Mashups + Remixes = Dancing

Hey Yall, been a bit but I figured I would put something up before the Halloween weekend to get everyone pumped to dress up in ridiculous costumes. Lately I've come across a ton of dancy stuff that I thought would be perfect for additions to any dance party mix. Then I noticed that a few of the artists I had chosen had some other cool remixes/new material so I thought I might as well put those up also.  I don't have the time to really write about each song, but if you like what you hear on any of the remixes go the artists website/myspace and check them out. For those of you who don't spend the majority for their time on the internet looking up new music, these remixes are done by people who might be considered the best in the remix world by some. Diplo, The Teenagers, and Estaw are each dancy in their own unique way. Check em. 

Reckoner - Diplo Remix

Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push (Estaw Remix)

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (The Teenagers Remix)

With the rise of Girl Talk I feel like I've seen more and more mashups popping up. The cool thing about mashups is that it can take what would normally be a piece of trash, (Kanye's newish single "Love Lockdown") and mash it together with something briliiant (Radiohead's Reckoner) and come out with a decent sounding track. I threw another Kanye mashup below to because I know how much everyone loves The Knife. 

Reckoner Lockdown (DJ Earworm Remix)

Kanye West vs. The Knife - Get Em High (A-Trak Remix)

And if that wasn't enough, The Teenagers remix above reminded me that Vampire Weekend released a new track called Ottoman. If you were at Capitol Hill Block Part in Seattle this year you know what I'm talking about. They played a slightly different version of the song with a different name if I remember correctly, but still the new track is solid. That's all for me. Happy Halloween Yall.

Vampire Weekend - Ottoman

Concert Review! Ra Ra Riot!

Boston has been good to me this year. Last year, I was slightly disappointed with many of the bands that came through.  Last weekend at the Middle East I was able to see Ra Ra Riot which was one of the most energetic concerts I've ever been too.  It was quite Epic. I have never seen someone rock out so hard with a cello in my life. Go see them if you get the chance.  

First the two opening bands, the Morning Benders and Walter Meego. 

If you picture Vampire Weekend with an asian lead singer and another asian bass player who doesn't dress up to the oxford prep level as much as the other band members, you have the Morning Benders. They choose keys instead of strings which adds a poppier sound but not in a bad way. The vocals also come off as folksy sometimes but again with a poppin groove. These guys are definitely worth a listen. Not to mention they are from Cali which is cool in itself. I'm usually disappointed by openers but these guys definitely held their own.

Walter Meego played second but honestly didn't really catch my attention. They did an electro 80's-ish rock thingy where the three band members switched between instruments and mixing boards with electronic things. They were definitely dancier than Morning Benders and Ra Ra Riot but the sound was too loud and I really couldn't make out much of nuances of their songs. It was just some pounding beat. Now that I'm listening to a track of their myspace it sounds waaaay better. Sadly that happens often with incompetent sound crews and bands that just don't know better. I also couldn't get a good picture of them so you can just look at them on myspace. 

Finally Ra Ra Riot. If you take anything from this post, go see Ra Ra Riot. They put on a amazing live show. The whole band keeps energy up like its no ones business. With a band like this the balance of sound is the key to the show. The strings can't get drowned out by the drums. The vocals need to be heard. Needless to say this was no problem for the New York rockers. Check the pics. Chicks rocking out with string instruments = sexy.  Though the pictures are kinda on the blurry side (the show was that good) you can still see the sexiness. I already gave you a taste of their music so I'll throw a remix they did of a Tokyo Police Club song. And I think I have a live track of theirs somewhere on my computer. 

Leave comments and let me know what you think of the musak people. I'm seriously just guessing whats good. Let me know what you like. It helps.

The Morning Benders - Waiting For The War

The Morning Benders - I Was Wrong

Walter Meego - Forever

Walter Meego - Girls

Tokyo Police Club - Juno (Ra Ra Riot/Andrew Maury Remix)

Ra Ra Riot - Oh La (Live)

Laziness is the leading cause of short posts...

Hey there, this is Steven and I'm finally posting on the blog.  I'm lazy, (and have two midterms this week) so this post will be short.  Though previously mentioned, I unfortunately will not be posting about Jamie Lidell or his fabulous (Yes, fabulous) opener, Janelle Monae this time.  Instead, I will just be posting a video you have to see, brought to us by Justice:

Sexy, eh? I thought as much. If it retains even shred of the intensity and rockdom that it possesses in this trailer, then we should all be pissing our pants in anticipation. I know I am. Look out for it on December 24th.  There is also a live CD that accompanies it. If it follows the steps of Daft Punk's Alive 2007, then expect another awesome dance album to grace your collection and frankly, everyone elses'.  Another win for drunk dance parties!

Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)

Just for kicks, linked is one of the Justice's earliest remixes, one of Death From Above's Blood On Our Hands.  Compared to their latest Planisphère release, a lot has changed.  Expect exciting things.

Long weekend usually = sick

and not in the normal legit way. Thanks to all the free time given to me by Columbus day, I managed to push my body too far and thus ended up sick. But that's what college life does to us all I supposed. My friend Steven, who supposedly writes for this blog, (he should have something up this week unless he's really lazy) traveled all the way up to Boston for a weekend of festivities. Jamie Lidell also happened to be in Boston the same weekend, but hopefully Steven will tell you all about that....

Originally I was going to write a feature about a hipster band, but I caught myself before posting thankfully. I shall attempt to keep myself from falling for their trendy hipness. Though I still hold that any band that can make date rape sound sexy and hip has some skills in my opinion. (For most of you who have a life and don't know what I'm talking about I'll post the song below.) 

