Oceans of Noise

>500 Days of Summer

Posted on October 13, 2010 by dowkstar

While short of 500 planetary rotations, I have to say this has been a truly epic summer of funemployment for me, and the “Mashup” album by My Sick Uncle, called 500 days of Weezy is nothing short of amazing. Car introduced this album to me off the Pretty Much Amazing blog a coule months ago, but I’m just now getting to listen to it. And the verdict? Lil Wayne’s lyrics and a veritable smorgasbord of fresh artist beats including Temper Trap, Feist as well as older Simon & Garfunkel tracks, combine for an inspiring mix.

Without a doubt, one of my favorites is the short and sweet Let’s Get High, featuring Mumm-Ra’s She’s Got You High and snippets from Lil Wayne’s interview with Katie Couric. My Sick Uncle pulled a nasty hook from the Mumm-Ra song as background for an intriguing interview where Katie playfully asks pointed questions about Weezy F Baby’s drug use and Wayne either answers boldly or evades the question almost entirely. Quite the dynamic.

One line he dropped strikes me in particular. When Couric asks “You never think, gee, maybe I should ease up on the weed?” Weezy replies with the poetic “Never say that. I’m a rapper, that’s who I am Miss Katie, and I am a Gansgta, and I do…what I want. And I Love to smoke…”

Hear, hear, Weezy. You be You, and we’ll worry about what’s in our own cups…

The full album is still available here if you are into Wayne (i.e. you’re a member of the human race).

Posted in Lil Wayne, Mashup | Leave a comment

>Pop pop ratatat

Posted on October 6, 2010 by dowkstar

>LP4, the new album from some of our favorite Cudi collaborators, Ratatat, is dope as expected. Apparently they recorded this around the same time as LP3, but consider it to be a more daring approach to the arrangements…It’s still got that same signature feel though, and it should only take a few bars before you’re fairly convinced you know it’s a Ratatat song, regardless of whether you’ve heard it before. Drugs and Mandy are no exception, and are some of my favs.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F4035855%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-SqSLJ&secret_url=false Ratatat – Drugs by exiart

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2919261%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-cyPR7&secret_url=false RATATAT – MANDY by pandorasmusicbox

Posted in Ratatat | Leave a comment

>Never thought I’d say this…

Posted on October 4, 2010 by dowkstar

>…but I’ve taken a strong liking to a lot of the stuff on Katy Perry’s fall-release album Teenage Dream. I’m not crazy about California Gurls, but Teenage Dream, Firework and Not like the Movies are all fantastic tracks. The Teenage Dream vid is super sexy and looks like everyone had a blast making it. It’s off-limits for embedding, but is definitely worth a check out on the youtubes. Methinks I should sell my car and pick up one of those sick old bmw convertibles, how rad is that thing???

Anyway, I have probably listened to Teenage Dream about 30 times over the past week, so I felt rather lucky when I snared a copy of Kaskade Club’s remix that blew me away all over again.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F4899156%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-V5NwX&secret_url=false Teenage Dream (Kaskade Club Mix) by ulissespanic_bs

Also, we’ll have more on Ratatat’s new album before I get into some major shenanigans with Car, Weezy, Les and a bunch of the crew @ ACL this weekend!!!

Posted in Katy Perry, Remix | Leave a comment

>Trust The Streets

Posted on September 24, 2010 by carsk

>For most of college, I was pretty convinced I should marry Mike Skinner or Jack Allsopp. Both walk that strangely appealing line of being British MC’s and DJ’s. The Streets and Just Jack as they are known respectively, were pretty much on repeat for me and definitely still hold a special place in my heart. But I’m not moving to Birmingham anytime soon. Sorry Mike.

Posted in Just Jack, The Streets | Leave a comment

>Misty Morning

Posted on September 19, 2010 by carsk

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I woke up this morning to one of those incredibly grey and misty days this city specializes in, where the clouds are so dense all noises become muted, and time feels like it slows down. This was ideal after the dancetastic weekend I had, so after de-couching my favorite c-walker, and making some coffee, I found my favorite pair of ripped jeans and settled into a morning of catching up on reading and baking scones. This of course requires some solid mood music and today’s band of choice is Gold Panda.

Gold Panda is one of those band/producer types that isn’t as accessible to the bulk of my friends I have forced him upon recently, but something about his brand of electro feels like a patchwork reminiscent of four tet but with a distinctly moody feel thats all his own. Friend group lack of adoption not withstanding, I’m seriously digging his stuff on a day when clouds are floating underneath the window.

Posted in Gold Panda, Life | Leave a comment

>Ratatat and DOM tonight

Posted on September 17, 2010 by carsk

>I’m going to the Ratatat show tonight at the Warfield and while I was already excited to bust some moves there, I just realized that Dom is opening. My local friends have recently accused me of being a little into what they deem ‘electro’ music, but I think what they mean to accuse me of is a penchant for the synth-pop chillwave movement. Hipster accusations and labels aside, Dom has a reputation for putting on a memorable live show, and with giant hooks like ‘It’s so sexy to be living in America’ who doesn’t want to put on their skinny jeans and bust some dance moves? Wish you were here Dowks!

Posted in DOM, Live, Ratatat | 2 Comments

Posted on September 16, 2010 by carsk

>I still haven’t decided if this is just a great viral ad for Levi’s or something a little more homegrown but either way, the song rocks and this video makes me think of getting and RV and driving across the country with some of my favorite ITA’ers.

Posted in Edward Sharpe, Life | Leave a comment

>SCREAMIN Deal on Ratatat’s new album

Posted on September 15, 2010 by dowkstar

My buddy Grantus just pointed me to Amazon where they’re having a $4 special on Ratatat’s new album, LP4. I am downloading it now, and will have thoughts later this week.

For now, enjoy this vid from their self-titled debut album, Ratatat…

Posted in Ratatat | Leave a comment

>Ambling Alp African Style

Posted on September 15, 2010 by carsk

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I had to bribe Weis to stay up late for the Very Best’s set during SXSW last spring. He wasn’t siked but by the time the backup dancers started busting moves during the second song, he was sold on the awesome. Not only do they make great music on their own, but they took Yeasayer’s already fantastic song and made it uniquely theirs. Check ’em out here

Posted in The Very Best | Leave a comment

>Mark Ronson for President

Posted on September 14, 2010 by dowkstar

>Un, deux, trois! Bang, bang, bang!

Ronson has been blowing up tracks since his first album came out in 2003. The Brit has enjoyed success internationally, but hasn’t had a big presence in the US. I have been listening to Mark Ronson for about a year now, and have heard a couple great collabs of his. One track I recently found on the always delicious et musique pour tous is something that Mark Ronson & the Business International (his new alias) put together with rapper Q-Tip and electro artist MDNR, whom I’ll have to look into more…

Check the track, lemme know what you think!

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5307503%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-VEXJD&secret_url=false 01 Bang Bang Bang (Feat. MNDR and Q-Tip) by eclectricity1