Audio Absinthe

I couldn’t find much info on Breakbot.  I think he’s French, but some people say he’s Australian.  All I know for sure is, I like the music this man makes.  From his own mellow, funky material to his high-energy dance floor remixes, all of Breakbot’s productions have given him a name in the blogosphere.  His debut EP on Ed Banger Records is set to be released on Valentine’s Day.

MP3: Breakbot – “Make You Mine”

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MP3: Pnau – “Baby (Breakbot Remix)”

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MP3: Data – “Aerius Light (Breakbot Remix)”

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If you’re in New York and you like what you’re hearing, you can check out Breakbot at Terminal 5 on Friday, February 12th.  Better bring your dancing shoes.

Back in March, DJ D Sharp put together a mix tape for Lateef the Truth Speaker but it wasn’t released on any major online distributor like Amazon or CD Universe until November (it’s not available on iTunes).  Truth Is Love is a collection of songs featuring Lateef taken from albums released in the last 10-15 years but it’s comprised mostly of Lateef’s more recent tracks.  Overall, I was a little disappointed with this mix tape.  Back in the 90’s, Lateef was at the top of my list of rappers because of projects like Latyrx and the Solesides collective which turned into the Quannum.  Lateef was an incredible emcee with a distinctive delivery unmatched in style and creativity.  Unfortunately, most of his new stuff is just not that great anymore. Some of his old school fans are much more critical than I am but I can definitely understand where they’re coming from.  Except for a couple of tracks, including “Lady Don’t Tek No” hidden at the end of “That Old Pair of Jeans”, Truth Is Love doesn’t have too much to offer.

MP3: Lateef and Fatboy Slim – “That Old Pair of Jeans”

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Truth Is Love (November 2009)

I’ve wanted to share these songs for a while now but I didn’t have too much to say about them all.  I think they’re all awesome remixes and covers of great tracks but check them out and decide for yourself…

The xx – “You’ve Got The Love” (Florence and the Machine) (Download)

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Washed Out – “Feel It All Around (Toro y Moi Remix)” (Download)

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Taken By Trees – “My Boys” (Animal Collective) (Download)

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Florence and the Machine – “Drumming Song (Boy 8-bit Remix)” (Download)

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Phoenix – “Lisztomania (Alex Metric Remix)” (Download)

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Dr. Fox’s Old Timey String Band – “Kids” (MGMT) (Download)

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Mayer Hawthorne – “Green Eyed Love (Waajeed Remix)” (Download)

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The Heavy is a solid rock band with a funky, gritty, bluesy feel.  Their sound manages to combine vintage guitar riffs with a modern style of genre blending.  The single, “How You Like Me Now” seems like a perfect fit for any Guy Ritchie movie.  The band formed in the UK releasing their debut album, Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, in 2007.  Their sophomore release, The House That Dirt Built was released earlier this month and it’s got some very impressive tracks.  Their songs are filled with energy and emotion and some have an epic, cinematic kind of style.  Check out some of my favorites below…

MP3: The Heavy – “How You Like Me Now” (Download)

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MP3: The Heavy – “Short Change Hero” (Download)

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People Under the Stairs released their 7th album, Carried Away, on Om Records earlier this month.  The Los Angeles duo are known for creating west coast style party hip hop with distinctively chill, sample heavy beats.  The sound of the new album is just as fun and cool as PUTS has ever been.  Tracks like “80 Blocks from Silverlake” and “Come On, Let’s Get High” are instant PUTS classics. These guys really know how to get head bobbing.

MP3: People Under the Stairs – “80 Blocks from Silverlake” (Download)

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Carried Away (October 2009)

Their sense of humor really comes through in their music and especially in the video for the single, “Trippin’ at the Disco.”  According to Thes One, Double K paid $654 “to have award winning Afro Stylist Cheryll Teegans do his hair for the video.”  Check it out here:

MP3: People Under the Stairs – “Trippin at the Disco” (Download)

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Carried Away (October 2009)

In an effort to promote Carried Away, People Under the Stairs have teamed up with Vans to hold a remix contest for the track “Hit The Top.”  The contest ends November 10th and the winner gets a pretty cool care package.  You can enter your email below to get the acapella, create your own remix, and then upload it to SoundCloud.com/PeopleUnderTheStairs.  Check out some of the entries below…

People Under the Stairs – ‘Hit The Top’ (Milky Williams Remix) by peopleunderthestairs

People Under the Stairs – Hit the Top (Jazzual Suspects Remix) by peopleunderthestairs

In the early 70’s, Dust Commander, the only album recorded by Seattle based band The Slew was rejected by labels and has since remained an obscure obsession of record diggers/collectors and serious rock music fanatics.  Jay Rowlands is the latter of these and he arranged to have a documentary made about the mysterious band and it’s mastermind, Jack Slew.  Unfortunately, due to legal complications, Slew decided to back out of participating in the documentary which ultimately killed the project, save one major score- the film’s score.  The soundtrack was put together by Kid Koala and Dynomite D who enlisted the help of former Wolfmother rhythm section, Chris Ross and Myles Heskett.  They sampled The Slew’s original material and the result is an irresistibly funky, rock and turntablism hip hop blend.  It’s definitely something special and the sound really speaks for itself.  They’re touring one time only so check them out if you have a chance…

