The week-end is upon us and I haven't posted any tracks this week, so wanted to squeeze in a few before the week-end hits!
P.S. I'm gonna be heading to Chicago for Lollapalooza (MGMT here I come!) in a couple of weeks if anyone from the windy city can hook a brother up with some gigs, let me know. Have one already and working on another, but could always use more help. Also if you have any places you think I should check out whilst there send them my way::offtheradarfridays@gmail.com. Oooo also affordable Hotels/Apartments for rent near Grant Park/Downtown area. Nearly impossible to find online. Thanks!
First off here's a SUPER HYPER remix ddpesh from Brooklyn sent us of Diplo'sWassup Wassup. This track kinda gives me anxiety (it's so fast), but I'm sure it'll obliterate the dancefloor if dropped at the right moment. Try it on for size...
I love Ladyhawke and I love French vocals. Here Ladyhawke hooks us up with her big hit Paris is Burning sung in French! Sweet! Love the chorus... Pop genious!
Speaking of pop genious here's a new track from Van She called Strangers. Love these guys, have a feeling they are gonna be huge. Especially if they keep cranking out hits like this. Love the bass line on this! They also do great remixes as Van She Tech which you should check out as well.
That's it for now... Hope you have a great week-end! Just found out one of my favorite all time bands James has reformed and put out a new album called Hey Ma! Can't wait for that! Tim Booth's completely bald now! So weird to see. He always had all that great curly hair. Getting old is a mother fucker! Still love him though...
Here's a classic James track that takes me back to my college days... Born of Frustration people, Born of Frustration.
Ha, not that crappy band.... I mean more of the dark tracks variety. Got a little time till I gotta get ready for work so thought I'd share some darker tracks I've been digging lately. You know I love the dark pop stuff. All stems from my Goth upbringings, can't shake it loose.
Here's a Fake Blood Remix of Stuck on Repeat byLittle Boots. Didn't realize what a cutie she was. Like her better as a brunnete. Love when the break comes in around 3:45 and the vocoder kick in. Check out her new track Meddle as well! Good stuff!
Heres a new band I found about called The Phonograph. Don't know that much about them but I've been loving this track The Abscence. Kinda reminds me of a band like The Editors or The Whip. Check it out...
Thats it for now... Gotta run! Let me know if you guys hear of any cool new videos for me to post. Wanted to post one but couldn't think of anything right now.
Sorry haven't posted for a bit, but I was pretty busy last week getting new music for my new Saturday Residency at Back Door Bamby/Vagabond. Had to find a lot of classic house stuff I didn't have. Still gotta go to Chris's sometime this week to get some more jams from him. Have to say I had a blast! It's fun playing a new genre that your not used to, keeps you on your toes.
Last Thursday Prince Language and Shaka 23 came down from NYC and TORE up our APT Party @ Love/Hate! We had an amazing turnout and there were amazing vibes all night long! It's so much fun when your at a party were you can tell everyone's there just for the music and to have a good time, not to be 'seen' or or any of that BS. Here's some of the pics from that night including our own Chris Mora and Myself in the last two...
Anyways I'm like one of the only people in the world who loves Mondays, cause it's my day off! I spent my day off doing the blog rounds and I found some great tracks for you! Here they are for your enjoyment!
First off here's a track by the Islands from Montreal/Quebec Canada. Seems they were formerly the Unicorns whohad some pretty good stuff as well. We brought them down to Miami at some point. Loving this new track from them called Creeper. Great catchy pop track! Think you guys are gonna dig it. Their sophmore album is called Arm's Way and is out in stores now.
If dark Italo Disco is your thing then your gonna love Division Kent! This new track I got from them is hot! It's called L'Heure Bleue and it's pretty amazing! Smooth silky electronic rhythms coupled with sexy french female vocals. What more could you possibly want? Doesn't hurt that the singer is absolutely gorgeous! The original version is great, but I think this Keenhouse Remix is even better. Gives it that added dancefloor punch. See what you think...
