AUDIO ABSINTHE » Weekly Dose

Weekly Dose (8/23/09)

Spencer — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:41:27 +0000

The new album from Rodrigo y Gabriela, 11:11 is schedule to be released on September 8th. Their experience from playing together for so many years is an impressive sight to see. Their live shows have a powerful energy that their 2006 self’titled release managed to capture. If 11:11 is even half as good as Rodrigo y Gabriela, it would be another one of my favorite albums. From the sound of these new songs, it’s looking like it could possibly be better. Rodrigo y Gabriela are bridging genres and generations with their unique style of progressive music. According to their myspace, “Hanuman” was inspired by Carlos Santana and “Buster Voodoo” was inspired by Jimi Hendrix. MP3: Rodrigo y Gabriela – “Hanuman” Listen on MySpace: Rodrigo y Gabriela – “Buster Voodoo” 11:11 (September 2009)

When I first came across a couple of tracks from The xx, I wondered why I hadn’t ever heard of the group. The music sounds so mature it’s as if the band’s been playing together for years. I soon learned that the group members are all just around 19 years old but it’s clear that they have a great sense of popular indie-style music and well beyond. The debut album, xx, was just released on the 16th and it’s definitely something you should check out. I really like this one, a lot. MP3: The xx – “Intro” MP3: The xx – “Crystalized” MP3: The xx – “Islands” xx (August 2009)

Whenever someone asks me who my favorite band of all time is, I have to say The Beatles. Between the individual albums and each and every song, the amount of material that I love is unmatched. When I say that Radiohead are The Beatles of my generation, the strength of the catalogue is what I’m referring to. There is so much more to love than most bands. Radiohead just released another song, “These Are My Twisted Words” and I like it more each time I listen. Two of my friends have separately told me that the intro reminds them of “Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun” by Pink Floyd, which is a great call I think.

MP3: Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words” MP3: Radiohead – “Harry Patch”

Drummer is a new super drummer group made up of drummers from Ohio bands. Formed by Patrick Carney, the drummer from The Black Keys, Drummer features Carney on bass, Teeth of the Hydra’s drummer Jamie Stillman on guitar, Beaten Awake’s drummer Jon Finley on vocals/guitar, Houseguest/Six Parts Seven’s drummer Stephen Clement on vocals/keys, and Ghostman/Sandman’s drummer Greg Boyd on, well, drums.

MP3: Drummer – “Feel Good Together” MP3: Drummer – “Diamonds” Mp3: Drummer – “Mature Fantasy”

Weekly Dose (8/10/09)

Spencer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:49:18 +0000

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”

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)

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)

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)

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”

Weekly Dose (8/1/09)

Spencer — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:09:41 +0000

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)

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.”

Marvin Gaye “Anger” (Jeremy Sole edit) by JeremySole

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)

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?)

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)

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)

Weekly Dose (7/11/09)

Spencer — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:49:32 +0000

Band of Skulls‘ debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey ias released in April on iTunes. My friend got me a copy last week and I now can’t stop playing the 2nd and 3rd tracks, “Death By Diamonds and Pearls” and ”I Know What I Am.” The songs combine the qualities of the White Stripes and The Black Keys; edgy, bluesy hard rock at it’s best. At first, I only really liked these tracks. Now I like the whole album, a lot. The album as a whole is original and progressive and that’s what makes Band of Skulls great. ”Patterns,” Hollywood Bowl,” “Impossible,” and “Blood” are all great, distinctive songs. ”Dull Gold Heart” is a great track that, like the album, took me a couple of listens to realize how much I truly enjoy it. It’s definitely going to be considered one of the best albums of 2009. MP3: Band Of Skulls – “I Know What I Am” MP3 Link: Band of Skulls – “Death By Diamonds and Pearls”

Mocky – Saskamodie

I liked to check out the KCRW DJ picks of the month. I usually find something I didn’t know about before like Saskamodie, the new album from Mocky released back in April. The variety of genres and eras of music blended together on this album is seriously impressive and even more enjoyable. MP3: Mocky – “Birds Of A Feather”

- Nickodemus – Sun People Nickodemus’ new album Sun People was released last month. You can listen to the whole album for free at Nickodemus.com where I got the cool widget below. They’re letting people embed the widget so now you can listen to the album right here. MP3: Nickodemus – “Sun Children (Ft. The Real Live Show)”