Instead one of my favorite bands of the last couple of months. The Islands as everyone knows recently came out with a new album which kicks ass. If you haven't gotten a chance to listen to Arm's Way in its entirety I would strongly recommend putting whatever you are doing down and take a listen. In fact you should probably do that regardless of whether you have heard the album or not. Ready go. 

More recently however, Islands lead man Nick Thorburn and Jim Guthrie (former Islands member) put their heads together and out came Human Highway. The album is called Moody Motorcycle and features pop songs with light guitar and minimalist percussion. I've always love Nick Thorburns harmonies and vocals and you should too. Check it out. 

Human Highway - The Sound

Human Highway - My Beach

Islands - Creeper

And of as promised. A hipster song about date rape:

The Teenagers - French Kiss

Just to spread the news...

Ok so actually I'm just procrastinating my homework...but hey its better than some of the other things I could be doing. Anyway lets get right down to the point. 

Radiohead is the shit. We all know that. They shocked everyone with the pay what you want scheme with In Rainbows and pretty much have been trying out new ways to revolutionize music ever since. Now Radiohead and friends (The Verve, Klaxons, The Cribs, Iron Maiden, etc.) have decided how they would like to change the music industry. With all the new digital sales and such, old copyright and licensing laws obsolete. You all remember the writers strike awhile back that delayed all of our favorite TV series. Essentially this is an attempt by artists to tackle the same laws but from the music side of media. The group calls themselves the Featured Artists Coalition. (Or FAC)

This is an exerpt from their site outlining some main issues they are focusing on:

"The new organisation will campaign for specific changes to the laws governing the music industry and how business is conducted, so that:

•	artists always retain ultimate ownership of their music
•	all agreements between artists and others are conducted in a fair and transparent manner
•	rights’ holders have a duty of care to the originator of those rights, and must always explain how any agreement may affect how their work is exploited"

Essentially this is just their way of saying "fuck you" to the majors for exploiting the shit out of artists. Pretty cool in my book. This could have huge implications in other digital media forms but really I have no idea whats going to happen so I'm not going to bullshit you. Just keep watching and see what happens. 

In other Radiohead news...The Reckoner remix project is up and running. Just like with the song Nude, Radiohead put all of the pieces to the song Reckoner on the Internet for you to buy and play with. The remixes are then submitted to the site and voted on by us. Check the website for the top remixes. I would really recommend the remix by A Deadly Syndrome. I can't find the mp3 to put up here but its awesome. 

Radiohead - Reckoner

Radiohead - Reckoner (Diplo Remix) 

And just because its awesome and bashes on hipsters.

Radiohead - Nude (Hipster Runoff Remix) - From the Nude remix project by Radiohead

The Diplo remix isn't really my thing, though it does sample Beirut (Nantes) which is pretty sweet. Anyway, this break from homework took a lot longer than I thought. Go vote on reckoner remixes!

Oh! On one last quick side note - Tokyo Police Club will be on Desperate House Wives tonight and tomorrow night performing and acting. I don't watch the show but I love these guys. Apparently they get with a character or something? I don't really know. Someone watch it and tell me.

Hey all. I wrote another post! Aren't you all so proud? I also asked my friend Steven to write articles for the blog, so as long as he can get he lazy as motivated you might get content at least once a week. Yay for music blogs. 

I found something online that sparked my interest. Ever since Greg Gillis threw Notorious B.I.G. over Elton John on Night Ripper, I’ve become partial to Biggie. Naturally, when I hear of another mash-up project featuring Big Poppa with none other than THE Frank Sinatra, my interest is peaked to say the least.  

Mixed by DJ Cappel and Smitty, Blue Eyes Meets Bed-Stuy brings the two New York Kings together for a damn good show about doing drugs and overall debauchery. I’ll throw two tracks down below. Check google for the rest of the mixtape or be a good person and buy the album.  

Notorious B.I.G. & Frank Sinatra - Nasty Boy

Notorious B.I.G. & Frank Sinatra - Juicy

Well I'm out to cram for exams now. Hopefully this will keep you satisfied until Steven or I get enough motivation to write another post. Oh and also, if you have an requests such as music types or ideas for the blog, write me a comment or send me and email and I'll put something up. That is all.

Hello!!!!

Well, I finally got around to creating a music blog after being harrassed by my friends. I still really don't have a clear idea of what my posts are going to consist of but I figure I will just start with what music I find to be taking up a decent chunk of my listening time.

My name is Jake for all of you who don't know me. I am currently attending school in Boston, Ma at Northeastern University studying Music Industry. (whatever that means.) While not at school I kick it in Seattle, the best place in the world. 

Anyway on to the music!

For the past week or two, New York (go figure) indie band Ra Ra Riot has been taken up the majority of my listening time.  I'm a whore for almost anything indie with strings. (Final Fantasy, Beirut, etc.) I don't know if I have come across such a perfect combination of indie rock with strings. The tension and beauty brought by the cello and vionlin is wonderful and gets me every time. Plus, the two string players are damn sexy. Ra Ra Riot just came out with their debut album - The Rhumb Line off of Barsuk Records. (Yay Seattle!) Heres a few tracks to catch your ear.

Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell

Ra Ra Riot - Dying Is Fine

Let me know what you all think (if anyone read this/listens to it)

Oh and for all of you Boston folks, they are playing a show at the Middle East on October 18th. I'll be there and so should you.