Blog: Drown Your Beliefs

As always you will find the newest in Radiohead related news. "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses" is a "radical rework of an old tune thats been kicking around without a home since 2001". "Reckoner" (a personal favorite off In Rainbows ) was said to be born from the same song (not seeing that). I am really digging this though. It is not going to be for everyone and seems pretty experimental and not fully polished for a full single release, but the bassline is dancey, groovy and the rhythm just builds and plays all around [...]

Only the best remixes, mashups and reimaginings of other tracks. Remixes are basically the hipster excuse to listen to pop music without having to fully admit to likely the underlying pop song. I have been really into female vocalists recently (yeah I can admit it). And like the hipsters I feel more comfortable admitting to liking the remixes as opposed to the original (sometimes very poppy) pop song. More seriously, I think the best remixes focus primarily on enhancing the strength of the vocal track either through minimalist striped down beats to [...]

And to get everyone excited - here they are performing "1901" on Conan last night. Enjoy, MD

This new concept is simple - the illest, freshest tracks in hip-hop. These require your immediate attention: Jay-Z - "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z just dropped The Blueprint 3 (maybe you haven't heard since he has only be promoting it on everything from the VMAs to Jay Leno for God's sake) and it is sick, if only a bit inconsistent. There is nothing inconsistent about the track "Empire State of Mind" though. This track could have fit squarely on the original (The Blueprint is probably my favorite [...]

(The Stone Roses' self-titled debut) After posting about the Beatles, I have decided to institute a new section called simply Best of the Best. This section is reserved for the classics plain and simple. The Beatles themselves I had decided were above this categorization - they are in a category of their own. For the other mere mortals this is the best it gets. Thought Best of the Best had a better ring to it then Not The Beatles But Still Very Good. Kicking off this [...]

The Beatles are absolutely the greatest band in the history of modern music - really almost indisputable. Their influence is profound. The are not just an influence on all music that followed but on our culture as a whole. They have re-released their entire catalog on (number 9/9/2009) with a significant re-mastering enhancing the sonic detail of each of their albums. In conjunction they have released The Beatles: Rock Band. If you are only familiar with the Beatles catalog through radio and their best known hits (shame on you), here are my top few [...]

(TVotR) Background : TV on the Radio is one of the most exciting bands making music today. Unfortunately, they announced today that as a band they would be taking a year off to pursue other interests and just live life. So I thought for all those not yet priviledged to their music, this would give you a year to learn their back catalog and get amped up for their return. The Brooklyn band melds a diverse array of genres from rock, electronic, jazz, soul to hip-hop. For me their music's [...]

The xx have been straight blowing up the blogsphere right now. You can't go on to Hype Machine or Elbo.ws without seeing their name at the top of every list. And that was before Pitchfork just slapped their self-titled debut album with its "Best New Music" label. If anything the hype is UNDERstated. This is the most exciting debut album I have heard since Clap Your Hands Say Yeah self-released their debut in 2005. I can only hope that the xx do a better job following up this debut than CYHSY has. But all signs [...]

(Ernest Greene, the man behind Washed Out) Washed Out is a one man show out of Columbia, South Carolina playing glitchy, loopy electro pop (does it seem like I like that kind of music??) along the lines of Air France, Panda Bear, et al. For me he sounds like the missing link between Panda Bear and M83's Saturdays = Youth . The 80s is an obvious influence, but the music has a timeless quality to it - it is celestrial, breazy and incredibly versatile. I feel like I can listen [...]

In our current blogger culture, everyone (including yours truly) has an opinion that they want to share and what better way than through ranking our favorite things. Year end lists (and half-year lists see my earlier post for mine) are a staple of just about every music site out there. With the dawn of the new decade approaching it seems like all the major music sites are gearing up for an epic all-out "best of decade" discussion (battle?). I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to partake. Well some of the big guns, [...]

(Fanfarlo performing live) Fanfarlo is a London based group with heavy instrumentation along the lines of Arcade Fire or Sufjan Stevens playing everything from trumpet, violin, mandolin to whatever else they can find. Their debut LP, Reservoir, was released earlier this year and with the help of producer Peter Katis (previous work with The National and Interpol) they have made quite the first impression. Fanfarlo follow the orchestral pop laid out by Arcade Fire, The National and Sufjan and Ra Ra Riot. The music is unabashed, openly emotional and brilliantly layered [...]

Tickets for this exciting new band went on sale today at 10am. Get them on ticketmaster for $15 each (or more like $25 when you add the Ticketmaster monopoly fees...oh how I despise thee). Debut album, A Brief History of Love , drops September 22nd. Read more about The Big Pink in my Introducing post on them from last month. Enjoy MD

So the internet is all abuzz this morning from a potential Radiohead song leak on Radiohead fan site, At Ease. And for good reason. This song is sick - feels like a natural progression from In Rainbows....taking the beauty and technical perfection of its tracks and tweaking with the sound, adding imperfections and dissonance through its drones and slightly off-beat guitar notes. Feels like "Weird Fishes" meets "All The Best" (the new Thom Yorke cover I blogged on below). Loving this in all its dark beauty! Thom Yorke spoke (sadly) recently about a new LP [...]

Written and recorded in about 10 minutes - "Fly Farm Blues" is meant more as a demonstration of the writing and recording process, but a sweet lick nonetheless from White. Though (as P4k points out) has a bit of a "Ball and Biscuit" feel to it. Here is a clip of the recording from It Might Get Loud : LINK Enjoy, MD

(Volcano Choir debut album, Unmap ) Volcano Choir is a new project from Bon Iver, who's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago , was one of the absolute best albums of last year. On this album, he joins forces with Collections of Colonies of Bees, a post-rock outfit from Milwaukee who play instrumental guitar driven experimental music along the lines of Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai. The combination is powerful - adding some brilliant instrumentation to Bon Iver's usually subtle backdrops. The first single off the album, "Island, IS", comes [...]

John Hughes passed away yesterday at the far too early age of 59 from a heart attack. His films were staples of our youth (I may hold the record for the most Ferris Bueller viewings) and more than any other cultural artifact defined the 80s decade. Hughes was incredibly influential in his use of music in film from the Psychedelic Furs song that inspired Pretty in Pink (with one of the most brilliant soundtracks overall) to Ferris Bueller leading all of Chicago through "Twist and Shout" (my personal favorite). So much of what [...]

A movie with Jack White. The Edge . JIMMY FUCKIN' PAIGE. All sitting around talking music and guitars AND writing music together!! If there is anything else you need to hear to go see this movie then you should stop reading this blog. Movie opens August 14th. This preview gives me chills... Enjoy, MD

(The debut album cover) Hot off being featured in my Introducing column, The Big Pink are streaming their whole debut album over at their website, http://musicfromthebigpink.com / . The album won't be released until September 22nd in US so check it out while you can now! Enjoy, MD

I saw the fantastic film, (500) Days of Summer, last night and am still contemplating its overall impact. What I do know is that you must see this film, even if only for the completely novel take on the romantic comedy and most of all the incredible art direction - this is one of the most innovative and impressive directorial efforts I have seen in a while and it comes from a music video director, Marc Webb, making his feature film debut...amazing. While this blog does not focus on movies, this movie has music at its [...]

Now at the bottom of each post is a simple set of choices on the overall posting. Let me know if you liked/loved it (Epic), not your thing (Fail) or hated it and are now contemplating never listening to music again because of me (Epic Fail). I want to get your guys input so I can start tailoring the posts to the music you like. It's real simple so please give it a try...maybe even leave a comment or two. Best, MD