Air – Love 2 Air’s upcoming album, Love 2 is due October 6th. The band released the track below, “Do The Joy” via their website, Aircheology.com. Check it out here: MP3: Air – “Do The Joy”

Weekly Dose (7/3/09)

Spencer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:29:32 +0000

The Black Crowes posted a brand new track for free download on their website, BlackCrowes.com. The song, “I Ain’t Hiding” is off the upcoming album, Before The Frost, due September 2009. MP3: The Black Crowes – “I Ain’t Hiding”

Little Dragon’s upcoming sophomore album, Berlinmaster, is due in August 2009. I’ve always thought there was something distinctive and impressively original about LIttle Dragon and the singles off the new album (linked below) are testament to their unique sound. On a side note, according to Allmusic.com, “Fortune” and “Blinking Pigs”, the singles off the upcoming album, were released this year, contradictory to iTunes which has the release date as January of 2008. Not sure what’s going on there… MP3: Little Dragon – “Fortune” MP3: Little Dragon – “Blinking Pigs”

“Tell Me It’s Not Over” by Starsailor is a song I’ve been hearing on KCRW a good amount. The song is kind of soft and a little cheesy but it’s an emotional and well executed, pop rock song. At first, I was kind of embarassed that I liked the song but I got over that pretty quickly. MP3: Starsailor – “Tell Me It’s Not Over”

After realizing that the original One eskimO track “Given Up” is not called “Givin’ Up” I was finally able to find the song I wanted for so long. Everytime I searched for the song I would get the Don Diablo remix which I posted a couple of months ago. It was spelled “Givin’ Up” for the Don Diablo Remix so I had some trouble… Found it now though and here it is, One eskimO’s “Given Up”

One eskimO – Given Up

Beck is a busy man. Aside from the Record Club project I discussed last week, Beck recently announced another project called “Planned Obsolescence.” According to Beck.com, Planned Obsolescence is a weekly DJ set of “mixes of what we’re listening to, put together by myself or guest DJs.” The first mix he’s posted is 40 minutes long and guess what- Beck is using Soundcloud.com which I love and have posted about a couple of times. I’m happy to see someone like Beck taking advantage of what SoundCloud.com has to offer. I posted the first mix for the Planned Obsolescence project below. And below that are the 2nd and 3rd songs in the Record Club series.

Planned Obsolescence:

Beck – “Autobahn Hologram”

Record Club:

Beck – “Femme Fatal” (Velvet Underground & Nico)

Beck – “Waiting for My Man” (Velvet Underground & Nico)

Weekly Dose (6/19/09)

Spencer — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:29:08 +0000

Zero 7 recently announced a new full length titled “Yeah Ghost” due on September 8th. The track below is the first I’ve been able to check out. It’s a great track with a warm, fuzzy electronic pop sound- classic Zero 7 material. It’s what you might expect from Zero 7 after their last, grammy nominated album The Garden which came out in 2006. These guys are great. MP3: Zero 7 – Everything Up (Zizou)

This next track has become an indie rock hit of sorts over the last month or so. It’s “Percussion Gun” by White Rabbits out of New York. The song opens their May 2009 release It’s Frightening and features heavy percussion behind a big pop hook. It’s their most popular track, by far, with over 100,000 more plays than any other track on their myspace page. I’ve only heard a couple of tracks so far but I’m curious to hear a full album of their material, although, I am a little suspicious that an album by another indie dance rock band with one big hit might not do that well in terms of sales. Great track though… MP3: White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

Remember right after the explosion of gangster rap, when some artists made hip hop fun again? In the 80’s hip hop was party music, and then it happened again in 2000 with DJ Quik’s “Pitch In On A Party”. DJ Quik’s talent for blending gangsta rap with quality party beats established the emcee/producer as one of the best party hip hop producers of the last 2 decades. Dj Quik’s June 2009 album and collaboration with Kurupt is another example of the blending of gangsta rap and party beats that Quik mastered over a decade ago.

MP3: DJ Quik and Kurupt - Hey Playa

I had to change what wrote in one of the old weekly doses about Wilco’s latest album, Wilco (The Album), because of how much and how fast it’s grown on me. I think it’s such a great album and I’m really upset that my first impression of the album wasn’t as great as I feel about it now. It’s happened in the past with a couple of albums but for the most part it’s not that common. Anyway, I think I like the new album more than Sky Blue Sky now and “Solitaire” might be my favorite Wilco track of all time.

