Between the endless neighborhood streetfests, Pitchfork, Rock the Bells and now this weekend's Lollapalooza , Chicago can't get enough of summer. Frankly, I'm exhausted. But I'm not a pussy, so with my best bitch from Denver in tow and some random out of town bloggers I met on the internet, CreamTeam is set to destroy all the Lollapalooza festivities and afterparties. I've been stressing all week about what sets to bootleg from the weekend. This morning though I decided to say fuck it and relax and enjoy myself for once. A chaotic day job and [...]
- Kanye West ft. T-Pain, Lil X, Carl Thomas, John Monopoly, Malice, Chuck Inglish, Phil Robinson, Big Pooh, Jack Davey, Roxy Cottontail, Hollywood Holt, - Good Life (Mo.Billionaire & Todd Kane Birthday Refix)
Awhile back I posted a track by the mysterious Chicago 5-piece band, The Dirty Diamonds , on our column, The Weekly Everything . Well, school's out for the summer and The Dirty Diamonds have been keeping themselves busy and are releasing their first EP. There's a certain kind of excitement in the air when you get to hear the very first project a band has poured their time and hearts into. Sometimes this band comes out of nowhere backed by a major label and cleans up the Grammys via a bit of talent and a lot [...]
In the music-writing world there is a certain pitfall we all fall prey to at some point. I call this The Curse of Sounds Like . For example— "If you like the Presets this band is totally for you" . It's a Catch-22 as it's annoying, but essential. Not everyone is at the forefront of Musical Tastemaking™ like us bloggers, so we have to compare and contrast new talent with the bigger names of the genres. In the end everyone wins and new favorite bands are discovered, but I can't help but feel [...]
Sup sup hip kids, this is DiscoSteed , your local Nightlife Ninja Videographer with my first post on CreamTeam. I give you a video I shot on Friday, July 18, 2008 at Dark Wave Disco at Sonotheque featuring A-TRAK (Fools Gold/Montreal) . This dude is fierce with the sickness when it comes to scratching and electro remixes. And with his smokin' hot girlfriend (i.e. Kid Sister ), they unite like Voltron to make a power couple. I had to jump at [...]
It's a fact: Europe has a 24-hour hard-on for Otto Von Schirach . Makes sense, really-the man is out of his mind in the best way possible. He dresses up in the absolute most inane superhero costumes ever, modulates his voice to sound like an alien pederast, and lays down some of the most earth-shattering bass beats that sound downright extraterrestrial. Otto casts an undeniably formidable shadow over the hypogeal dance / noise parade that surges through the shadiest (and most glorious) parts of Europe . Which is too bad for the [...]
(photo via Sucka Pants ) After a few failed attempts, Matt of Matt & Kim finally found a time in his relentless schedule to talk on the phone with us about the insanity of the modern day indie rock tour, the future of Matt & Kim, and why he hates rock stars that love rock stardom. CreamTeam: Matt, how's it going? Matt: Good, I'm just inside in the air conditioning. It's real hot out there. I'm almost [...]
Modular records brings us exciting news today – a joint Cut Copy / The Presets North American tour. I don't have to tell you that these Aussie dance-rock juggernauts are amazing on their own, together they should pretty much demolish everything in their path. Tour dates here . and here's some tasty non-album veggemite delights for you: Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire (Triobelisk & Celestronica Remix) (320 kbps) The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike remix) (266 kbps)
(photo via Andrew Walsh) The weekend that was Pitchfork 2008 has come to close as internet scurries to post their photos and write-ups. What everyone thought was going to be a weekend of misery and bad weather turned into sunny skies, sweaty bodies and endless afterparties. Despite a good night's sleep, I still wish I could crawl back into bed. As I hinted at yesterday, my standout of the weekend was Jarvis Cocker . Seeing him live fulfilled my teenage Britpop fantasy. [...]
(Editor's Note: Oh for fuck's sake. I wrote this in a hurry this morning prior to leaving for Pitchfork and forgot to hit Publish. Well, here you go now, several hours later than intended...) I can't write much now guys, as I need to leave to get back to Pitchfork soon. I will be providing some in-depth write-ups of my favorite acts throughout the coming week. However, I simply couldn't wait to post this—the internet needs it. Seeing Jarvis Cocker last night was the culmination of over a decade [...]
Hello dudes & dudettes! Despite the rain, I'm going to don a poncho and boots and go get rowdy at PITCHFORK today and tomorrow. I've set up a Twitter Feed within the right sidebar (peek to the right) where you can check in throughout the day for assorted snippets about how muddy, drunk and musically impressed (or unimpressed) I am. If you happen to be a fellow Twitter-head, you can add and follow me at twitter.com/creamteam . If you are going to be [...]
