The Tape

A couple of videos from Lupe performing alleged new material at the University of Indiana. I’m not even going to critique these songs, because he says they are very rough cuts… But this does make me very excited or his next (hopefully not last) album.

Sunday night and I have nothing to do, so I’m not waiting until Monday for this bad boy! Anyways I have an eclectic array of old and new music. Three supremely guilty tunes. Enjoy!

Bro: Dude!!! Have you heard that new M.I.A. song from Pineapple Express??? It’s so good!
Hipster: You mean her single from the album Kala, that’s over a year old?
Bro: No!!! Dude! It’s totally new and called Paper something, and it plays in Pineapple Express whenever they smoke! Ha! It’s so totally funny
Hipster (sick of engaging someone obviously not as cool as him): No… Never heard it, sorry.

M.I.A.- Paper Planes

Only one question… Haddaway, where have you gone?

Haddaway- What Is Love (Question mark?)

Whenever I am giving someone my phone number, I first give them 867-5309 just to see if they are listening. I love this song.

Tommy Tutone- 8675309 (Jenny)

“MOMS formed three years ago at Princeton, and now live in Brooklyn. They play orchestral space-pop, combining the epic scale of post-rock with a pop sensibility, using mandolin and strings as the driving force behind the music. Their most frequent comparisons include Final Fantasy and Broken Social Scene (if they were pared down to a 6-piece [they added a cellist!]).”

Like the sound of a renegade orchestra at an out of control school dance. A ballroom dance on the moon with amplifiers. A Victorian disco. Miracles Of Modern Science sound like a gorgeous arrangement of classical instrumentation transplanted into modern space tinged pop songs. Check them out and remember to grab their upcoming EP when it’s finished.

Miracles Of Modern Science - MR2

Miracles Of Modern Science - Eating Me Alive

So for this weeks WHH I have a huge post, including 5 new songs and a couple of new videos. Enjoy!

The Streets- Everything Is Borrowed

Common- The Announcement (Feat. Pharrell)

Charles Hamilton- Best Blogger Alive (Shadow’s Lullaby)

88-Keys- Stay Up (Viagra) (Feat. Kanye West)

Kanye West- Homecoming (DiscoTech Remix)
Best ever

Jay-Z- Jockin’ Jay-Z (Teen Wolf Remix) (Mediafire)

Mos Def- The Glow

Today is the big day. I am releasing my TV theme remix EP, aptly titled the TVEP, under the moniker Swine Forkbeard. The cover art was done by Jason Katzenstein and edited/filtered by Gabriel Gutierrez, who also mastered the album. I’ve put a decent amount of work into this, so download and enjoy. The tracklisting is as follows…

The Intro (Seinfeld vs. Klaxons)
REPTAR!!! (Rugrats vs. the Cool Kids)
Wait For It (How I Met Your Mother vs. Tag Team)
Welcome to the O.C. Bitch (the O.C. vs. Clipse)
Fuck Suits (Entourage vs. Run DMC vs. Justice)
Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! (the Brady Bunch vs. Rye Rye)
Future Dwight (the Office vs. TI)

Download the TVEP (or click the photo above)

If you’re interested in booking me for a party/show in the LA area, drop me a line at tristanrodman[at]gmail[dot]com

We try to keep you guys informed on the current state of music. But mostly we want to keep you informed about good music. It is with this in mind that we backtrack to 2004. A man named Michael Milosh puts out an album on Plug Research. The result is a beautiful symposium of found sounds, warm feelings, cold beats, off balance and soulful lyrics, and melancholy music. A melding of Dntel and Radiohead that works so well. And you just have to feel moved or at least intrigued when Michael’s opening track has happy and uplifting lyrics. You’ll understand why that’s something of intrigue when you hear it. I recommend hearing the whole album, because it has the power to captivate and guide your ears into the world of Michael Milosh. And it sounds really good.

Milosh - Your Taste

Milosh - You Make Me Feel

I have no idea what to think of this album. I don’t know if I love it or if I hate it. I feel like them rushing this album made it feel more like a mixtape, than an album. But on the other hand, there are a bunch of good tracks. Every time I listen to this album it grows more and more on me.

The album starts off with “Ares” which sounds like Bloc Party trying to replicate Silent Alarm, but on a more extreme level. Of course being Bloc Party, I find this song extremely catchy. The song has this breakdown that is so reminiscent of A Weekend In The City, it seems like the producers divided the song between Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City. Next comes Mercury, and there isn’t anything more to say about this song.

The next song, “Halo” is one of the best on the albums. Bloc Party makes pop punk so good by adding interesting guitar hooks and melodies. Every time I listen to this song it grows more and more on me.

