Summer Time

Since the last post here, somebody moved to Miami, Spanish deportes fans have had a lot to cheer about, and MES favorite Big Boi dropped an apparently stellar album (I haven't had time to give it a proper listen). It's the summertime and I'm putting in nine to five for the Man so I haven't had much time for new music, movies, ect. But with the World Cup over I've found time to listen to enough new stuff to put together this summer-themed post.

Please Note: Each of these songs, especially the last three, deserve their own feature-length article, so please bear with me as I pile them all into one, unworthy weblog post.

All Summer - Kid Cudi, Best Coast, and Rostam Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend)

Converse thought that the kinds people of people who listen to these three artists didn't wear Chuck Taylors enough so they commissioned them to do a song together. Anyways it's a fantastic union and the result is a catchy, laid back song that bears the trademark styles of each artist seamlessly. It's a song that fits naturally with memories of late night drives with windows down. It's warm, pleasant, and you'll want to hear it again.

The music video really sucks, and it's the first time I've really felt a music video detracted from a song. So I post the video above mostly for the sounds and to have something up there, but try and listen to it sans Converse provided visuals (free MP3 here or hit the SoundCloud stream below). The images of summer the song calls to mind on its own are more than sufficient.

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Power - Kanye West

This is new shit for that guy from Chicago who dropped out of college or whatever to make music. This song is similar to Kanye's previous work in that it's better then almost all other contemporary hip-hop or pop and makes defending the genre as an art easier. And you can get into like all the drunk people who don't give a shit about hip-hop as art when you're maybe a bit intoxicated and you don't give a shit about anything. And that's what good music does.

Mr. West has the industry on his proverbial male reproductive organ, and he knows it. "No one man should have all that power," Ye says in the song. Maybe not, but I'm glad he has it and not someone else. His new album is supposedly called Good Ass Job, and supposedly comes out September 14th (the same day that Cudi's new album supposedly comes out).

Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem

Continuing on the inebriation and music theme, we have this gem from LCD Soundsytem, who have a long history of making excellent tunes, and this is supposedly (nothing is certain) the last album from mastermind James McMurphy under the guise of LCD Soundsystem. Savor this last, tasty album. (Entitled This is Happening and it came out earlier this year.)

This is one of those songs that slowly builds on itself until it all falls over in an excellent pile of noise towards the end of the track. A lot of their songs use this pattern quite successfully, but this one is a bit shorter than their norm and perhaps more digestible for the average listener. I could have put any one of the songs from the most recent album up here, but I felt this fit the mood of the post best. Check the whole thing out, please. (This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem)

Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective

This ain't new (it came out in January 2009), I know, but it needs to be here.

I love the lyrics of the song. I love the harmonies. I love all the crazy loops. Mostly though, I love the faceless dancers in eyeball things in the video. It all combines into something that perfectly conveys a feeling that everyone loves and knows. "A voice from the clock says you're not gonna sleep for a while; my bed is a pool and the wall is on fire." Indeed.

If you haven't been listening to Merriweather Post Pavillion for a year and a half now, get on it.

When the sun goes down we'll go out again!

Under the Radar

Pitchfork recently wrote an essay refuting the popular idea that hip-hop is "dead." The insightful and worthwhile piece concludes that the genre is thriving, just maybe not as much in the mainstream. "In the end, hip-hop is recalibrating, from a pop sensation back into an underground movement," writer Tom Breihand concludes. I couldn't agree more.

Following that idea, I wanted to feature two way-under-the-radar hip-hop acts and another that the aforementioned article touches on several times.

iRock

Chicago born emcee and producer Joshua "iRock" Adams makes music that sounds has an effortless but engrossing feel to it. His first mixtape, Demo THAT, shows that he is a well rounded hip-hop artist as he goes in with a quiet but confident flow that sticks to the beats, that he made, quite well.

