Wolf Parade - Yulia

I'm really torn on Wolf Parade's latest LP "Expo 86." I can only think of one song on the album that I don't really like, but for whatever reason its just isn't that memorable. I felt like Krug's songs had a better sound, but Boeckner won on the songwriting (does this even make sense?). Both Krug and Boeckner have two real hits, with Krug claiming the opener and closer as his two best. Boeckner's Ghost Vision is probably the Album's best song, but Boeckner's last song Yulia is certainty the most dramatic. In both sound and content Yulia feels like Boeckner could have put it on (his side project) Handsome Fur's last record but knew it needed the full band treatment. This video for Yulia definitely adds to the song, and helps push the album as a whole from past enjoyable to memorable.

Watch the clip and a read the director's thoughts at Bravely Done.

Mean Winds - What Happens in Hingham...

I'm hearing hints of earlier AC, particularly Avey Tare and the song "Leaf House" way more folk than freak though.

Teen Daze

Teen Daze, signed to my favorites Arcade Sounds churn out chillwave remixes like mad, but increased quantity doesn't mean decreased quality with these guys. Although I personally enjoy their remixes more than their original songs, don't take those for granted either! Their 8 song debut EP "Four More Years" was released this summer. Anyways, I'll just post some of my favorite Teen Daze remixes, a teen daze original, and (now try and stay with me here) a dechillwaved version of one of his own songs! Presented below in easy to understand chemical reaction form.

Teen Daze + (different artist's) not chillwave song --> chillwave remix.

O.N.E- Yeasayer (teen daze remix)

Wide Eyes - Local Natives (teen daze remix)

Wet Hair - Japandroids (teen daze remix)

End of Days - Gobble Gobble(teen daze remix)

Beach City - Dream Cop (teen daze remix)

Or

Teen Daze --> (original) chillwave song --> not chillwave acoustic version.

For Paulina- Teen Daze

For Paulina (acoustic) - Teen Daze (via thefmly)

New Kanye West - Lost in the World (sampling Bon Iver's Woods)

Yep, its one in the morning and I should be working on a lab report due tomorrow, but ITS KANYE WEST SAMPLING WOODS!!!

When I first heard rumors that Kanye was sampling woods I was pretty excited, but a bit anxious at the same time. Lost in the World isn't at all what I expected , but it does not dissapoint! It reminds me a lot of the stronger moments of 808s and Heartbreaks, and is one of the best (if not the best) song Kanye has released post Swiftgate, which in my opinion at least is saying a lot!

Lost in the World - Kanye West (thanks to We All want something to shout for)

Unfortunately, this versions got some shout outs in it, but I'll be on the look out for a legit version.

Note: The evocative speech at the end is actually a song/poem by Gil Scott-Heron, who many consider the godfather of Hip-Hop, you can listen to that here and it is intense!

Shimmering Stars - Sun's Going Down

Is it weird that two of the four music blogs I visit daily are in languages I can't read? Probably. Sometimes Google will translate the page for me, but I like it more when it doesn't. The only thing that can make a song stand out before I hear it is its cover art, its title, the artist. Not to mention I love just about every song I hear on NMB and DS so every song stands out even with out any information or expectations. Anyways, heres a video posted on Delicious Scopitone that I really liked

Shimmering Stars - Sun's Going Down from Delicious Scopitone on Vimeo.

Dance yrself clean mixtape!!

Not much to say for this one, the opening track says it all! This mixtape was originally going to be just Dance Yrself Clean and a bunch of remixes, but then I realized no one is ever going to make a Dynamite remix better than the original. After that I just started slacking off and threw in some favorites that get me(and hopefully you) moving. GET IT

Note: If you click on the mp3s and they don't play, just open it up in a new tab and it should work.

Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

And I Love Her - The Beatles (Allure Remix)

HERE COMES THE SUN - Wise Blood

Comfy in Nautica - Panda Bear (Stephen Farris Remix)

Life Magazine - Cold Cave (Arthur Baker's Not Going Back Remix)

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song - Fleet Foxes (Young Montana Remix)

My Girls - Animal Collective (HATCHMATIK remix)

I'm Making Eyes at You - The Black Kids (Joy Electric Remix)

Stay Close - Delorean

Everything is gonna be Alright - CEO

Love (Love/Lust) - D/R/U/G/S

One - Yeasayer (Teen Daze Remix)

End of Days - Gobble Gobble

Ambling Alp - Yeasayer

Swing Tree - Discovery

Boy - Ra Ra Riot (RAC remix)

Dynamite - Taio Cruz

Fiveng - Easy (single)

If you're digging these two songs, grab their previous single Give Me a Taste and B-side Jonah at their bandcamp for whatever you're willing to pay as well.

