Blog: Cities of the Plain

LCD Soundsystem, Dance Yrself Clean

Feb 24, 2011, 1:13pm Cities of the Plain
Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem - Muppets rock out in Brighton !
Yes! Probably my favorite song of the last year gets a deservedly fun video. James Murphy does sort of sound like Kermit the Frog. Or maybe I am just saying that to get back at him for prematurely ending LCD and robbing me of the chance to ever see them live.
MORE »

Arches, Wide Awake

Feb 23, 2011, 10:10pm Cities of the Plain
Arches, Wide Awake My good friend, Julien, from Arches just informed me that they are done with their debut album! A pretty epic effort considering they did the whole thing by themselves without the support of a label. You can help them get their music out to the world on vinyl by showing them some love at their kickstarter page and you can stream the whole thing below. That first track still sounds as fresh as it did when we first heard it a couple years back.
MORE »

Yuck, The Wall

Feb 23, 2011, 9:58pm Cities of the Plain
I saw these guys open for Smith Westerns a few weekends back and this song in particular really stuck with me. They have a really strong, enveloping sound live that comes through well in this recording. The rest of their debut album is worth a listen as well.
MORE »

All of the Lights

Feb 19, 2011, 3:02pm Cities of the Plain
Kanye West - All Of The Lights ft. Rihanna, Kid Cudi
WOW. The intro, Gaspar Noe biting , standing on top of cop cars, Rihanna doing Rihanna things (singing hooks, looking incredible, etc.), the way the whole thing is shot, playing with focus. Man, just, wow. I could've gone with Nicki Minaj being featured instead of Cudi, but that's a terrific video. The track was a favorite of the blog's in 2010 and Hype Williams really brought it with a goosebump-inducing video worthy of the track itself. Very stoked on this one.
MORE »

Radiohead, King of Limbs

Feb 18, 2011, 12:42pm Cities of the Plain
Radiohead, King of Limbs Radiohead continue to surprise everyone and have made King of Limbs available a day ahead of schedule. Go here to download your copy today! I am very interested to here everybody's first reactions.
MORE »

Odd Future on Fallon

Feb 17, 2011, 11:37am Cities of the Plain
Odd Future on Fallon My feelings on Odd Future can be framed quite simply: • They terrify me and make me feel old. • Their talent (particularly that of Tyler, Earl and Hodgy) is undeniable and their willingness to hustle (in the non-selling of crack sense of the word) deserves recognition. Last night on Jimmy Fallon's show, Tyler, The Creator and Hodgy Beats put on one of the better performances I can remember seeing on TV. They pulled no punches (save for cutting a curse or two) and weren't afraid to do their thing, [...]
MORE »

Young Galaxy, Cover Your Tracks [EP]

Feb 16, 2011, 11:47am Cities of the Plain
Young Galaxy, Cover Your Tracks [EP] I already thought of the new Young Galaxy album as a bit of a remix album, the band sent their tracks off to Sweden for a total reworking by Lissvik, waiting nine months before they could hear the finished product. But now they have gone ahead and released an EP of remixes for "Cover Your Tracks", perhaps an intimidating assignment for any budding remixer: following in the footsteps of Lissvik. You can download the entire EP for free at Fader to hear the results or listen to the CFCF version below, my personal favorite. CFCF slowed it down [...]
MORE »
Artist:Young Galaxy
Title:Cover Your Tracks (CFCF Remix)
Link Text:Young Galaxy - Cover Your Tracks (CFCF Remix)
File Name:02 Cover Your Tracks (CFCF Remix).mp3
Year:2011

Smith Westerns, Bottom of the Hill

Feb 16, 2011, 3:04am Cities of the Plain
Smith Westerns, Bottom of the Hill I recently relocated to San Francisco and have been itching to get out to see some live music. My inaugural outing finally came around this past Sunday when I went to see Smith Westerns at Bottom of the Hill, a great little venue over by Potrero Hill. At the time I hadn't done much listening to the Smith Westerns most recent album, Dye it Blonde , but new the stat sheet well enough: teenagers from Chicago do sunny garage rock. And that is definitely what they do. They powered through a quick, energetic set that [...]
MORE »

