The Tape

Wow, I’ve slept on this song for way too long. It somehow managed to slip through the cracks of our online inbox, and I just never got around listening to it… Until now that is. This 2 minute beauty reminds me of an electronic remix of a Why? song. Why? is one of my favorite bands in the world, so that comparison really means a lot coming from me. The spoken word/rapped lyrics are absolutely wonderful, with another layer adding after every stanza or line break. While this song really does remind me of Yoni Wolf and Co., this song takes more of a path than most Why? songs. This song actually has some meaning, instead of the stream of consciousness writing style Yoni Wolf adopted. My only complaint about the track is that I wish it was longer. Check out the band on Myspace, and I’ll update you on album news as soon as I get it from the band. Below is “Beautiful World”, and also “Fat Tax”, which is a newer song.

The Zookeepers- Beautiful World

The Zookeepers- Fat Tax

The second single for John Vanderslice’s upcoming album, Romanian Names is now up for a free download courtesy of Dead Oceans. “Too Much Time” displays his fantastic voice, along with some nice electronic instrumentation. Download it below. In other (exciting) news, if you pre-order his album, and are one of the first 100 to do so, you get some awesome stuff. Now, this was e-mailed to us yesterday, so it may be too late, but you never know. Anyways, here’s what happens if you are one of those lucky 100:

You will each receive a limited-edition, letterpressed wallet containing a small snippet of analog tape.This tape contains unused music from JV’s master recording of Romanian Names. The tape is literally from the cutting-room floor of Tiny Telephone.

John Vanderslice and Dead Oceans grant free reign and full rights to those that receive this tape snippet by pre-ordering JV’s new album. The music contained on the snippet can be used however that person may wish, and the music on the snippet will be wholly owned by that person. Splice it into other music, loop it, remix it, or simply hold it as a keepsake.

All pre-orders of Romanian Names come with a digital download of the album that can be listened to immediately.

I’m pretty sure that deal is over, but it’s still an awesome concept. Anyways, pre-order the album here and download “Too Much Time” below.

John Vanderslice- Too Much Time

Meet the next big thing in the synergy between social networks and music. Everyone knows HypeMachine. Most people know Muxtape. Now, we have a hybrid. Hypetape allows users to create their own playlists, similar to the original Muxtape, except this time powered by the huge engine at HypeMachine. It’s a new and improved way to make your digital mixtapes. You no longer have to upload your tracks, you can simply locate them on a blog. So go check it out and sign up, it’s pretty neat.

Wow. This man is my hero. Busdriver once again takes a classical song (i.e. “Imaginary Places”), and eloquently wrecks it. Now I mean wreck in the best way a speed rapper can compliment a classical piece. Anyways, thanks to Stereogum for the mp3, it rules. His new album, Jhelli Beam comes out June 9th on Anti Records. Check out “Me-Time (With The Pulmonary Palimpsets)” below. You can also find the tracklisting located below as well.

01 “Split Seconds (Between Nannies and Swamis)” (Produced by Nosaj Thing)
02 “Me-Time (With the Pulmonary Palimpsets)” (Produced by Omid)
03 “Handfuls of Sky” (Produced by Nobody and Busdriver)
04 “Scoliosis Jones” (Produced by Daedelus)
05 “Least Favorite Rapper” (feat. Nocando) (Produced by Free The Robots)
06 “Quebec and Back” (Produced by Nobody)
07 “Do the Wop” (Produced by Daedelus)
08 “World Agape” (Produced by Greg Saunier)
09 “Manchuria” (feat. Mikah 9) (Produced by Nobody)
10 “Unsafe Sextet/Gilded Hearts of Booklovers” (Produced by Omid)
11 “Happy Insider” (feat. Nick Thorburn) (Produced by Daedelus and Busdriver)
12 “I’ve Always Known” (Produced by Busdriver)
13 “Fishy Face” (feat. John Dietrich) (Produced by Daedelus)

Busdriver- Me-Time (With The Pulmonary Palimpsets)

Alright y’all, here’s the deal. We got a copy of the album and a poster courtesy of Insound. Just e-mail us at Thetapeblog@yahoo.com, with the subject CONTEST. We’ll pick two winners at random, and then you’ll get your awesome cd. Here’s a link to the album, just in case you don’t win. Enjoy “Sleepyhead” as well. An oldie, but a goodie.

