It's the Supersound

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: Cold Warps – Endless Bummer

I’m way too old to listen to half the music I do. I go weak in the knees for anything with jangly guitar and a pop punk pace. Add in lyrics on the importance of fun and a “Get lost, Mom!” chorus and it’s time to summon the stretcher and prep my grave, I’m done for. Canadian quartet Cold Warps fulfill everything I look for in this sound; they’re young, they’re silly, they pack a whole lot of energy into short tracks and they make me ask myself, “What’s my age again?”. The Endless Bummer cassette (also available digitally on Bandcamp) blasts through five tracks in just over 12 minutes, and sounds like the Nerves hanging out at the beach riding a sugar high. “…I don’t want meet you at the mall…I don’t want to hang with you at all…”

:: selected by: BryanB :: Dirty Beaches – Sweet 17

I liken Dirty Beaches upcoming album Badlands to a batch of early demos from Chris Isaak or perhaps a more rockabilly Kurt Vile, albeit with some kind of heroin addiction or an unhealthy penchant for whiskey. “Sweet 17″ sounds like 1 a.m., racing down a pitch black Route 66, high as a kite, thinking about that young piece of ass 20 exits up the road. And by the last 10 seconds, he can barely contain himself with anticipation. Ya, it’s that good.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Conservation Area – Ken Griffey (Jr.)

Conservation Area is a Chicago-based collaborative crew which stems from Vertual Vertigo (Ezekiel 38) and new recording partners State Champs (Nick Arcade and Johnny Redd). Their EP (available on their Bandcamp page), 1st Round Draft Picks is classic basement hip-hop that stays more concerned with great taste than new fads. “Ken Griffey (Jr.)” features a charming piano sample that eases into the room, sticks around for awhile, and mixes in a drink with a comfortable haze. Ezekiel 38 will soon be blessing Chicago in March, when him and his homies perform at the Palzie on March 25th alongside yours truly. More from the Conservation Area is coming soon, including a full length LP and movie, set for release early 2011. Check it.

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: TM Juke & The Jack Baker Trio – Put Your Hands Up For Detroit

Tracking down Jamie Woon’s cover of Olive’s “You’re Not Alone” last week yielded a treasure trove of original covers. I tend to approach covers with apprehension. So many feel like coattail riding, get famous quick schemes. Not this collection though. Compiled last year by UK label Tru Thoughts, Tru Thoughts Covers collects 17 soul jazz versions of tracks that have been considered classics in one way or another across the years. You’ll find Alice Russell lending vocals to a cover of the White Stripe’s “Seven Nation Army” and the Hot 8 Brass Band tackling Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”. What caught my attention though, is TM Juke & The Jack Baker Trio‘s drum clacking, horn blasting instrumental reimagining of Fedde Le Grand’s “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit”. (Though I prefer to imagine they’re covering Fedde’s source material, Matthew Dear & Disco D’s “Hands Up For Detroit”). It’s unexpected, sounds fantastic and sticks with you, which is all I want out of a cover.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Jazmine Sullivan – Famous

Vanity, glory, wealth, and validation are all sirens to a growing number of youth nursed on American Idol and X-Factor, watching kids their age sing their hearts out amid the flashing lights and overheated choreography. Jazmine Sullivan perfectly encapsulates the frustrations of (what must be) thousands of teen girls and boys desperate for notoriety and attention in “Famous” from her new album Love Me Back. A clone army marches in the background while a weeping piano line (which I think is lifted, poetically, from the Tears for Fears song, “Head Over Heels”) lures the listener into something altogether painful and saddening. “Famous” is a snapshot of our times and the unquenched desire to share and to “reach” other people, and it’s telling that it’s such a tragic sounding story.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: ProbCause – Saturday Morning

Its time to welcome a new rapper from Chicago into your hearts. This young man’s name is ProbCause, and at 23 he’s been rocking shows for eight years straight now. This dude sounds like a great future candidate for Rhymesayers, rapping about day to day life and the struggle of being a “true” artist in a scene full of soul-sucking commercialism. His Spring Cleaning mixtape, released this past summer, portrays ProbCause as a technically skilled emcee who wants you to think and party, a good combo for anyone. Spring Cleaning suffers from a little bit of ADD (the bizarre “Blog Rap” can be a little grinding to sit through), but a cameo from Psalm One makes you think twice about passing judgment and further cements my Rhymesayers prediction. Enjoy the lusher, smoked-out sounds of “Saturday Morning.”

