Broken

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.

MP3: Estelle feat Kanye West - American Boy (Kill the Noize Remix) (YSI)

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.

MP3: Playdoe - It's the Beat (YSI)

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?

MP3: Ratatat - Mirando (YSI)

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...

MP3: Cut Copy - Lights and Music (Moulinex Remix) (YSI)
MP3: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Holy Ghost Remix) (YSI)

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...

MP3: Nuuro - Diamante (YSI)

Here's the New Video for Black Kids New Single Hurricane Jane...

QUE CALOR!!

Dude it's HOT in Miami. That temperature right there is in the SHADE (and don't even mention the humidity...). Now switch up what I mean when I say hot, and add an intro like this...

From the drummer sampled by Madlib and Yesterdays New Quintet... From the
band that backed DJ Shadow... Four years in the making, The Heliocentrics' debut
album is finally complete. Out There is here.

...And their latest single being amped up with lyrics from Percee P and MF Doom lets you know that Stone Throw's The Heliocentrics are hot.

Jazz has always mingled with hip hop (Guru's Jazzmatazz, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Tribe...) but The Heliocentrics manage to do it without samples (albeit they have some spoken word samples) and quirky English garden references (Doodle Bug? Really? Still one of my favorite albums from the 90's though...). Told you before, will you just listen this time?

MP3: Distant Star (feat. Percee P and MF Doooooooooom) (YSI)

And in the same spirit as Ray's Classic Album spotlight posts, you MUST have The Digable Planets' Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) in your music collection. It still sounds great and gets everyone in a good mood. Add dominoes and some beers and... ...you're set.

MP3: Nickel Bags (YSI)
MP3: Where I'm From (YSI)

Classic(s) Remixes

Wow, that last Radiohead post is still warm and now I see that Ratatat is also releasing a free hip hop EP. However, the details are a little different. Instead of a hip hop producer remixing the rock band, it is the rock band performing the remixes of hip hop classics.

They DJ'ed my friends party at the Darkroom in NY a couple of years ago and pretty much played hip hop the entire night (you could divide the hipsters into two groups, either they were breaking it down on the floor or taking their vodka cranberries and going outside for a smoke) . Anyways, after these remix volumes I guess you can say the guys like their hip hop. Glad to see their set list has increased since I saw them DJ. They were playing some extremely played out (by Miami standards?) cuts like It Takes Two and I swear I heard Ice Ice Baby.

Here are some of the artists these guys tackle on this volume :

14 new remixes featuring: Bun B, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, Slim Thug, Devin the Dude, Young Jeezy, T.I., Beanie Sigel, Pimp C, Ludacris, Young Buck, Saigon, Juvenile, Z-ro, Memphis Bleek, Kanye West +exclusive tracks from Despot and Beans...

-- via Ratatat's site

Get the entire EP here! Warning (for Ray.. hahaha) it's hip hop. It's not an rock song with some verses on top of it.

ZIP: Ratatat Classics Volume 2

And a few samply samples:

MP3: Jay-Z and Biggie Smalls - Allure (Ratatat Remix) (YSI)
MP3: Z-Ro, Devin The Dude & Juvenile - The Mule (YSI)

Music for Rainy Days

After dealing with these crazy rains in Miami the past couple of days (and today does not look even better), this album cannot be any more apropos. Seriously, I'm making a playlist and putting the entire thing on repeat. All day.

Amplive has finally reached an agreement with Radiohead and all other parties involved and Rainydayz has finally reached the ears of the public! Add this to the list of Reasons Why Radiohead Is Awesome (dang it, need to get more paper).

The project is the work of Oakland producer Amplive and is a remix project taking Radiohead's In Rainbows and some incredibly talented MC's (Too $hort, Del the Funky Homosapien, members of Jurassic 5, etc...) and creating an incredible interpretation of the British band's latest release.

Check out with other blogs have to say and GRAB IT QUICK at here!!

The Music Slut: We're Awesome
Brooklyn Vegan
Get Weird Turn Pro

MP3: All I Need (Amp_live Remix) (YSI)

Time to Celebrate!

CONSUMERISM! WOOOOO!

To be honest it's nice to get gifts. So to make your life easier, here is a portion of the list I sent to Santa. I wanted to ask him for the new Portishead album but even some things are out of Mr. Claus' control. So in no particular order (but feel free to chip in to get me the last item ;-) ).

Also, as a little gift is a new Outkast tune, Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 4). The song is no where near as infectious as Hey Ya! but when the boys start gong at it, you can't stop them.

(I mean even Ray can't deny Outkast, can he?)

And it's been 2 years since Metro Area released an album (not quite the 8 years Portishead is taking to release theirs...) So here is their follow up to Metro Area 6, appropriately titled Metro Area 7! Score one for originality! Thankfully, we here at the OTR office care more about the music than LP names.

