The super-ish group of Sufjan Stevens, Son Lux and rapper Serengeti have released the first song from their upcoming EP, “Beak and Claw.” Sufjan takes the autotuned route to create an atmosphere similar to the one on “You Are the Blood,” one of my favorite Sufjan songs. Son Lux adds in the blasting, orchestral electronic arrangements and Serengeti lays down some very respectable verses. Overall it’s a great song and I love hearing new material from Stevens. Stream it below.
Have a nice day!
Superstar Southern rapper Big K.R.I.T. has released another free mixtape, this one being titled “4Eva N A Day.” KRIT is an emerging rapper that is probably gonna reach the huge spotlight this year with his releases, well at least I hope so. He deserves it. You can download the mixtape HERE
Have a nice day!
Here we have two new songs from The Mars Volta’s upcoming release, “Noctourniquet,” coming out on 3/27. The first song, the title track, features a stuttering drum beat really goes all over the place, seems like it would have fit in on their last album, the lacking “Octahedron.” Not to say that this track isn’t good, just it sounds more like the songs on that album.
The second track is just as good and seems like it would fit on their first, and in my opinion, best album, “Deloused in the Comatorium.”
Listen to them below!
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Well this sure is cool.
Grimes, creator of my favorite album of the year so far, has now created one of my favorite music videos of the year so far for one of my favorite songs of last year. So many favorites. This video contains, but is not limited to: shirtless men moshing, motocross/motorcycle races, a football game, dancing in random places, rowdy student sections and much, much more. Watch it below, or don’t and be severely disappointed with your life.
Download “Oblivion” HERE
Have a nice day, ya hear?
Hey dudes. RADICAL TRACKS COMING YOUR WAY!
THEESatisfaction is a female duo that makes what I’d like to call “Afro-centric hip hop/r&b.” They had a guest spot on one of my favorite albums of last year, Shabazz Palaces’ “Black Up” on the song “Swerve…” Well this time Ishmael Butler gets his turn to guest and delivers a sick verse that pulls the whole thing together. The female verses are great too, as is the beat. Sounds like it belongs on “Black Up.” This song is a free download, so get on that folks!
This song contains awesome, electronic, melting, dancefloor synth grime, sweaty beats and a sense of darkness that envelops the entire thing. I feel like when I’m listening to it I need to light up in inside of my headphones with a glowstick or something. Fueled probably by psychedelics, this time machine takes you back to the dancefloor rave of the 90’s. Don’t talk to the guy in the corner, he might attack you.
First time I heard Charli XCX I was not having it. Not sure why, looking back, since the first song I heard of hers was “Stay Away” which I now love. Well, this song came out on of course Valentines day and it’s a sweet love song, sort of. With a chorus “I was told that you love me/but obviously not.” Doesn’t really sound like a love song. But this is sweet as sugar and free to download. Get on that, this girl is gonna blow up 2012 for sure.
Lovely r&b with minimalist beats akin to a lighter kind of Burial or James Blake with jazzy, chilled out female vocals. At first I thought it might be to laid back for me, but this song is actually sick I’ve come to realize. The beat is something that I’d probably listen to itself and the sweet vocals are just icing on the cake. Check this one out for sure.
This track isn’t out yet, but thanks to my ins on the WHUS studio, I got this early. Wooo. This record is really interesting, but I’ll review it later. This song is like and unlike old The Men in different ways. In one way, it’s loud and abrasive like The Men that I knew before, with shredding guitars, huge drums and TONS of energy. Unlike their previous record, this is super pop like. There are “woooos” in the background making vocals harmonies and it almost has a driving structure, not just semi-organized noise. I like it a lot, along with the rest of the album. Check it out when it comes out on 3/6.
Hey y’all
I haven’t posted Radical Tracks in a while, which I now regret because this post is going to be MASSIVE. Most of the tracks come from Pitchfork’s Best New Tracks, but I don’t really care since they’re legitimately great songs. I’ll post download links for the ones I can. Have a ball!
Listen & Download HERE
DOWNLOAD THIS SONG HERE
Well, I hope all this music holds you all over until the next massive Radical Tracks comes around!
Have a great day!
Hey y’all!
Haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I’d post something fantastic. What we have here is the Converse collaboration made by Gorillaz, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and Andre 3000. It’s really good. That’s really all I have to say, really. It’s just really really good. Andre kills it on his verse and I love Damon Albarn’s voice. It’s basically just a really fun, bouncing song that I can picture in Converse commercials.
You can download it tomorrow, but for now you can listen here. Have fun, kids. Can we have an Outkast album now?
Have a nice day!
Well, haven’t done an album review in a while, have I? That’s about to change! Let’s do this: GRIMES.
