Friday Five

Trying to maintain some order, here are five dope tracks that are on high rotation at the moment.

North America South America (aka N.A.S.A.) are just two guys: a DJ and a skateboarder but they have tonnes of great hook-ups. Like how the one guy is Spike Jonze's brother. And how they have some of the most insane guest features on their forthcoming debut, The Spirit of Apollo.

N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Lykke Li and Santogold - Gifted

It's way to early to call any new album 'Record of the Year', but I'll be damned if this isn't one of Animal Collective's best songs to date.

Animal Collective - My Girls

Baltimore's mad scientist of batshit electronic music, Dan Deacon, has his second full-length set to drop in March. "Get Older" the closer to his forthcoming Bromst, takes it's time to build up to his recognizable layered beats. You might even call it an epic soundscape.

Dan Deacon - Get Older

I don't have cable television, so I miss out on what's being killed over and over again through commericals and Top 40 nonsense. Then I went home at Christmas to find everyone and their mother keeping this one on steady rotation.

Passion Pit - Sleepy Head

Handsome Furs, the husband-wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, return with their sophomore disc, Face Control, in March. This first track reminds me of Apologies...-era Wolf Parade but without so much going on.

Handsome Furs - I'm Confused

Stay fly.

The Friday Five

I googled 'Friday 5' this morning and stole this photo from MuchMusic. These songs are awesome, just like that little kid breakin' it down.

I only got on the Of Montreal train after Hissing Fauna... leaked a couple years back and it was in my top 5 that year. They definitely own the operatic glam rock scene right now. Their new disc, Skeletal Lamping, is built upon pop sensibilities yet dense and engaging. Apparently these guys have a wild live show too.

Of Montreal - Plastis Wafers

Next up is Ed Banger Mr Oizo, who is dropping his Lambs Anger LP this fall. I don't think it's going to be the next Cross but it has potential to get a party started. I wasn't a fan of his summertime brain annihilator "Bruce Willis is Dead" track but the stuff floating around the past week or two is much more listenable.

Mr Oizo - Jo

This guy Koushik is out of Ontario. He sounds like Caribou, the 1960's and reverb thrown in a blender and chilled. Relaxing soulful stuff full of instruments, samples and singing.

Koushik - Bright and Shining

Radiohead sure does like a competition. While I don't really think that In Rainbows needed the remix treatment, some top notch tracks have come out of the Nude and Reckoner contests. This Reckoner take comes from a dude named Brendan Merrick who has aparently never done this sort of thing before. Yeah right, he kills it. All the emotion of the original is kept in tack but it gets jazzzed up with some snapping noise and funky bass.

Radiohead - Wreckin'Er (Brendan Merrick remix)

Finally, yeah I know, Kanye West. It's pretty common knowledge that one of the most polarizing players in the rap/r&b/whatever game has a new album, 808's and Heartbreak, coming out later in November. Yeezy has slowly been dropping bits of it on something called the internet and now there is a new radio rip of another track, "Coldest Winter". I've never been excited about an r&b album, but I think this one will kill it. Sorry for the quality but imagine what those banging drums will sound like at 320kbps.

Kanye West - Coldest Winter

Wale's Mixtape About Nothing

I'm really digging The Mixtape About Nothing, the project of DC rapper Wale (that's "wah-lay") mixed by Nick Catchdubs released back in May. As you might assume, the mix includes multiple samples and references to the classic sitcom Seinfeld and even boasts a cameo from Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Pichfork gave the themed 19-track mix a generous 8.4/10 rating last month and the release has recently been generating a lot of well-deserved buzz for Wale. The Nigerian-born artist signed to Interscope Records back in February and his forthcoming debut album is rumoured to feature production help from Mark Ronson, Kanye West, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder and - wait for it - Justice (thanks Wiki). All signs point to awesome.

Give 'The Crazy' a listen - then grab the whole mix here for free.

Wale - The Crazy

- a.m.p.m.

Remix Sunday: Bag Raiders vs Kid Sister

Kid Sister is currently working on her first album, Koko B. Ware.

Kid Sister - Pro Nails ft. Kanye West
Kid Sister - Pro Nails (Bag Raiders Remix)

- a.m.p.m.

RATATAT Remixes Vol II available for free

That's right, RATATAT's excellent second hip-hop remix album is now available from the boys' website for free. Self-released and previously only distributed at live shows (for $5), the album has recently been made available online in its entirety as a free download. The 14 tracks include mixes of vocals from artistis such as Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West, The Game, Ludacris, Memphis Bleek, T.I., Young Buck, Juvenile and Jay-Z with beats from a leaked instrumental album and other material. Grab the album here and read more about it here.

Check out some of the original instrumental tracks sans lyrics:

RATATAT - four
RATATAT - one
RATATAT - two

Oh yeah, and according to Wikipedia, "it has been rumored that they will be signed by Star Trak as the understudies of the Neptunes." WTF Wikipedia? How do you know this shiz?