Next here are a couple great instrumental dance jams that use great samples and killer beats to great effect! The first one is from Casa Del Mirto from Italy called Say Goodbay and the other is from someone who they've worked with and remixed some of their stuff Broke One called EVRBD! Both are killer tracks sure to get the crowds going. They match good back to back too. Got them that way on my Ipod playlist.
Finally I leave you with a killer RemixMidnight Juggernauts did of Sebastian Tellier'sDivine track. Such a good remix, better than the original! I can hear this track over and over and not get bored. Beautiful!
Time for some New Dance Jams! Fresh of the Press for your downloading/mixing pleasure... Don't you just love us! Download them and spread them like _____! (It's always more artsy if you use your own imagination.)
First off here's Canadian artist Vivek Shraya. Seems he's not signed yet, despite getting some pretty good blog love already. I like the original for 'If We're Not Talking' but this Rodion Remix being released June the 30th is even better, especially if you're thinking you'd like to try this on the dancefloor! Check out both their myspace's for alot more good stuff.
Next here's a track by French Man Joachim Garraud called 'The Sound of Disco'. Here it's remixed by Dani Deahl & Mike Gillenwater to great effect! It's a great track especially for electroclash lovers. Is that a bad word now? Don't worry you could probably call it electro house or a million other names so that your friends don't think you're a loser.
Here's Kid Filthy's Remix ofFoals track 'Electric Bloom'. The Foals are more of a minimal rock band from the UK, but this remix is made for the dancefloor. Second take I assume. Dark and Dancey, like I like'em. Look into the Foals regular material as well. Good stuff!
What do you get when you mix Santogold, Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) and Pharell Williams? Easy! A Hit!!! Here's a track they did to celebrate the Converse 100 Year Annv! Chris sent me this track, but didn't wanna post it cause he thought it had been blogged to death. I figure some of you just find new shit from us. No? Fuck it, I'll post it anyways...
I Love Feist! Not only does she do amazing pop music, but her tracks are also perfectly suited for the Remix. Like this Escort Remix of 'I Feel It All' with horns, marching drums & clapping. Not a dance jam in the vein of these other tracks, but just as good.
So my CPU fan busted last week and my computer was going nuts, shutting down, beeping. Put me out of commission for a week. Thank god for my GF's Mac. Only thing is I had none of my music on there so I couldn't post anything. My brother finally saved the day by bringing me a much smaller and prettier, albeit noisier HP Compaq that they weren't using at his job. Apparently they have like 40 lying around that they were gonna donate. He managed to put all my old stuff on the new one too! Plus some added memory that was on this one. Which is good, I was starting to run out. Thanks to Chris for holding the fort while I was out...
Since I had to re-start I-Tunes I kinda lost all my old playlists so I'm starting from scratch again! Although sometimes it's kinda refreshing to get rid of all the crappy music that accumulates and you never listen to and just have the bare neccesities. Luckily this time of the year there is also so much new music being put out for the summer it's not too difficult to get cool new stuff. Just in a couple of days I did my rounds on the blogs and managed to put together two new playlists worth of good stuff.
Here's some of them....
First here is something I never thought I'd post, a song featuring Kanye West! I know, I know, but it's a remix and you can't hardly even hear him the way they remixed it. It's called American Boy by Estelle feat Kanye West and remixed by Kill the Noize. It's a banging house track! I played it all this week-end at Vagabond, Circa and Purdy and it worked wonderfully at all of them. It's got such a feel good vibe everyone dug it right away. There's also a good Lazr Tag Remix out that is almost as good. You can find it on Hype.
Next here's something you probably wouldn't expect me to post either, especially Chris... Hip Hop! It's a track by a group called Playdoe called It's the Beat and it's another great party track. Played it out this week with great results as well.
Here's a new track by Ratatat called Mirando. Noticing alot of people using spanish names for tracks nowadays. It's a pretty sweet track. Seems like they're still resisting adding vocals and keeping their music intrumental. They are so good they can get away with it, but it still would be nice to have some guest vocalists for a few tracks, no?
