when “we” return, we will be debuting a new format that you may or may not like, but it’s our decision and we’re sticking to it. from here on out, we will no longer offer full album links on the blog itself, but will change to an mp3 file only format, offering single tracks for download (and streaming off-site). hopefully this way we can post a diverse array of upcoming artists more frequently rather than provide links of new albums that can be found pretty much anywhere.

The reason I initially started blogging was as a way to give back to the same community that enabled me to find so many different kinds of music; not just tracks, but whole albums of glorious sounds that i’d never before heard. Blogs like The Siren’s Sound, Deek Media, Bolachas, LeShake, ●no●data●, and more recently, Magiska. And while I still know that these blogs have a purpose, it’s rapidly become apparent that I can’t rival these blogs in terms of quantity, nor would I want to. The more involved I have become with blogging the more I have appreciated the ability of blogs to highlight new and promising artists, and serve as taste-makers rather than alternative outlets for downloading mass quantities of music, which initially drew me to blogging.

The fact of the matter is, paying for music is over. It’s a choice now; you can pay, or you can download. This has been true since about the mid-1990s, and for the last decade or so I have been doing my best to promote this message, whether by copying and distributing free copies of The Grey Album at school or by finding links to help leak upcoming albums of my favorite artists to the whole world. But if it’s as easy for me to find these links, re-copy them, and paste them here, it must be as easy for you, no? How else would you have found yourself here? I’m done kidding myself that I provide a service to people who want to find music for free. If you don’t know how to find free music online, you simply wouldn’t be here in the first place. Nowadays, you hardly even need to follow certain blogs, oftentimes a simple Google or Google Blog Search with “artist - album (year)” will do the trick (maybe adding a “mediafire” or “megaupload” to the query). In fact, I wonder how much of a community of readers I even really have online; I assume most of the hits are from random people taking links or re-copying album art. On top of this, we have blog and link search engines like Captain Crawl, Ice Rocket, Files Tube, Sordo Music Database, and a bunch of public and private torrent trackers (what.cd, waffles.fm, btjunkie, mininova, demonoid, and so many more). Moreover, the record labels understand this reality all too well, and the smart (independent) ones are working with it, and us, the blogging community, to readjust. I would like to begin working with them as well, because much as it’s nice to have major labels as your enemy, it’s even nicer when indie labels are your friends!

So who am I kidding? I don’t need to provide free albums; that puts me at a liability, and is not the true intention of this blog. I need to focus on finding music that is so good that you will then go illegally download the albums on your own, hype the artists up to your friends, re-post the music on your own blogs, go to their shows, buy their physical releases and become fans for life; thus, we can all do our part in the collective effort of dismantling//remaking the music industry, bit by bit, byte by byte.

Pantha Du Prince is a German minimal techno/microhouse/call-it-what-you-want artist, made famous (to me) for the heart-stoppingly beautiful Asha on 2007’s This Bliss. Previously on microhouse hero Lawrence’s Dial label, Pantha has relocated to the very not-techno Rough Trade for this, his third record. Featuring contributions from Noah Lennox (which should hopefully provide some clues to the direction of the upcoming Panda Bear record) on Stick To My Side and Tyler Pope (of LCD Soundsystem, !!!, and corrupting high schoolers fame) on The Splendour, this album is a musical creation in a world of its own. Layered yet minimal, the sound is so uniquely delicate that I must let Pantha Du Prince speak for himself:

“music slumbers in all matter; any sound, even silence, is already music. The mission, then, must be to render audible what is unheard and unheard of: black noise, a frequency that is inaudible to man. Black noise often presages natural disasters, earthquakes or floods; only some animals perceive this ‘calm before the storm.’ Black noise is something archaic and earthy. The music on Black Noise balances precariously on the slippery threshold between art and nature, between techno and folklore, which lends it a certain spectral and intangible aspect.”

This is electronic music and also much more.

If you listen to one techno release this year, nay, one electronic music release, have this be it.

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This is endlessly entertaining. From the oh-so-repetitive water droplet beat to the progressively ludicrous storyline, there is something here for everyone (unless you’re under…13, let’s say). I heard at one point they were developing this into a full Broadway musical, but plans seem to have stalled, either due to the economy (although the entertainment biz always does pretty well in recessions), or due to R. Kelly’s underage sex and child pornography trials. Listen to it if only to hear R. Kelly’s ridiculous attempt to imitate the voice of a hick white woman (named Bridget). Oh, and there’s a midget. You can’t make this stuff up.

