5 tracks for the weekend

This is the first weekend in a month that I don't have to some sort of wedding related thing. You have no idea how excited I am for this. I like weddings because they involve free booze but it also involves a lot of other bullshit that I'm not really into.

Also I'm sitting next to this fucking cat right now that just ate through another pair of headphones. That brings the total to three pairs of headphones ruined by said cat. I'm going to put it outside to teach it a lesson.

 Air France, "It Feels Good To Be Around You" by The FADER

What the hell is wrong with you people? It is nearly 8:00pm and not a single one of you told me there was a new Air France track out today. I'm disappointed in all of you.

Holy shit, Air France couldn't make a song that doesn't sound like summer. I really don't think it is possible. It has been over two years since they released their last track so this is big news for me. I have their first two EPs and they are better than 90% of the garbage put out in the last year.

As for this track, I'm digging it. It might not be the best thing they have ever put out but the last half of the track is really strong. Listen to this song and then read this quote from them:

“We are very good at geography and nature, botanical things and so on, but we are completely useless when it comes to music. Joel has no sense of structure at all and Henrik doesn’t know how to start or finish a song…We’ll sit half a day in front of YouTube thinking ‘how the hell did they do that?’ We have many questions for George Harrison that will never be answered.

That makes total sense really because I don't understand how they make their songs. These songs could probably go on forever and I would never grow tired of them. Summer just got a lot better.



Let's just start from here - I have the worst crush on Katy B. I don't even know why. There isn't anything I can point to and say 'Look, that is why I have a crush on her'.  You can't explain love.

Like the songs a lot, but this video is really dumb. Whoever thought this song needed some garbage, high concept music video should stop making music videos. You have a hot 20 something girl with an awesome voice. We don't need distractions from her....you are ruining it.

If the American public had any sense of taste she would be a huge hit over here and Katy Perry would be out of a job.



Tim suggested I put this up today. I have never heard this song, this album, or any substantial amount of Genesis. I'm still trying to figure out what to make of this. If I start to like this song does that mean I have to start listening to Prog Rock?

I'm told that this album has Brian Eno on it, which I'm a huge fan of any album he is on and reminds me - we haven't done a random strategy in a while. Let's correct that. Drum roll.......

Bridges -Build -Burn

F. Yea. I can totally get behind that one.



What the...Well hello there. How are you? I'm doing well thanks. Can I get you anything; a drink, a cocktail, anything? No, you sure? Come on, you know you want something. A cocktail it is.

What was that? Yes, yes, I do believe you are one bitching tune. I know, I feel really bad that I had no idea you existed until today. What can I say, I've been really busy. I'm sorry, I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Tell me something, why am I just learning about you now? Why haven't you been on every mix this summer. Lord knows people put out enough mixes that you should have found your way onto one. Crying shame if you ask me.



Because it's my blog and I do what I want.

Lil' B - We get tats for the ladies

I don't know what happened yesterday, there was a long third point that was suppose to be included in yesterday's post but for some reason it disapeared.



Lil' B, Lil' B, Lil' B, what are we going to do with you? You are the Bob Pollard of the indie rap world. You release an album/mix-tape at rates not seen since Lil' Wayne circa 2006-2007. Whereas I think Bob Pollard releases so many albums every year because he probably needs the money, you are in your 20's and you don't seem to be that hard up for cash. The frequency of your releases seems to be tied more to the fact that you a) don't have an editor and b) probably just like putting out a bunch of shit. Lil'B is like Bob Pollar - if you were to take the best songs from all the albums he releases every year and make one album, it would be a classic.

With all that said, I'm really digging this track. This is one of those songs that would be on that yearly greatest hits album. It helps that he has a killer beat on the track but Lil' B actually doesn't sound like a complete goof-ball, which helps a lot. That was one of the reasons that I have had a hard time taking Lil' B seriously, I can't tell if he is purposely trying to be a weirdo, or if really is a weirdo, or can he rap without being a weirdo at all. I'm going to point to this song as evidence that if he every took care of shit he could be amazing.

Sampling of some of the best lines:

I'll eat you for the motherland
Man I'm so hungry/bones showing through my face
I don't say homo because I'm a fucking thug
I these other rappers getting boo'ed like O.J./I respect O.J./A fan of the juice man
Man, it's going to be a cold summer/ Only got one friend Coyote and Road Runner

And it goes on and on....

1. Awesome fucking cover art. I want that on my wall in my living room.

2. Awesome record title, "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light". So good.

I don't know if this is a new or previously released track from Zomby, but it is pretty great.

Zomby's music doesn't remind me of most electronic music coming our right now. It doesn't sound like you would hear it in a club somewhere, or would even want to hear it in a club. That is probably the point though - this is all just a lesson in what we think should and should not be played in a club. I know there are countless artists out there doing this exact thing, trying to push the line between what is expected and what isn't. In electronic music I feel like the line is drawn somewhere between this gets played in a club and this gets thrown into the avant-garde bin.  I could be totally wrong though, there may be clubs in Europe that are packed listening to this stuff. If so, I want to go too.

The more I listen to this new Zomby album the more I think of the last couple Pantha-du Prince albums. Those albums were very dark, atmospheric, and had a sense of place about them - the same feelings are brought up with this album. It is dance music moved into some sort of other territory - one foot in the beat world and another in the more experimental.

I should probably say more about this video because it is totally mesmerizing. Quit stunning really.

(h/t Dummy Mag)

Let's just forget how I've wronged you and listen to these tunes

I'm sooooo sorry. I just ran out of time on Friday. I swear. I felt bad all weekend that I left you hanging. Thursday I told you I would have songs for you for the weekend and I dropped the ball. I'm sorry. Let's just forget about that happening, sit back and enjoy these tunes.

These songs go out to the three clowns talking very loudly in the coffee shop about politics. You don't know what you are talking about. Please stop.



Wolfgang Voigt walked out of the club onto the dark streets of Cologne. It was late July and the air was dry and stale. He was the only person on the street as he walked toward the middle of town. He walked and walked through the hot summer night until he got to his apartment. It was 1996, minimalism was just starting to get on its feet and he was at the center of it. He climbed the stair well up to the roof of his apartment building that over looked the city. Even though it was four in the morning he could still see countless buildings lit up all around the city. It was hot, humid, and it was late summer - no one was sleeping tonight.

He stood on the edge of his building and looked down. He thought to himself,  'The summer is hot, it can suck the will to live out of even the strongest man. I am only one man, but I will break the stranglehold the heat has on the city my producing the coldest minimal beat this town has ever heard. It will fall upon ears dying for the coldness that is reserved for nights in January - it will set them free'.



For a bitching reggae track their really isn't much going on here. Besides some guitar work, some bongos, and midi strings, it is just an excellent example of well produced vocal tracks. The vocals make this track work and it pays off. Is this minimalism for reggae - why can't there be more tracks like this?



I can't tell you how obsessed I was with this album when it came out. This track was the first song I heard off of the album and two years later it has aged really well. A great example of late 00's electro/disco adventure. If you heard of this album it was because it was the brainchild of one of the clowns from Vampire Weekend. It probably never got the recognition it deserved because it sounds nothing like Vampire Weekend and that is why it is great. This guy, who was in a huge band at the time, went out off and made an album that he didn't need to make and made it sound like nothing else. I truly believe this is one of the most underrated albums in the last five years. It holds up with some of the best albums of that time and two years later it is still fresh.



Fucking Arthur Russell. God damn it. Tooooo good. Uggggggggg.