How great is the new Cut Copy album! Have a feeling it will be topping many Best Of lists at the end of the year. Been playing the latest single Lights and Music like crazy. Can't get enough of it. People seem to dig it too, get alot of requests for them. Here is a New Remix I got for Lights and Music by Moulinex that is pretty sweet! *Also just in as I was finishing this post Chris sent me a bad ass remix of Hearts on Fire by Holy Ghost! So fresh it's not even on Hype Machine yet! Here is that one too. A double whammy! Big money, big money...
Finally I leave you with Nuuro from Venezuela who now resides in NY. Got this off of my favorite spanish language blog Le Touch. This track Diamante is an excellent pop track! Don't even have to understand what he's singing about to know it's good. Apparently you can download his whole EP off of his MySpace page as well. Get to it...
Just saw some of Chris's pictures from Japan and all I can say is wow! Pretty amazing place... Can't believe Chris actually came back. Here's a couple pics I'm stealing from him. Shhhh don't tell... Pretty amazing huh. He has over 1000! Lucky bastard! I told him to post some of the best ones on here so you guys can check them out as well. Let's keep our finger's crossed..
Anyways last week I did a Dance Mixtape so this week I'm doing an Indie Pop Mixtape for you guys. I don't get to play out too much Indie Pop anymore. It's all about the dance stuff nowadays, but I still love the jangly guitars and mellower stuff when I'm home and in the car.
Here's some cool tracks I've gotten recently, including new My Morning Jacket, Cinderpop, We Are Scientists, Electric President, Soundpool and more! Lots of cool stuff here, I'm sure there'll be something that'll tickle your fancy.
First saw this game in that movie Grandma's Boy (check the 1st youtube clip above) and it cracked me up, still does. Never played it, but it's so funny to watch people play it. Just saw a Youtube video of a kid playing it at home (check 2nd clip above). Awesome!! Not that I could play it right now, my back sucks! It gives out like once or twice a year for no reason and pretty much puts me out of commision for a few days. Just happened again! So painful any movement and I get a painful spike up my spine. Feel lucky if you've never had one.
Anyways since I'm home doing nothing but watching CNN (Go Obama!) and resting, thought it'd get on here to post some new dance tracks for you guys. I always notice the Dance Mixtapes usually get the most views. Spikes our hits everytime they come out. Either way our little blog here is pretty steady. Thanks for listening! It's great to know there are people who dig new music as much as we do. What's funny is that our blog is a pretty International affair. The top cities that look at our blog are Miami, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Berlin and Hialeah! Ha, love that last one..
Anyways here's some new dance tracks I've been digging...
The first one is from Sydney duo WOW. Seems their pretty new. Their Myspace says they were invented on November 2007. That would make them a whole 3 months old. This track of theirs 'When Your Dead' is pretty sweet, albeit with not too many lyrics. 'When you expire, you'll be on fire' Wonder who they could be talking about? We'll be keeping an eye on them.
The next one is from Philadelphia band Hail Social. They're a pretty cool Indie Rock band, but here they get some great dancefloor remix treatment by Designer Drugsfor their track 'Heaven'. I could totally picture this one being played on a dancefloor near you, the way Shout Out Louds had 'Tonight I Have to Leave It' turned from a rock track to dancefloor stomper by Kleerup. Gotta love that. Life for the rock fan and under the disco ball as well. The Slips from the UK put out a great dance track called 'This Time is Not Your Own'. Love jamming this on the treadmill (when my backs not screwed that is!). Won't be too shabby on the dancefloor either!
Poney Poney are from Paris France! Nice place to live, no? I need to go visit one day. They've got some great music and have some famous friends like Justice who has helped produce some of their music. Here their track Junior gets remixed by Chateau Marmont and he did a great job. Really beefs up the original for dancefloor annihilation. Check out more on their Myspace page as well as a remix of The Teenagers 'Love No'
Like 90's house? Then this track 'Love' by Frenchman Thomas Bangalter(or is it Louis La Roche, check out comments) will have you feeling nostalgic and wishing there was more of this being put out today! I was never a big house fan back in the day (alternative rock kid here), but I can totally appreciate and dig something like this nowadays. A Classic!
