DJ Car Stereo (Wars)
Hot Chip – “One Life Stand”
Just last week, Hot Chip announced a North American tour this spring with fellow Londoners The xx, in support of their upcoming fourth album. Now we have the title track from One Life Stand – the band’s follow-up to 2008′s Made in the Dark – and I’m pleased to report that it doesn’t disappoint. While Made In The Dark had dancefloor-friendly hits such as “Ready For The Floor” and “Shake a Fist”, it was the sensitive ballads like “Touch Too Much” and the album’s title track, that showed how the electro-pop quintet has matured, both musically and as a band. “One Life Stand” is trademark Hot Chip; a disco-ready synth beat, subtle keyboards, and lead singer Alexis Taylor sincerely promising a lover, “I only want to be your one life stand”. Head over to Hot Chip’s MySpace to hear the track and get more updates about the album.
Lupe Fiasco – “The National Anthem (Freestyle)”
This past weekend an old friend of mine came to visit and attended the Kid Cudi concert at the Kool Haus (which, by all accounts was a pretty good time – Drake even showed up!). We got to talking about what rappers we’d pay good money to see perform. The usual big-name suspects came up – Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye – and we generally agreed that these guys would be worth shelling out the major bucks to see, even if that meant reluctantly trekking to the Sound Academy or Air Canada Centre. After listening to his new free online mixtape, Enemy of the State: A Love Story, I’d have to add Lupe Fiasco to the list. Does anybody else think this guy is seriously underrated as a rapper? The Chi-Town rapper has put out two critically and public well-received albums, 2006′s Food & Liquor and 2007′s The Cool, but has yet to win a Best Rap Album Grammy. He’s put out huge singles such as “Kick Push”, “I Gotcha”, and my personal favourite, “Superstar”, but still got snubbed by MTV in their 2009 Hottest MCs list (an exclusion Lupe didn’t take lying down). While fans wait for Lupe’s third album – due next year – this mixtape should satisfy their appetites until then. On this one, the rapper freestyles over a handful of artists, including The Clipse, Jay, Weezy, and one of Radiohead’s all-time best songs,”The National Anthem” from their 2000 album Kid A. Here he sounds off about greedy rappers and haters (“How you gonna school me when I grew up with your teachers?”), shouts out to his hometown (“Feelin’ like a Soldier, and I ain’t talking where the Bears play”), and proves he knows a thing or two about 90s alternative rock (“I’m red hot, chilly, I’m Anthony Kiedis/My spirit smells teenage”), while a typically morose Thom Yorke pops in and out to provide “back-up” vocals (on a related note – anyone know where I can get the instrumental version of that song?). Is it too early to put in my vote for next year’s best rap album? If Enemy of the State is any indication, 2010 is going to be Lupe’s year to shine.
Major Lazer feat. Nina Sky & Ricky Blaze – “Keep It Goin’ Louder (DZ vs. NTRLD Remix)”
I know what you’re thinking: another Major Lazer remix? So far the first three singles (“Hold The Line”, “Pon De Floor”, and “Keep It Goin’ Louder”) from Diplo and Switch’s reggae/dancehall/surf-rock/exprimental side-project, have already resulted in enough remixes to fill up at least a pretty decent EP. In that case, it might not be that much of a stretch to say that “Keep It Goin’ Louder” is this year’s “Paper Planes” (the Wikipedia page of the latter lists thirteen remixes, not including the countless other unofficial remixes) – both songs have strong female vocals, flirt with several different genres, and are insanely catchy. This version comes courtesy of two San Francisco dubstep DJs, DZ and NTRLD, who do several smart things with the track. Number one: they stretch the original from three and half to five and a half minutes. Number two: they drop the majority of the annoying Ricky Blaze vocals, putting more of a spotlight on the Nina Sky ladies (American identical twins Nicole and Natalie Albino, who had a minor hit in 2004, with their song “Move Ya Body”). Number three: they speed up the song’s tempo, before transforming it into a slab of glitchy, stuttering dubstep that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Skream or Zomby album. No word yet if Diplo’s label Mad Decent will put this version out on the 12″ single as a B-side, but for now, listen to it for yourself here.
Dem Getaway Boyz – “Imma G (Memory Tapes Remix)”
OJ Da Juiceman feat. Gucci Mane – “Good Night (HEALTH Remix)”
Your favourite Atlanta gangsta rappers, remixed by your favourite blog-endorsed, hipster bands and DJs. Two words: fucking genius. Courtesy of the folks over at Adult Swim (the bizarre – and usually NSFW – television network responsible for shows like this), we have this stellar one-off mixtape entitled ATL RMX, which is exactly what the name suggests. The mixtape features songs from some of the best hip-hop minds to come from the Dirty South (Lil Jon, Young Jeezy, Cee-Lo), remixed by Pitchfork-friendly acts (El-P, Flying Lotus, SALEM) that probably wouldn’t be the among the first to come to mind if you were asked to make a list of artists that get down to crunk beats and raps about oversized jewelry. The results are definitely unexpected, decidedly weird, and kind of catchy in places. My favourite remixes are Memory Tapes’ one-man-band Dayve Hawk’s injecting a bit of wistful soul-pop into Dem Getaway Boyz’s “Imma G”, and Los Angeles noise-mongers HEALTH (who’ve proven in the past that they know a thing or two about remixes) remixing a song by a guy with either the best or worse name in rap, featuring a guy who just put out a triple concept mixtape based on the friggin’ Cold War. Download the entire mixtape for free here.
