Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat . The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat . [...]
Nguzunguzu are not really transsexuals (at least not to my knowledge), but the LA bass wobbling duo have taken on music direction duties for Wu Tsang 's documentary film, Damelo Todo: Give Me Everything . Damelo Todo tells the story of the subculture of Mexican and Central American transgendered women who've immigrated to Los Angeles and found refuge, community and a haven for self-expression within the walls of the Silver Platter bar. The storyline is compelling enough alone to perk my interest, but what really takes you inside the [...]
Lying somewhere in a triangulation between Bob Dylan, The Tallest Man On Earth and Jarvis Cocker lie I Am Kloot . The trio has been creating lush anglo-indie for almost a decade now and there newest album Sky At Night , released today, is probably their best to date. Bringing to mind the above mentioned artists and also Spirtualized and The Beatles (especially on the building "Radiation") throughout the 10 song suite, I Am Kloot alternate between pastoral gestures and stadium sing-alongs with ease. My personal favorite is "The Moon Is A Blind Eye", [...]
Everything that Mikey S. records under the working name Blackbird Blackbird is textbook definition dreamy. If I had to make up his backstory it would be this: Guy falls in love traveling cross-country on a bus. Over the course of his trek everything familiar begins looks brand new. He's never seen stars out a window gleam quite this bright, nor the sun rise with as many colors each morning. But it wasn't a person that he fell in love with; Mikey touched something more powerful than a closed hand, he kissed freedom and fell in love [...]
Earlier this week LexiconDon released an infectious track off their upcoming album Pink + Blue, set to be released on August 24 by dubFrequency / Binary . The song has that distinct Binary feel; a mix of party and heartbreak. "December Sunset" plays out like a beautiful ballad full of twinkling synths, driving bass and heartfelt vocals. It's a great summer track (December in California is like June in your town) with a sound that fits a bike ride along the coast, or a nighttime pool party. If you haven't already checked [...]
Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat . The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat . [...]
I disagree with the seemingly only reviewer who's weighed in Queensland, Australia trio Dead Beat Band 's self-titled EP, claiming, "there's nothing spectacular about this release". The five tracks span garage, classic rock and surf genres combining weighty guitar and dusty vocals. The sounds are nostalgic of a music era I didn't grow up during, but grew up listening to, and it's a dynamic that imbues their hooks and grit with extra substance. I'd group Dead Beat Band alongside Tame Impala and Thee Attacks ; another young band capable of reconstructing definitive sounds years [...]
Our pals at the Young Robots label dropped us an exclusive remix of one of my personal favorite hip-hop tracks of the last while, Jay-Z 's "Empire State Of Mind". The remix comes by way of Pumpkin Patch , and blends choppy, funky electro with a myriad of electronic styles from disco to synthpop. The 2:40 mark sounds like the Nintendo game Rad Racer , and with so much going on in this track, there's always something new to catch with each listen. Also check out Pumpkin Patch's Doobie Brothers edit. [...]
I've only waited about a decade to see Goldfrapp live, ever since taking a drive with my college roommate and hearing his copy of Felt Mountain . The songs were plaintive and dark, noir-ish but tongue-in-cheek. I wondered what they might be like live, and looked forward to hopefully to catching a show soon. Of course that never happened, Goldfrapp shunned America and went on to make four more exquisite albums and change their sound often. Transylvania caberet morphed into acidic, paranoid electro, which then birthed the radiant, acoustic comedown album, Seventh Tree , [...]
Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat . The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat . [...]
My criticism of the Scissor Sisters has been that they sounded too much like groups and acts that came before them. Sometimes Elton John, sometimes Bee Gees, sometimes Queen, sometimes amalgamations of other 70's rock acts, they formed this gooey, " I guess I like them because they sound like bands I actually like " meta-emotional connection by transference that frankly, I found tantamount to borderline plagiarism, or at the least laziness. Which is why I find Any Which Way off their new album, Night Work , so fascinating. It answers [...]
I sat down two weekends ago at Gravity Studios to chat about Lollapalooza plans, the Chicago music community and the day-to-day of maintaining a site like Cream Team for the CVU podcast. My discussion partners for the evening were nightlife photographer Tyler Curtis and host Jaime Black . We all had a lot to say and probably could have kept talking for hours, but that would have made for quite the tiresome episode. If you have a half hour to spare, have a listen. Download [...]
Wilco is not a band I am a fan of. Which, to live in Chicago and admit aloud often feels like wearing a scarlet letter. There is nothing offensive about Wilco, but a feeling of connection is often the deciding factor of my taste and while I recognize Jeff Tweedy & Co. as talented musicians, I'd be lying if I said I ever felt particularly drawn into their world. Then out of leftfield Kompakt duo Walls takes on Wilco's "Poor Places", turning Americana into atmospheric bliss. The hints of the original are scant, [...]
I keep swearing I'll retire this ridiculous post series , and yet I just cannot. Full disclosure, the traffic and linkbacks to our posts on WU LYF have been staggering. While I'm thankful for that in itself, it indicates the larger truth that I'm not the only one this group of Manchester hooligans have been stringing along for the ride. I can't help but feel that if WU LYF's music was studio polished and distributed by any semblance of proper means, it would lose much of its appeal. The truth is, as music bloggers, we are handfed [...]
While we were teenagers falling in love with My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub stateside, Swedes weren't left out of dream pop and power pop's paths, finding many of the same characteristics in the music of Popsicle , a four-piece act led by Andreas Mattsson who released several notable albums across the early '90s (and later reunited for a brief, though not as successful stint). Mattsson's voice exudes confidence and the collected tracks on 1992's Lacquer are a snapshot of classic '90s-era indie pop sounds, recognizable and nostalgic no matter what country you call home. [...]
I imagine many people would be surprised to know that I list Bob Dylan amongst my top five favorite musicians of all time. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way had I discovered his music on CDs, or the internet, but it's sort of impossible not to fully escape into everything that was his world when you're digging through your parents vinyl collection, playing the records one at a time, knowing none of the names, until you find a sound that overtakes you. For as much as the trademark sound of Dylan's voice was an allure, it was more that he [...]
I'm still digesting the new Devo album, Something For Everybody , but this track, the faux-honky tonk electro-rock of Please Baby Please , immediately struck me. It instantly harks back to their classic jagged pop days and yet at the same time sounds relatively fresh, hell even the guitar solo (something quite rare in Devo studio recordings) sounds more ironic than authentic. It's slightly goofy, it makes me want to dance, and like any perfect Devo track, the line between sincerity and sarcasm is as razor thin as ever. Welcome back. Devo [...]
From the shadow of Robert Smith's influence emerge Brooklyn's MINKS with their debut 7", Funeral Song , on Captured Tracks . The title track is a murky wet abyss of grating guitar awash in stylized New Romantic words that slice through the darkness, tiny daggers of light illuminating everything below the surface. I could loop this song forever, just like The Cure, MINKS are extremely capable at evoking the difficult to express emotion of happy/sad. I'm unsure if the video above is official, but it doesn't matter, it's perfect. [...]
I will get married at a midnight beach wedding with no guests and this song playing.
Kelis has definitely dived head-first into this mirror-ball tinged reinvention hasn't she? With her own album, the acid-synth infused Flesh Tones , finally seeing the official light of day just a couple of weeks ago and the deluge of impending remixes to follow you would think she had enough on her plate. But Kelis returns, albeit as a "featured vocalist", for Benny Benassi 's new single, Spaceship , the debut track off his forthcoming album, due out this fall. But this post isn't really about Kelis, or Benny for that matter, it's about Kris Menace [...]
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