This mash-up duo seems to be in existence to serve the dance party needs eclectic music bloggers everywhere. The White Panda are brilliant. If you've been into any sort of popular or indie music in the past decade, you will find something on here that you love, and then you will say, "How the shit did they think to put ____ over ____?"
The individual mash-ups featured on this mixtape, cleverly entitled Versus, are available as longer stand-alone tracks on their website, but they work just fine as one smoothly blended, hour-long mixtape. For those of you looking to play host to a dance party (I'm looking at you, every single student at UVa with Off-Grounds housing), play this! It's got everything you hear at a typical frat party (no Tay Swift or Miley though, sorry to be misleading), but it's presented in a fresh enough way you won't have to be halfway into a case of Natty to get into it.
Check it out here, and if my impassioned post didn't convince you to listen to the whole thing, check out these standout tracks "What You Know about Little Secrets" (TI vs. Passion Pit), "Party Where Your Head's At" (Basement Jaxx vs. Tonite Only), and "Army of Yeah" (Wiz Khalifa vs. Umek & Beltek vs. Usher).
Artist Introduction: The White Panda
Depp in Wonderland
In case ya hadn't heard, Johnny Depp is playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland. That should be enough background info to prepare you for how bugged out this trailer is, nothing really is though.
It's been a few years since we'd seen Depp breakout the make-up for a properly strange character. I was starting to worry about the guy.
Springfest 2010
Matt and Kim, Phoenix, Arctic Monkeys, Passion Pit, and Kid Cudi. No, that's not not a list of my favorite music from the past year, it's the options PKG has given the UVa student body to vote on for who they want to play Springfest 2010. Yeah, that's a damn good list.
Let's hope PKG can get any one of these artists here, but in the mean time go vote here, after you've gotten over how awesome each one these artists is. Also, for those of you who have been living under an Indie rock, here's a taste of what each of these artists has to offer.
Matt and Kim - "Daylight" (above). Otherwise known as the song from the Bacardi commercial. I hear they have a few other decent songs as well.
Phoenix - "1901." The entirety of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, their most recent album, is excellent. Look for it to appear on a ton of "Best of 2009" lists.
Passion Pit - "Moth's Wings." They've been featured here and on every other music blog more than a few times this year.
Arctic Monekeys - "Brianstorm." It's very tough to pick one favorite from this band. Their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, became and still is the UK's fastest selling album ever.
Kid Cudi - "Pursuit of Happiness." Cudi is kind of like a big deal. You might have heard "Day n' Nite" just a few times on the radio earlier this year. Plus, we already know, he's awesome live.
The choice is yours, and yours alone.
Artist Watch: Wale
Wale has really been around the rap scene for a long time. Well, for a new hip-hop artist in the age of free internet mixtapes at least. His first mixtape dropped way back in 2005. Wale then floated around the hip-hop universe as an independent artist, releasing three well received mixtapes, until 2008 when he signed with Interscope. Later that year, The Mixtape About Nothing was released to wide spread critical praise, Pitchfork calling it "one of 2008's best rap albums." The self-aware tape and 2009's Back to the Feature built up hype for his long awaited debut album, Attention Deficit, which came out this past Tuesday (11-10-09). After one listen to the album, I can happily say that it retains the qualities that have kept Wale around this long. It's catchy, but not a ringtone catchy way; original; and lyrically substantial. Favorite song so far, "Mirrors." If you're a UVa student, definitely check the album out, as our beloved UPC has scheduled the DC emcee to play at the Student Activities Building on December 4th.
And as a bonus, check out "Letter," which Wale recorded with John Mayer and released for free early in November. It shows off many of the same qualities mentioned above, and it's John Mayer on a hip-hop hook. Tell me you're not curious to hear how that works out.
Brand Spankin' New: Isaiah and Hovey
Isaiah & Hovey are a new Hip-Hop tandem who hail from Yarmouth, ME and Arlington, VA, but both currently attend VCU. Isaiah Cee, the emcee, and Hovey Benjamin, the producer, have only put out two songs, but both feature a refreshingly original sound. Their second song, "Can't Help Myself," really shows that this isn't a typical hip-hop group. On that track, Hovey demonstrates some impressive musical knowledge, sampling and borrowing the chorus from the 1983 New Order song, "Age of Consent." Overall the production value is remarkably high for a new producer.
While the production plays a crucial role in building the catchy base for these songs, Isaiah Cee's lyrics will keep these songs on repeat for hours. Both songs are about Cee's love for all things womankind, but both avoid most of the clichés that are so common in mainstream hip-hop. In both songs, the lines are witty without sounding gimmicky. He delivers a flow that is Kid Cudi-esque, but not as sing-song like. Also like Cudi, is the sincerity of the message behind the smooth flow. Cee, especially on their first song "I Really Enjoy (Those) Girls," makes you believe that he is rapping about his life, instead of just rapping for the sake of showing off lyrical prowess.
While "Can't Help Myself" is somewhat of a weaker track overall than "I Really Enjoy (Those) Girls," the two songs make for a great first impression of this new duo. Let's hope they keep it up.
Both tracks will be on their first EP, "Being Good At Everything." The songs can be downloaded here and here.