DJ Car Stereo (Wars) – “Gator McKlusky’s Gold”
Girl Talk just got some competition. Hailing from Austin, Texas, Chris Rose aka DJ Car Stereo (Wars), actually has been quoted as saying that he wishes his work to sound like a “smoother and less abrasive” Greg Gillis effort. This is certainly an apt description of his mash-ups, in which he not only samples popular songs, but lesser known/expected tunes and movie and TV theme songs as well, to make more cohesive party-starters than Girl Talk’s ADD jams. Hopefully DJ Car Stereo (Wars) gets the attention he deserves when this spring he plays what is the best music festival anywhere ever, Austin’s South By Southwest (SXSW). Festival organizers announced the first batch of artists that’ll be playing SXSW a few weeks ago, with some of the Canadian bands heading south so far including Apostle of Hustle, Hot Panda, Parlovr, Japandroids, The Pack A.D., Plants and Animals, Red Mass, Timber Timbre, and We Are Wolves. As for DJ Car Stereo (Wars), he’s not exactly a newcomer to the festival circuit – this year he played Lollapalooza in Chicago and Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. If you needed any more reason to check out this guy, his debut album of is entitled The Bandit, and all the mash-ups are named after characters Burt Reynolds (and his mustache) have played in movies. My favourite track on his http://www.myspace.com/djcarstereowars MySpace is “Gator McKlusky’s Gold”, which takes snippets from songs including “Ms. New Booty”, Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”, Weezer’s “Beverly Hills”, Mims’ “Like This”, one particularly iconic movie theme song, among others.
Alexisonfire – “This Could Be Anywhere In The World (Barletta Remix)”
People are going to hate on me for posting this one, but the truth is, I kind of like it. Who’d have thought that Dallas Green’s emo-style vocals would be perfectly suited for a club banger? Apparently DJ Barletta thought so, and as a result, we have what may be the first ever Alexisonfire remix (if you can prove me wrong, leave a comment below). A little bit more about Barletta, if you aren’t familiar with the name: he’s a linchpin in the Toronto DJ scene, appearing regularly at clubs including the Drake and Wrongbar, among others. He’s also mad prolific – if you visit his MySpace page, you’ll see over eighty remixes and original material credited to his name and Mansion, the duo he formed with fellow DJ Violca. He’s given electro-house makeovers to songs from everyone including globe-trotting popstars (Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Madonna), other DJs (The Bloody Beetroots, Crookers, David Guetta), and local talent (Lioness, Metric, Times Neue Roman). I can’t wait to see how all the diehard 14-year-old girls – the majority of Green’s fan base – and hardcore Alexis fans, react to this one (courtesy of Dine Alone Records’ Twitter). As for St. Catherine’s finest, they’ll be playing some dates in Australia, before embarking on a Canadian tour with Billy Talent and Against Me! in March.
Propagandhi – “Dear Coaches Corner”
While I correctly predicted Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion would top EXCLAIM!‘s year-end album list in the “Pop Rocks” category (isn’t that right Jessica Lewis?), I was not familiar with the band at the top of the “No Future” list, a punk rock band from Winnipeg by the name of Propagandhi. So I gave a listen to the band’s newest album, Supporting Caste, based on the magazine’s high praise and was pleasantly surprised. A Wikipedia search tells me that Propagandhi formed in the mid-1980s, originally with The Weakerthans John K. Samson on bass. They then spent some time hanging out in SoCal with NOFX’s Fat Mike, signing to his Fat Wreck Records label, while recording some songs about animal liberation and veganism (punk raawwk!). It’s now 2009, but if you think the band’s current incantation – lead singer and guitarist Chris Hannah, drummer Jord Samolesky, bassist Todd Kowalski, and guitarist David “The Beaver” Guillas (how Canadian a nickname is that?) – have lost their ability to rage against the machine, then guess again. “Dear Coaches Corner” opens with a sample from – you guessed it, none other than everyone’s favourite Hockey Night In Canada hosts, with Mr. Cherry telling Ron MacLean, “Let’s talk about some good guys, let’s talk about the troops”. This isn’t some dumb homage to our national sport though – instead its a thought-provoking meditation about what happens when the worlds of the war in Afghanistan and hockey converge. Even if you don’t like the song musically, it’ll sure as hell make you think lyrically the next time you are sitting in the stands and there’s a moment of silence for a fallen soldier or a tribute to the troops.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Even Heroes Have to Die”