Wilco – Solitaire

Erik Mongrain- amazing guitarist, plain and simple. Just wanted to share this video. It was posted back in 2006 and it’s not that crazy but “Thin Mint” by Keller Williams came up on my iPod the other day and I got into this kind of percussive guitar playing again.

Weekly Dose (6/10/09)

Spencer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:32:58 +0000

Matisyahu’s new single “One Day” is the first release from his upcoming album, Light due in August. I think it’s obvious when you listen to this song that it’s going to be a big hit. Most people know Matisyahu for ”King Without A Crown” his first hit song. ”One Day” might be bigger. I’m not saying it’s better, but I do think it has the potential to reach a much larger audience and become more popular than “King Without A Crown” ever was. For some reason, it makes me think of Pixar movies- like the song will be the musical equivalent of successful family films. At least, I’m sure it will be used in films, TV, and commercials since it is such an uplifting anthem.

Listen to ‘One Day’ Spinner.com

Vitamin String Quartet is great… and hilarious. I’m always surprised at how much I like the covers they do. I wouldn’t have thought string quartets covering popular contemporary music would come up with anything I was interested in, let alone a whole album. Vitamin String Quartet performs In Rainbows was released June 2nd and it’s absolutely great. Their version of Radiohead’s latest masterpiece is fun and highly enjoyable. Just listen to “15 Steps” and you’ll see what I mean. LaLa.com released the whole album online so we can check it all out. Here it is:

- Two new artists for us all…

The first is Will Dailey from Boston. Someone who works with Will wrote and suggested I check him out. Her favorite track, “Never Be Your Baby” is an upbeat, catchy and impressive track. Dailey’s planning on releasing an EP every 3 months for the next year so it seems like he’s got a lot of material and I’m anxious to hear what he’s got in store. Check out his myspace page here. MP3: Will Dailey – Never Be Your Baby (Live)

Will Dailey

The second is Kurty Durty. The rapper from Bakersfield definitely has some serious skill. I love the production on “You And Me” and Durty’s solid delivery was more than enough for me to decide to check more out. You can get his mixtape here. Here’s a little history- Kurty Durty had “the opportunity to open for Ice Cube & WC in Bakersfield. Having performed so well at that show he was invited back to open up for Snoop Dogg later that year, performing on the same stage as [and finishing the tour with] Snoop, Warren G, DPG, The Twinz and Lady of Rage.” - DubCNN.com MP3: Kurty Durty – You And Me

Kurty Durty backstage with Ice Cube

Weekly Dose (5/28/09)

Spencer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:50:44 +0000

It’s not really May 28th right now but that’s when I wanted to post these songs. I went on vacation before I wrote anything for them but now I’m back… Wilco’s new album, Wilco (The Album), is due on June 30th. A blog my friend showed me a couple of weeks ago showed me a link (here) back on May 13th so I was able to listen to a copy. I wasn’t immediately impressed as I was expecting, but the more I listened, the more I liked it. Now I think it’s great. These guys have something special and it really shines on this latest album. I might like Sky Blue Sky a little more but we’ll see what I’m saying in another few weeks. It really does seem like it gets better the more I listen though because I didn’t think it was that great when I first listened. I did say that I might come around with Wilco and this album, and I definitely have. MP3: Wilco (The Song)

Doves released their new album Kingdom of Rust in April 2009. I would describe their music as new wave, electronic rock but I’m sure the fans who have been listening to them since the early 90’s would want to describe them a little differently. Their song “Jetstream” is one of my favorite tracks of this year and the album is great. Thanks go to Scott S who, aside from introducing them to me in the post he wrote a while back, also recommended the new album to me. MP3: Doves – Jetstream

Zion I’s debut album Mind Over Matter was released back in 2000 and I’ve been paying attention ever since. On May 26th, Zion I released Don’t Lose Your Head – EP and The Takeover (Bonus Edition). The EP is 5 tracks, 4 of those 5 are versions of “Don’t Lose Your Head” which was originally released in 2007 on a Too Short and Friends album. The Takeover was released 5 months ago and now they’re rereleasing it with a music video of one of the songs added at the end. Whatever the story behind these re-releases is, I still like Mind Over Matter, a lot. MP3: Zion I featuring Brother Ali – Caged Bird MP3: Zion I featuring Too Short – Don’t Lose Your Head

Weekly Dose (5/22/09)

