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Boom Shaka-Laka Boom

Hey folks sorry been away for a bit... Been busy preparing for Art Basel and some new parties coming up. Pretty excited to be spinning at some new venues with some new faces. Also my car's been out of commission for a few days. I hate relying on friends for rides. Not that my friends aren't the best. They hook me up all the time, but I hate to depend on anyone, know what I mean?

Anyways the end of the year is fast approaching and soon Chris and I will be putting together our Best Of's for 2007. As music geeks there's nothing we love more than to put together our lists of top 10 albums, singles, remixes, etc... Except as the years keep coming it seems like record companies are having harder times selling albums. You notice how many bands get super hyped up for their first album and then disappear after their second or third album into oblivion and some other new shit comes along. I mean it's great for me (and this blog) because I love new music, but the days when bands build followings over the years is disappearing I think. We're becoming a disposable society. We live in such a fast paced world I think people and society's attention spans are dwindling. I think singles will start to take over, the hits of the moment. I wonder if the whole album system will eventually fade out and people will just start releasing a song/mp3 at a time as they're being completed, kinda like what Beck did with Timebomb or how Justice releases one single at a time. Even though it kinda sucks for album fans like me, it could force artists to make each song as good as possible. There really is so much information bombarding us all the time it's hard to keep people focused nowadays.

I went by Starbucks the other day and I noticed now their selling these cards with art and a code and you go home and the album instantly downloads into your computer onto your itunes. I guess the record labels are really starting to freak out and doing some new innovative shit. I'm sure eventually CD's and stuff with all the packaging will start to dwindle as we look for more and more ways to be earth friendly as well. I can visualize a store with just those cards and art on them. You gotta keep the art no? Thats what makes records so nice I think. You have this big art on the covers and its part of the whole music experience. Now with singles and mp3's it's losing a little of that. Oh well. We shall see what develops.

Chris ran into this little snippet on Music Slut's Blog of Kaiser Chiefs drummer kinda saying something similar to what i've been saying. How he thinks albums are boring at the moment. Check out the link here http://musicslut.blogspot.com/2007/11/kaiser-chiefs-albums-are-boring.html

I haven't come across much great stuff lately. The whole hard electro thing were all the tracks sound the same and super twitchy is boring to me. It's hard to hear something done in a new and refreshing way. But don't worry I've managed to scrounge up a few killer tracks for you. Some of the best dance jams to get you to shake it on the dancefloor, in your room or your car.

The first track here is by Robots in Disguise and it's called 'The Sex has Made me Stupid'. Killer track and it kinda reminds me of what I've been talking about of the dumbing down of society. Kinda like the movie Idiocracy by Mike Judge. Not the best movie, but some of the ideas on there kinda make you think.

Here's also real cool modern discoey track by Chaz Jankel. He manages to merge disco with a modern twist.

The Scanners and new Cobra Snakes are both excellent tracks and this new M.I.T.C.H. track features Uffie. Not too much variation from her other stuff but if you like what she does this should be right up your alley.

Enjoy and have a great week-end!




Seems like The Teenagers finally did a video for Starlet Johansson. Would have been nicer if they actually were able to get Scarlett to be in the video, but I'm sure that would have cost a ton of money. What they did instead is got a girl to lie down in underwear and pose like Scarlett did in the beginning credits of Lost in Translation and put images of them on her back. Pretty cool. Probably my favorite track of theirs so far.







3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't get it, where's 'Light Years' by Super Mal?! It clearly deserves to be posted on this blog cause it's teh_best and so are you.

Ray Milian said...

hadn't heard them i'll check them out and possibly post! thanks for the heads up and compliment!

Victor Castro said...

yI'm a sucker for Best of lists, especially if it has to do with music.

I’m not sure the record companies are making enough effort (creative effort that is) to sell their product or on promoting their bands. Also, bands these days are releasing albums just to make a buck. Where is the effort to make a good album from beginning to end? SHAME ON US if we are going to settle for singles. We are telling the bands that we will not remain loyal because we will only tolerate one song because next week I have another band coming out with “the next big thing”. Yes, there seems to be this attention span lately equivalent to a 4 year old when it comes to music, fashion and art. This is how I see it (I’m no Bob Lefsetz) but here goes…

-The more the hype, the more difficult it will be to keep a fan base.
-If you make it “BIG” on your first album, I feel sorry for you and your other efforts on your next album, oh no, wait… single (good luck). Usually the third album is where you can have a chance to keep a fan base.
-If you cater (this happens unknowingly) to a short-attention-span-market, you are a short lived band.

The issue is that (among others), as Nick Hodsgon was saying, albums are somewhat boring, but as I tend not to generalize, I’m sure they are great albums out there this year (which we’ll probably see on your Best of). With the exception of Keiser Chief’s song Ruby, their last album was not bad. The release of so many singles and mp3’s is shattering the gratification of buying and listening to a whole album, which in point effects the creation of a loyal fan base.

Another interesting point you bring: “disposable society”. With so much information overload and trying to keep up with what is new and “interesting” It becomes second nature to label anything these days as passé. So therefore everyone is running to be the first to know, discover and inform which in turns makes [us] a throwaway generation. Instead of embracing the new and the informer we tend to try to push them aside for “the best next thing”.

Also, bands have to respect themselves if they want to be respected by the market that will remain fans. Take Band of Horses and them providing “The Funeral” for Wal-Mart. At first they were all for it http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/10/band_of_horses_11.html and now they change their mind http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/11/band_of_horses_15.html. Who am I, but I commend them for pulling out, and yes as they mention, bands have to make a buck because nowadays you can’t depend much on album sales. I say, as long as the music and album is good, go ahead, lend your music, get paid, BUT as anyone has to work extremely hard on those other albums if you blow up with your first album, you better come out strong if you are jingling. Spoon has done it, Hot Chip, New Order, Wilco, Goldfrapp and even Band of Horses (Ford). Just please, not Wal-Mart. Can we please be over the whole “selling-out thing”, just bring it and bring it as a whole album and bring it good!

Oh, no matter what format artists release their album on I will always want the cover, credits and art, as long as I can afford it. Don’t want a music card from Starbucks!

Great MP3’s! Digging Cobradukes and Scanners and Robots in Disguise!

Check out www.RCRDLBL.com, “is a network of ad-supported online record labels and blogs offering completely free music streams and downloads from emerging and established artists from labels such as Downtown, Warp, Dim Mak, Kompat, Modular, Ghostly International and others." Also go to www.plugawards.com for their nominees of best of’s.

Looking forward to your lists and maybe seeing some of your nominees before hand!