Straight Up Hood Rich

Daniel Johnston Has Game

My cred would go down if I made it sound like I just found this track, so I’ll be clear that this is an oldie but goodie from earlier in the decade. The track in question is Beck’s cover of the Daniel Johnston song True Love Will Find You In The End. It’s a beautiful, sparse arrangement of harmonica and acoustic guitar, along with Beck’s incredible Sea Change era singing voice on full display.

I suppose what’s interesting about the track is how moving and fabulous it is when Beck performs it. It takes on a whole new meaning, or a whole new level of emotional response when it’s interpreted by one of the most talented artists of the past few decades.

But what about the track when Daniel Johnston performs it? Does it pack the same wallop, just in a different way? To the analysis cave! Continue reading…

Humpday

Good morning, all.

Let’s get the worst day of the week started right. It’s an epic day, so it deserves and epic ballad with plenty of love and electronic drums. When I showed my wife-to-be Monica this song, she wasn’t into it. I believe her exact quote was that it “sounded like Nine Inch Nails on Klonopin.”

Well, I like it! And that’s all that matters. I hope you enjoy it, too. Or, at the very least, it suits you enough to throw on in the background while you get that morning coffee in you.

The Big Pink – Velvet

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Just go.

Go watch the MGMT video for Flash Delirium.

Total batshit greatness. It’s almost as awesome as Congratulations. Almost.

And if you haven’t yet indulged in the best album of the year thus far, then go ahead and check it out while you’re there. It’s still streaming, right there on the same page.

Air

Air has been around for quite some time now and I’ve been following them very loosely throughout their career.  Pocket Symphony was probably my favorite of their work…until Love 2 came along, that is.  Love 2 was released in September of last year, so you probably have heard (of) it by now, but I just don’t care.  It’s so good that I’m going to make you listen to 2 tracks off of it again.  And if you haven’t heard it yet, I hope this compels you to dig a bit deeper into the album because it fucking shines.

Continue reading…

Instigation Monday

Oh, good. It’s Monday. I haven’t given you all any instigation the past few weeks, so enjoy this little bit of love. It’s not rap for the first time ever. We’ll get back on the hip-hop tracks next week.

Anger. Hatred. Wish I was still asleep.

Enjoy this bullshit day.

Bonobo – Black Sands

So one of my favorite artists just had a new album come out today.

With the experimental  warmth of ‘60s french films and the pizzicato flavor of breakbeats, Bonobo established a niche of post-party chill-out.

He is also currently getting ready to kickoff a world tour promoting the new album Black Sands, starting this Thursday in Chicago.

We Could Forever

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Continue reading…

Live Review: Joanna Newsom

3/19/10

The First Unitarian Church

Philadelphia, PA

It’s really kind of shocking to me that Joanna Newsom is as popular as she is. She mans a harp, writes sprawling songs whose lyrics rely heavily on intricate wordplay and sings them in an almost bird like chirp. I have to admit that it took me some time to warm up to her sound but, once I did, I was able to pick up on the interesting storytelling she was doing with her music.

And, just as shocking to me, I found that her songs translate pretty well live.

Continue reading…

Fuck. Yes.

New LCD Soundsystem premiered over at One Thirty BPM today. Then Pitchfork got a better copy of it. I hate to link to those fucks but it’s definitely awesome. We still have no idea what the album, due May 15^th on DFA, is called. But who gives a shit. Behold the Drunk Girls.

These guys are good.

Maybe a longer post is going to come later today. Maybe not. It’s a lazy ass week and I’m busy at my real job. Curses.

In the meantime, check out this slow little jam by The Morning Benders from their album Big Echo. It’s a solid record, definitely worth checking out. And this third track is just a nice little taste of what you’ll be in for if you pick it up.

The track’s called Wet Cement. It’s nice. Perfect for a lazy day.

Wet Cement

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TV on the Radio Hiatus Watch: Week 10

It’s been a little while since I wrote up a hiatus watch, mainly because I hadn’t found anything really worth sharing. Good music has come and gone, but great music? That’s been tough to find the past month or so. So, after my brief self-imposed exile last week, I’ve returned to inform you of some straight awesomeness.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new MGMT album coming out in a couple weeks. They released a song for download a week or two ago, and now they’re streaming the album from their website. As a result, folks have been letting their thoughts known for a little bit now. And all of their thoughts are fucking insane. Let’s get this out of the way right now: There is no “Kids” on this album. Nothing overly poppy. However, there is legitimately no reason for all of these reviewers to make it sound like MGMT has just made the WEIRDEST FUCKING ALBUM EVER. Shit, the way people are talking about this, you’d think that Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser were throwing piles of feces at a kick drum while reciting Arabic chants.

No, there’s no true pop on this album in the same vein as Oracular Spectacular. But, it’s still got its moments of catchy-ness. And, oh yeah, it’s fucking amazing. Continue reading…