Jamie XX & Gil Scott-Heron, We're New Here

Feb 15, 2011, 2:39pm Cities of the Plain
Jamie XX created a fair amount of buzz with his dub-y remix of Gil Scott-Heron's "NY is Killing Me". Now you can here the full album of remixes which Jamie XX is calling We're New Here . A good cross-generational collaboration and further proof that the XX, or Jamie at the very least, will be sticking around for years to come. Plus, "Running" is a total jam.
MORE »

Radiohead, King of Limbs

Feb 14, 2011, 1:04pm Cities of the Plain
In a surprising (but very welcome) announcement, Radiohead will release there 8th album, King of Limbs , this Saturday!! Get all the details and pre-order the album here .
MORE »

Tyler, The Creator, Yonkers

Feb 11, 2011, 11:38am Cities of the Plain
Tyler The Creator - Yonkers
I am always very curious why certain rappers are embraced by the blogging community. OFWGKTA, led by Tyler, The Creator, seem to be on everyone's tongues these days. In their case, I am pretty convinced (besides the music, obviously) it is because white indie kids simply can't figure them out. And if this video is any indication, Tyler knows it. He knows it and he is going to use it. I am certainly watching, and guessing. "Yonkers" is the first single of the upcoming GOBLIN .
MORE »

"No Battleships Today, That's Nice"

Feb 9, 2011, 11:48am Cities of the Plain
"No Battleships Today, That's Nice" Last week, I was catching up with Rachel, a dear friend of the blog, and she asked me what had been in my headphones recently. After a few false starts in writing a list of stuff to her, I thought to myself, 'Wait, you've been absolute crap with your posting consistency at CotP. Why don't you re-evaluate your neglect and write this for the blog?' So without further adieu, the next two posts are what I've been listening to of late. Hope you don't mind that I posted them here. Snuffalufagus - [...]
MORE »
Artist:Carmen McRae
Title:Just A Little Lovin' (GB Remix)
Link Text:Carmen McRae - Just A Little Lovin (GB Remix)
File Name:10 Just A Little Lovin' (GB Remix).mp3
Bitrate:256 kbps
Year:2005
Artist:Jai Paul
Title:BTSTU
Link Text:Jai Paul - BTSU
File Name:BTSTU.mp3
Bitrate:320 kbps
Artist:Jónsi
Title:Go do
Link Text:Jónsi - Go Do
File Name:01 Go Do.mp3
Year:2010
Artist:Snuffaluffagus
Title:No Battleships
Link Text:Snuffalufagus - No Battleships
File Name:No Battleships.mp3
Year:2010
Artist:Star Slinger
Title:Mornin'
Link Text:Star Slinger - Mornin
File Name:01 Mornin'.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:2010

Distant Relatives

Feb 9, 2011, 9:58am Cities of the Plain
DISTANT RELATIVES "Patience"
Do you miss the days of over-the-top After Effects in hip-hop videos? Do you like smoke machines, burning torches and lions in your music videos? Are you nostalgic for absurd interpretations of iconography? Me neither, but there's plenty of each to spare in the latest video from Nas and Damian Marley's Distant Relatives collaboration. It must be strange as a performer to shoot something like that in front of a green screen and have no idea how it will turn out. In some seriousness, it's great to see Amadou & Miriam - [...]
MORE »
Artist:Amadou & Mariam
Title:Sabali
Link Text:Amadou & Miriam - Sabali
File Name:06 Sabali.mp3
Bitrate:256 kbps
Year:2008
Artist:Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
Title:Patience
Link Text:Nas and Damian Marley - Patience
File Name:11 Patience.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:2010

G5: Wednesday, February 9

Feb 9, 2011, 9:00am Cities of the Plain
G5: Wednesday, February 9 1. To the internet, I say, "Good on you" for the baby Kanye West meme that took off yesterday. 2. Cut Copy just seem like some bros we'd all like to chill with , playing the dozens and whatnot. 3. Pitchfork caught up with Slug about Atmosphere's upcoming album The Family Sign and his persona as a rapper: …there are a lot of fictitious narratives on this one, too, so I don't know how to categorize it. I'm seen [...]
MORE »

More Toro Y Moi?

