The Tape

Covers of pop music are more or less a tradition. One of these is from the pop music vault, while the other is as fresh as the produce section at Whole Foods. “Turn My Swag On” was a summer hit, playing off Soulja Boy’s previous success. The video helped the popularity of the song, depicting the things Soulja Boy did in the morning to turn his swag on. The cover, done by Sammy Bananas’ project, Telephoned, turned the song into a thoroughly enjoyable item. ColeTrain takes the Blink 182 classic and puts an 8-bit spin on it. It’s worthy of blasting out a sunroof while driving down the freeway. That kind of good.

Telephoned - Turn My Swag On (ft. Telli Federline)

ColeTrain - The Rock Show (Blink 182 Cover)

Dawes are a local LA band that fuse 70’s folk-rock with a modern sound, and their debut album, North Hills is out this week.  It has a surprisingly mature sound, enhanced by lead singer/songwriter Taylor Goldsmith’s powerful voice. “That Western Skyline” is an immediate standout, and sets the calm, precise, and confident tone of the rest of the record. Driven by a pounding bassline, highlight “When My Time Comes” is farthest Dawes stray from the relaxed style of the opening track. The chorus, which lends the song its title, is a standout harmony in an album full of them. The contrast of a classic Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young-style harmony with fresh, 21st Century- style folk-rock instrumentals gives the song a timeless quality.  North Hills has many strong tracks, with harmonies rivaling “When My Time Comes” on bedroom rocker “Bedside Manner” and retro “If You Let Me Be Your Anchor,” and funky bass and drums on “My Girl To Me.” The requisite ballad is here in “Love Is All I Am,” but here again the bass and harmonies lift the song above the average. North Hills is a strong debut, and the few places it falls short mark the potential the band has to make even stronger music.

On Tour: dates at Dawes Myspace

Dawes - When My Time Comes

Dawes - Love Is All I Am

Great news! One of my favorite musicians, Owen Pallett will be releasing his wayyyyy overdue third record, Heartland which will be hitting stores January 12th. I couldn’t be more excited. Coming out on Domino, Heartland “is the product of nine months of work in four countries. Heartland is a fully orchestral record, designed to exist simultaneously as an album, a 45-minute piece of orchestral music and a set of songs for looped violin and voice.” Jesus, this album sounds epic. Here’s what Owen has to say about it: “The songs themselves form a narrative concerning a farmer named Lewis and the fictional world of Spectrum. The songs are one-sided dialogues with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator.”

You can check out a live video for “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” below, along with the tracklist and an old MP3. He’s also going on tour with The Mountain Goats, which should make for a hell of a show.

Heartland tracklist:
1. Midnight Directives
2. Keep The Dog Quiet
3. Mount Alpentine
4. Red Sun No. 5
5. Lewis Takes Action
6. The Great Elsewhere
7. Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
8. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
9. Flare Gun
10. E Is For Estranged
11. Tryst With Mephistopheles
12. What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

Final Fantasy- The Butcher

Video 8 of 10. This shit’s hilarious.

Just a bit of news for y’all. One of the best new bands of ‘09, Here We Go Magic have just announced that they’re signing with the great Secretly Canadian records. A bit of bittersweet news, as they’ll be leaving the also great Western Vinyl. Even after releasing a fantastic album in ‘09, Luke Temple and friends aren’t letting up. Keep your eyes peeled for a new album in the Spring of 2010, put out by the new label. As usual, if anything more develops about this new album, you’ll be sure to know. Download and watch “Fangela” below.

Here We Go Magic- Fangela

Ryan Lee West’s music interested me before I even listened to it for 3 reasons. 1. He lists his ranges as Autechre to Daft Punk. 2. He performs using self programmed Max/MSP and SuperCollider patches. 3. His name is “Rival Consoles” and that gets you instant nostalgia points.

Needless to say, dude had the odds stacked in his favor when it came time to listen to his music. But, and let me use this as an example for any marketing/promotion any artists may employ to get their name out, when you’re billing yourself as a Max/MSP using, Tate Museum playing, Aphex Twin comparison drawing electronic musician, do not make the song you send as the taster, the most derivative and straight forward song on the album. Disregarding “1985″ for a moment (which in fairness is a stomping dance track, just not the most imaginative and representative one,) his debut album IO is full of squiggly, squelchy, glitchy, quirky fun  that offers one both the chance to listen for the careful tweaking and twiddling sown into the production of the tracks, as well as rock out to the warehouse sized, chest pounding rhythms layed down by Mr. West. For me, Rival Consoles is at his most successful when finding the balance between something tweaky and acid, and something throbbing and techno, and he finds that balance a lot. With the state of dance music perpetually seeming to be on the decline, it’s nice to see someone who artfully treads the line between pushing boundaries and innovation, as well as keeping true with the tried and tested methods applied to make generations of ravers and partygoers get on the floor and dance. Oh and the album has really cool cover and sleeve art and is available to buy on Erased Tapes’ website.

