Avicii – Next Levels (TheFatRat Remix)

Normally I’m pretty skeptic of quality Avicii Remixes, but I found this the other day via Are You Not Entertained and have been playing this non-stop since. Downloads are free:

Warm Weather

I’m on spring break in the Florida Keys at the moment, and, as per usual, have been slacking on the blog. Luckily enough for those of you who actually read my shit, I’ve been bugged enough to post a few songs up. It’s been in the mid-eighties all week, so I’m going to go ahead and post some summery music I’ve been playing the past week and a half. Enjoy.

(Not new, I know. But always good)

 

Catching Up (Again)

Firstly, I’ll apologize for slacking up a bit this month. However, I feel as though I can redeem myself by catching up. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, not to mention Coachella and Bonnaroo lineups, both of which are incredible (unfortunately, Coachella, which I will not be attending, still reigns as the supreme godfather of modern music festivals). Also, the new Sleigh Bells album has come out, and the new Andrew Bird album is coming out, but available for streaming over at NPR’s website. But most importantly, EARL SWEATSHIRT IS BACK.

Anyways, here’s what I’ve been playing recently:

Small Black – Despicable Dogs

Clams Casino  - I’m God (my current song on repeat)

Atlas Sound – Walkabout (featuring Noah Lennox of Animal Collective)

Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid

Delta Spirit  - Gimme Some Motivation

Gorillaz – Do Ya Thing (featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy of LCD Soundsytem (yes he still exists post-LCD))

Phantogram – Don’t Move

SBTRKT – Wildfire

Alpine – Icypoles (Star Slinger Dreamix)

 

Hopefully all of that can satisfy you guys for now.

-James

January 16th

I’m just going to consolidate several posts into one here, since I haven’t posted in a few days and have a lot to get out here.

For those of you who are big Avicii, Dimitri Vangelis, Steve Angello, etc. fans, this recent release from DFA records will probably tickle your fancy. Ive basically been blaring this for the past 4 or 5 days:

The Rapture – Sail Away (Aeroplane Remix)

I also made a nice rediscovery of a song I had a brief obsession with Sophomore year. Thought I’d share this too, since I’m on a soundcloud binge here:

School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep

ALSO, The Weeknd Producer, DropxLife, released a mixtape just the other day (maybe yesterday… but new regardless), so be sure to check that out if you like The Weeknd, James Blake, etc.

Firstly, there’s yet another new Sleigh Bells single out called Comeback Kid. Sleigh Bells take a bit of a poppy chord progression route on this one which isn’t entirely out of character necessarily, but it definitely sounds different than Rill Rill, Infinity Guitars, or anything else of of Treats. On a somewhat related note, I made a recent discovery that has transformed my mental image of singer Alexis Krauss from that hot girl who sets things on fire to the girl reading the Nickelodeon magazine from the late 90′s. Yes. That is the same girl. Anyways, here’s the track. Sleigh Bells is sort of a hit or miss with most people, but I may as well put it out there:

Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid

 

-James

Giving Remixing a Shot

I decided to give remixing a shot here, now that my iMac with Reason 5.0 is here at school. I decided to take the outro to Bicycles by Memory Tapes, chop up parts, Re-EQ, layer, sample, and put in my own drums. It’s really not much of a remix but I thought I’d share. If you like it, downloads are free.

-James

Pickwick – Hacienda Motel

I was just cruising around on  Sound on the Sound’s youtube channel when I came across this video. I literally know nothing at all about this band, but this video of them playing some basement party blew my mind. 56 seconds in, these guys, who are basically nobody, melted my face off with a who-knows-how-many part belting vocal harmonization. One take. Live. And they nailed it perfectly. Wait until 00:56….

-James

Wilco, Mavis Staples, and Nick Lowe covering The Band

I came across this earlier today and just had to make a post about it. Just a video of some genuinely talented musicians playing a genuinely good song purely for their own enjoyment. This is one of those videos that give me hope for the future of music despite Rihanna’s popularity.

Just in case you missed another one of these, here’s a video of Mavis Staples, her band, and Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler playing the same song. Not quite as good as this video, but you can’t beat hearing the crowd collectively losing their shit when Win’s verse starts.

-James