We've been getting tons of submissions to the Off the Radar Mail Bag/email from bands/artists who wanna have their music exposed to our Blog and readers. To be honest most of them are not very good, but every once in awhile we get some stuff that's pretty darn good and deserves mentioning on here. Here's some of the better stuff we've gotten recently.
The first track is from Local Miami Favorites Afrobeta! I've known Cristy for awhile (great girl) and you've probably seen her in some commercials without even knowing it. Saw her in a car commercial during the Super Bowl! Recently she's teamed up with one of the members of another established Miami band Suenalo 'Smurphio' (aka Tony) and Omar Tavarez on Drums to bring some great dance music to the Miami landscape. They're a staple at many local music venues. The other night while I was on a break at Circa Saturdays I managed to sneak downstairs to see what was going on there when I heard Jay playing a great track. I immediately went up to him to see what he was playing. To my surprise it was a track by Afrobeta called 'That Thing'. Anyways a couple days later he emailed it to me and I've been burning it out ever since. I think Cristy will also be releasing a cover of Freestyle artist Stacey Q's 80's Hit 'Two of Hearts' pretty soon, so keep an eye out for that one as well. She's been covering it Live and she rocks it! Check out their myspace page for more.
The next band is a collective from Scotland called Broken Records. They're one of these big bands with tons of members kinda like Arcade Fire and they kind of remind me of them a bit. Their songs are slower tempo, than most of the stuff on here, but definitely worth a listen. I recommend it for nighttime listens especially. Love the strings they got going on everywhere. Check out this great track they sent me called 'Slow Parade'. My fav. Go their myspace page/link above for more.
Finally got an email from NY duo Streetlab. These guys seem busy as hell. They started out doing remixes of classic rock songs in a dance format that appeals to dance music fans. They have tons of remixes available to download for Free on their site www.streetlab.net. From artists like INXS to Rolling Stones and Bob Marley to newer electronic acts like Hot Chip, Thieves Like Us, etc. They also do original music as well and they're some of my favorites. Check out NY Sound and She is Our Music, both great original tracks from them.
I know this is a music blog, but I wanted to talk about some Comics/Movies today. Hope you don't mind... If you just want the music scroll down to the bottom. Got some goodies stashed away for you.
I always loved comics growing up, especially Marvel Comics (X-Men, Spiderman, The Hulk, etc.). I always liked their drawings and stories better than DC's (Batman, Superman). Who would have thought all those Superhero comic book charecters would later become such big Hollywood Movies. Becoming some of the biggest Blockbusters ever! I guess the kids grew up and still remembered and loved them, plus computers have made it a whole lot easier to make nowadays.
There have been tons of Superhero movies made and many more are still in the works (Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman). Every year it seems their trying to pump out a new one or two. Sometimes they work (Original Superman 1 & 2, Spiderman 1 & 2, X-Men 1 & 2, Batman/Batman Begins) and sometimes they don't (Daredevil, Cat Woman) It's really hit or miss I think.
This year we got two scheduled for the Summer. The Incredible Hulk, a reworking like Batman Begins (w/Edward Norton) and Iron Man (w/Robert Downey Jr.)
I think Edward Norton will be perfect for the Hulk. He's a great actor and I hope they get it right this time. First one wasn't as big of a hit as they thought it would be and it left a little to be desired. Although I did like some aspects of the movie like the multiple screen shots which gave the comic book feel, but the movie was just a bit too dark, slow and long I thought. Wondering what type of Hulk we'll get this time? I always liked the television series Hulk played by Lou Ferrigno. Didn't like the CGI one in the movie too much. Looked too fake to me. Even though he could do more of the stuff The Hulk did in the Comics, like jumping so high it'd seem like he was flying, etc. We'll see, but I'm glad they got Edward Norton. I don't think he'll disappoint.