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: Kohwi – Every Morning (Sugar Ray Cover)

Mark McGrath and his band Sugar Ray created some of the most publicly loathed but secretly loved music of the mid-to-late ’90s. Their funk alt rock was just awful, but you can’t deny that these guys were masters of writing songs that were the very definition of Stuck On Repeat. It only helped their cause that their handful of more successful selections seemed to get maximum radio play right at the height of school’s out for summer. Along comes Ann Arbor, Michigan musicmaker Kohwi (Cory Levinson) with a cover of Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” full of gurgling underwater wooziness and clouded vocals. I love this cover because it really captures the dizzy, bleary-eyed stumbles of awaking from slumber and facing the morning.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Bryan Ferry – Me Oh My

To be honest, the entirety of Bryan Ferry‘s newest album, Olympia, has been Stuck On Repeat this whole week. It’s not hip, or the newest blogged about band, but an Anglo-legend’s album of classic sounding pastoral English rock. Think latter-day Bowie or Abbattoir Blues-era Nick Cave. “Me Oh My” is a simmering and resigned slow burner, with Ferry murmuring an intonation of lost love. The snaking guitars remind me of Pink Floyd circa their Division Bell album and the piano and cooing gospel singer are just too stately to ignore. Sometimes, deep down inside, I feel very old and ragged and tired, but still love the hope that lies in a new day. I hear that in Mr. Ferry’s music as well.

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: Rory Kane – LA SUXXX (ft. Nika Roza Danilova)

Last weekend I was tipped to Madison, Wisconsin’s Rory Kane who recreates the cliches of mainstream hip-pop in a tongue-in-cheek solo vanity project. It’s not intended to be taken as serious music (though LMFAO might sense competition), but his enlisting of former Wisconsinite Zola Jesus (Nika Roza Danilova) for guest vocals on “LA SUXXX” makes for a song that screams “play me over and over”. The cheesy club beat met by Danilova’s gothed up autotune is what Las Vegas would sound like if it was run by transplants from Brooklyn.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Marianne Faithfull – Why D’ya Do It

I usually spend bus and plane trips between cities trying to get through this mountain of new music that never seems to diminish. But leaving NYC earlier this week I needed something “not new” to listen to on the bus ride home. I didn’t go with the intent purpose of hearing CMJ acts, but the couple I caught I found kind of boring and tepid. “Why D’ya Do It” is neither of those things and is certainly not new. Marianne Faithfull‘s shredded voice and crass lyrics (co-written with Mick Jagger, naturally) felt like a bolt of lightning on that dark ride home, and Broken English, her seminal 1979 album has risen from the darkest depths of my hard-drive and been on loop ever since.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Esoteric Tapioca – Eft Up

I found a burned CD in Logan Square’s Cafe Mustache recently by an artist named Esoteric Tapioca, wrapped in a folded sheet of paper, and completed with homely MS Paint album artwork. The name of the album is “Whatever I Love You” and cost one dollar. I bought it out of amusement and sympathy for whoever is Esoteric Tapioca. The barista at the cash register told me the artist is actually his roommate, and he would be very happy to hear somebody actually bought the thing, which made me feel even more sympathetic. As it turns out, its actually kinda good. It’s definitely home-made music for the defeated man (think Neutral Milk Hotel with the feelings of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone but without the drums), but it comes with a story. The barista told me that Mark (that’s his real name) wrote this 23-song album of doomed love songs for a girl he had a crush on, who then dated him for that reason, only to dump him later, making it all worse. I don’t typically indulge myself in this sort of self-loathing, but sometimes, I just have a heart for the underdog. Let it out, Mark. People have feelings too.