Stream Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz

Sufjan's Steven's first LP since 2005, Age Of Adz, is streaming now at NPR!!! The stream will stay up until its release on October 12th.

While your listening, download two songs from the album for free here.

Or if you haven't yet, listen to and download(not for free)"All Delighted People", Sufjan's EP released only a few months ago here.

Kohwi - Tides

Thank you to the always wonderful No Modest Bear for turning me onto this song/video!!

Kohwi - Tides from Cory Levinson on Vimeo.

Wise Blood - Here Comes the Sun

HERE_COMES_THE_SUN://wise_blood from Theo Anthony on Vimeo.

Animal Collective - Bluish/MPP music video extravaganza

Check out the new music video for Animal Collective's beautiful Bluish. The video is very... Blue! and very very cool. Kinda reminds me of their videos for My Girls and Summertime Clothes. Bluish is up now on their website or below. Since I've already mentioned 3 videos from MPP songs I might as well go all out!!

In The Flowers

My Girls

Summertime Clothes

Bluish (new!!)

Guy's Eyes

Brother Sport

Fun Fact: Merriweather Post Pavilion now has more songs with official music videos than songs with out music videos. Personally I can't wait for a Daily Routine video.

Leprechaun in Space

I've never seen Leprechaun in space, but I've seen Leprechaun 2 so if thats any indication, Leprechaun in space isn't as great as this mixtape is! I didn't really intend it to be, but the whole middle section of the mix is pretty much a tribute to Jay Reatard. Theres 3 songs by Jay himself and a whole bunch of songs I probably would never have gotten into if Jay's music hadn't reminded me that theres still good punk music out there. Man I miss hearing new music from that guy!

I actually do have mp3s for each song this time so thats fun but you can still download the zip here. If the mp3s aren't playing on this page try opening them in a new tab and they should work. If not email me, jonnaz[at]comcast dot net

2 Eyes 2 C - Suckers

I got Dem Wu Wu Busted Teef Spitting it Concrete Like the Golden Sun God - Wu Lyf

White Lincoln - Totally Nebular

Spector - Signals

Sleep Tight - Rollerskates

World's destroyed - Mind Spiders

Across the Sea - Hanoi Jones

It Aint Gonna Save me - Jay Reatard

I get Nervous - The Lost Sounds

Blood Visions - Jay Reatard

What a Drag - Bear Hands

Sanity - Slow Animal

Dolt Heart - Slow Animal

Prom Queen - School Knights

Mickey Mouse - Wavves

Tell 'Em - Sleigh Bells

I was thinking... - Gauntlet Hair

STRT SRNS - Wise Blood

Future Body - Birthdays & Cough Cool

Whiplash - Sunglasses

BTSTU - Jai Paul

Stream Deer Hunter - Halcyon Digest

Even though I might lose some street cred for saying this, I had never listened to Deer Hunter until a couple of weeks ago when Helicopter was released. I thought it was alright at first, but the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it. Halcyon Digest as a whole however is instantly enjoyable, I'm definitely buying this the day it comes out. I'm thinking I'll write something vaguely resembling a review of the album once I have more than just an initial impression. Anyways, if you like shimmering 60s nostalgia or stomping bedroom psyche, stream the album in its entirety or song by song over at NPR.

Mixtape by The Unfound

I usually don't post anything on the weekend but this mixtape is too great to not tell everyone about! This mixtape probably does a better job of summing up what I've been listening to in the past few months than mixtapes I make do! Anyways, check it out here.

Featured: Freak R&B

Nobody seems to have a good genre name for the type of music I'm going to post today, but the best I've heard so far is Freak R&B. Its not great but hey, if there can be freak folk there can be Freak R&B too. Samples, otherworldly synths and falsetto, production that makes the songs sounds like they were recorded at the bottom of a well, and huge inspiration from bedroom projects can all be expected from Freak R&B. I'll share some of my favorite tracks now! Have a great weekend everybody!

STRT SRNS - Wise Blood

I only know three things about Wise Blood. First off, p4k likes him. Also, as much as I associate his music with this guy he actually looks like this. And Finally I know that he makes absolutely world domination worthy jams. Wise Blood's '+' has been on constant repeat for me lately. You can download the whole thing right here!

Decisions - How to Dress Well

How To Dress Well has been everywhere on the internet lately. But nothing he's put out has really caught my attention until this one, the penultimate track on his new LP Love Remains, which comes out Tuesday!

Future Body-Birthdays and Cough Cool

Honestly, I don't even remember how this song got on my iPod, but since then I've checked out both Cough Cood and Birthdays and both seem a bit heavier on the freak and lighter on the R&B than their collaboration.