MP3:  Kid Koala Presents: The Slew – “It’s All Over” (Download)

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MP3:  Kid Koala Presents: The Slew – “Robbing Banks (Doin’ Time)” (Download)

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Download the whole album here

Thanks to Ryan U for the heads up…

A brand new track from The Knux‘ upcoming album was leaked a little over a week ago.  I don’t think the album has been announced yet but this new track makes me very anxious to hear some more.  Unfortunately, the debut album, Remind Me In 3 Days, didn’t really live up to all the hype for a lot of hip hop heads.  I don’t really care though, I love that album and I love this new track.  ”If you got a problem with The Knux, two words…”

MP3: The Knux – “Fuck You”

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Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper is the debut solo album from Paul Banks (AKA Julian Plenti), the lead singer of Interpol.  I’ve been playing this track and a couple of others a lot but I haven’t checked out the whole album yet.  Based on what I’ve heard so far, I’m really looking forward to it.

MP3: Julian Plenti – “Only If You Run”
Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper (August 2009)

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The Big Pink released the first single from their upcoming debut album A Brief History of Love.  ”Dominos” is catchier than the other songs I’ve heard but it still captures the psychedelic electro-rock sound that made tracks like “Velvet” and “Too Young To Love” popular with their early fans.  Check out the sampler below courtesy of MusicFromTheBigPink.com.

MP3: The Big Pink – “Dominos”
A Brief History of Love (September 2009)

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There’s something about the style of Fink’s music that I really like.  ”Pretty Little Thing” perfectly embodies whatever it is that I like so much about Fink.  There’s some kind of unsettling simplicity to his music that comes off as very cool to me.  It could be something left over from Fink’s days as an obscure electronic act but his music now is far from what it was back then.  ”Nothing Is Ever Finished” is one of my favorite songs from his new album Sort of Revolution.

MP3: Fink – “Nothing Is Ever Finished”
Sort of Revolution (May 2009)

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Washed Out is Ernest Greene and the guy makes some very interesting music.  It’s basically just Green singing over slowed down, 80’s style funky dance music.  I usually keep my distance from this kind of lo-fi underground dance music but I really like these tracks.

MP3: Washed Out – “Feel It All Around”
MP3: Washed Out – “You’ll See It”
MP3: Washed Out – “New Theory”

Vosotros is exactly what it’s motto proclaims, “Vosotros is music for you all.”  The latest project from the hyper-prolific crew is called The Years and each track sounds like it’s from a different decade while the album as a whole manages to retain a solid, unifying theme of soulful, funky jam music for everyone.  ”Let’s Stay In Love” is something like Stevie Wonder meets Al Green backed by The Roots while “Theme from Best Buds” has elements of Bob James.  ”Heartbreaker” is a great hip hop track and “When Peace & Love Come Together” sounds like something Yesterdays New Quintet would be proud of.  The album blends a wide ranging variety of genres which makes for an adventurous, highly enjoyable listen.

Listen and buy here

Mp3: The Years featuring Jesse Palter – “Lose My Number”
Mp3: The Years featuring John Robinson and Tiffany Paige – “Heartbreaker”

A little over a week ago, I heard a great, new Thom Yorke track on the radio.  The song Yorke’s version of Miracle Legion’s “All For The Best” that he recorded and contributed to the album Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy.  The album is a tribute to Mark Mulcahy who lost his wife 1 year prior to the album’s release date, September 2009.  Check out the original if you haven’t heard it.  It’s a great track and Thom Yorke did an impressively distinctive cover of it.

MP3: Thom Yorke – “All For The Best”
Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy (due September 2009)

MP3: Miracle Legion – “All For The Best”
Surprise Surprise Surprise (1987)

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Jeremy Sole is one of my favorite DJ’s on KCRW.  He also DJs every Thursday night at Zanzibar in Santa Monica for an event called “Afro Funke” which features an ecclectic mix of music from all over the world.  When I originally checked out SoundCloud.com, I noticed Jeremy Sole had an account.  He had uploaded a remix of a Femi Kuti song and it was awesome.  Recently, he posted this awesome remix of Marvin Gaye’s “Anger.”

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Portugal. The Man released their new album, The Satanic Satanist, on July 21st.  The blues-style indie rock sound is undeniably attractive and it isn’t just limited to 1 or 2 tracks.  The album is great all the way through.  These are some of my favorites…

MP3: Portugal. The Man – “Guns and Dogs”
MP3: Portugal. The Man – “People Say”
The Satanic Satanist (July 2009)

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Rakim hasn’t released an album since The Master in 1999.  There was supposed to be one released in 2002 but Dr Dre, who was producing the album, and Rakim cited “creative differences” when they announced that they would not be releasing an album.  Pretty much since then, I haven’t even tried to keep up with the drama surrounding the album, I just want to hear it.  ”Holy Are You” was released on July 28th and is the first single from the upcoming album The Seventh Seal.

