Fifty Through June: Part Five of Five

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one: little boots - stuck on repeat
-----r.i.p. here lies every expectation you ever had for simple danceable addictive glory. now you have to think bigger and better. thank god i have little boots. theres also a video of her playing this with her tenori-on. im so jealous, and i apologize if this just sounds like shitty hype, but im hooked and sold.

two: la chansons - sparklin
-----golly pete this song kept me alive and sane while i was living in damascus. everywhere you go, every fucking song's chorus has 'habibi' (my beloved) and it takes some real work (and numbing repetition) to be able to discern different songs since they all sound the same. i had a 2gig ipod which i had filled hastily before hand and which spent much of the trip dead anyway. but this. this song (thank you bigstereo for your wisdom and your little track player!) provided me with my little bit of musical sanity. every time i went to an internet cafe my first stop was bigstereo to get la chansons loading and playing while i do the necessary emailing etc. its happy, its got sexy vocals, chunky bass, hand claps, and the occasionally metronomyesque funky/quirky synth. its uplifting, like esau, and cute, like your beloved little ratdog you haul around everywhere. i want more.

three: cassettes won't listen - paper float
-----i wish i was better at conveying through words the moods conveyed by tracks. this one finds me at a loss. listen to that intro and tell me what you think it brings. cassettes won't listen is one talented new yorker, ill say that.

four: tegan and sara - back in your head (rac remix)
-----i never listened to any tegan and sara until 'the con' dropped a short while ago, and i still havent dug back to the older work yet, but dont worry its on the honey-do list. that said, that album is cute and highly playable for repeat listens, and i swear rac, the remix artist collective, can do no wrong. ive already thrown up their yoav rework, and it was tough to go with just those two. this track finds rac fleshing out the relatively understated original, complementing the vocals and really pumping that piano lick for all its worth, yet not killing it. just peachy right?

five: lightspeed champion - galaxy of the lost (database remix)
-----the last of the lightspeed remixes, this time by database, and again hearty appreciation to bigstereo for all three of the lightspeed remixes, all three by brazilians. this one starts out with one of those horribly extended drum intros, before dropping in thick synth and vocals that come off sexy. this mix is smirking and hot, and probably fucked your sister last semester.

six: santogold - creator
-----santogold is hyped. seems like i heard her everywhere a few months ago, rolling stone, spin, sxsw, bbc, bud light commercial. and shes good, heres some proof if you havent already heard her. now go check out the album, and dont miss the l.e.s. artistes video and xxxchange remix.

seven: cazals - poor innocent boys
-----im a sucker for syncopated hand claps and in your face bass lines. this song wants to rock, and cazals doesnt need your permission. came from kitsuné maison comp #2, but their debut 'what of our future' is out now on the same label.

eight: magistrates - colour co-ordination (demo)
-----the recording is a little rough around the edges--its a demo you schmuck. whats not rough around the edges is the klaxons-esque vocal work, that brain invading guitar lick, and the piano(!) intro. magistrates are going places ya see.. i remember when i first heard this, my tiny little ipod full of newly downloaded music on random, as i was just coming down the lebanon mountains into the suburbs of beirut, and somehow the tank sculpture, abandoned apartments, and bullet induced pockmarks of old conflicts were hip, cool, and beirut was a hipster paradise. then came the dressed to the nines and people, the ferraris and landrovers, and the rolex clocktower. thats still what the song conjures, pure hip, a little rough around the edges.

nine: phosphorescent - wolves
-----phosphorescent showed up in the similar artists block on last.fm while iron & wine was playing. i kept it in mind but did nothing until a new album, pride, was released last year and made its appearance on a ruckus new music drop, again claiming brotherhood to sam beam. ehhhh, shits a helluva lot spacier and i honestly think it could be described as more of a sam beam and sigur rós love child with just a pinch of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. this is pure lullaby, placating not a long day, but a long life, drawing to a close.

ten: shiny toy guns - don't cry out (the teenagers remix)
-----for a band formed as a joke, the teenagers are doing pretty well for themselves, with a debut lp and two handfuls of well received remixes following their smattering of myspace singles. since i know little and have heard less of shiny toy guns, i can say little beyond this: this track is compelling, leaving me wanting more, so stay tuned in the future.

& le video: frankmusik - confusion girl (acoustic)
-----ahhhhh....frankmusik...what a pop boywonder. if youve heard confusion girl in its frenetic yet poppy glory, then youre probably wondering what the hell an acoustic version might sound like. well it might sound like homeboy has enormous songwriting talent and a real masterful finesse on the piano. it might sound like if frankmusik ever gets tired of electro and synthesizers, weve got a real gem in the making for plain old piano ballads as well. im not sure which i like more, but i give him due credit for being baller either way.



that concludes fifty through june. sorry i didnt write about the first batch, but maybe youre not. im not exactly what youd call a writer or music critic, but hey- thats what blogs are for anyway. the photographs are all the work of my mate tyler huffman, taken in may while i was visiting him in damascus. the photos are from the umayyad mosque in damascus, syria (1), some random mosque undergoing renovations in aleppo, syria (2), the roman ruins at palmyra, syria (3), the beirut shore from general de gaulle avenue, lebanon (4), and the entrance to vespasian's tunnel near samandağ, turkey (5). as for the music, quite a bit of it came either from the blogs listed to my right, from surfing the hype machine, from ruckus new music drops, and from friendly recommendations. all of this was posted for promotional purposes, because the music these artists make is good and worthy of your time, attention, and money. thats the justification behind posting free mp3s anyway. and because these people make a living from this, you should buy some of this stuff. try itunes, amazon, ruckus, turntable lab, or your local independent retailer (r.i.p. schoolkids records chapel hill, 1974-2008). and do your friends a favor, tip them off to your favorite new tunes because music was made to be shared and enjoyed together.