:: selected by: Moneyworth :: Gravediggaz – 1-800 Suicide

Halloween seems like it should lend itself to some really fantastic music, yet somehow most intentionally spooky music is unforgivably wack. I’m all for getting into the spirit of the season and such but as I am really not down for electro banger remixes of the “Halloween” theme song, I’ve turned to some true masters of horror, Gravediggaz. Six Feet Deep has been an album I’ve never been able to get over, and it’s kind of weird that the genre of “horrorcore” has now basically become the Gathering of the Juggalos. I’m not going to say it’s one of the best hip-hop albums lyrically or technically, but the mood it sets is perfect, stopping you in your tracks with its sorta-funny, sorta-not-really-that-funny-at-all-actually dark, brutal humor. It’s just one of those albums, especially my favorite track, “1-800 Suicide,” that lets me feel like a badass for an hour.

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Warpaint – Baby

I didn’t love Warpaint‘s live show when I caught them a couple of months ago, but I am slowly coming around to them, especially after hearing their new album The Fool, and mostly due to “Baby”. It’s a sweet, acoustic, folky lullaby styled number that for some reason just resonates with me. It reminds me some of the more strummy, campfire alternative rock stuff I listened to in the mid ’90s. Which is obviously, a compliment.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Eels – What I Have to Offer

I love this song because it is a sentiment I rarely hear in music. It’s a love song, but not necessarily a love song for someone else. It’s a self reassuring love song. The writer of the Eels music, Mark Oliver Everett, is 47 years old. He’s probably all partied out and I imagine that he is really tired. He’s past the phase in life where he wants to go to the club. This song is the opposite of the club, it’s a song about who you build your home with. The time spent in a relationship when you’re not having sex doesn’t seem to be very marketable for music, but it’s not complicated. There’s no hard to reach for metaphors. The lyrics just read like a long, personal ad looking for love in the newspaper, with the title of the song as the headline.

:: selected by: Moneyworth :: Gypsy & The Cat – The Piper’s Song (Aeroplane Remix)

I’ve said some harsh words about Aeroplane over the past year, following the duo’s split and their less than stellar debut album, but I’m somehow still compelled to ride or die for the now one-man show of Vito de Luca. This remix, of Australian dudes Gypsy & The Cat‘s “The Piper’s Song,” still doesn’t really mesh with the vision I once had of Aeroplane’s smooth, subtle Balearic sound, but I guess I am just going to have to get used to that. I can say that it’s cute– very, very cute, the kind of exhilarated, tragic cute that either instantly repulses or obsesses you. I wish more dance music lyrics told stories, not party stories but ones that feel like an escape to somewhere else.

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Drop

“Head On” probably ranks as many people’s favorite track off The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Automatic, with “Half Way To Crazy” a close second. Automatic listens as an album mostly of anthems that make you want to pound your little fists into the air shouting, “screw you, man!” And then there’s “Drop”. I feel like Girls must secretly credit this track as inspiration for their sound, two minutes of  blues guitar pluckings and intimate lyrics. By being so different in sound than the rest of the album, it becomes more powerful than the tracks driven by instrumental power.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Glass Vaults – Set Sail

I’ve heard the story they weave a million times before, in similar dramatic fashions, but for some reason, Glass Vaults has a way of twisting those elements just enough to make it all sound fresh and relevant. Their Glass EP, available at the goldmine that is Bandcamp, is a handful of such gems. “Set Sail” is among my favorites: that echo-chamber moan unceasing, that deep splash of bass closing every stanza, the cyclical lyrics sung in a psychedelic trance. At 7 minutes, it qualifies as an epic, a long, gasping oceanic voyage bobbing just above the waves. And then, 4 minutes in, landfall. Synths rustle up and a cavalcade of tribal beats crash down only to leave a droning wall in it’s wake. Pick up the whole EP here.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Shad – A Good Name

Shad is exactly what I never thought I would hear in rap. He’s a rapper that is a good person, that raps for good without making it sound bad. At points he gets really close to sounding Christian. You could say he is something like the new Common without the Kanye. But Shad never bible thumps or points his finger. He’s just a dude sharing his perspective, which just so happens to be a moral one. In the most spiritual song “A Good Name,” Shad retells the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. That’s a recipe for rap career suicide, which makes Shad look like a magician for actually making it dope. The beats are all tight, and there isn’t really anything you can fault this guy for. It’s practically a breath of fresh air. Shad seems more likely to be found in the soup kitchen than in the club. You really can’t hate somebody for that.