MP3: Rakim – “Holy Are You”
The Seventh Seal (Fall 2009?)

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Yim Yames, better known as Jim James of My Morning Jacket, posted his tribute album to George Harrison on his website, yimyames.com.  The album will be available everywhere on August 4th.  Check it out below…

MP3: Yim Yames- “My Sweet Lord”
MP3: Yim Yames – “All Things Must Pass”
Tribute to (August 2009)

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It’s been a couple of weeks, maybe a month, since Muse released their newest track, “United Stated of Eurasia.”  The song has been compared to Queen, as has Muse, and especially the lead singers of both bands.  Matthew Bellamy isn’t as great as Freddie Mercury, but they are from very different times so it’s hard to compare them.  But the sound and style of “United States of Eurasia” is so similar to Queen’s rock-opera anthems that it makes it hard not to compare them.  To be honest, I don’t really care.  Muse is different enough even though this song’s resemblance to Queen’s sound is unmistakable but the song is enjoyable nonetheless.  I don’t love it, but it’s good.  For me, comparisons like that will occasionally take the fun out of listening and that’s perhaps the best reason of all to try to sound more original.

MP3: “Muse – United States of Eurasia”
The Resistance (September 2009)

It took me a while but I finally got around to posting them all.  In no particular order, here are my favorites from 2009, so far…

Phoenix
MP3: “1901”
MP3: “Lisztomania”

Dan Auerbach
MP3: “When The Night Comes”

Grizzly Bear
MP3: “Two Weeks”

Wilco
MP3: “Solitaire”
MP3: “One Wing”
MP3: “I’ll Fight”

Quantic and His Combo Barbaro
Amazon: “The Dreaming Mind”

Andrew Bird
MP3: “Oh No”

Franz Ferdinand
MP3: “No You Girls”

Doves
MP3: “Jetstream”
MP3: “Kingdom of Rust”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
MP3: “Hysteric”

Black Crowes
MP3: “I Ain’t Hiding”

White Rabbits
MP3: “Percussion Gun”

K’naan
MP3: “Take A Minute”

Manchester Orchestra
MP3: “I’ve Got Friends”

Mocky
MP3: “Birds Of A Feather”

Kutiman
http://thru-you.com/

Black Moth Super Rainbow
MP3: “Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise”
MP3: “Twin Of Myself”
MP3: “Fields Are Breathing”

Animal Collective
MP3: “My Girls”

Matt and Kim
MP3: “Daylight”

Silversun Pickups
MP3: “Panic Switch”

Curumin
MP3: “Compacto”
MP3: “Salto No Vacuo Con Joelhada”

Emiliani Torrini
MP3: “Me and Armini”

Zion I
MP3: “Coastin”

Junior Boys
MP3: “Parallel Lines”

General Elektriks

MP3: “You Don’t Listen”

St Vincent
MP3: “Strangers”

Coconut Records
MP3: “Any Fun”

Matisyahu
“One Day”

Method Man and Redman
MP3: “A Yo”

Tosca
MP3 Link: “Joe Si Ha”
MP3: “Fondue”

The BPA
MP3: “Toe Jam”
MP3: “He’s Frank”

Bishop Allen
MP3: “The Ancient Commonsense of Things”

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Newer acts:

Band of Skulls
MP3 Link: “Death By Diamonds and Pearls”
MP3: “I Know What I Am”

Empire of the Sun
MP3: “Walking On A Dream”

One eskimO
Link to listen: “Given Up”
MP3: “Givin Up (Don Diablo remix)”

Nickel Eye
MP3: “Brandy of the Damned featuring Wale (Mark Ronson remix)”
MySpace link to listen: “Bonnie and Clyde”

Mayer Hawthorne
MP3: “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”

Zee Avi
MP3: “Bitter Heart”
MP3: “The Story”

Passion Pit
MP3: “Moth’s Wings”
MP3 link: “The Reeling”
MP3: “Little Secrets”

Fight From Above
MP3: “Between The Curves”

Vosotros Presents: The Years
MP3 link: “Lose My Number”
MP3 link: “Heartbreaker”

Daniel Merriweather
MP3: “Change” featuring Wale

The Big Pink
MP3: “Velvet”

The Temper Trap
MP3: Sweet Disposition

Thenewno2
MP3 link: “Yomp”
MP3 link: “Give You Love”
MP3: “Crazy Tuesday”

Asa
MP3: “Jailer”
MP3: “Subway”

The Very Best
MP3: “Warm Heart of Africa”

St Motel
MP3: “Dear Dictator”

Danny Chaimson
MySpace link to listen: “This Is Life”

Hey Champ
MP3: “Cold Dust Girl”

Jaydiohead by Minty Fresh Productions
MP3: “Wrong Prayer”

Asher Roth feat. Busta Rhymes and New Kingdom
MP3: “Lion’s Roar” produced by Oren Yoel

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Mixtapes:

Wale & 9th Wonder - Back To The Feature

TiRon – Ketchup
Miguel featuring TiRon – “Go”