Happy New Years & Vacation

Oldie but Goodie: I hope everyone has a thrilling New Years! I'll leave you with "Piano Mécanique (Jour de Fête)" from the album "Sonorama!" The album is a collection of songs taken from various Jacques Tati films. It's the perfect way to start a vacation, set fire to your paperwork and skip problem free down the boulevard. See you in a few weeks!

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Jean Yatove:Piano Mécanique (Jour de Fête)

Best Tracks of 2009 (In No Particular Order)

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Mountain Man:Animal Tracks

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Prefuse73:Four Reels Collide

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Ganglians:Valiant Brave

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The Sandwiches:Back To The Sea

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Gold Panda:Quitters Raga

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Mos Def:Quiet Dog

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TV On The Radio:Red Dress (THE GLITCH MOB Remix)

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Marissa Nadler:Ghosts & Lovers

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Mercer Chamber Orchestra:Trio Agitato

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Bosque Brown:Went Walking

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XX:Crystalised

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Micachu:Eat Your Heart

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Tipper:Jibber Jabber

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Cass McCombs:Dreams Come True Girl (Ft. Karen Black).mp3

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Grizzly Bear:Southern Point

Lucas Santtana - Sem-Nostalgia

Brazilian musician Lucas Santtana crosses genres with Afro-Brazilian rhythms, samba, rock, atmospheric, folk, etc. "Sem-Nostalgia" is a wonderful groove record, perfect for nights of drinking beer on a porch and simply watching the moon glow.

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Lucas Santtana:Ripple of the water

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Lucas Santtana:Amor em Jacumã

Mighty Clouds Of Joy - "Family Circle" & "Glory Hallelujah"

Oldie but Goodie: Mighty Clouds Of Joy - "Family Circle" & "Glory Hallelujah" are probably my all time favorite gospel tracks. When I listen to these tracks there is a feeling that rises in my chest that is unparalleled with any other piece of music. In a time where commercialism, stardom and mediocrity runs rampant in the music business its important to cleanse the soul from time to time and remember what music should be all about...Jesus...well maybe not, but certainly an intangible, inexplicable humming in our ears that first made our ape hands raise to the sky and praise life itself. From falsettos to baritones this group has some phenomenal talent not to mention the fiery, razor sharp wailing of lead singer, Joe Ligon.

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Mighty Clouds Of Joy:Family Circle

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Mighty Clouds Of Joy:Glory Hallelujah

Fly Girlz - "Love Hurts" & "This Is The Real Me"

According to their myspace, "The Fly Girlz are a group of young MCs ages 12 to 14. The group includes Tamera (aka angel), Tyshana (aka pinky), Vernice (aka Lady Millz), Sharmaine (aka rose), Ameena (aka Sophia), and Ashli (aka Princess). All of them are students at the Brownsville Middle School PS 284. The Fly Girlz was formed at a 21st century sponsored after school program facilitated by long time New York City public school supplementary arts education providers LEAP (Learning through and Expanded Arts Program). The program began with 22 students. The fly girlz were the last 6 standing. The Fly Girlz wrote and rehearsed for 6 months to author their first album “Da Bratz From Da Ville”. Overcoming social, and academic obstacles of all varieties the Fly Girlz offer us a look into their young but challenging day to day. Subject matter ranges from boyz to drive bys, from shoes to changing the conditions in which they are manufactured...The Fly Girlz continue their work at the Beacon Center for Arts and Leadership’s teen Action Program."

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Fly Girlz:Love Hurtz

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Fly Girlz:This Is The Real Me

New Years Party - Sea Of Dreams

The only place to be this New Years Eve is @ the SF party Sea Of Dreams. Well, there might be other places you could be but those who have the opportunity shouldn't miss this fabulous show. The Glitch Mob, Bassnectar, Ozomatli and many other will be wreaking havoc on the ears and the dance floor will be filled with a sea of drunken carnival pirates and the like. It will be explosive for sure!

Here's a video of The Glitch Mob infiltrating the streets of S.F.