:: selected by: Moneyworth :: Nadastrom – Cuerdas Vocales

Claude Vonstroke‘s sublime “Vocal Chords” has already provided the framework for one of my favorite tracks of the year (and proof that “mash-ups” aren’t all inane), Atrak’s “Trizzy Turnt Up.” Now Nadastrom (DC producer/DJs Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom) have gotten their hands on it and moombahton’d it out, and the result is hilariously catchy. Moombahton has been one of my biggest not-entirely-guilty pleasures this year; it’s goofy as fuck but nothing makes me want to dance more. I’m not sure what they’ve mashed up their slowed down (to a slinky 110ish BPMs) “Vocal Chords” with, as most of it is in Spanish, but it’s stuck in my head anyway. It might be an accident that this song is 4:20 in length, but I’m not going to count it out as a nod to its creation process, knaamean?

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: Yelawolf – Box Chevy Pt. 3 (ft. Rittz)

It feels terrible to admit I wrote off a musician based on their appearance, which is why I’m making myself do so publicly. It isn’t that Yelawolf is a white rapper that caused my dismissal. His shirtless press photos showcasing his tattoo covered upper body and skater style were all too familiar, and I lumped him in with the Travis Barker/Joel Madden LA privileged punks crowd. If Yelawolf looks like anyone else, it’s really just chance, he is 100% original. The influence of his Alabama upbringing comes through loud and clear on “Box Chevy”, all smooth flow that goes down woozy like a bottle of cough syrup when you’ve got no cough.

:: selected by: BryanB :: ArnHao – Oh?! Intangible Fantasy (Hidden Cat’s Totally Tangible Remix)

I was hoping to hear something more upbeat and energetic earlier this week and lo-and-behold, Hidden Cat‘s remix of ArnHao‘s “Oh?!” landed in my inbox. It’s got a little bit of that Guetta robo-ping (which, to be honest, I can only take in small doses anyway), and those fantastic house vocals, all coming together for a nice, neat & clean neo-disco track. ArnHao is part of the newly launched Denmark Records, based in Raleigh NC, you can learn more about the label here and purchase ArnHao’s new split EP with HoldGraillers here.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Blue Sky Black Death & Jean Grae – Threats (ft. Chen Lo)

Heard this song for the first time this week and it made my head twist around sideways. The audacity to take a verse of Jay-Z’s and rewrite it for yourself makes me quiver, but Jean Grae kills it. This is off of her mixtape The Evil Jeanius (with Blue Sky Black Death). Take a moment to listen to “Threats” by Jay-Z and compare the two back to back for yourself. You’ll agree. Not only is this a bold gesture for a female emcee but the beat is so unstoppable it doesn’t even matter whatever the second verse is about. This is hip hop that makes the pros look like middle school material.

:: selected by: Moneyworth :: Sammy Bananas – My Body

Fool’s Gold-affiliated Sammy Bananas took one of Kels’ best desperately horny outbursts (from the beginning of the classic “Bump n’ Grind“), ran it through whatever chipmunk machine Ludacris used in “How Low,” threw in some tropical-tinged 2-step drums, and voila, I’ve been dancing alone in my room with “My Body” on repeat all morning. The Brooklyn-based producer/DJ has a knack for flipping R&B and hip-hop tracks into amazing club jams (if you missed his Off The Hook mixtape earlier this year, as half of Telephoned, you kinda fucked up); but this track is above and beyond anything I’ve heard him touch so far. It’s just disgustingly funky. My mind’s telling me noooo… but my body’s tellin me yeeeeeah!

The highly successful R&B group TLC isn’t thrown around much anymore when new acts talk about their influences and sources of inspiration, so to hear Drake of all people cover one of their late era tracks is certainly of interest to me.

