Archive for the ‘Track Reviews’ Category

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Coasting // Portland

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

Been super pumped for a Coasting follow-up every since the Brooklyn duo of Fiona Campbell and Madison Farmer dropped one of my favorite 7”s of last year. When Fiona blazed through Salt Lake City earlier this year, playing drums for Vivian Girls, she seemed just as excited as me about talking about the new stuff — and, after listening to the garage rock tunes of their LP Never Going Back, I kind of get why she couldn’t wait for the album to drop. “Portland” was the first “single” released from the record and earlier this week it got the video treatment, which you can check out below. You can cop the vinyl from M’Ladys here and be prepared to see it on a certain someone’s year-end list…

MLADYS 3 A4 – COASTING – PORTLAND by M’lady’s Records

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Don Trip // Cheers (jj’s Save Our Souls Remix)

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

One of the better remixes jj has put out in a while, this slow-motion take on Memphis rapper Don Trip’s “Cheers” highlights only the smokey vocal intro rather than any of the hot lyrics spit by Don himself. Needless to say, jj knows exactly what to do with stuff like this…

Don Trip // Cheers (jj’s Save Our Souls Remix) [Via: Fader]

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Cass McCombs // Bradley Manning

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

A very poignant song by a very poignant songwriter. If you don’t know who Bradley Manning is, a simple google search will suffice.

Cass McCombs – Bradley Manning by DominoRecordCo

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Loose Tracks // Peaking Lights x Smith Westerns

Monday, December 5th, 2011

As priorly mentioned, I have a lot of random mp3s floating around my library. In an effort to highlight some of these often-forgotten, one-off tracks, I thought it would be best to put together an irregularly updated series entitled “Loose Tracks.”

The latest installment features the reworking of the stellar Smith Westerns song “End of the Night” by the Wisconsin (via San Fran) duo Peaking Lights. The remix centers around the periodic looping of the lyrics “everybody wants to be a star” with some guitar licks fading in-and-out of focus and percussive sounds bubbling up to the surface, creating a more droned-out version of the pop-rock original. I’ve only gotten a chance to listen to bits-and-peaces of Peaking Lights’ LP 936, but after re-discovering this remix, I’ll certainly be giving it more attention before composing my year-end lists. Check out the original and remix below.

By the way: Peaking Lights’ label Not Not Fun Records is doing a killer “Buy Three LPs get a Fourth Free” promo from now until the end of the year. Check out the details here.

Smith Westerns // End of the Night
Smith Westerns // End of the Night (Peaking Lights Remix)

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Charli XCX // Two Tracks

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

I feel like I’ve been here before, getting excited about a Euro-centric, discotheque pop artist only to be sorely disappointed when a killer mp3 turns into a mediocre album (see: Cibelle). Hopefully UK’s Charli XCX can stem the stream of sore disappointment…

With a title like “Nuclear Seasons,” I guess it was a gimme that I would be interested in the track (see: current occupation). Opening with industrial clanks and drone-y synths — a more pop-y version of what the Cosmetics do — Charli XCX brings the underground into the foreground. By the time you hit the chorus, the pitch-shifted hook does exactly what it intends to do, making you belt out the “oohhh-ah-oh-oh-ah-oh” at the top of your voice. Euro-pop at it’s finest!

The second Charli XCX track I could dig up is from a couple of months back and entered the fray with not much fanfare. “Stay Away” certainly plays second fiddle in comparison to “Nuclear Seasons,” however, the rumbling bass line and slowed down vocals make this a perfect dance complement (you know, when you need to take a break from the dance floor to hit the bar for round two). Check out the original track as well as a blown-out remix by Salem below:

Charli XCX // Nuclear Seasons

Charli XCX // Stay Away

Charli XCX // Stay Away (Salem Remix)

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Blackbird Blackbird // Tear

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

It’s been a while since I posted something from Mikey Maramag (aka Blackbird Blackbird) partly because I imposed a self-enforced moratorium on tracks by him: the dude just churns out mp3s right-and-left. After giving “Tear” a listen though, I knew I had to throw together a few words and pass along the track for others to hear.