PATTON OSWALT - "CHRISTMAS SHOES"

Dana Falconberry - "Nightingale"

Dana Falconberry has been working on a new album that according to MOKB "consists of eight songs all recorded live in an old house in the Texas country. The album will be self-released on January 14th, and will be available through most digital distributors." The song "Nightingale" will most likely be on the new release. It's a sad and pretty little song and when the back-up singers start, it turns my heart to putty.

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Dana Falconberry:Nightingale

Young Man - "Five"

Colin Caulfield, from St. Paul, Minnesota, records under the alias, Young Man. His soon to be released concept record, "Boy" will feature songs from a child's perspective on life. "Five" is a fresh and innocent sounding song about a five year old boy. The instrumentation is beautifully layered with organ, acoustic guitar, subtle percussion instruments and vocal harmonies that swirl in a similar fashion to early Beach Boys songs. The song leaves the listener in a pleasantly dreamy state.

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Young Man: Five

Family Band - "Hatred"

Winter is upon us and so is all of the comforting gloomy music that keeps us indoors for way too long. After building a cabin in the Catskills, Jonny Ollsin and wife Kim Krans set to work on making their debut record. Family Band's song "Hatred" will paint your walls a faded grey and welcome all the lonely ghosts to a slow dance. The song loops soft moans and drum rolls while Krans' even-keeled voice sweeps over. They've branded their music "heavy mellow," which nicely describes their eerie mountain music.

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Family Band: Hatred

Caethua - "I am become my world"

Caethua is an underground folk & experimental gem. According to their myspace page the music is made with a variety of instruments from singing bowls and bells to guitars and electronics. The songs are about witch hunts and car accidents and the soft melodies drift through the air like a chilly fog. Lead singer, Clare Hubbard, is also the front woman of SPORTS, and plays sax with DBH.

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Caethua: i am become my world.mp3

Velvet Underground- Reuinite in NY for a Q&A

Former members of the Velvet Underground met at the New York Public Library on Dec. 8 for a question and answer session. In the 60's VU experienced little commercial success and usually had to play for meals. During the Q&A the group talks about some of their first gigs at high schools and art galleries. Lou Reed talks about Maureen Tucker's essential primitive drumming style and their "guard dog" Andy Warhol who made sure that the music never steered away from what it was naturally.

Click here to listen to the Velvet Underground:Q & A.



From the Q&A:

Andy Warhol's favorite track off their first album was, "All Tomorrow's Parties."

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Velvet Underground:All Tomorrow's Parties

Lou Reed's favorite track of all time is Ornette Coleman's song, "Lonely Woman."

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Ornette Coleman:Lonely Woman

Film Spotlight: "La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons" (The Old Lady and the Pigeons ) (1998, 22:13 min)

Sylvain Chomet's, "La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons" is a wonderful short film. A starving French gendarme is desperate for food. After watching an old lady feed rice cakes to a flock of pigeons, he hatches a plot to dress up like one so she'll feed him as well. The film is a rare treat. There is hardly any talking in the film, similar in style to Chomet's masterpiece "Triplets of Bellville." He's currently working on a film called "The Illusionist" which was written by the iconic director Jacques Tati before he passed away. Anyone who enjoys this style of film making but hasn't seen the films of Tati really must check them out, especially my favorite, "Mon Oncle."

Artist Spotlight: Flying Lotus

Writing previously about Mia Doi Todd made me want to post the Flying Lotus remix of her song "My Room is White." Flying Lotus, or his real name Steven Ellison, is the great-nephew of the cosmic queen Alice Coltrane. L.A. based DJ/producer, Flying Lotus, takes instrumental hip hop to new heights. He's similar in style to Dabrye, Prefuse 73 and Savath y Savalas.

Here are a few of my favorite tracks: First, "Unexpected Delight" is off of the 2006 album 1983. Second, "My Room Is White (Flying Lotus Remix)" is off the album of Mia Doi Todd Remixes "La Ninja: Amor and Other Dreams Of Manzanita. And finally, the track "Tea Leaf Dancers" is off the Reset - EP.

