A pleasant surprise

This sort of caught me off guard. I picked up the Easy All-Star's tribute to Radiohead's OK Computer entitled Radiodread, from the library thinking it would be fun but what totally shocked me was how good it was. Seriously. It brings out a side of all the songs that were there, but now they're totally rocking. I actually am not a big fan of reggae in general but this is really enjoyable and easy to get into. Very much recommended:

Let Down (ft. Toots and the Maytails)
Paranoid Android (Ft. Kristy Rock)
Karma Police (ft. Citizen Cope)

While we're on the subject of surprisingly good covers...
Queens of the Stone Age - Christian Brothers (Elliott Smith Cover)

I thought they'd through on the distortion and turn this song into a real heavy groover that they like to dip into so often but they really just play the song how it was intended. The studio production and extra instruments give the song a new flare and Josh Hommes gets to sing the chorus in that charming but tough falsetto he's so good at.

Dan Rossen (Grizzly Bear) - Too Little, Too Late (JoJo cover)
I hadn't heard the original, so I youtubed it before listening to this. It's a pretty average waterd-down pop song and I didn't think there'd be that much creative room for him to do anything cool, it would probably just end up being another band trying to joke around and try to make a top 40 hit good, but he takes it to new heights, it's really incredible. It was recorded for fellow Grizzly, Ed's birthday. Speaking of Grizzly Bear
here's a remix of Dntel's To a Fault which feature Ed Droste of GB, off the album Dumb Luck (Which is by far one of my number one albums of the year)
Dntel - To a Fault (James Rutledge Remix)


Also, check out these sweet remixes from Amplive of some In Rainbow tracks:
Radiohead - Nude (Amplive Remix)
Radiohead - Weird Fishies (Amplive Remix)



That's all for now, enjoy. More playlists coming soon.

A mix for a friend

I got to make another mix for a friend of mine and I finished it up last night, here's a part of it.
Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!!! I've never been a huge fan of this holiday (I'm a big picky eater) but it's still sort of fun.

The Prom - Jean Alexander Waltz
Feral Children - Spy/Glass House
Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords
Soul Position - No Gimmicks
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
De La Soul - The Magic Number
BOAT - Last Cans of Paint
Ben Gibbard - Indian Summer (Beat Happening Cover, from About a Son soundtrack)
Annuals - Brother
Sage Francis - Crack Pipes

It may not look like it would flow too well but believe me, it does.

A dark set of music

Some of my favorite songs from some of my favorite artists... for when you're feeling down and blue. Get deep in your thoughts and get emotional. Good for rainy days and night time walks.

Damien Jurado - Tonight, I will Retire
Sparklehorse - Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Cover, w/ Thom Yorke)
TV On the Radio - You Could Be Love (Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes b-side)
Antony and the Johnsons - Cripple and the Starfish
Cocorosie - Ohio (Damien Jurado Cover)
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Bullet Charm

I'm changing things up

So as you've noticed I haven't been posting a lot as of late. Now that i's not summer I just really don't have the motivation to keep writing for so few people, which is why I'm starting this new format.
I think I'm just going to post playlists that I make. Most of the time when I listen to my iPod I try to make everything flow and sound as good as possible when played with all the other songs, and then I make a playlist out of them, so I'm just going to start posting those up. Hopefully you'll download all the songs you don't have and make these playlists and listen to them in that order on your own time, but if not atleast you'll probably get some new tracks. I'll try to incorporate new music and new or hard to find tracks into them.
So here's the first one (and it's a big one!):

PWRFL Power - Let Me Teach You How to Hold Chopsticks
Pavement - Here
The Beatles - I Want to Tell You
The Thermals - Here's Your Future
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Sparklehorse - Sick of Goodbyes
The Gossip - Coal to Diamonds
Modest Mouse - I Came as a Rat
Apparat - Hailin' From the Edge
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Down Boy
Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde
Devendra Banhart - Bad Girl
Sparklehorse - All Night Home
Thom Yorke - Black Swan
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Beck - Debra (I suggest skipping over the secret track)
CSS - Let's Make Love and LIsten to Death From Above (Hot Chip Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco - Love
YACHT - Now It's All Over Like the Birds

Tell me what you think.