Passion Pit- Sleepyhead

Pitchfork announced today that Balitimore quirk legend Dan Deacon will be touring with Deerhunter and No Age this summer. This would make pretty big news on its own, but there’s some added spice here. If you remember Deacon’s Round Robin tour from last year, it’ll be like that. It’s like this. The three bands will set up in a circle and alternate songs. The audience resides in the middle, desperately craning their necks from one song to the next. There is only a very small break (if a at all) in between songs and the three bands are tied into one great set. Last year’s tour involved Deacon, Beach House, The Death Set and Adventure, but it’ll no doubt be awesome to see the concept applied to bands with a larger following. This is gonna be epic.

Dan Deacon - Woof Woof

Check out the video and an mp3 as well. Oh yeah, we also have some updated tour dates.

Apr 28 2009 Lee’s Palace Toronto, Ontario %
Apr 29 2009 The Pike Room at Crofoot Pontiac, Michigan %
Apr 30 2009 Beachland Tavern - All Ages Cleveland, Ohio %
May 1 2009 The Summit Columbus, Ohio %
May 2 2009 The End Nashville, Tennessee %
May 3 2009 The Earl Atlanta, Georgia %
May 4 2009 Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina %
May 5 2009 Talking Head Club Baltimore, Maryland %
May 6 2009 The Barbary (Early Show) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania%
May 7 2009 Champion Ship Lemoyne, Pennsylvania
May 12 2009 Bowery Ballroom New York, New York %
Jun 18 2009 Cake Shop New York, New York #
July 10 2009 South Street Seaport New York, New York % (FREE)
July 18 2009 Pitchfork Fest Chicago, Illinois
July 20 2009 The Echo Los Angeles, California *
July 21 2009 The Rickshaw Stop San Fransisco, California *
July 23 2009 Backspace Portland, Oregon *
July 24 2009 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC *
July 25 2009 Capital Hill Block Party Seattle, Washington

% = w/ Zaza
# = w/ Crystal Stilts
* = w/ Girls

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Young Adult Friction

She/they’ll be touring dates with Abe Vigoda and a couple with Telepathe as well. Check out a video and an mp3 as well.

May 28 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California
Jun 04 2009 Oasis Oakland, California
Jun 05 2009 Aunty Mo’s Eureka, California
Jun 07 2009 Northern Olympia, Washington
Jun 09 2009 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia *
Jun 10 2009 Chop Suey Seattle, Washington *
Jun 11 2009 Holocene Portland, Oregon *
Jun 12 2009 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, California *
Jun 13 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California *#
Jun 16 2009 Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California *
Jun 17 2009 Modified Arts Phoenix, Arizona *

* = w/ Telepathe
# = w/ Abe Vigoda

Nite Jewel- Weak For Me

Y’all know the drill by now. Passion Pit make great music. Two new tunes have hit the blogosphere recently, “Little Secrets” and “Moth’s Wings.” Both songs will be on the Cambridge-based band’s debut album, Manners, due out in late May. “Little Secrets” also has a really tight accompanying remix competition. There have been so many remix competitions recently, Passion Pit decided to mix it up. Check it out here. It goes like this: rather than releasing all the instrument stems, they’ve decided to release a whole bunch of 9 second snippets. You enter your email, you get a snippet. You can trade and try to complete the set (remixing meets Pokémon) or just work with the snippet you get. I’m the proud holder of the children’s choir sample. Expect something from that.

As for the track itself, “Little Secrets” is fantastic. The beginning synth riff always throws me off. It starts off, and you think it’s straight, but as soon as the bass hits it’s syncopated. It’s little things like those that keep music interesting. The aforementioned kids’ choir is just as effective as it is in “The Reeling” and maybe a bit more fun.

“Moth’s Wings” starts off slower than a lot of Passion Pit songs to date but builds into something pretty epic. It seems almost as if it could fit the ending of a teen soap, but it’s just too good to be relegated to that kind of usage. So far, Passion Pit are 9/9. All 9 songs that have been released/leaked have been top notch. I’m expecting huge things from Manners and guaranteeing you this band will be huge.

Passion Pit - Little Secrets (Just kidding)

Passion Pit - Moth’s Wings (Taken down at label’s request)

So the songs were taken down via request, but you can download Moth’s Wings from RCRD LBL here.

All around great blog HRO has just clued us and the world on the greatest thing to ever happen to Dim Mak: Hardcore Pornography. While this seems an incoherent statement at first, let me explain. Generally trashy but sometimes guiltily enjoyable record label, Dim Mak, has teamed up with always trashy but generally enjoyable medium, pornography, and the result is a porn film shot in the assumed warehouse of Dim Mak. The future of music is now. The future of advertising is now. The future of Dim Mak is even more hilarious. 

Watch the totally unforgivable and totally explicit video here