The sun is bearing down today, but I best get used to it. Here’s a set of ten tracks to get us through the sizzling heat. Alright, to set things in motion we’ve got one of my favorite covers— Glasgow’s Belle & Sebastian’s rendition of The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun” is pure class. Darwin Deez follows up with some steezy beat-bopping words regarding his Deoxyribonucleic acid. Virginia’s own Barcelona hit up Daytrotter last August, it pretty damn good, as most things are that trickle out of Illinois studio. One of my favorite all around dudes has got to be Kings of Convenience’s and The Whitest Boy Alive’s Erlend Øye— some of his solo releases have really impressed me just in the way that they diverge from the music that he produces with his two bands (by the way his dance moves are stunning). RAC’s André Anjos introduced me to LA band White Arrows with his remix of “Coming or Going.” Here’s another track off their EP, which you can pick up on their bandcamp fo free. Electronic pop outfit Chairlift got on the track with Brooklyn’s Telepathe, the results are “So Fine.” Au Revoir Simone gets some french lovin’ from Paris’ The Teenagers. Luckily (or perhaps not unfortunately) the ‘creative’ threesome’s lyrical wonder is constrained to that of their female counterparts in their take on “Shadows.” LA-based Superhumaniods have their go on Blackbird Blackbird’s “Hawaii,” quite a fresh little rendition. Check out Blackbird Blackbird’s Summer Heart here. Fear not, Oakland indie rock band Rogue Wave is on the mix with “Fear Itself” off Permalight. Rounding out this week’s mix is Ra Ra Riot’s energetic “Too Dramatic” off their forthcoming release, The Orchard.
Belle & Sebastian - Here Comes The Sun (The Beatles Cover)
Darwin Deez - My DNA
Barcelona - It’s About Time
Erlend Øye - The Black Keys Work
White Arrows - Everything Scares Me
Telepathe - So Fine (Chairlift Remix)
Au Revoir Simone - Shadows (The Teenagers Remix)
Blackbird Blackbird - Hawaii (Superhumanoids Remix)
Rogue Wave - Fear Itself
Ra Ra Riot - Too Dramatic
Escucharemos Mondaymix - 2 De Agosto on Mixcloud
This week’s mix kicks off with my favorite track off Arcade Fire’s new album The Suburbs, which you should definitely get your hands on. Then we’ve got one of my favorite bands from London, Noah and the Whale, with a tad of remixing. From the many redone versions of Phoenix’s 1901 I chose a nice reggae remix by Ivan Beck— it’s pretty good to hear after a hundred techno renditions. Also this week I decided to toss in two songs by my favorite Brazilian artists, Sérgio Mendes and Seu Jorge. Rapdragons, a hip-hop duo from Baltimore, sample another group from the same city, Beach House in ‘I Went to Her’ off their new release Featuring Baltimore, which you can pick up for free here. Belgian artist Aeroplane’s ‘We Can’t Fly’ has been drifting about the interwebs the past few days and I really like it so here it is. San Fran’s Hannah Hunt and Ryan William Lynch (aka Dominant Legs) are on the mix with their tune ‘Clawing Out At The Walls’ from their forthcoming album Young at Love and Life. One of my favorite new albums is Brothers by The Black Keys, so here’s their track ‘Everlasting Light’. Basque band Delorean rounds out this weeks mix with their retouch of Glasser’s ‘Glad’.
[Download a .zip file of this week’s mix]
Symphonic indie rock outfit Ra Ra Riot released their first full-length album, The Rhumb Line, in 2008 and after more than a year of recording and production they’re ready to release their sophomore album— The Orchard. The ten-track album, which was produced by the band from Syracuse alongside Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla, Andrew Maury from the Remix Artist Collective (RAC), and Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend, Discovery), is set to hit your nearest record shop on August 24.
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Ra Ra Riot - ‘Shadowcasting’ (from the forthcoming The Orchard)
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The Orchard, which was named for the small farm house where the band recorded much of the album, is available for pre-order through Barsuk, in six different formats (including magenta vinyl). Also, their song “Boy” is up for free on iTunes and their website — if you want to check it out. Ra Ra Riot are currently gallivanting around North America in an extensive tour which lasts through late November; the tour dates are on the band’s myspace. For me, The Orchard is much calmer, laid-back and generally easier to listen to than the band’s last release, although it lacks some of the attractive energy found on The Rhumb Line’s “St. Peter’s Day Festival” or “Too Too Too Fast.”
Check out the set list as well as the video of “Keep It Quiet” below.
Parisian power pop group Poney Poney is back on the scene, but they’ve changed. The trio is down to two— Antoine Hilaire and Flo Lyonnet— and they’ve mixed up their style and switched their name to Jamaica. They dropped their first single “I Think I Like U 2” a few months ago and it has propagated across the blogosphere with help from a remixed by fellow Frenchman Breakbot. From there they released “Short and Entertaining” which moved closer to a Phoenix/Tahiti 80-esque sound; French label Kitsuné included the single in the ninth installment of their compilation series. Now preparing to release their first album as Jamaica, “No Problem,” which is set to hit stores August 23, the young Frenchmen have left their synths at the door as they work alongside Xavier de Rosnay of Justice and Daft Punk’s Peter Franco in the final stages of production. Despite their electronic influences, Hilaire and Lyonnet are keeping their rock and pop tendencies intact as they search for the final form of their morphing sound.