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Flying Lotus: Unexpected Delight

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Mia Doi Todd: My Room Is White (Flying Lotus Remix)

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Flying Lotus: Tea Leaf Dancers.mp3

Florence and the Machine - “Girl With One Eye”

I don't know what it is about folksy female crooners but these days I can't seem to get enough. Florence and the Machine's, Florence Mary Leontine Welch is a bluesy south London singer whose songs seem to vary from sparkly pop/rock to murderous folk ballads. Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso for the tip, who writes, "Girl With One Eye" has "got a dark mystery about it that just screams 'lost gem.'"

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Florence and the Machine: Girl with One Eye

Mia Doi Todd - @ Hammer Museum Dec. 17th

For fellow Angelenos, Mia Doi Todd at the Hammer Museum this Thursday is not to be missed. As part of the quarterly Flux Screening Series, the Hammer will be premiering her new video "Open Your Heart", directed by Michel Gondry. It will be an evening of shorts and videos that will conclude with a live performance by Mia, herself.

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Mia Doi Todd:Merry Me

Broadcast - "I See, So I See So"

The music video for Broadcast's "I See, So I See So" was created by graphic designer Julian House. House's unique style of washed out collages lends itself beautifully to the music here. House also has a record label Ghost Box Music, which as he puts it, is "music for schools, cosmic horror stories, library music, English surrealism, and the dark side of psychedelia."

The song, "I See, So I See So" is off of the Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age album, which is out now on Warp.

Massive Attack- "Paradise Circus" (NSFW)

Hello sports fans...sorry, I mean 70's porn fans, Massive Attack's new music video features testimony from 1973's "The Devil in Miss Jones" star, Georgina Spelvin. The film starts with Spelvin talking about how she once tried her hand at prostitution but it couldn't compare to exhilaration of performing in front of a camera. The video inter-cuts scenes from the original film while Spelvin poetically describes her experiences making a "fuck film." Although the music is probably not what you'll remember after watching this, it really does provide a sexy and dramatic atmosphere to the musings of a retired porn star.

Warning:

This video contains graphic imagery. To watch it click here.

Micachu and The Shapes - "Guts"

Here's Micachu and The Shapes performing outside of the Tempelhof airport, on their way to the Berlin Festival. They play several homemade instruments and create remarkably cool, out of tune, music.

Here's the studio version of the song:

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Micachu and The Shapes:Guts

Shpongle - "Ineffable Mysteries"

The psychedelic downtempo project, Shpongle, returns with their fourth album, "Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland." Shpongle always manages to seamlessly mix world-music with trance to provide a truly unique listening experience. They continue to evolve their sound, carrying the listener deep into the recesses of the mind, as it rapidly spirals inward. Play it loud, the production quality is superb...as always.


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Shpongle:Ineffable Mysteries

Nneka - "Walking" f. Jay Electronica (J. Period Remix)

"The Madness" is a collection of tracks from Nneka, the Nigerian born singer/songwriter. The music speaks to a time of political corruption, technological fervor, and a cultural renaissance. Presented by mixtape-king, J.Period, the album features MC's such as M-1 (Dead Prez), Jay Electronica, Zumbi (Zion I), Rakaa (Dilated Peoples) & Talib Kweli. It will be available on Dec. 15th for free here.

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Nneka: "Walking" f. Jay Electronica (J. Period Remix)

Mos Def – "Supermagic"

MOS DEF "Supermagic" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Jesca Hoop- "Money"

Jesca Hoop's new album "Hunting My Gown" has already dropped in the UK and I'm patiently waiting for it to be released in the US. In the mean time, you can check out some of her new songs on her myspace. Here is a video for the song, "Money" off the previous album, "Kismet."

Liars- "Scissor"

The Liars fifth studio album, "Sisterhood" will be released early 2010 via Mute Records. You can download the track, "Scissor," for free in exchange for your email address over at thesisterworld.com. The track has some very nice vocal harmonies and string sections, that occasionally erupt into a crashing chaos of guitar and drums. It shows real potential for the upcoming release.

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Liars:Scissor

Bullion- "God Only Knows"

"London producer Bullion has gone and cut up the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and a cover of the track into a terribly chill, lightly glitchy downtempo cut. The accompanying video is cut from some eerie video that's supposed to encourage kids to do yoga. It fits, but in a decidedly uncomfortable way, which is probably what the guy was going for." [Prefix]

Yoga Creep // Bullion - "God Only Knows" from Cody Bralts on Vimeo.