I'm a producer's boy. Let me re-phrase that - I pretty much care more about who's behind the boards than who's in front of the mic. Most of my iTunes playlists are aggregated collections not by artists but by the production team who's made the track. Brian Eno, Quincy Jones, Nigel Godrich, Bloodshy & Avant, Timbaland. Hell I would probably give Celine Dion a chance if she were to team up with Kleerup or Polow Da Don. Of the new batch of up and coming production teams, Rex The Dog ranks pretty high up on the "Could One [...]
First off, I love Los Angeles. LOVE IT. Amoeba Records and those in-store performances? Pure gold. Rich musical history. Great weather. Okay, so my knowledge of L.A. is relegated to a couple quick conversations about the music scene, a weekend-long bender and hands-down one of the best record stores in the country, but suffice to say it has made quite the impression on me. One thing I can concede to from keeping an ear to the underground is that there's nothing short of a deluge's worth of "personal agenda" floating around out [...]
(photo via omglikesotrue ) A-Trak is probably in the top category of my cool list with his Sunglasses Is A Must line (collabs with Zoo York and Crooks & Castles ) and his gig as Kanye's DJ. He is also the brother of the dude with the mustache in Chromeo and dating Kid Sister . (I seriously wonder what Thanksgiving is like for these people.) With running the Fool's Gold record label and his recent Nike Running mix release [...]
I was very kindly given tickets to see Feist last Friday at Ravinia , a large outdoor amphitheater and park grounds in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park. I was floored with excitement and anticipation as Friday approached. It was my first time at Ravinia, a venue that typically caters to an older, more mature crowd with classical musicians, the CSO , and touring jazz greats filling the concert roster. Every so often though, a pop or rock act stop through, drawing out every young person in the [...]
The day I've been waiting for with baited breath for a solid year now has arrived—there is a full length Juvelen album in my iTunes! It was about this time last summer when Hanna entered my life off of Stockholm-based Juvelen's first EP. I must have listened to Hanna (and the other 4 tracks on the EP) until my neighbors' ears bled and my speakers cried. Juvelen is back with his first full-length album titled 1 just in time to be the soundtrack for [...]
I've always been adamant in my anti-LA stance. I guess a favorable portrait isn't painted for us outsiders when our view of LA life comes from VH1 reality shows , Star magazine headlines read in the grocery store checkout and The Cobra Snake . Recently, in a discussion about LA, my friend asked me why I hated it so much. Honestly, only having been there once, I didn't have a good answer for him and it got me thinking that my anti-LA stance was perhaps a bit superficial. Ironically, I'd always [...]
Hailing from Baltimore, by way of Australia, The Death Set make it their job to destroy everything with noise and chanting—lots and lots of chanting. Their live show is something that belongs in a basement with lots of cheap beer and hip kids, so it's only appropriate that they played at the Hideout in Chicago, which kind of looks like a basement (with lots of cheap beer and hip kids). With a crowd-reacting cover of Operation Ivy's Bombshell and a Colt 45 -soaked mosh pit to top off their lo-fi spazzy [...]
Just to show you folks I really DO read every single thing that enters my inbox, meet Jams Dean . JD wrote me last week praising our little blog and sharing his story. JD just moved to Chicago and I checked out his myspace page to discover he's a pretty fantastic rapper. While not out of place amongst the likes of current hype kings and scene darlings Million$Mano, Hollywood Holt, The Cool Kids and Mic Terror , he's also completely different than anything else on the Chicago rap radar. [...]
Our blog buddies over at My Old Kentucky blog have the weekly email newsletter on lock. Their taste is very eclectic and I'm always discovering something a bit off the radar. This week I discovered the breathtaking Doveman . Doveman is fronted by 26-year old Thomas Bartlett , a keyboard player who has collaborated & toured with artists such as Glen Hansard (Once, Swell Season), The National , Martha Wainwright , Antony , David Byrne , Bebel Gilberto and Yoko Ono . Doveman's newest project [...]
I'm drunk and just got back from eating some damn amazing sushi wrapped in Kobe Beef. It was epic. I figured it was high time here on CreamTeam that we made use of the Rants category. On my brief stop back home to let the dog out before I continue getting wasted this evening, I popped on the internet where I was met with troubling rumors in Musicville. NME is reporting (by way of UK paper, The Sun ) that Justice is lined up to produce [...]
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Avicii – Two Million
Yellow Magic Orchestra edit from Chrome Canyon
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
H&M Lookbook Mujer y Hombre Otoño 2012.