Spencer — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:55:28 +0000

Grizzly Bear’s song “Two Weeks” has been getting a lot of attention since the performed it on Letterman almost a year ago. The track will be included on their upcoming album, Veckatimest, due on May 26th. Parts of “Two Weeks” sound like they could have been created back in the 60’s. With simple yet creative harmonies, you can’t help but think of the Beach Boys when you hear the song. It’s an interesting and truly great track. MP3: Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

The Big Pink is a relatively new act from the UK. They have a great psychedelic, electronic rock sound and it seems like they already have a respectable sized following over seas and here in the US. A coworker showed me the single “Velvet” which iTunes released in the US on April 20th and I think it’s an awesome track. These guys have a very cool, intriguing sound. MP3: The Big Pink – Velvet MP3 Link: The Big Pink – Too Young To Love

Moby’s got a new album, Wait For Me, due on June 30th, that he produced pretty much entirely by himself in his own studio. He always comes up with interesting, attractive music and he’s got a great ear which translates very well on his original material. The single is called “Shot In The Back Of The Head” and David Lynch directed the video for it. Between the single and another track I’ve heard, “Pale Horses” it sounds like Moby is going in another direction from his more popular material and I really like it. Definitely excited to check out the rest of the album. MP3: Moby – Shot In The Back Of The Head

A relatively unknown artist, Jason Aaron, has a great video for his song “Salivate On My Heart.” The video features Jason singing the fun and extremely catchy, low-fi pop tune on a spacecraft in outerspace and it’s awesome. Directed by Luis Bolivar, the video’s sleek shots of Jason Aaron singing with cool, space-scapes in the background matches perfectly with the track. Check it out below.

Weekly Dose (5/9/09)

Spencer — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:16:19 +0000

I wanted to post these tracks about a week ago but I didn’t write this all out until today. My bad for lagging! About 2 weeks ago, KCRW (89.9 fm) started spinning the attached Don Diablo remix of the One eskimO track “Givin’ Up”. The song has quickly become one of the most popular tracks on the internet/blogosphere. This remix reminds me of some 90’s dance music tracks but it’s much cooler than C&C Music Factory and it’s definitely a lot darker. One eskimO’s lead singer Kristian Leontiou has an incredible voice that really makes each beautiful, melodic song something you want to hear over and over again (the remix is much more hardcore than the rest of One eskimO’s music). You can find “Givin’ Up (Don Diablo remix)” on the band’s myspace page along with their single, “Kandi”. MP3: One eskimO - Givin’ Up (Don Diablo Remix) MP3: One eskimO – Kandi

Tosca’s new album No Hassle was just released about 2 weeks ago. The album is 27 tracks long and it’s $9.99 on iTunes. I’m used to paying 10 bucks for about 10 tracks so it’s really a great deal in my opinion (let alone the fact that the album has some really fantastic, classic Tosca style lounge music) . When is comes to lounge, chill out style beats, Tosca is king. Comprised of Richard Dorfmeister (of one of my personal favorites, Kruder & Dorfmeister) and Rupert Huber, Tosca has been perfecting their craft since 1997’s Opera. I first heard about them from J Ross, who highly recommended the album Suzuki (2000). No Hassle is an awesome album, check out some of the tracks below and in this previous post… MP3 Link: Tosca – Springer Hype Machine: Tosca – Joe Si Ha

J-Live released a new compilation about two weeks ago. The Early Works of J-Live features 40 tracks (most of which can be found on The Best Part (2001) and All of the Above (2002)) that you may not know about if you’ve only discovered J-Live recently. It’s kind of strange that he’s releasing a “best of” compilation like this though. He hasn’t really been around that long. Granted, The Best Part was his first release and it was mainly comprised of individual parts he had been working on over nearly a decade but J-Live’s official debut album, All of the Above came out just 7 years ago. Regardless, J-Live is a great hip hop emcee and, lyrically, maybe even one of the best and the songs on this new release are some of his best tracks. Here are 2 of my favorites… MP3: J-Live – The Best Part

Gza is featured on a brand new track from the Black Lips. Lead singer Cole Alexander sounds a little like what you might imagine Bob Dylan would sound like if he was rapping and, to be honest, I didn’t like it at first but it’s kind of grown on me. Gza’s verse is good but the beat drops out when he starts going and at the end of his verse it doesn’t feel very satisfying. The change in pace and consistency kind of takes away from the overall feeling of the song. I still think it’s a really cool track though. MP3:Black Lips – The Drop I Hold (featuring Gza)