Here are the songs that I listened to in March that I liked the most. Yeah I realize it's almost May. Disclaimer: I listened to these songs in March, they may be older.
These are the four Songs I listened to more than anything in March. "Big Beast" and "The Full Retard" are both produced by El-P, and they are fuckin' banging. "Float" is an awesome posse cut, if a little more laid back than the other two. "Hey Ma, Wassup" has got so many of my favorite rappers on it, it hurts.
Sleigh Bells 2nd album is not their 1st album, not by a long shot. They feel much more like a product than something to get excited about the second time around. But they do have some stand-out tracks. I really like "Comeback Kid".
I went to an Elizabeth Warren Fundraiser a couple weeks ago and if I wasn't enthusiastic about her candidacy before, I certainly am now. Her stump speech encapsulated a lot of what I often talk about when I'm spouting off about what the government should do and the way our country should work. The operative phrase is "Expanding Opportunity." Success doesn't have to be a zero sum game. The more we treat the government as a vehicle through which to invest in our future in ways that are not necessarily directly profitable,such as education or Scientific research that is a valuable public good but may have a low return on investment or high chance of failure, the better off we will be as a country. It's these kinds of investments that led to our competitive advantage in the last century and that we will need to make in this one to stay competitive.
Anyway, Mrs. Warren says it much better than I ever could:
Elizabeth Warren's Stump Speech Part 1
Elizabeth Warren's Stump Speech Part 2 (I got a call that interrupted my crappy iPhone video)
Elizabeth Warren Shmoozin'
My friend Beth meeting Elizabeth
Beth: "I'm from Mass and am going to vote for you" E-Dubs: "Thanks, Dawg!"
Me with EW. Bad picture of me. She looks ecstatic.
Funkmaster Flex really likes the new Jay & 'Ye track Otis(sorry about the link, couldn't find an embeddable version). How much does he like it? He likes it so much that it takes him 19 minutes to premier a 3 1/2 minute song. He continually stops to drop bombs, rewinds to listen to the parts he likes("HAHA! He said he was gonna call the Paparazzi on HIMSELF!!") and talks shit- "If you new rappers go home and reasses your choices and your career! You rappers only breathe at certain times of the year, this is not one of them!"
The choice quote is of course- "New York city you listen to me, if you're near a convenience store, any type of 24 hour store, go in the store right now in and put your hand in the cash register for no reason. That money is your money! As of right now!"
And you know what, it's completely awesome, both for it's ridculousness and because it is 100% sincere. This guy fucking loves this song And why wouldn't he? It's a hot track from two of the hottest rappers... ever. No hyperbole. The great thing is, he isn't pretending to be too cool to have a reaction, which I feel is rare. Funkmaster Flex is not only watching the throne, he is completely transfixed by it's shininess.
Though, of course, if you want the height of rap ridiculousness in 2011 look no further than this:
Music, it's pretty great, right? The only thing is, there's so much of it out there that's great! How can you sift through it all? I haven't found a good way yet.
But my point is I found some pretty great tracks that I thought y'all might like.
1. Did you know that Vampire Weekend's Contra had an iTunes only Bonus Track? I sure didn't. And it's some bullshit, because I totally would have bought it. Oh well, I may be the last one to the party on this but in case I'm not, here it is. Pretty good, right?
2. Robyn is pretty amazing. Have I listened to "Stars 4-Ever" 40+ times in the last 2-3 days? Sorry, that shit is classified. Wikileaks says yes though. The point being, you probably already have that track. BUT do you have the A-Trak remix of Indestructible? Man, I bet you do not! Suck all the joy you can out of this track, because life can be pretty tough sometimes.
3. As some of you might be aware, I like mashups quite a lot. My favorite ones are from The Hood Internet. Yup, better than Girl Talk- I said it! They just dropped a Metric mixtape and while all the tracks are dope as fuck- #5 has been on repeat all damn day. I hope you like it: http://www.thehoodinternet.com/2010/11/hood-vs-metric.html
4. Deerhunter! That's a band people talk about quite a bit. Until recently, I was not one of those people. Then I heard this remix- now I am! Wow, this sure is good. One of those great tracks where you can dance to it, work to it, exercise to it, or listen to the lyrics and get kind of depressio. All pretty great qualities!
5. Depressed Buttons- Mixmeat Mixtape. I knew nothing nothing about this group before @hoodinternet recommended their mixtape on the twitters. Now I know nothing about them except that I will be purchasing their EP on Dec. 14th. Damn good.
6. Adam Warrock is a rapper I've been talking up to pretty much anyone who will tolerate it. In addition to his excellent full-length album and remix album, he also does a free track-log "sketchbook" where he posts non-album songs in order to keep his creative juices flowing. His new one, "Best Friends (Nedroid)" has been on loop since it came out. It's based on the comic Nedroid(and if you aren't reading this, what is your problem?) and is about the main characters, Reginald and Beartato, having a rap battle about who is a better friend. It manages to be both hilarious and dope at the same. You can listen/download it for free here.
7. Drake- his flow sucks and he's not very good at math (√69=8.306623863 or, I guess, ate something). Sure he's kind of clever, but you know who is more clever? Almost every other rapper I listen to. But, there are DJs who can take these raw components and make something great out of it. In this case by cutting Drake out of the track almost entirely. It's good!
8. Mashups! We covered this already. But check this out- New Kanye vs. Neutral Milk Hotel. Does it work? Would it be on my blog if it didn't? (No, it wouldn't)
9. The entire new Kanye album on repeat all day, every day, holy shit it's so good. I'm pretty sure Kanye took lots of sounds he knew I'd like, put them together just for me, and then decided he might as well make millions in the process. Hearing this album is like going back in time to when I was a baby and laughing for the first time. Or conversely, it's like realizing that this is one of the few albums I'm willing to pay the full 15.99 for, even though I'm paying a premium for one itunes exclusive bonus track. Shit, I'd pay double- Kanye deserves it. Have I been effusive enough? Buy this GD album.