Radiohead, Fleet Foxes finished recording!

1st off, Radiohead is "done recording a new group of songs", according an essay by bassist Collin Greenwood! The essay is pretty lengthy, but definitely worth your time. Greenwood talks about the decision let their fans decide what in rainbows was worth to them, and how the internet has changed since then. He doesn't really say if this next album (group of songs... whatever) will be released in a similar matter however.

In more awesome "the music is ready" news, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes posted this update on their facebook:

Fleet Foxes Hey all, it's been a bit since a recording update. Well, recording is done! We are flying to New York tomorrow to mix and master the album and will have information about release date and when you'll get to hear a song or two SOON. Geologically soon but soon. -Robin

Anyways, heres a remix from each of those bands last album's to get you excited!

Reckoner (Diplo Remix) - Radiohead

Tiger Peasan Mountain (Young Montana Remix) - Fleet Foxes

Moon Lasso - Lamplighter

New music: Guido, Selebrities, Porcelain Raft, ect ect

Alot of new Chillwave this week (but thats every week AMIRITE??) but some of it is you know.... actually good. Guido's probably the only project on here that doesn't go under that category to be honest. His new single isn't 100% in line with his regular sound (I like this more than anything else he's done) anyways, I don't know much about several of these bands so I'll just let the music do the talking today!

On Holiday - Secret Cities (thank you NMB)

See Through - Porcelain Raft

Time - Selebrities (thank you DS)

ski ridder by guido productions

On to Free EPs:

You can grab all of Waskerley Way's new ep Cat Music by clicking right here, or just my personal favorite track off of it, Cattermole(once again via my favorite DS)

Last but not least, Young Man's Daytrotter session is a must listen!

Because I Love Jaime...

If we were still in actionville I would have just made this playlist into a CD, probably with "CHILL JAMZZ" written on it in sharpie. Considering we live a couple hours away though now I figured it would be easier to do over the interwebs, and besides this way people who aren't Jaime can still enjoy a collection of very good songs! Anyways, the song list is below, the emphasis on this one isn't so much that the music is new so three or four of the songs aren't from this year, and several others are songs I've been jamming to for a couple months. Like every other week, when I listen to these playlists its always in the same order. I spend more time changing the order so it flows than I do picking out the songs, so I advise playing it with shuffle OFF. Last but not least, if you are just super super jealous that you don't have a ridiculous picture of yourself on my blog/want me to make you a mixtape, just tell me and I'll make one for next Tuesday!

Download Jaime's mixtape Here

1. Meteor Eschat - Gobble Gobble

2. Young Hearts Spark Fire - Japandroids

3. Abel - The National

4. Swift Coin - Land of Talk

5. Hands Together - New Pornographers

6. All I Want - LCD Soundsytem

7. Radio Kaliningrad - Handsome Furs

8. The Past is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal

9. Tin man - Future Islands

10. Sailing by the Night - Department of Eagles

11. Boy From School (Hot Chip cover) - Grizzly Bear

12. Blood - The Middle East

13. I See it Coming - Guards

14. Nothing But Our Love (Daytrotter session) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

15. Despicable Dogs - Small Black

16. School Night - Coma Foxes

17 ???

Because I Love Kanye West...

That title isn't sarcasm or anything! I really do love Kanye West! He's easily the most interesting personality in pop culture today, not to mention my favorite rapper/producer! Anyways, he performed at the VMAs Sunday night and premiered a new song! (as did Taylor swift apparently, but its not like I actually watched the VMAs) The song is called Runaway and its definitely more 808s and Heartbreaks than anything else he's released post-swiftgate. If you haven't heard, Kanye is currently in the middle of a single series called "Good Fridays" so head over to his blog for a couple new mp3s along with a trailer for Runaway's music video(wtf?), and don't forget to check in every Friday for a new song. Last but not least, In Flex we Trust has the studio version (or some version) of Runaway up right now, you should probably download that while its still up!

New Sufjan Stevens!!

You know when you listen to a song for the first time and you can't help but smile? Yep, thats how I felt about "Too Much" for the first time (which was about 5 minutes before I started writing this). Too Much and preceding single I Walked integrate and focus on electronic instrumentation but still manage to keep enough of the defining qualities of Sufjan's previous work to still be "Sufjan songs"(not unlike Arcade Fire's Sprawl II). The instrumental intro has pretty much the same feel as they squiggly dub of I Walked and after that the first third of the song is pretty Postal Service-y. Not smiling yet? Well don't worry, choirs, horns, melancholy strings, piano and and a couple flutes all find their way into the song before its over :)

New Coma Cinema song, plus new project Coma Foxes!