Grimes – Visions
Grimes has finally put up her “first proper full-length” album up to stream and let me tell you: it is bloody fantastic. The way that Claire Boucher combines so many different types of sounds and styles of music into this individual songs is truly mind blowing. There are strains of 80’s pop, 90’s glam pop similar to Pictureplane, K-Pop similar to Elite Gymnastics, futuristic rave beats and psyched out textures creating unearthly loops and clouds of haunting sound that envelops the listener in a trance.
All of the songs, even the short interludes are fantastic and carry their own special hooks: not all of the songs rely on the same tricks to catch the listener into the song. It’s all just DAMN FINE. I would love to go into song analysis mode talking about what I liked about each song and why you should listen, but I feel as though that would take too long. I’ll just highlight some of my favorite parts.
Let’s start with the second song, Genesis, which might be my favorite song of the year so far. The way it builds and shape shifts is a real treat for the ears, I gotta say. The crazy robotic voices in “Eight” with the frantic, high pitched singing around it is crazy good as well. “Circumambient” when the layers of Boucher’s voice singing different parts just come bursting in during the chorus makes me want to organize a really girly music video in the theme of the popstars of the 90’s. I’m a dude. So intensely fantastic. Another great is on “Nightmusic ft. Majical Clouds” when she uses the sample of her talking backwards always gets me, along with the beat. GAH.
There are so many other great moments on this record that I’d like to point out, but there are too many to count. I think it’s holding the top spot of the year so far, due to it’s uninhibited creativity and capability to melt your brain with sick synth loops and layers. Nice job, Grimes.
SCORE: 93/100
REC’D TRACKS: Genesis, Oblivion, Circumambient, Vowels = Space and Time, Be A Body, Symphonia IX (My Wait is U) Nightmusic, Skin.
Have a FANTASTIC day!
Goth-electro outfit Light Asylum have come out with two more songs from their upcoming full-length due in May called In Tension, put out on Mexican Summer. Listen to them both down below!
Shallow Tears
Genesis
Awwww yeah new music.
HELLO!
We haven’t talked in a while, have we? Well, since I’ve been away, SO MANY STREAMS of GREAT albums have come out! It’s kind of abnormal how many in such a short period of time, really. Another thing is that there is such a wide array of genres featured, there’s a huge possibility that you won’t be disappointed! Let’s check out what you can listen to on this fine Valentines day!
Punch Brothers is the folk-leaning band led by mandolin god Chris Thile, coming off of Nickel Creek fame. Actually, he’s just well known across the board in the bluegrass/folk community so when news surfaced about a new album coming out this year, there was a mass of excitement coming from folk enthusiasts like myself. This album is packed with the signature Punch Brothers sound: insanely intricate instrumentation, crazy chord changes, catchy melodies… the whole package returns once again. And again, there’s a Radiohead cover. Stream it at Spinner now, or buy it on iTunes or Amazon.
Grimes has created possibly my favorite song of the year so far, Genesis and now her mind-meltingly good album is up for streaming. I still don’t know why you’re not streaming yet, unless you’re listening to Punch Brothers. That’s okay. But this album is so out there in a realm of its own brilliance. It combines glam 90’s r&b and pop with future rave and psychedelic-influenced brain-frying creativity. It really is a treat you have to listen to, or else the trans-dimensional demons that live inside of this album will come hunt you down and haunt your family for generations. Okay that’s a bit much, but you know, it’s alright. Listen on NPR
On this Valentine’s Day, how would you like to have your ears destroyed in a fiery, crushing, flaming bliss? You would? How about Sleigh Bells? YES. One good/bad thing, this album isn’t an exact clone of their last album, Treats. The good thing is that it’s new-sounding material coming from the band, the bad thing is that the material on the old album was DAMN FINE. This stuff is great too, some of the songs gave me goosebumps due to the overwhelming levels of badassery emitted from Derek Miller’s guitar work and Alexis Krauss’ siren-like voice. Stream it on NYTimes, but the stream isn’t very good, unfortunately. You still get the effect though!
Ahhh Burial, my favorite electronic producer. When you dropped this new EP I peed a little bit out of excitement. Then when I listened to it, the pee in my pants didn’t matter, because I was in ethereal bliss. This is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever heard in my life. No joking, no exaggerations. This is one of his best works and one of the best pieces of original dubstep/electronic music to ever come out. Maybe I’m a bit biased due to my love for Burial, but whatever. This thing rocks and you need to listen to it. They used to have the whole stream on the Hyperdub site, but they shortened the streams down to about 1-2 minutes. Sad times. BUT, enjoy the streams while they’re up. Stream it up on Hyperdub
Wooooo! That was fun. Have fun listening to those. I know I sure did.
Have a great day!
Warm Visions 