One thing about Mikey is you can never peg a label on him: for one track he’s chillwaving it up with synths out the wazoo, the next he’s sounding like the next iteration of El Guincho tropicalia (not to mention the endless amount of remixes scattered across the interwebs). With “Tear” you get to view yet another face: electro indie-rock (instrumental). The opening harmonies sound like a slowed down, marimba version of Sunset Rubdown’s “You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)” — seriously, listen to the original on youtube — before evolving into a swirl of sound Blackbird Blackbird is best known for.

Maybe I was so caught up on the Sunset Rubdown thing, but I couldn’t help to think about how interesting a “traditional” rock cover of the song would sound. Mikey provided a pretty good baseline to build off of (for example, he seems always at the cusp of belching out the opening words to the first verse, but restrains himself) and I just think it would be great to hear what some good ol’ fashioned guitars, bass, and drums could do with it. Idk, maybe I’m crazy…

Anyways, check out the track below and look out for it in vinyl form in early 2012:

Blackbird Blackbird // Tear

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Real Estate // It’s Real

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Hands down, Real Estate is my favorite band of the past five years (and I seem to not be the only one). Ever since their first EP, Atlantic City Expressway, graced my ears I’ve become an insta-fan. Their new record, entitled Days, which has garnered quite the attention as of late, features the track “It’s Real” which is probably my favorite Real Estate track they have ever recorded. The band first performed this song live in Japan about a year ago, and since then I’ve compiled quite the collection of mp3s/videos of this track performed live. You can check out my favorites below:

Real Estate // It’s Real (Album Version)

Real Estate // It’s Real (Live in Shibuya)

Real Estate // It’s Real (Live in NYC) (via: NYCTaper)

I have deliberately not bought the LP yet because I knew the band was going to swing by Salt Lake City in early November (today, in fact) and I wanted to make sure that they got the maximum percentage from my buying the album. Also, I haven’t listened to any other songs that have been released from Days because, frankly, I don’t want to be disappointed. When you record something as great as “It’s Real,” I can only see it going down hill from there — but who knows, hopefully I’m wrong!

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Ghost Wave // Hippy

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

First heard these killer tunes from New Zealand’s Ghost Wave via Sally Fork via Rose Quartz (looking like a re:re: chain e-mail, I know). It’s been a while since I covered a group from the Southern Hemisphere on the blog, so I’ll forgo a bunch of “down under” puns for both your sake and mine

Call me a sucker for fuzzy guitars, monotonic vocals, and instagram visuals, so it comes as no surprise that the track + video for Ghost Wave’s “Hippy” hits all the right spots for me. With all the summer shots/sounds, it almost makes me forget that I’m freezing my ass off in Salt Lake right now. Almost…

Check out the video and download the track below. Head over to the band’s bandcamp for a couple of more tunes.

Ghost Wave // Hippy

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Laurel Halo // Constant Index (Actress Violet Remix)

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Last weekend, I moved a massive amount of music (100Gb+) off my laptop to an external hard drive. So, proportionally speaking, I have a lot fewer full albums and a lot more random mp3s floating around my library. I figured I would go through these track misfits and feature one or two each week that I like. Some will be recent, others will have been from 5+ years ago (when I started getting into blog-downloads), but all will be good.

The first one is an industrial Laurel Halo remix by Actress Violet who, despite my mad google skillz, I could not find any details about. Gone is any resemblance to the original track (which you can stream below via Altered Zones): no singing, no layered rhythms, and most surprisingly no synths. Actress Violet instead opts to creep-ify the track by adding machine pulsations, discordant groans, and grinding beats. In fact, if it wasn’t for the occasional keyboard chime, I would be convinced that this wasn’t even remotely related to Laurel Halo’s original. Check them out below:

Laurel Halo // Constant Index (Actress Violet Remix)

Laurel Halo: “Constant Index” by alteredzones

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Colleen Green // Rabid Love

Monday, September 12th, 2011

Another Colleen Green track dropped in my inbox the other day and I thought I would share since I’ve been on a Colleen Green listening marathon as of late. If the ID3 tags can be trusted, “Rabid Love” is track 3 from Green’s upcoming Cujo EP set to be released by Art Fag Recordings on October 4. It’s a typical Green track: driving fuzzy guitar melody, chilled-out vocals, and a 4 Loko energetic punch at the chorus — so yeah, an instant classic in my book. Check it out below:

Colleen Green // Rabid Love

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