Chapter 1-12

Chapter 13-22

I saw this album cover on some Russian warez forum and immediately downloaded it. Inside is some shocking, thrilling, exhilarating, and shamelessly silly porn music (not sex music, porn music). I recommend downloading it, if only to fill the spot of “eternal non sequiter” in your dance party mixes.

I posted this for two reasons: the album cover and the opportunity for me to finally include the tag “porn groove”

Suggested tracks: Give Me Anal Pleasure Please, Half An Hour Is For Free, Hatesex

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Arcade Fire
Broken Social Scene
Goldfrapp
LCD Soundsystem
Panda Bear and Daft Punk (thanks, Marc!)
Radiohead (is this true? if so, awesome)
Gorillaz (full of awesome guest artists)

It’s like high school all over again!

Include your most anticipated albums in the comments. This post will be updated as I do more research and expand my musical horizons.

I’ve posted about Bullion before, but only recently did I find this remixtape he made laying his beats on top of the The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Given the relatively recent surge in popularity of The Beach Boys (due in no small part to the success of artists such as Noah Lennox, whose vocal style is indebted to Brian Wilson’s genius harmonies) it is interesting to see a much different contemporary take on The Beach Boys influential sound. “In The Key of Dee” is an obvious reference to pioneering hip hop producer J.Dilla, and Bullion takes his cue by cutting up delicious vocal samples from both Pet Sounds and the outtakes from the recording sessions. J.Dilla’s work was groundbreaking for two reasons: the beauty and eclecticism of his source material, and the skill with which he manipulated it. Here, Bullion matches his skill with some endlessly creative and inspiring source material, and creates some pretty jaw-dropping tracks. Equal parts lounge and summer cruisin’, this is like a soundtrack to the coolest beach party you’ve never been to.

Best tracks: I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice

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These people are from Brooklyn (where else) and make hipster crunk (what else). It’s fun for all your shameless, filthy dance parties. Enjoy.

Check them out with Major Lazer and Rusko in Philly on April 2nd!

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My friend once told me something so right, he said to be careful of thieves in the night

Although they’ve always been one of my favorite bands, it is my personal assessment that Hot Chip can do no wrong. It doesn’t hurt that their last three albums are pretty perfect examples of thoughtful pop music that can make you dance and swoon at the same time (sounds like a hipster party to me!). Of course they keep the disco freshness rolling in, but there’s an added layer of quiet sentimentality that runs parallel to the playful blip-blop electronics they are so known for. Tracks such as Alley Cats (**best of album**) and Keep Quiet point towards a Hot Chip that is comfortable enough in their style to deliver delicately sung meditations on life between the dance parties. Hot Chip seems to have endured the test of time for our most scrupulous of generations, and continue to offer up innovative pop music that simultaneously defines and expands their sound.

Best tracks: to be honest, the only song that I haven’t played over and over (pardon the pun) is Slush.

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This is sweet, carefree balearic pop from an enigmatic duo known as jj. Released on the lovely Sincerely Yours label (leading some to incorrectly assume it was a side project for members of The Tough Alliance), it turns out jj is Joakim Benon and Elin Kastlander of Sweden (big surprise). I was excited for jj since I first heard of them, mostly because I like beachy things and all their promo art had blood spattered on it. Much to my surprise their debut full length was quietly released and then quickly leaked in July; plus, with a blood spattered pot leaf as the design, it was hard to pass up.

This is a pleasant album, perfect for summer days and lazing around doing nothing for hours. However, once Pitchfork hopped on the jj train they blew it out of the water and made me not want to post this album. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this, I stand by my contention that this album is pleasant, no more no less. There is nothing wrong with pleasant, but it’s not life-changing. It’s just two artists with a quaint, deliberate vision, and that I think explains the surge in positive reception. It’s a work of unassuming beauty which caught the music world off guard with an understated sound that communicates so much with so little. Perhaps the recent popularity of bands such as jj and Honey Power faves the xx suggests an appreciation for a new aesthetic tendency in indie music, one that strips down sound for the sake of concept, content with the simple mantra, “less is more.” Fittingly, they are set to tour the US this spring with said artistic doppelgangers the xx. Be sure to grab their next LP, n° 3, out March 9th on Secretly Canadian (yes, jj are moving up in the world).

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