Cannibal Ox

The Cold Vein! Man, what an album. I don't thier soud will ever not sound fresh. The talents of Vast Aire and Vordul Mega synchronise perfectly over, arguably, EL-P's best beats to date. Noisy and tight with soulful samples and space-age keys. Vast and Vordul split up their verses in such original and creative ways that bring the song s new life. I really recommend you get this album if you haven't... if this is what you're into. If not, it's what you should be into.




Here are some of the best tracks off the Cold Vein, but I'll leave a few gem's off so you can discover them on your own.
The F-Word
Iron Galaxy
Ridiculoid
Pigeon

UPDATE!

So this guy Tom asked me to keep posting, so I will. But no one reads this. After 2008 I'm shutting this down (I just want to do my best of 07 post!) so get the best out of this as you can. So here's some more of the stuff I've been listening to (again).


The Blow - Fists Up
I've been coming back to this track for around a month now. It's just so good! Every once in awhile a pop song comes aroud and the melody tickles me just right. Certain notes Khaela hits give me a special feeling... haha. I can't really describe it. I just get so happy when it breaks down in the end.

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
I'm pretty new to Neil Youg, and I'm sure this is his song that you've heard over and over, but that doesn't make it bad. Rarely can I listen to a song more than 3 times in a day, and in this case I have been for the last few days. Other songs are good to. But just so I'm not posting something you've already heard and have here's Thome Yorke's cover also:
Thom Yorke - After the Gold Rush

The Microphones - I Felt Your Shape
The Glow Pt. 2 is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite albums. It flows so weirdly but perfectly. The lo-fi production works incredibly through out and I just can't resist Phil's voice. Can you? I didn't think so.

Nick Drake - Which Will
Another household name I've been meaning to get into for awhile. This albums so chill. I played this album waking up in the morning before everyone else is up and taking the bus before sunrise, it was perfect.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hyperballad (Bjork Cover Acoustic)
Why is this cover so good? At first listen the bootleg soud of it sort of takes away from it, but now I think it gives it a real intimate feeling. The words and melodies are tweaked just a bit and the guitar is so simple, but it just clicks. A lot of YYY songs do that. I started getting into Show Your Bones more, I wasn't so big on it when it came out but now I'm really tapping into their more mellow side (if you could call it that).
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fancy

Elliott Smith - Bottle Up and Explode!
I was never as into XO as everyone else I feel like, but now I am. I've listened to it all the way through at least 3 times in the last 3 days now. I don't know if you guys do that often but I don't.

Jose Gonzalez - How Low
Just got this CD from the library. Wasn't sure if I should buy it, I didn't think it would be as good as Veneer, but I think it's up there. Too early for me to tell for sure but he's really grown and his songs are gaining a lot more depth now. Not so stark. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.

Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love - Mayfly
What a lame band name, but what an incredible song! It's a little cheesy but it's one of those songs where you get into it and the cheesiness seems totally honest and real. It's just so nice, especially in this season.I need to keep an eye out for more of these guys. I think they're one of those it bands that are on the rise (I sure hope so, it'd be nice to see more oft hem).

Oh yeah, and that picture represents me... sort of. It's just hard to get motivated when I feel like I have no readers. Expect posts with more than just songs though, soon. These have been sort of boring to read.


In other news, Ghostface Killah announced some more album details on the Big Doe Rehab, due on the same day as 8 Diagrams (!!). Loks like he's staying the route of many classic hip-hop artists and putting a really terrible cover out. Look:
Not to say it will be bad by any means, so many great albums have some of the worst album covers possible (that might be a fun post!). Fishscale was probably one of the best hip-hop releases of last year. But I just had to note on the cover, and how much these kinds of covers really bug me. But you can now buy a doll of the one and only Killah.

And if you didn't hear about Radiohead's web broadcasting... well too bad I'm not going to retype what everyone's everyone else has already said, but I will re-post that Bjork cover they did. Oooh it's good.
Radiohead - Unravel

And I hate to link to Pitchfork but they have all the videos there. There's lots. Just skip over the annoying pretentious comments.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/47014-radiohead-omg-another-webcast