Don't know about Iron Man. The studios are excited about it, but I wasn't that much of a fan as a kid. Robert Downey's a good actor though, so if the story's good might work also. We shall see...
Marvels waiting to see how these 2 movies go this year to then move on to an 'Avengers' Movie. That's another popular Comic book series were a bunch of the Marvel Superheros would team up to save the Universe or fight each other (usually due to mis-understandings, of course) (Hulk Vs Thor, Avengers Vs Silver Surfer, etc) which were always fun and sold the most comics. I'm sure their hoping it will translate well to the big screen as well. If it's done right it could be huge! Kinda like X-Men but on an even bigger scale. Hope the story's good. Good story equals good movie first and foremost I think. Also which charecters will they focus on? Probably Captain America I imagine, but I hope they give screen time to the others as well.
X-Men Part 1 & 2 which in my opinion are some of the best Superhero movies ever made are probably the catalysts that proved teaming up superheroes could work and make tons of money. X-Men 3 without Bryan Singer who left to direct Superman Returns hurt the franchise I think. Part 3 wasn't as good as the first 2 Parts. In hindsight I didn't like Superman Returns too much either. Kinda bland and just seemed like a rehashing of the Original Superman. He should have stuck with X-Men 3 and completed the Trilogy.
Also in the works is DC Comics 'Justice League of America'. Which should be fun as well. I always loved the 80's Cartoons as a kid and the new ones are pretty good too. It'll be fun to see Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, etc working on the big screen trying to save the world.
We'll see which ones pan out.. but one thing's for sure. Comics helped stir the imagination of millions of kids from all over the world and that ain't too bad of a thing.
Now time for some MUSICA!!
Went through my CD's from last week and since I did mostly an Electro-Pop mixtape last week, I thought I'd leave you with some new Indie Rock this week. I like to keep a good balance of electronic and rock stuff. It's good for the soul.
The first band here isThe Depreciation Guild a duo from Brooklyn N.Y. and if your a fan of fuzzy electric guitars like the masters My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain or Radio Dept. this should be right up your alley. Distorted guitars and lovely melodies = The Depreciation Guild. Check out Butterfly Kisses.
The next track is a new one from Glasgow's Sons and Daughters. I was a big fan of their first album The Repulsion Box and this new track Gilt Complex is pretty rocking as well. Complete with female vocals & trademark attitude and snarl. If you liked that first album you'll like this too. Their new album's called 'The Gift' and was just released Jan 28th in UK. Not sure when it will be out domestically.
British Sea Power has a new album out called Do You like Rock Music? Been digging the single We're All Waving Flags and that deep voice of his.
Switches is a UK rock band on tour with The Bravery and apparently doing pretty good on the other side of the Atlantic. The kids seem to be loving them. Their debut album comes out March the 18th in the US. Heres a track called Every Second Counts. Hmm, wonder if they got that title from the New Order track with the same name. Either way its pretty good stuff. Check out more tracks including Drama Queen on their MySpace page.
Finally here's a new track from Alex Gopher called Brain Leech. I think he's French. It's a pretty straightforward pop-rock song, but I like it.
This year more than previous years I have been listening to individual songs more than whole albums. Don't get me wrong there have been some great albums released this year that I like and listen to (Interpol, Midnight Juggernauts, Arctic Monkeys, Blonde Redhead, The National, The Shins, etc...) Check out some of Chris' great choices too, but due to my process of finding new music nowadays (other music Blogs like Off the Radar), once or twice a month I compile all the best new tracks I find and put them into mix CD's which I then use to play out at clubs/parties. Survival of the fittest then ensues. As time goes by there always seem to be some tracks that you notice people dance more, request more and generally outlast the others. Those usually tend to be my favorites. If you can hear a track over and over and not get bored of it the artists are doing something right. Believe me I get bored pretty fast of the crappy stuff, so you better have a catchy chorus and some melodies! I am after all a pop music fan...
Here are some of my favorite tracks of 2007! Like Chris said I'm sure I missed some good ones but these are a pretty solid bunch.