Jamaica - I Think I Like U 2
Jamaica - I Think I Like U 2 (Breakbot Remix)
Jamaica - Short and Entertaining
¿Que onda? After a week that flew by, at least for me, one filed with traveling, rolling hills, and heat, let’s hope that next week will be a bit cooler— perhaps even brisk. Alright, so here we are, let’s kick things off with two fresh tracks from Kentucky’s The Pass, of their album Colors and from Ra Ra Riot’s The Rhumb Line. Next a sweet Kings of Convenience mix by Norwegian house legend, the late Tore Andreas “Erot” Kroknes. Also, I came across a remix of Tunng’s Hustle, which we featured a few weeks back. There’s some more London flair to follow, we’ve got a great collaboration between Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the Machine from the 2010 Brit Awards. Yet the British-ness of this mix isn’t quite over— the Manchester-Bangor connection awaits, Oasis and a personal favourite of mine, Two Door Cinema Club, mashes up wonderfully.
Swedish electronic maestro Pao Pao (aka Fredrick Carlsson) is making quite a name for himself, even outside of his homeland, with his creative and experimental flavor. Get your hands on Pao Pao’s Dörr EP, for zero cashmoney, here. We’ve featured Reykjavík’s four-piece electro-pop quartet FM Belfast before, but this time they’re back with their usual tight beats and catchy lyrics— “We are running down the street in our underwear.” Toro Y Moi gets his hands on Beach House’s Master Of None, and the results are brilliant, and more upbeat. Rounding out this humble mix is a new favorite of mine, Banana Phonetic. The band from Boston came out with their The Western End EP at the beginning of the year and you can pick that high quality .zip file up fo free at their website.
The Pass - Crosswalk Stereo
Tunng - Hustle (Cillo Remix)
You Got The Dirtee Love
FM Belfast - Underwear
Oasis + Two Door Cinema Club - Wonderwall You Know
Pao Pao - Liberia (feat. Prizes)
Erot vs Kings Of Convenience - Gold For The Price Of Silver
Toro Y Moi - Master Of None
Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La
Banana Phonetic - Synchronous Orbit Acheived
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[mp3] Au Revoir Simone - Another Likely Story (Aeroplane remix)
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Brooklyn-based dream pop trio Au Revoir Simone released their third album, Still Night, Still Light, back in May of 2009 but the twelve-track album has recently been commandeered by several masters in the field of remixes (Neon Indian, Aeroplane, Montag, etc.) and cleverly morphed into a whole different beast: Night Light.
The album starts off with Neon Indian’s 80’s beat induced rendition of ‘Another Likely Story’ (one of my personal favorites off Still Night, Still Light). The remix brings a whole different dimension to the original although I feel, as I do for many of these remixes, that the retouched tracks often fail to retain the stern innocence of Au Revoir Simone’s original works. Bass Clef, another remixer who neglected to capture Au Revoir Simone’s unique sound, goes all out “London nightclub” in his eight minute dubstep induced ‘Organized Scenery.’ My favourite remixes are Belgian artist Aeroplane’s energetic, pacy take on ‘Another Likely Story’ and Jensen Sportag’s jazzed up ‘All Or Nothing.’ Overall, the remixed album has its ups and downs, one track you’ll love for it’s renewed vigor and smooth reflected colour, whilst the next might struggle to capture to subtle lo-fi aspects that we’ve all become accustomed to from the female trifecta that is Au Revoir Simone.
Track list (w/ mp3):
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It’s been too long. After weeks of ruthless gallivanting, here’s ten fresh tracks to start off the week. First some Daytrotter Sessions from the Brazilian Curumin and LA’s Princeton. I’ve tossed in one of the many remixes of Miike Snow’s ‘Animal’ that are circling the interwebs these days and a track by Malians Amadou and Mariam from a few years back. Also, here’s my favourite tune off The Black Key’s latest album Brothers, the hazy combination of Basque band Delorean and The XX. Add in some remixed Chiddy Bang, Crystal Castles, some Belgian electronic hip-hop courtesy of Stromae and a track off LA duo Kisses’ new album The Heart of the Nightlife and you’ve got yourself a beat-bopping mix.
Curumin - ‘Magrela Fever’
Princeton - ‘Stunner Shades In Heaven’
Miike Snow - ‘Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)’
Amadou & Mariam - ‘Sénégal Fast Food’
The Black Keys - ‘Tighten Up’
The XX - ‘Islands (Delorean Remix)’
Chiddy Bang - ‘Stylo’
Crystal Castles - ‘Black Panther’
Stromae - ‘Te Quiero’
Kisses - ‘People Can Do The Most Amazing Things’