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)

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