Feb 8, 2011, 9:24pm Cities of the Plain
More Toro Y Moi . Such a jam. I'm trying to place the progression of the synth… is that a sample? Have we heard this somewhere before? Brownie points and a shout out to anyone who can help me out with this in the comments. You can stream Under The Pine in its entirety over at Urban Outfitters . (Can't you just see the UO people talking in meetings about their brand as a lifestyle? Me, too. The internet is a magical place.)
MORE »

The New Pornographers' latest video "Moves,"...

Feb 8, 2011, 2:29pm Cities of the Plain
The New Pornographers - Moves
The New Pornographers' latest video "Moves," directed by Tom Scharpling and featuring cameos from Todd Barry, John Oliver, John Hodgman and Donald Glover, among others, is a lot of fun. I haven't been clued in to The New Pornographers - mainly the result of my own ignorance - but I'll be paying closer attention in the future. It's funny how one video or interview can really switch up a perception of a band or artist; knowing that a band has a sense of humor about themselves and their music makes all the difference in appreciating their work.
MORE »

G5: Tuesday, February 8

Feb 8, 2011, 10:59am Cities of the Plain
G5: Tuesday, February 8 Thelonius Monk, the picture of cool. ( via ) Bobby Hundreds went to visit Epitaph Records and came away with some cool shots. A project worthy of your support: DJ Rupture is headed to Morocco to record native musicians over there. Help him out over at Kickstarter . Take a listen to Theophilus London's debut EP Lover's Holiday . It's out today, so if you like what you hear, you can pick it up at Amazon . From a few months ago, [...]
MORE »

Young Galaxy, Shapeshifting

Feb 7, 2011, 11:33pm Cities of the Plain
I stumbled across the video for Young Galaxy's "We Have Everything" a few days ago and wondered how I had not heard anything from them before. Then, listening to the song on my Ipod today I realized they were the same people responsible for "Peripheral Visionaries", a song I obsessed over for a while when it showed up on Said the Gramaphone's year-end best of list. Not only that, but it turns out their new album, Shapeshifting , was produced by Swedish wunder-producer Lissivik and is being released tomorrow on Paper Bag Records. The Canadian duo was [...]
MORE »
Artist:Young Galaxy
Title:Peripheral Visionaries
Link Text:Young Galaxy - Peripheral Visionaries
File Name:Peripheral Visionaries.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Artist:Young Galaxy
Title:We Have Everything
Link Text:Young Galaxy - We Have Everything
File Name:04 We Have Everything.mp3

Rural Alberta Advantage, Stamp

Feb 3, 2011, 5:01pm Cities of the Plain
I got a good kick out of this tongue-in-cheek video for The Rural Alberta Advantage's latest single, "Stamp". I think we have all given the accidental brush a try at a concert before.
MORE »

G5 - February 2, Wednesday

Feb 2, 2011, 6:54pm Cities of the Plain
G5 - February 2, Wednesday I missed Acrylics the first time around a few years ago. I really dig this song, thanks to Stereogum for the video. John Roderick of The Long Winters discusses the idea that "shuffle" has ruined our ability to place music in its intended context: "We forget that DEVO was protest music, the Talking Heads made social commentary, the Pet Shop Boys were gay liberationists. These weren't just songs that played at prom, they were reactions to the [...]
MORE »
Page   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 22 23 Next >
Subscribe to this feed