- a.m.p.m.

MSTRKRFT: Doing big things in 2008

The other night I had the chance to help a friend out by covering a MSTRKRFT show and interview. Now, I feel I shouldn't say too much about it as it hasn't been aired yet, but we did get the chance to talk about the ever changing electronic music scene, the art of remixing, and what the guys have in store for the new year. The guys explained that they were going to try to stay away from the remixing for a while to focus on other things. We then asked them if they ever wanted to dabble with any hip-hop remixes, as their tracks to date are almost exclusively indie rock or dance groups. They revealed that they had in fact been recently approached by a hip-hop artist, not really indicating though if this would be a remix or collaborative effort. When we tried to get the name of the artist out of them they kept quiet, but did say that to do something like this, it would have to be someone fairly significant in the game and a means to move them forward as artists. I like to think it's going to be with Kanye with the whole A-trak connection. As for the set itself, I had heard mixed things about their performance, but I was pretty into the show. In between filming I was able to dance to a great remix of 'Genesis' by Justice along with some other unheard goodies. Too bad the girl beside me kept calling me a Unicorn..and other various mythological beasts.



- Matty B.

MSTRKRFT - Paris

New Kanye West Album Just Days Away

Graduation, Kanye West's third effort, is to be released in the UK on Monday and the US the following day. The album has already garnered all kinds of critical praise from Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and AllHipHop.com and the first two singles, 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' and 'Stronger' have both proved commercial successes. The Chris Martin-backed 'Homecoming' is to be the third single.

Although I'm not the biggest Kanye West fan in the world, I did enjoy The College Dropout and Late Registration and it looks like Graduation will have a few gems to rub shoulders with classic Kanye cuts like 'Jesus Walks', 'School Spirit', and 'Gold Digger'. Grab the tracks below and judge for yourself; you can also stream the whole album here thanks to Power 105.1.

- a.m.p.m.

Kanye West - Flashing Lights
Kanye West - Homecoming
Kanye West - Good Life

bonus:
Kanye West - Young Folks (freestyle)
Kanye West - Diamonds (Ratatat remix)

June Tunes

Summer's almost here, again. It feels like I was just saying that at the end of April, but now I'm saying it again about the summer course on Bollywood cinema I'm taking for two and a half more weeks. That combined with a bi-weekly commute to the camp I work at make for a lot of traveling and iPod charging.

Here are some tracks that have been in high rotation recently:

Kanye West - Stronger (feat. Daft Punk)

Justice - Phantom Pt. 2

The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours
Handsome Furs - Dead+Rural
LCD Soundsystem - No Love Lost (Joy Division cover)
- LCD was solid-sounding live and played most of Sound of Silver along with a couple older tracks, like Movement, Yeah and Daft Punk (obviously).
Feist - Sea Lion Woman
Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues
- I agree with Bowie that these guys are the best band in the world. I had a brutal seat but it was so worth it.

-Andrew W.

Springin' Forward

I guess Ottawa deserved one last fight with winter after the short one we had, but finally its April 18th and actually feels like it. Blue sky, light breeze...you can't beat the sigh of relief that is spring. And with spring comes a whole bunch of songs that will no doubt go on to soundtrack the upcoming summer. Here are a couple that I know will be in high rotation for the months to come.


A friend of mine told me that Dan Deacon is set to be the new Wesley Willis (RIP), but I see way more potential here than in songs about rock and roll McDonalds and ratnest mullets - no offense Wesley, you were too brilliant. The Crystal Cat is by far the most accessible track I've heard by Deacon: It caught me with its pounding kick drum and electronic chords but only takes off from there. The build up of vocals (both clean and vocoder-ed) and a simple key change make the song really soar and super catchy. Wham City is a stunner clocking in at over 12 minutes, but it changes enough and grows to make those minutes fly by. If you can get past the super high pitched vocoder squeals and chaotic electronics, I think Dan Deacon's got a lot to offer. His album, Spiderman of the Rings is due out May 8th on Carpark Records and Dan is set to rock Ottawa on July 10 at Zaphods, obvi.

Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat(zShare)
Dan Deacon - Wham City (zShare)

I dont think many new Bloc Party songs are going to make my summer mixes, but I just found this gem by Ed Banger, SebastiAn, remixing the mediocre MTV ditty, I Still Remember. It starts with synth chords reminiscent of The Who but SebastiAn quickly adds in his signature forceful 'banging' rhythm, sweeping sounds and darker tone. Maybe its not the bright summery song we want in the summer, but its a party track for sure. I can only hope that he uses this track during his set when he opens for Daft Punk (with Kavinsky and The Rapture) this summer.

Bloc Party - I Still Remember (SebastiAn remix) (zShare)

In other Ottawa news, Kanye West is playing Bluesfest this summer.

-Enjoy, Andrew W.