Probably one of my favorite tracks and favorite new bands of 2007! 'Road to Recovery' was the first track I ever heard from this Australian Electronic Pop/Rock trio and it's still my favorite, although 'Into the Galaxy' is a strong second. When that chorus kicks in it's heavenly... Great video for this too. Don't think their album 'Dystopia' is available as a domestic release in the U.S. yet. Why not?!? The Import is worth getting.
Everytime I hear'Pogo' it makes me wanna dance! Such a smart dance song that doesn't suffer from repeated listenings. Mike Deuce did a great b-more remix of this too that I play out alot as well.Riot in Belgium - La Musique (YSI)
One of the biggest dance hits of the year! Started in the Summer and still going strong. This song always gets people jumping on the dancefloor. Just don't fade it out until that vocal kicks in after the break and people go nuts! Can't wait to see what they can do with a full length album in 08' They put out some solid dance remixes in 07' that are also worth getting.
Wow! What an amazing preview single for their upcoming album. It's pretty irrisistable and reminds me a lot of their big hit 'Over and Over' which definitely stood the test of time. I think this one will too. A dancefloor jem. People always come up to me to ask who this is whenever I play it out. Can't wait for the full length.
Love this Track! It melds electronics but with warmth that is hard to find in electronic music. I don't play it out so much cause the BPMs are lower, but I definitely played this one out alot at home around the middle of the year, around the same time I found out about Midnight Juggernauts. Still sounds amazing! Hustler was another track of theirs that was pretty huge in 07' and much easier to mix with.
A late addition to 07' just barely made it in Dec, but it's classic Zoot Woman. 3 mins long and no filler! Catchy, dancey, pop that Zoot Woman do so well. They released this as a stand alone single. Can't wait for a full length from them in 08', they never let me down.
Chromeo came on strong in 07'! They must have had at least 3 solid singles including this one, Bonafied Lovin' and Tenderoni which was the first single and my least favorite. Fancy Footwork is also the title song to their album and probably my favorite of the bunch. It's so irrisistably catchy and danceable with those female vocals chanting ' Two Step, Two Step..' It just makes you bust out those moves on the dancefloor as the lyrics implore you to, so you can get the girl, of course! Woo!
One of the mellower and more commercial artists to make it into my top singles, but it's just a great song! Love the video for this too. Very memorable with her going backwards on that people mover thingie like they have at Disney.
One of the darker/gothier bands to make it. I just love these guys. Burned out this song around the middle of the year. They do stuff reminiscent to early Fischerspooner or The Knife were they mix performance art and dark electronic pop music. Some amazing pics on their MySpace page. Hopefully I'll get to see a live show one day. Gotta be a fun show!
I think this was released in late 06', but I found out about it played it out like crazy in 07'. Such a great pop song with those amazing lyrics and great back and forth male/female vocals like Postal Service did in 'Nothing Better' or Human League's Classic 'Don't You Want Me'. It's like a couple going back and forth trying to prove their point. Great track and totally danceable... Love those lyrics 'What do you mean'
Great party song that I still play out even after months. Easy to mix this into bands like Daft Punk due to the danceability factor. The lyrics just implore you to get into it and dance your ass off. Noble cause no? I think their unsigned too. Wonder when a label will snatch these guys up. Not too long I'm sure...
One of my favorite tracks of the last part of the year! Probably due to the fact that they obsess over Scarlett Johansson as much as I do. It's a classic pop track, filled with hooks and melodies. I never get tired of that. They also did some great remixes for other artists in 07' I'm sure these kids have a bright future ahead of them.
This quirky electro-pop artist made a pretty good splash in 07' At first I didn't know if I could play this out cause of it's quirky factor, but then I started hearing other DJ's playing it out and people digging it so that was the end of that thought. 'The Girls' was another great single of his this year proclaiming his love for women of all shapes, sizes and colors. It already spawned a reverse cover called 'The Boys' by Dragonette with all the lyrics reversed to the oppsosite sex. Brilliant!