Mat Cothran AKA Coma Cinema, is a busy man! His third Album in 3 years, Blue Suicide is supposedly coming out in October, and now hes started a new project with follow one-man-bander Warren Hildebrand AKA Foxes in Fiction. Sure the name Coma Foxes isn't so original but their sound.... wow. As far as I know they only have 1 song currently released called school night and it is something else. Out of tune keys and intruding muffled gurgles, not to mention the painfully abrupt ending morph this modest piano ballad into something much darker.

Maybe I think its so great because of the associations I make with it, not only based off the lyrics, but also the title and the cover art, either way listen for you're self, and while you're at it check out songs from both guys by themselves, Wandering is a new one from Coma Cinema that may or may not make it on to Blue Suicide. Bathurst isn't as new, but it is a good introduction to Foxes' sound.

School Night - Coma Foxes

Wondering - Coma Cinema

Bathurst - Foxes in Fiction

News: New releases from weezer and Tallest Man on Earth, New mixtapes from NMB and DS

Its been a couple days since I've had the time (or maybe it had more to do with the motivation) to post something up here so I'm just going to write a pretty condensed update of stuff I've been listening to lately. I'm also about to post another mixtape so get pumped for that!

First off, Weezer's new (and indie) album Hurley is streaming on their myspace right now. There hasn't been much press about it, which really stinks because its actually good! The last time I cared about Weezer was before The Red Album was released, but Hurley gives me hope. My favorite tracks after a couple listens are Trainwrecks, Unspoken and Run Away.

Also, the Tallest Man on Earth released a 5 song EP yesterday (only on iTunes for the moment). I absolutely love this guy, definitely worth a listen if you've never heard of him. He is often compared to Bob Dylan, but with much more colorful guitar work.

Golden Panda's debut LP Lucky Shiner is out today as well. you can buy it here and stream right here. I haven't had time to listen to all of it yet, but I really like what I've heard so far.

On to Mixtapes: Since I've last posted Altered Zones has posted their August mixtape but its nothing special. Delicious Scopitone have also released a mixtape (well just a collection of songs) under the title Pink Day that I really really love. Last but not least, No Modest Bear's "Thank you for being a friend" mixtape is worth your time.

Music for Fall

I promised a sequel to "the end of summer mixtape" and here it is! Once again, its a .zip file so just click here, click the download button, find where you saved the download, right click the file and click "unzip." If those directions confused you, well then google it. The mixtape pretty much goes folk -> dream pop and ends with Sufjan's newest song and Albatross, one of the best songs I've heard this year. No individual mp3s this time, I'm just too lazy.

1. The Wild Hunt - The Tallest Man On Earth

2. Sarah Paige - Talking Tiger Mountain

3. Be loved, Be Wild - We All have Hooks for Hands

4. Out of Tune - Real Estate

5. Remember Last Time - Avi Buffalo

6. oOOOoOOOo - Oberhofer

7. Lemonade - Braids

8. Wild Things - Jordan Irvin Dally

9. Blood - The Middle East

10. Ottawa Backfired Soon - His Clancyness

11. Little Dreamer(Jones Remix) - Future Islands ft. Victoria Legrand

12. Real Life - Tanlines

13. 300 Clouds - Nightlands

14. Put The Days Away - Sun Airway

15. I Walked - Sufjan Stevens

16. Albatross - Besnard Lakes

Away Frm U Acoustic on "Big Ugly Yellow Couch"

Heres an acoustic performance of my third favorite song this year, Oberhofer's Away Frm U. Its part of a series where Brooklyn Bands play in somebodies apartment on a "Big Ugly Yellow Couch" (duh) I don't know much about the project but heres the website. Check out 3 other songs performed by Oberhofer including a Beach Boys cover, along with sessions from some other bands I love like Dawes, Class Actress and Twin Sister. Once again: www.biguglyyellowcouch.com is the website, go there!

Away FRM U by Oberhofer from Big Ugly Yellow Couch on Vimeo.

Altar Eagles - Spy Movie

Cool song, Cool video. The song is pretty hard to describe but I'll attempt anyways, Crunching yet uplifting synth over disorienting drums with dystopian assembly-line vocals attacking you with repetition. Futuristic synths and choral voices keep the track busy but it still comes out feeling pretty ambient. The video takes the assembly line feel to its natural conclusion of feelings of isolation, particularly employing cars... oh hey modest mouse!...

Via Delicious Scopitone

Slow Animal

Pretty cool 4 song Demo from lo-fi punkers Slow Animal. Reminds me of pre-studio Wavves, but with less complaining and a little more focus on melody. Sanity (track 3) is the track got me interested, but Dolt Heart (track 4) is now my favorite on here.