TLC’s original song, the title track to their turn of the century album Fanmail, was an ode to their diehard followers, letting them know that the band members go through the same emotions that they do. The syncopated track, a rare co-production by Jermaine Dupri and Dallas Austin, felt cold, too robotic and removed to be heartfelt. Drake’s cover however, entitled “I Get Lonely Too”, removes the soapbox mentality and the “keep your head up” message of the original and instead reinterprets the lyrics as a personal and intimate ode to a distant lover. The muffled beats and keyboards and standard backgrounds for Drake at this stage, but they aid in showcasing his harmonies and soft cooing. Making for a much more sincere message than the original could have hoped for.

Listen to the original and the cover below:

TLC – FanMail

Drake – I Get Lonely Too

Below is the latest edition of our weekly feature, Stuck On Repeat. The premise is simple, we’ve asked all our contributors to submit one track and a brief write-up. The track can be new or it can be old, just whatever we could not stop listening to this week. These are the songs we’ve had Stuck On Repeat.

:: selected by: V :: Abe Vigoda – November

Abe Vigoda‘s new album, Crush, is a drastic deviation from the tropical DIY punk sounds of the band’s previous releases. Punk sensibilities remain, but find new influence in the glamor punk of the New Romantics, over guitar rock mingled with synthpop. I think a lot of longtime Abe Vigoda fans are really pissed at this album, but never having been a fan of their previous releases, it makes it easy to relish Crush in a singular context. “November” is a contender for my track of the year, more guitar-driven than many of Crush‘s selections, flooded with lyrical delivery of lovesick teenage heartache. Drag me across the sky.

:: selected by: BryanB :: Wise Blood – Here Comes The Sun

Sometimes the simplest of premises can produce the happiest noises. Repeat a slice of The Beatles‘ “Hello Goodbye” over and over again, throw in some oscillating effects and top it off with an inspirational sample of some girl telling you to hold on, everything will be ok. And just like that, it’s gone and you want to hear it again and again. Two more things of note: Wise Blood‘s EP is free at Bandcamp, and their accompanying video is pretty tripped-out as well.

:: selected by: Jams Dean :: Foals – Spanish Sahara (Deadboy Remix)

This Foals‘ remix hasn’t left my mind or my ears. Its a song that turns down the volume on everything else in life and forces you to reflect, or at least pay attention. Its that thin balance in music that so many fail at: the stillness that only comes in the aftermath of a tragedy. The revolving drums keep the pace moving without waiting for the rest of the band, and the icy vocals respond with distance. Its almost as if the singer is too self-indulged in his own pain to notice the quickly churning world that is happening around him. A perfect song to listen to in the middle of a busy street, especially when no one is stopping for anyone, especially you.

:: selected by: Moneyworth :: Gucci Mane – Haterade (ft. Nicki Minaj & Pharrell)

I don’t think I “get” Gucci Mane. His gravelly, somewhat… err, autistic-sounding drawl is definitely a fantastic template for remixes (by Diplo, Atrak, the like), I enjoy the hi-hat rolls that tend to ebb and flow in his beats, and I am a huge admirer of his chain collection (the Odie chain is on point ). However, the general inanity of his raps, while all in good fun, combined with his monotone snail-paced flow just doesn’t really do it for me. It just sounds dumb. Maybe I’m missing something. Anyway, I had to listen to “Haterade,” off his new album The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted because Nicki is in it, and to my pleasant surprise, when Gucci raps fast, he sounds great! Add in Pharrell, who can really do no wrong, a solid (not amazing, but solid) Nicki verse, and the fact that this is a song about Haterade. This song rules. S’GUCCI!

The much touted Rawkers EP, Cassius‘ first for their new home at Ed Banger Records, will be released soon and while the majority of it isn’t exactly making me ecstatic, “I Love You So” is a different story. While the rest of the collection is filled with mostly muddy, mid-tempo instrumentals, “I Love You So” deviates from that template to offer a pained duet of sorts, over ghostly piano stabs and zealous handclaps. Taking one vocal sample and pitching it in two different directions, Cassius creates a war of the roses reminiscent of mid-’90s Moby and their own previous filtered hey day.

More of this please.

Cassius – I Love U So