More of a traditional rock track than the rest of the stuff here, but irrisistable and dancey as well! I played this one out more in my own time. The lyrics are amazing. It's like he's telling you a story and you wanna hear what he has to say. I love when he says in a nonchalant way 'You don't have to be such an asshole all the time' We can all relate to people like that.
Saw these guys perform here in Miami last year and they had me dancing the whole time. They got the knack for catchy, dancey electro pop tracks reminiscent of bands like Cut Copy. Their super young too, I'm sure they have a great career ahead of them with tracks like this.
Solid dance track with great lyrics, melody and hooks. They're on DFA Records too. It's more subdued and classic sounding than some of the stuff here and will probably sound like a classic years from now. It also reminds me a bit of Freestyle music as well, don't know why. Love that lyric 'It's like Scream inside a Scream'
This track is Classic Chemical Brothers! Complete with Big Beat, and quirky sounds. If you don't like this track your probably not a Chemical Brothers fan.
This song was recommended to me one night by someone at Circa Saturdays. They kept raving about how amazing it was and for me to play it at the club. So I remembered it and got it the next day. Don't know if it's the right track for a club at least not prime time, but for the home and car it's amazing! I can hear her beautiful voice over and over and never get bored. Great late night track!
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.
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.
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.
Morrissey is coming to Miami next week for his supposed Final Tour, so I thought I'd do a little Mixtape/Tribute to Morrissey in honor of the event.
I pretty much grew up listening to Morrissey and The Smiths along with a few others like Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, NIN etc... Back when I was in college (too many years ago!) The Smiths and Morrissey were my absolute favorites. I remember smoking with friends and making lists about which albums we would take with us if you could only have a few albums with us on a desserted island. Ha, we were high... One of the ones that would always make my list was The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. It still holds up really well I think. It's an amazing record and is their best regular full length release. Some would argue Meat is Murder which had some amazing guitar work by Johnny Marr but Queen is kinda were it all came together commercially and artistically. The guitar work on Bigmouth Strikes Again (Wow!) and There is a Light that Never Goes Out is probably one of the best pop songs ever written about teenage angst. Queens and Louder than Bombs which was a compilation released later on are probably the two most essential Smiths releases. You can get a pretty good idea of what they did with those two releases. But of course us die hard Smiths fans have to have them all!
Then Morrissey went on to have a great Solo Career of his own... Viva Hate was released only one year after he left The Smiths in late 87' early 88' I think and was probably the closest sounding Smiths record. Viva Hate could easily fit into The Smiths catalog. Probably cause he wrote it so close to his departure and he used some of the same musicians from his Smiths days. Then he released Bona Drag which is a compilation of hard to find solo rarities, b-sides etc. This was another fan favorite and the last before he started to change his style a bit and started working with long time collaborators Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte.
Boz and Alain would later go on to shape Morrissey's sound and have worked with him ever since. (Although I did notice Alain missing in that last Morrissey show a few months ago?) Anyways while with Boz and Alain they went on to create my two favorite Morrissey solo records of all time 'Your Arsenal' & 'Vauxhaul & I' in the early 90's. Those two records still hold up really well I think. Vauxhaul & I in particular did it for me. He just seemed to mature when that album came out and put out this brilliant mellancholly grown up record. It's still one of my favorites, especially for late nights. Not one filler in the bunch.
Anyways here is a compilation I put together of some of my favorite Morrissey solo tracks. He has so many it was hard to choose. Most of these aren't the singles or the big hits that end up on Best Of compilations but their amazing and give you a good idea as to the scope of his work.
Hope you enjoy them....
P.S. If your in South Florida we're having a Smiths/Morrissey Tribute this Sunday, Nov the 4th @ Chocolate Sundays/Purdy (BackRoom) Come out! Should be a blast!!
MP3: Wassup Wassup (ddpesh remix) - Diplo (feat Rye Rye) (YSI)
MP3: Paris s'enflamme - Ladyhawke (YSI) 
MP3: Strangers - Van She (YSI)
Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the 80's
Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
