Friday Five

Inspired Flight is a San Diego guitarist/dj duo making down tempo pop featuring some very talented rappers including Inspectah Deck and underground/backpacker troupe Living Legends. They have a knack for integrating a range of genres in one song, often switching gears and interrupting a chilled out instrumental with a skilled verse. It's not quite Gorillaz, but they definitely have something. "It's The Chemicals" is a serotonin heavy journey featuring Scarub of Living Legends. Their debut is titled We All Want To Fly, and you can grab it here, or download the title track featuring Inspectah Deck in exchange for your email.

Inspired Flight feat. Scarub - It's The Chemicals

"How 'ye doin'? Who 'ye screwin?" One highlight. Jay Z referencing Axl Rose and Norman Mailer is another. Also, Kanye sheds light on Iran, Korea (North, I assume), Islam, and Van Gogh. Thoroughly entertaining remix of a great song.

Kanye West feat. Jay Z & Swizz Beatz - Power (Remix)

Yuck, sometimes Yu(c)k, from North London, New Jersey, and Hiroshima, are a highly touted young band currently opening for Modest Mouse in the U.K. The exposure will surely make them a household name, as they do everything from ballads ("Daughter," "Automatic") to 90's pop rock ("Georgia") very well. Get a better version of Yuck's story over at the ever-vigilant Guardian.

Yuck - Georgia
Yuck - Daughter

Thanks to Tom Robinson's Introducing for pointing me to a blog called Awesome Tapes From Africa. It's exactly what it sounds like. Lots of great cassette rips from across the continent with downloads aplenty. Botswana's Shumba Ratshega, real name Moses Malapela, is one of many great discoveries. Makhirikhiri is perfect summer listening, heavy on handclaps, choruses and whistle-y sorts of things.

Download the whole thing here.

Last off, Montreal behemoths Chromeo return with Business Casual, the highly anticipated follow up to Fancy Footwork. Lead single "Don't Turn the Lights On" is sure to get loads of remixes, one of note by the Italian/Belgian duo Aeroplane.

Chromeo - Don't Turn The Lights On (Aeroplane Remix)

Latitude Revival Mix

"If you ever needed evidence of how middle class a festival Latitude is, Marcus Brigstock is your paper boy". A line delivered as he dispensed the Guardian to a member of the crowd asking why the Murdoch-owned Times was the only newspaper available on site. Reading Festival, this is not.

To prolong the festival vibe, one of my friends has organised a post Latitude revival party. We're meant to bring something cultural along and share it with the group. A mix-tape of the key moments of the festival was the obvious choice. Here it is:

Latitude 2010 Mix

1. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Going Up The Country

2. Standard Fare - Philadelphia

3. Yeasayer - ONE

4. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

5. Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

6. Laura Marling - Hope In The Air

7. Florence & The Machine - Rabbit Heart

8. The Temper Trap - Love's Lost

9. The Coral - Dreaming of You

10. The Horrors - Who Can Say

11. Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man

12. The Middle East - The Darkest Side

13. Jonsi - Go Do

14. The Antlers - Atrophy

15. Frank Turner - Photosynthesis

Sprinkled among the more established names, there's a few new bands here worthy of your attention.

Inbox Wednesday: Boats

As I skimmed the almost 9,000 emails that remained unread in the BTA inbox, one caught my attention, in the subject it had the word "Winnipeg" the city from which Boats hails. I don't know why this appealed to me, but I figured..."What the hell, I'll check it out!" With that said, you can see that our screening criteria for Inbox Wednesday is very stringent.

Nevertheless, within the first two bars of "Chrome Eyelids", I was sold. The vocals on "Cannonballs, Cannonballs!" come across with a vulnerable confidence and lead a chorus of beating chants. Add a synth, a xylophone, a chugga-chugga drum pattern and the occasional horn and Boats creates a very pleasing sound. Boats' sound ventures from indie, to grunge and floats on folk-esque simplicity.

Boats will soon commence a thorough tour of Canada, so if you have the chance, check them out. I know I will when they hit Raw Sugar in Ottawa on October 9th with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.

Boats - Chrome Eyelids

Boats - Drink the Lake

New Gregory Pepper Project: Common Grackle

Mr. Pepper has been a favourite of this blog since we started, back then with an amazing release fronting The Dymaxions, later on with Gregory Pepper & His Problems. His new project Common Grackle finds Pepper teaming with hip hop producer Factor, and the results are staggeringly good from what I've heard so far. The Great Depression also features hip hop legend and bonafide crazy man Kool Keith on the opening track, which warrants a purchase simply to hear what kind of madness they came up with. This will appeal to fans of Islands and Why? as well as Peppers' previous output. Check out the video for the title track, featuring emcee Cecshi:



Only $7.00 for the download, $9.00 for the CD, here.

Common Grackle feat. Ceschi - The Great Depression

New Music Monday: Cowlick

In an attempt to get back into the habit of posting I'm looking to Hamilton for inspiration. From what I've heard, there seems to be an ever-growing community of dedicated musicians with a very loyal following. I guess it's all those years of living in the shadows of the Steeltown smoke. With several of the production facilities now closed, Hamilton's art community now appears to be rising from the ashes. One such band is Cowlick who recently celebrated the release of their album Wires.

Cowlick's slow growth into the scene has ensured that they're prepared to make a move. The band's core features the Hudecki brothers, Dylan and Jackson, accompanied on bass by Ian Parker. Dylan's name may be familiar, having spent time with By Divine Right from 2001-2004 and again in 2005.

Cowlick's sound is expansive and raw, there's strong element of psychedelia in everything they produce. By basing the core of their music on spacey guitar sounds, the group is able to explore into various genres. The guitars go from stringy to punching in an instant following the strong rhythm section on every track. Make sure to check out the track "Thunder vs. Lightning"

The band was recently featured on Southern Souls playing creative renditions in an elementary school using the school gym (with a basketball) and the music room.

Enjoy!

Cowlick - Thunder vs. Lightning

Cowlick - Wires

COWLICK - Everyone of Us from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Other Hamilton bands to check out: Huron, Young Rival,

Hamilton Radio: Take A Listen

Happy Hour Benders

This Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Toronto was privvy to this:

Along with a free helping of the (2^nd) best ice-cream in the city, those who could rush over from work quickly enough enjoyed 30 minutes of Chris Chu’s quiet musings during a delicate acoustic performance on Manning Street.

The Morning Benders’ front man was the main (and only) attraction of the innovative show, an in-store- cum -street performance organized in collaboration between The Big Chill ice cream parlour and the neighbouring Soundscapes record store.

If this is the first you hear of this California outfit, I can promise you it won’t be the last. Having performed with heavyweights MGMT, Yo La Tengo and Yeasayer, toured with Grizzly Bear and Death Cab, and now conquered the frozen dessert scene, the indie world is their oyster.

Here's more:

Excuses

the morning benders | MySpace Music Videos