It is on the beats though where Adams really shines brightest. They have a completely fresh sound, feature a lot instrumentation, and would make even the worst rapper sound respectable. The beats are good enough that they hold up incredibly well as stand-alone instrumentals. Go down the playlist on his page, and try not to nod your head to those beats. The tracks have a rich, layered sound that is effortless to enjoy. By the time you reach the end of the playlist, you completely forget that you were listening to instrumentals for hip-hop songs. These beats are full of emotion, and it will take a formidable rapper to do them justice.

Isaiah & Hovey

I had sung this Richmond based duo's praises before when I heard their astounding first two tracks, but now they're back with their first album, Dante's Love Inferno Machine (which you can download here).

Much like the first two songs, the album has a very polished feel. Isaiah's flow feels effortless and his witticisms are on point, especially in the second half of the album. Similarly, Hovey is making beats with a very clean sound. He uses a wide variety of samples and sounds that provide a consistently captivating for for Isaiah's smooth voice.

G-Side

This Huntsville, Alabama based outfit have a big, new, but unmistakably southern sound. The whole album is smooth as any hip-hop you'll ever hear, with smooth flows and entrancing beats. Pay special attention to the tracks produced by Block Beataz (listen to that whole playlist, it's damn good), whose beats feel somewhat outer-spacey while still keeping things catchy as anything.

G-Side represent a scene in Huntsville and the general south that is quickly growing and spitting out all kinds of great artist and songs (see Jackie Chain's "Rollin'" which is also produced by Block Beataz). Check out their most recent track that they recorded while in Norway earlier this year, their '09 mixtape, Huntsville International, and their '08 album, Starshipz and Rocketz. Both are off aptly named Huntsville label Slow Motion Sounds.

MacGruber

MacGruber: 5/21

More than a few years have passed since Saturday Night Live had a sketch funny and beloved enough to adapt it for the silver screen. Now, Will Forte and Kristen Wiig bring MacGruber, a recurring sketch about a mostly-useless bomb-diffuser, to life. If the trailer and early reviews are any indication, the film just might be enough to revive the SNL movie, a definite dying breed.

-By Sara Wakefield

Put the Windows Down!

It’s been three days since the beginning of summer vacay and it’s the perfect time to dip into pools of fresh music. Instead of relying on my usual new-music-source-finder, I’ve decided to scour the scene myself. What I found was glorious. So here’s a compilation of some sweet picks to kick off summer 2010.

Morning Benders- “All Day Light”

“Summer summer’s callin out my name” and so is this band’s upcoming album “Big Echo” which has accumulated near exponential hype (two months ago, “Excuses”, another song off of their album had nine views on YouTube – that number is now 75,325) “All Day Light” can be admired for much more than the title’s play on words. (Think The Strokes with a dash of Animal Collective). This group, I’m sure, has a bright future ahead of them and it starts here.

Sleigh Bells – “Tell ‘Em”

Simply put: This song kicks your earbuds' ass (in a good way, I promise). An absolutely perfect pick for a July 4th party or a roll-down-your windows jam out.


Big Boi – “Shutterbug”

Along with the standard references to ATL, Big Boi delivers his usual brilliance in this club bumpin, spit weaving track.

Neon Indian – “Deadbeat Summer”

My music source slipped me this one a little while ago, but I couldn’t exclude it from the list. Refreshingly retro, this ode to lazy summers makes it an easy candidate for this list:


M.I.A – “XXXO”

Look no further than M.I.A. for your summer fling anthem. Her beats never cease to please and this single is no exception.

- Written by Bethel Habte; I made the video frame yellow cause it's summer and grey is just not appropriate for summer and Tell 'Em is a must listen.

Letters to Juliet

Letters to Juliet: 5/14

Watching old people fall in love is … cool. OK, admit it — you became generally uninterested in The Notebook after Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling aged and became less glamorous. Letters to Juliet might suffer the same fate. In the film, an old woman attempts to reconnect with her former flame from the 1950s in Verona, Italy, with help from Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan. Seyfried and Egan, however, seem to have the charm to give this tale of years-gone-by, unrequited love some spark.



- By Sara Wakefield