Who is Ted Leo? Most people – which until recently included myself – would be hard-pressed to identify the man behind one of the hardest-working punk bands around today. While the Pharmacists have gone through several lineup chances (the current band includes bassist Dave Lerner and drummer Chris Wilson), Leo has been writing, recording, and performing music, solo and in numerous bands, since the late-Eighties. The singer and guitarist isn’t flashy – he prefers to let his music do the talking. But when the Leo does talk, he’s not afraid to speak his mind, and many of his lyrics are politically-charged (check out “Bomb.Repeat.Bomb.”, from the band’s 2007 album Living with the Living) in the old-school spirit of artists such as The Clash and Billy Bragg (did I mention he received his English major from the University of Notre Dame?). And perhaps, most importantly, he’s not afraid to call out criticism of his music that he feels is unwarranted. Responding to Pitchfork’s review of “Even Heroes Have to Die”, which compared the song to something that The Gaslight Anthem, Ted Leo wrote the following: “Hey – I got nothing against what I know about The Gaslight Anthem, Pitchfork – fellow Jerseyans, write some good songs, etc. – but doesn’t my 20+ years of service in this industry qualify me for a journalistic benefit of the doubt that I’m probably not being influenced by them as I write my… like… 300th song (or that maybe we’re both drawing inspiration from a similar pool of even older artists)?” Leo is a voice of steadiness in a musical world that’s become so overrun with commercialism and materialism – we need him and the Pharmacists now more than ever. Recently Ted Leo and the Pharmacists signed to Matador Records and their sixth album, The Brutalist Bricks, is due out March 9th. Download “Even Heroes Have to Die” for free here.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “River Styx”
BRMC’s last full-length album with vocals, Baby 81, was one of my favourite underrated records of 2007. Full of swaggering garage-rock riffs, and apocalyptic slow-burners that wouldn’t sound out of place on a road trip mixtape between The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Jesus & Mary Chain, this album should be a must have for fans of leather jackets, motorcycles and/or really good alternative rock. But the next year is shaping up to be a pretty good one for the Los Angeles-based trio of Peter Hayes, Robert Been and recently added drummer Leah Shapiro. Not only did they just put out a live concert DVD/CD (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live), they also have a North American tour this spring (including an April Fool’s Day stop in Toronto at the Phoenix), in support of their upcoming sixth album. Early contender for most badass album title of 2010, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, is scheduled for a North American release on March 9th. While none of the new songs are officially on their website yet, here is a grainy – but decent quality audio-wise – black and white fan video of the band performing “River Styx” live. While you’re at it, be sure to check out their older material, and pretend like you’ve known about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club all along.
The Killers feat. Wild Light & Mariachi El Bronx – “Happy Birthday Guadalupe!”
Fucked Up feat. Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Bob Mould, Tegan & Sara, Andrew W.K., GZA, Kyp Malone (TV On The Radio), Yo La Tengo, David Cross & Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene) – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
‘Tis the season for your favourite artists to put out hokey, half-baked Christmas albums that are nothing more than a lame cash grabs (Bob Dylan, I’m looking in your direction). Here’s two Christmas-themed songs for charity that don’t suck. I probably don’t need to tell you how much I hated the last Killers album, Day & Age, and how much of a douche and ungrateful prick I think Brandon Flowers is (watch this interview if you don’t believe me). Yet, deep down, I still want to believe in this band. I really enjoyed Sawdust, their 2007 collection of B-sides, rarities and one-offs, especially the collaboration with Lou Reed on “Tranquilize” and their cover of Dire Strait’s “Romeo and Juliet”. And let’s be honest: who doesn’t hum along even today when “Mr. Brightside” comes on the radio? More recently, the Las Vegas band recorded the surprisingly good “White Demon Love Song” for the New Moon soundtrack (note: for your benefit, the video link that I included is the only one without the generic accompanying slideshow of Twilight pictures), and now we get this Christmas-themed charity single (all proceeds from the digital download go to the Project Red campaign). “Happy Birthday Guadalupe!” sees The Killers head south of the border, for a horn-filled tribute to one of Mexico’s most important religious icons, also bringing their tour mates (New Hampshire’s Wild Light, and Mariachi El Bronx, aka the alter-ego band of Los Angeles’ The Bronx) along for the ride. You also get to hear Flowers sing in Spanish and deliver lines that are incredibly cheesy, yet kind of endearing (“I pulled her body close to mine and I had just one chance/I whispered,”Baby will you marry me for just one dance?”). Watch the video – starring actor Luke Perry as a rugged cowboy – here. Second up is a little charity recording for three Canadian womens’ charities, masterminded by a guy who probably enjoys his fair share of milk and cookies, Fucked Up’s Pink Eyes. He decided to round up an indie all-star cast of musicians (and this guy) to help him out to cover the Christmas “classic” “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (with the help of the band’s Polaris Prize money), written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984, to raise money for relief of 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Show of hands, who else thinks these guys should form a real band? That’s what I thought. Damian”Pink Eyes” Abraham talked to ExploreMusic’s Mike Sullivan on the phone about the single recently – listen to that and the song here.