I just (re?)discovered this tonight. This is a public elementary school chorus from Staten Island that sing contemporary music arranged by their choral instructor. The lyrics are sometimes altered to be more age appropriate(see below) but what is clear is that these kids are having a great time. And they have pipes!
This is a genius way to get around a huge hurdle that stops so many kids from getting interested in music and the arts in school; most kids don't like chamber music or showtunes. I cannot tell you how much Billy Joel and Elton John I've sang in my life. I think if you sing long enough you learn to really appreciate chamber music, madrigals, etc. but it's really important to have a gateway drug like this.
It's how much fun this guy is having. From middle school through graduation I had somewhere between 6 and 8 different choral instructors and none of them had the enthusiasm that this guy displays. And it transfers to his students. They are clearly having a great time and want to be there. He's able to have fun, work on things he is interested in, and still be doing it all for the kids. Watching them sing makes me want to sing again.
Something else I love is how the kids are encouraged, or at least allowed, to move and sway with the music. Something I used to constantly get in trouble for in choir, all the way up through chamber choir, is that when I got really into singing a piece of music and it really moved me, it also literally moved me. I would get reprimanded for moving with the music, sometimes even dancing, without even realizing I was doing it. I think the director thought I was goofing off, but it was actually totally subconscious and completely genuine. Which is not to say this made Mr. Paul a terrible instructor(though he was, for totally unrelated reasons), you do have to learn to stay still if you are going to rehearse like you perform- and I was a senior in high school- but for Christ's sake that's what powerful music does!! It grabs you and throws you around and you can't even control it.
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I got choked up listening to their cover of Lisztomania. I couldn't tell you why- but it is a great arrangement of a great song.
Final Note: The choral sections on the Passion Pit album "Manners" -in songs like Sleepyhead, Let Your Love Grow Tall and Little Secrets- is the PS22 Chorus! They actually have a section on their blog where you can watch video of them recording with Michael Angelakos. According to their website they have also met every other celebrity in the world, including President Obama. These are the luckiest kids in the world(mostly because of the music, but also a little bit because of the celebrity thing).
Their website can be found here and their YouTube page can be found here.
Final thought: Listening to these kids makes me realize I have mis-learned the words to a lot of my favorite songs.
Here's are the tracks on repeat on my iPod right now that I could find on YouTube, and some I couldn't.
Robyn-Indestructible
I discovered this song Saturday night and, in the two days since, have listened to it 25+ times. "I'm gonna love you like I've never been hurt before" is my current favorite lyric. I am 100% ready to jump on the Robyn bandwagon.
Eyedea- Radio Appearance Freestyle
The rapper Eyedea passed away yesterday at the age of 28 due to a heart attack. I was not familiar with his work, but lots of people I follow on twitter were big fans. I'm having trouble getting into alot of his stuff that I've heard. Lyrically he's amazing but he really loves sampling electric guitar and that just doesn't work in most rap songs unless you are an incredible producer (example: JAY-Z's D.O.A. produced by No ID). This freestyle however, is fucking amazing. Seriously one of the best things I've ever seen. Slug from Atmosphere is good, but Eyedea blows him away.
Ruckus Roboticus- Chicks
I recently bought Adam Warrock's fucking incredible album (more coming on that in a future post) produced by Ruckus Roboticus. Included on it as bonus material was the single off of Ruckus's solo EP- "The Chicks EP." Chicks is an awesome song and I will definitely be picking up the EP.
Well, the digital version of picking it up. Probably Amazon. Bandcamp if it's there. Bandcamp takes the smallest cut, Amazon and iTunes take 30%. If you are buying independent music, try to buy it off that site for the artist's benefit. (end PSA)
Kanye West- Christian Dior Denim Flow
I've been loving Kanye's G.O.O.D. Friday output but, like Monster, I can't stop listening to this track. I am so excited for this album. I love Kanye and I don't even care that he's a total diva. #ITSAPROCESS
This is my favorite track off of Crystal Castles (II). I legitimately cannot get into the rest of the album, even though I like it a lot, because I just keep putting this song on repeat and listening to it instead of anything else.
Dirty Projectors- No Intention
Despite this track being mellow as hell, I sing along to this in my car with the same fervor as I would Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" or any other anthem. This song is a treat. A goddamn treat. I want to take this song out to dinner pay for it.
My Gold Mask- I Don't Need The Reason
I couldn't find this one on YouTube but you can download it here, completely legitimately, for free. This song makes me rock out and smile at subject matter that makes me pretty sad. Maybe that's a crude way to put it, but I think it's pretty high praise.
Other tracks I'm hung up on but couldn't find:
Four Tet- Sing
Adam Warrock's fucking incredible album "The War for Infinity"
That hip-hop album I'm going to write one day
Das Racist- Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)
My friend Rambo told me that Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish Batman. From his wikipedia entry:
"As a teenager he tried judo, Gōjū-ryū and took up Kyokushinkarate. Lundgren now holds the rank of 3rd danblack belt in Kyokushin. He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981 as well as a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982. He was also captain of the Swedish Kyokushin karate team, and was a formidable challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization) when he was only a green belt.
If he is Batman, he must be from Cartoon Network's 'Batman: The Brave and The Bold', because he has an awesome sense of humor. I would love to see a movie of him as a light-hearted Batman, cracking wise and beating up campy villains. Clock-King, Music Meister, Clue-Master, Gentleman Ghost, etc. My life goal is to now make enough money to bankroll this project. Who's in?