MP3: Outkast - Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 4) (YSI)
MP3: Metro Area - 7 (Read My Mind - Special Dub) (YSI)

Oh and for all you Mall of the Americas h8rs, I scored myself a Wii (not for me, I already got one last year...) without breaking a sweat at the Game Stop here! Suckahs as Dadeland Station waiting at 4am to fight over 3 of them at Best Buy...

Dear Santa:

Daft Punk Alive 2007 - Limited Edition
Just because it was the best live show this past year.

Gorillaz - D-Sides Deluxe Edition
Comes with a whole mess of stuff.
Kano - I'm Ready
Can someone finally get me this 12"? It's forever out of stock.

Dalek Print
This would go nicely in my living room.

Jeremy Fish - Turtle Camper
I have wanted this for way too long.. Is this the year I get?
Blade Runner - The Final Cut Box Set
Include the workprint, the two 1982 original theatrical versions (U.S. domestic and uncensored International cuts), the 2006-remastered Director's Cut, the 2007 Final Cut, and bonus features. Whhhaattt??

50 inch Sharp Aquos LCD TV
Anybody? How else am I going to watch Blade Runner?

Ready for take off! We're Going Out There...

Next up for new music is completely on the flip-side (compared to the last post). I have been listening to a bunch of stuff released by Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw label (Matt and I actually had a talk about it at The Standard on Sunday) and just discovered their off-shoot label called Now-Again Records that specializes in funk releases.

What I discovered is beyond amazing...

"From the drummer sampled by Madlib and Yesterdays New Quintet... From the band that backed DJ Shadow..."


Malcolm Catto leads The Heliocentrics through psychedelic, jazz, funk, hip hop, electronic and to be honest once you start listening, you don't care. In fact, I want to finish up this post, just to keep listening to it without interruption. These are one of those records you play from start to finish. The songs meld from one to the next but never get boring. The bass line keeps it moving, the drums snap your mind in and out of consciousness. On top of that I really enjoy the space travel theme of the album. Sprinkled with choice spoken samples it helps keep the album cohesive.

MP3: Sirius B (YSI)

I Apologize...

When I started writing the post (a while back) on Black Dice, I was briefly thinking it was Black Strobe (sorry the names confused me). After listening to the track is when I realized it wasn't them. BUT it seems we have a new track from Black Strobe also!

The song builds up, bursts your ear drums and then brings you back down (all in about 6 minutes). More guitars in this album for the Parisian duo but the minimal tech house is still there. Slap this one on at 3am when you need a boost.

Mp3: Brenn Di Ega Kjerke (YSI)

M.I.A. Brings it with Kala!

Just got a copy of the new M.I.A album 'Kala' which will be hitting stores Tuesday, August 21st!

So far digging what I hear!

I was a little worried that the new album might not live up to her debut 'Arular' which was a commerical and critical success and inspired many imitators. She was able to tap into a new sound/style that mixed middle eastern sounds/themes with hip hop, big bass beats and came up with her own unique style/niche. Artists like Uffie owe her big time for opening the doors. Except M.I.A. does it better!

I'm digging that she's trying some new things on this new album.

On Track #4 'Jimmy' she flirts with Disco and sounds like Dianna Ross straight out of the 70's. I love the fact that she's singing on this one too and not rapping. Sounds fresh and glad she had the courage to try something different.

Track #8 'Down River' is classic her with those amazing beats. First few seconds of the song and your already moving your head/body to the beat. A floor stomper that's sure to be a club anthem in no time flat...

'Bamboo Banger' starts the album off perfectly. Takes awhile to kick in but when it does it's a 'Banger, a Bamboo Banger!' Classic her with those middle eastern sounds/themes and similar messages of 'Power, Power...' We love that!

'Boyz' is outstanding as well and the single. We had that one on the Radar blog awhile back ago. Go back and grab that as well.

Enjoy!

MP3: Down River (YSI)
MP3: Jimmy (YSI)
MP3: Bamboo Banger (YSI)

Ray already saw! Busted! Better be a good track...

Dang, I was about to tell you guys not to tell Ray I posted a hip hop track. But that's the problem with sharing access.

But it's good. I promise. And it's a short one.

Check out his stats: Flying Lotus released his first EP last fall called 1983 and his name was immediately on the tip of everyone's lips. He just recently sign on to Warp Records. His mentor was Alice Coltrane (also his aunt). Produced many of Adult Swim's music for their shows and commercials. Friend of the late J-Dilla, and loved by Madlib. Here are some of his newer mixes.

MP3: Madvillain - Shadows of tomorrow (Flying Lotus remix)
MP3: Dabyre - Shadows of tomorrow (Flying Lotus remix)

Okay, and this song only because it popped up on my iPod last night and it's a great song...

MP3: Boom Bip - Do's And Don'ts (With Gruff Rhys)

(Plus since it has Gruff Rhys, maybe Ray will ignore the rest of the post...)