After this comes my second favorite track, “Biko.” This song has the electronic feel of “Mercury” or “Flux”, but it’s so soft spoken and just great. For the chorus they add these hand claps that belong on a Top 40 hip-hop song, but somehow fit.

“Trojan Horse” is the first time I’ve ever heard Bloc Party use a tambourine. Weird.

The next song “Signs” doesn’t really do it for me. I don’t know what it is, it’s just boring. I just think of Hot Chip’s “Over and Over” whenever the song begins.

“One Month Off” is the standout track on this album. This song could have easily been one of the better songs on Silent Alarm, which doesn’t feature a bad track. This song has an extremely catchy chorus with creative lyrics…

“I can be as cruel as you, fighting fire with fire wood.
I can be as cruel as you, fighting lights with lights.”

This song has a Silent Alarm feel, but the way it ends says that they’re moving in a new direction, which I feel leads into the next song, “Zepharus.”

While I was writing this review, I forgot how much I love this song. There is something about the electro beat and then the choir that kicks in that makes it so epic. This song belongs in a Spiderman chase scene, and I absolutely love it. I normally dislike bands going for something epic, but Kele really holds his own against a whole choir… It gets absolutely fantastic at about 2:40 when the drums drop out and it’s just Kele belting out the chorus, with that choir. The song only gets better from there.

“Better Than Heaven” sounds like the entire middle part of A Weekend In The City, but remixed. I really don’t like this song, but once again Kele sings a dynamite chorus… The only highlight of this song. Although this song does get better towards the second half of it, I still don’t like it. Kele literally has a catchy chorus on every single track. I’ve probably sung a chorus from each song while I was in the shower, at least once.

Although I don’t particularly enjoy “Ion Square”, I can understand why they closed the album with this. It sort of sums up what has happened throughout the album, and blends all the ideas together for one final conclusion.

Overall , I liked this album more than I thought I would… But it wasn’t fantastic like Bloc Party can be. Coming from a drummer, I found this album disappointing, especially with the talent Matt Tong has shown on the past two albums. If you don’t own this album, I say go for it because it’s only $8.99, and there are a few tracks worth that cost alone.

Bloc Party- Halo

Bloc Party- One Month Off

Bloc Party- Zepherus (Zshare)

My favorite violinist this and that side of the Mississippi has released a couple of great tracks. Final Fantasy (Owen Pallatt) makes great pop songs revolving around violin loops. He’s released a couple of albums and has a fantastic live show that involves stories on a projector*. I’m sure most of you know who he is so I won’t go into a lot of detail, but if you haven’t heard him I highly recommend you listen to his cd’s, as well as these new tracks. These songs are supposedly going to be released on a series of EP’s being released in September and October.

***

P.S. I’m not sure “Ultimatum” is new, but it’s really good as well.

Final Fantasy- Horsetail Feathers

Final Fantasy- The Butcher

Final Fantasy- Ultimatum

I have two remixes for you today.

The first is by a Tape favorite, Calvin Harris. Calvin took his happy synths and dancy lines to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat.” Even if you don’t recognize this song by name, it should be immediately identifiable as that song Napolean Dynamite dances to. You all know, the one that goes “na na na na na just DANCE!” The also has some Surkin-esque strings that really set the song off during the chorus.

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat (Calvin Harris)

The second remix is of the coolest kids we know, Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks, also known as the Cool Kids. This remix was found on missingtoof and it’s by Grandtheft (GT) of the Canadian DJ group the Eh! Team. Aside from being potentially the greatest name on the universe, GT really delivers on this fresh remix of “Mikey Rocks.” He adds some some drums and a bassline but the highlight is a salsa track that kicks in during the chorus and sticks around for a while. I don’t even know the name of this song, but I’m pretty sure they played it every time Rafael Furcal came to bat with the Dodgers. Its like stock salsa music, but totally identifiable. You’ll know when you hear.

The Cool Kids - Mikey Rocks (GT Juke and the City Mix)

You all know Mr. Shaquille O’Neal loves to run his mouth. Who could forget him asking Kobe how his ass tasted? Or that time he was in the Aaron Carter video. A slightly lesser known fact is that Shaq is an accomplished rap artist. With songs like “I Know I (Got Skillz)” and “I Hate 2 Brag” we can hardly complain. I’d just like to take a moment to acknowledge that this man is 7 feet tall and weighs 325 pounds. And he raps. He raps! His beats are not unlike other early 90s rap artists (LL Cool J, anyone?). But his lyrics are what sets him apart from the rest. All the songs on his album Shaq Diesel appear to be about how awesome he is. And like, shit. He’s outstanding. Not musically, no, but I can’t remember a time when I’ve been so thoroughly entertained by listening to music.

Shaquille O’Neal - I Hate 2 Brag