Rival Consoles - 1985

There have been a few notable releases over the last few weeks or so that we have unfortunately overlooked. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the latest and greatest LP releases…

Volcano Choir-Unmap

We’ve been hot on the trail of this recording ever since we got wind of the project. However, considering its famous front man, Unmap hasn’t garnered quite the buzz I would’ve expected. Predictably, the album calls upon the signature ambiance of its instrumentalists, Wisconsin based Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, as well as the crooning, melancholy vocals of none other than Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Risky perhaps, but the group utilizes this juxtaposition to a truly incredible effect. Sometimes resembling Bitte Orca in its atonal and challenging harmonies, the album journeys through territories uncharted by either artist(s). Each track uniquely appeals to a different songwriting approach be it vocal, rhythmically, or purely sonically driven. Thus each of the artists transforms the other’s sound and throughout the album, it seems as though a sound has been created which without both parties, could never have been executed. This recoding is a classic example of whether the whole equals the sum of the parts. Indeed with such prestigious constituents Unmap could’ve easily been a disappointment waiting to happen. As is the case with so many super-groups, (2004 LA Lakers included) a great lineup doesn’t always yield the best results. In the case of Unmap however, Justin Vernon and COCOB seem perfectly suited for one another and have yielded one of the greatest LP’s of 2009 to date. Here’s my list of the top 5 key cuts (in no order) as well as an MP3 to tide you over until you inevitably purchase the release …

And Gather, Island IS, Cool Knowledge, Seeplymouth, Still (a sequel to Woods (say what you will) off the Blood Bank EP)

Volcano Choir-Seeplymouth

Tyondai Braxton-Central Market

Battles frontman Tyondai Braxton has truly cut loose on this one, shying away from his mathy roots and tending more towards the heavily orchestrated Mahavishnu meets Zappa meets Wendy Carlos meets Sci-Fi Film Score. Know what I mean? Exactly, this work is pretty unclassifiable. My opinions on this are more awestruck at the sheer feat of composing and recording this epic rather than sheer enjoyment of the music itself. Minimalist in its melodies yes complex in instrumentation and harmony, Central Market is unlike anything I’ve heard from Tyondai. I don’t to sound presumptuous as I have never claimed to be a Tyondai aficionado, yet purely from a listening standpoint, who would’ve ever predicted this to directly proceed Mirrored? The work reveals an utterly new side of Mr. Braxton, a side clearly influenced by some of the most idiosyncratic contemporary music of our time. How fitting then that Tyondai should turn out some of the most challenging, absurd, and downright insane collage of sound I have ever heard. As previously mentioned, a solo venture always has the potential of being overshadowed by previous work, yet Central Market is so innately unique that any comparison to Battles would be preposterous. Considering the comparatively minuscule demographic of Mahavishnu/Wendly Carlos/Zappa/Close Encounters fans, don’t expect Central Market to challenge Kanye or Miley for their coveted Billboard top 10 slot. However, for those who do fit nicely into that demographic or for those seeking something utterly singular and exciting, definitely look into this LP. Considering there are 7 tracks, it would seem pretty useless to make a top 5 list. Just buy the record, listen to it in its entirety, and for now enjoy the 10 minute epic, Platinum Rows…

Tyondai Braxton-Platinum Rows

If you weren’t a fan before, you definitely won’t be now… But if you are a fan, you’ll absolutely love this. Check out the performance below. They performed a new song, “When The World Comes To An End”, as well as a backstage performance captured by the one and only Questlove (?uestlove).

Last week’s GMM is pretty hard to follow, so I’m not gonna do anything fancy here. Let’s stick with a classic. Britney Spears has come to embody our generation: incessantly glamorous while simultaneously being the trashiest person alive. This is my personal tribute to her. More particularly, “Piece of Me.” The song is not only Britney’s FUCK YOU to the media, but her autobiography. It takes you through the perils of being Britney on a daily basis. Well done, Spears.

Britney Spears - Piece of Me

Just a friendly reminder to email us (thetapeblog@yahoo.com) your favorite childrens story for a chance to win some awesome WTWTA swag. If you win you’ll get:

1) One Carol character Tote Bag
2) One copy of the soundtrack on CD
3) One WTWTA paper crown
4) One iPod WTWTA skin

Good luck!