Joji Koyama - Songs to draw to.

Artist and film director Joji Koyama made this mixtape for File Magazine. He's an award winning filmmaker whose directed short films such as ‘From Nose to Mouth’ , ‘Watermelon Love’ and ‘First Place’. He also goes by the name Woof Wan-Bau when directing music videos. His music videos include artists such as Four tet, Mogwai and Coldcut. Joji Koyama said, “I’ve been working on a lot of drawings this year, and I listen to a lot of music when i’m drawing, so i guess that’s where the slight theme comes from.”

Your not going to want to miss downloading this wonderful mix of experimental music for free here.

Artists include: Iva Bittová and Pavel Fajt, Ikue Mori, Deerhoof, Quarteto em Cy, John Maus and Tujiko Noriko. For full track list click here.

Jónsi of Sigur Rós - "Boy Lilikoi"

Jonsi, lead singer of Sigur Rós, will be coming out with a solo album soon. "Boy Lilikoi" is the first song to surface from the album. It should be an interesting record especially because of his collaboration with avant garde composer Nico Muhly (Grizzly Bear, Antony, Bjork).

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Jónsi: Boy Lilikoi

Warpaint- "Exquisite Corpse E.P."

I'm a little late on this one but since Trickety is new, I figure I can backtrack a bit. The L.A.-based all female trio, Warpaint dropped the "Exquisite Corpse E.P" on Oct. 5th. Below is a video of the three creeping through the night with sparklers over the song "Stars." Below that, the song "Elephant" surges with body groovin' bass intensity until it desolves into a phlanger induced trip out (don't adjust your speakers). And finally the song, "Billy Holiday" is a more subdued, folk tune with beautiful multilayered vocals. It slowly morphs into a hazy, somber version of the Motown hit "My Guy." Warpaint is definitely a band to keep an eye on.

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Warpaint:Elephants

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Warpaint:Billie Holiday

Hostage- "Valhalla"

Scottish producer, Hostage, packs a monster punch with "Valhalla." The dance track is packed with huge basslines, war chants and dark orchestral sections. The "Valhalla EP" is out via the Nightshifters label which you can purchase on Beatport. On the EP are remixes by Angel Alanis and Rampage as well as Chrissy Murderbot and Mommas Boy.

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Hostage:Valhalla

Tiny Tim- "The Other Side"

Thanks to Galaxy/.09 for unearthing this gem. Tiny Tim predicts global warming in eerie children's song...sleep tight children.

Rye Rye- BANG WHYTE BOI! (feat. M.I.A.)

Behind the scenes at Rye Rye Music Video:

RYE RYE BANG WHYTE BOI ! from M.I.A on Vimeo.

This reminded me that anyone who hasn't seen the incredible Dave LaChapelle documentary, "RIZE!" really needs to ASAP. It chronicles the practice of "Clowning" and "Krumping" that began in South Central L.A. You can watch the whole movie for free here.

Marissa Nadler- "Dying Breed" and "Silvia"

I've been looking for a good excuse to write about Marissa Nadler and then I found it! This live footage from Brooklyn's Union Hall is courtesy of Ray Concepcion. Ray has a unique filming style that's not great if you want to see what's going on, but it nicely captures the emotional quality of the music. The song, "Dying Breed" is from Nadler's third album, "Songs III: Bird On The Water." Nadler has such a haunting voice and the atmosphere of her music is almost always melancholy and serene. She will be perfect for fans of 60's artists such as Leonard Cohen and Sibylle Baier and more contemporary artists such as Josephine Foster and Faun Fable. You can watch more videos from the same show here.

Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands: Marissa Nadler [Part 2 of 2] from Ray Concepcioñ on Vimeo.

Here's another track off the same album titled, "Silvia."
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Marissa Nadler: Silvia

Edison- "Failure of the Year"

failure of the year from edison on Vimeo.

This was posted over a year ago and I still think its one of the coolest performances on a Monome. Edison is a monster on the machine. You can check out his other videos here.