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Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins teamed up to create Broken Bells. Danger Mouse was a big fan of The Shins and the duo first met on the Dark Night of the Soul collaboration album.  Their self-titled debut will officially be made available in March of 2010 but the album has been leaked online and it’s very impressive to say the least.  The single and first track officially released is called “The High Road” which will also be the first track off the forthcoming album.  Right off the bat, you can tell you’re listening to quality, experimental indie-pop music.  Warm, electronic sounds are set to a melodic and beautiful layering of guitars and strings over 60’s pop style drums.  The songs have cool and smooth, steady builds that result in an album that leaves you feeling like you’re on a real musical journey.  Similar to the beginning of “The High Road,” the end of “Your Head Is On Fire” sounds like it could have been a Zero 7 track.  The end of “Sailing to Nowhere” sounds like a film score and made me wonder when Danger Mouse might start scoring movies since he’s clearly capable.  The album as a whole is truly artistic and a great piece of work.  Nearly every song is capable of being someone else’s favorite track.  Check out the songs below and the official website at BrokenBells.com.

Broken Bells – “The High Road” (removed by request)

Broken Bells (March 2010)

The Flaming Lips just released a cover album of Dark Side of the Moon.  Theirs is a very cool take on the classic 1973 Pink Floyd album.  In addition to the Lips’ hard rock and heavy, psychedelic guitar style that you might expect after Embryonic, the songs feature vocals from Henry Rollins and Peaches.  Stardeath and White Dwarfs also join the team to contribute to the cover album as they add their own distinctive sound giving the album even more of a rock edge.  Hopefully, this new version will synch up with The Wizard of Oz just like the original…

MP3: The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and White Dwarfs featuring Henry Rollins – “On The Run”

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MP3: The Flaming Lips featuring Henry Rollins & Peaches – “Great Gig In The Sky”

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Dark Side of the Moon (December 2009)

Spoon’s upcoming album, Transference, is scheduled to be released in January 2010.  The single is called “Written In Reverse” and it was released on iTunes today.  It’s slowly growing on me but I can’t say that it’s anything special.  Based on what I’ve seen online about the song, it seems like their fans are more excited about the release of a new Spoon track than they are about the track itself, but it’s definitely worth checking out…

MP3: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”

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Written In Reverse – Single (December 2009)

Thanks to Eric B for this one…
“Strange Fruit” was originally intended for Common’s album, Finding Forever, but the song didn’t appear on that album when it was released back in 2007. The beat, which is produced by Devo Springsteen, ended up on Cassidy’s album, B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story (2007) and still features John Legend singing the hook. Nina Simone’s version of the Billie Holiday classic (“Strange Fruit”) was sampled in creating the song and the version below with Common was just leaked online last week.

MP3: Common and John Legend – “Strange Fruit” (Download)

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I can’t wait for the BlakRoc album (The Black Keys hip hop project featuring songs with artists such as Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Ludacris, Jim Jones, Pharoah Monch, and more).  I posted a little about the project not too long ago (here) and recently came across the two tracks below.  I love the Raekwon track and even though RZA isn’t great on the track with Pharoah Monch, the music speaks for itself.  This is some serious blending of hip hop and rock.  To all other projects which have attempted to blend the two genres, prepare to be blown away…
BlakRoc will be released on iTunes and independent music stores on black Friday, November 27th.  You can preorder the album here.

MP3: The Black Keys featuring Raekwon - “Stay Off the F*%$#n’ Flowers” (Download)

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MP3: The Black Keys featuring RZA and Pharoah Monch - “Dollaz & Sense” (Download)

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BlakRoc (November 2009)

Track Listing:
1. Coochie (featuring Ludacris & Ol Dirty Bastard)
2. On The Vista (featuring Mos Def)
3. Hard Times (featuring NOE)
4. Dollaz & Sense (featuring RZA & Pharoah Monch)
5. Why Can’t I Forget Him (featuring Nicole Wray)
6. Stay Off The F*%$#n’ Flowers (featuring Raekwon)
7. Aint Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (featuring Jim Jones and Mos Def)
8. Hope You’re Happy (featuring Billy Danze, Nikki Wray & Q-Tip)
9. Tellin’ Me Things (featuring RZA)
10. What You Do To Me (featuring Billy Danze, Jim Jones & Nicole Wray)
11. Done Did It (featuring Nicole Wray and NOE)

“Heaven Can Wait” is the new single from Charlotte Gainsbourg’s forthcoming album, IRM, which is scheduled to be released in January 2010. The song features backup vocals from Beck, who wrote and produced the entire album for the singer/actress.  In fact, IRM really just sounds like a new Beck album.  CharlotteGainsbourg.com is also offering a free download of the title track from the album. The below MP3 of “Heaven Can Wait” is available on Beck.com, Pitchfork, and Stereogum.

MP3: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Heaven Can Wait” (Download)

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IRM (January 2010)

*UPDATE (11/18):
The music video was just released. Check it out below…

Julian Casablancas, lead singer for The Strokes, will be playing a special series of shows every Friday night this month at the Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles to promote his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young, released last week. The single is called “11th Dimension” but I would recommend checking out the whole album. One of my favorite tracks from the album, “Tourist” is below…

MP3: Julian Casablancas – “Tourist” (Download)

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Phrazes for the Young (November 2009)

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

Thom Yorke announced on Thursday that his new band with Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, long time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker (Beck, REM), and percussionist Mauro Refosco would be playing a show at the Echoplex on Friday night.  I got lucky and I was able to go.  The band played songs from Yorke’s solo album The Eraser and new Yorke solo material.  It was an amazing show, one of my favorites, and they’re playing again tonight and tomorrow night at the Orpheum.

Check out videos, mp3’s, and photos from the Echoplex show after the jump…

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Eight years after the original 7 Worlds Collide collaboration, The Sun Came Out, a new double album of original material recorded in New Zealand is being released.  ”Neil Finn & Friends” created the 7 Years Collide project which started out as live album comprised of music from 5 performances in April 2001.  Proceeds from the sales of the album and dvd went to the Doctors Without Borders organization.  Proceeds from The Sun Came Out will go to the Oxfam organization.  The new album features songs written and performed by Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien of Radiohead, Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Modest Mouse, KT Tunstall, and Wilco members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone.  The album was released outside of the US on August 31 and will be released on September 29th in the US.  Tracklist after the jump…

MP3: 7 Worlds Collide – “Learn To Crawl” (Download) 

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The Sun Came Out (September 2009)

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