 Studio Session 2004-10-02) [9.4 MiB MP3] – I think they’ve been crowned the dubious “Hottest Band in Indie Rock” title, but deservedly so in this case. This is a live cut from their 2003 s/t, self-released EP. Worth picking up if you can find it. They’re playing two sold out shows in LA this month.

OK, now onto 2005.

• M83 – Don’t Save Us From the Flames [5.9 MiB MP3] – more of the warmest, most alive electronic music you’re likely to hear. Oh, check out the CLI website. Clever, but the English version is still mostly French and the prompt shows up underneath the statusbar in Firefox. Before the Dawn Heals Us, January 25. (RIAA)
• Crooked Fingers – Wrecking Ball [6.3 MiB MP3] – I saw Eric Bachmann a little over a year ago when he was at the Glass House (w/ Azure Ray). It was an amazing show and I’ve been a fan since. Dignity & Shame, February 22, from Merge.
• Lou Barlow – Home [6.3 MiB MP3] – former Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow releases his first official solo album for Domino Records. Emoh, January 24.
• Hood – The Negatives… [5.9 MiB MP3] – who are these guys? I have no idea, but I like their new release a lot. January 17.
• New Amsterdams – Strangled By the Thought (Demo) [4.8 MiB MP3] – Will these guys ever get any respect? Probably not, but I have a soft spot for ‘em. This track is from a leaked demo mix, working title Killed or Cured.