12 Days of Mixmas

A music blog entitled You Ain't No Picasso has compiled, as they have done for the last few years, the 12 Days of Mixmas. The idea is that they have notable music figures compile a short mix tape for all of us and make the MP3s available for download. The most recent entry was by Gregg Gillis (pictured).

Oh, and I hate Christmas and sports.

Favorite Songs/Albums of 2007

Favorite Songs of 2007

1.Panda Bear - Bro's
2.LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
3.Animal Collective - For Reverend Green
4.Battles - Atlas
5.Frog Eyes - Bushels
6.Spoon - You Got Your Cherry Bomb
7.Field - Everday
8.Chromatics - Running Up That Hill
9.Sunny Day In Glasgow - 5:15 Train
10.Dan Deacon - Wham City

11.Talib Kweli - Listen!
12.Liars - Plaster Casts of Everything
13.White Rainbow - Mystic Prism
14.M.I.A. - $20
15.Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica
16.Deerhunter - Octet
17.Rapture - The Sound (Ben Trucker's Back To 95 Mix)
18.Radiohead - House of Cards
19.Grizzly Bear - Alligator (Choir Version)
20.Rhianna - Umbrella

21.Slaraffenland - Watch Out
22.Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let the Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (Ewan Pearson Remix)
23.Manu Chao - Rainin In Paradise
24.Pantha Du Prince - Saturn Strobe
25.!!! - Heart of Hearts
26.Radiohead - Nude
27.Yeasayer - 2080
28.Spoon - The Underdog
29.Chromatics - In The City
30.Jay-Z & Pharrell - Blue Magic

31.Timbaland - Give It To Me
32.Shins - Sleeping Lesons
33.Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
34.Animal Collective - #1
35.No Age - Loosen This Job
36.Earthless - Godspeed
37.Panda Bear - Take Pills
38.LCD Soundsystem - North America Scum (Onastic Dub Remix)
39.Santagold - Creator
40.Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 10 x 10

41.Celebration - Hands Off My Gold (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
42.LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
43.Grizzly Bear - Het Hit Me
44.Studio - Life's A Beach
45.Bjork - Earth Intruders
46.High Violets - Chinese Letter (Ulrich Snauss Mix)
47.Pantha Du Prince - Steiner Im Flug
48.Deerhunter - Wash Off
49.Field - Over The Ice
50.Dragonette - I Get Around (Van She Remix)

51.M.I.A. - Bird Flu
52.Muscles - Marshmellow
53.Deerhunter - Fluorescent Grey
54.Rekkid - Next Stop Chicago
55.Pharoahe Monch - What It Is
56.Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life
57.Animal Collective - Chores
58.Kanye West - Flashing Lights
59.Marrisa Nadler - Cortez The Killer
60.Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan - Who Wellses In Mt Hoff

61.Arboretum - Pale Rider Blues
62.Kanye West - I Wonder
63.Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
64.Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
65.Sunset Rubdown - Winged Wicked Things
66.No Age - Everbody's Down
67.Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not A Movie
68.Andy Palacio - Baba
69.LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous
70.Sunset Rubdown - The Mending of the Gown

71.Liars - Sailing To Byzantium
72.A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Ghost In The Graveyard
73.Outkast - Art of Storytellin' Part 4
74.Parts & Labor - Fractured Skies
75.Muscles - Futurekidz
76.Broken Social Scene - Frightening Lives
77.Ulrich Schnauss - Stars
78.Jay-Z - Fallin
79.Map Of Africa - Wyatt Urp
80.Jens Lekman - A Postcard To Nina

81.R.Kelly - I'm A Flirt
82.Crystal Castles - Untrust Us
83.Le Loup - Le Loup (Fear Not)
84.Burial - Archangel
85.Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
86.Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Down Boy
87.National - Fake Empire
88.Handsome Furs - What We Had
89.Elliott Smith - Whatever (Folk Song in C)
90.Studio - Origin (Shake You Down By The River)

91.Shocking Pinks - Smokescreen
92.Broken Social Scene - Tbtf
93.Bjorn Torske - Hemmelig Orkester
94.Panda Bear - I'm Not
95.John Maus - Do Your Best
96.Glass Candy - Computer Love
97.Roisin Murphy - Let Me Know
98.James Blackshaw - Running To the Ghost
99.Bon Iver - Lump Sum
100.Deer Tick - Dirty Dishes

Favorite Albums of 2007

1.Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2.LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
3.Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga
4.Jay-Z - American Gangster
5.Radiohead - In Rainbows
6.Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
7.Deerhunter - Cryptograms/Flourescent Grey EP
8.Field - From Here We Go Sublime
9.MIA - Kala
10.Liars - Liars

11.Kanye West - Graduation
12.Burial - Untrue
13.!!! - Myth Takes
14.No Age - Weirdo Rippers
15.Studio - Yearbook1
16.A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribbel Mural Comic Journal
17.Broken Social Scene - Spirit If
18.Grinderman - Grinderman
19.Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP
20.Caribou - Andorra

Honorable Mention: Simian Mobile Disco - Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release

Videos of the Year - A He Response

While there are many merits to Victor9000's list (and existence) I have to say that I'm a little hurt that only one video that I placed on the He Blog made his list. Videos are all that I post here. This leads me to wonder if he even reads this blog or if he's just completely stupid and doesn't know what great videos are. So just to refresh your memory, and point out what Victor9000 missed out on, here is a look back at the actual videos of merit in 2007 (in chronological order).


Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl to Do


Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing


Architecture in Helsinki - Hold Music


The 1990's - You Were Supposed To Be My Friend


The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance


Parts and Labor - The Gold We're Digging


The Bees - The Listening Man


zZz Is Playing - Grip
(this is the runner up for the video of the year)


The National - Apartment Story


Los Campesinos! - International Tweexcore Underground


Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
(posted by HeManZero but still left off stupid dummy head Victor9000's fucking list)


The Cool Kids - Black Mags

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction [EXCLUSIVE]

Snoop Dogg- Sensual Seduction
(without question the best video of the year)

Albums and Videos - Victor9K

Top Albums - 2007
10. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
9. Apparat - Walls
8. Feist - The Reminder
7. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
6. A-Trak - Dirty South Dance
5. Muscles - Guns Babes Lemonade
4. M.I.A. - Kala
3. The National - Boxer
2. Menomena - Friend & Foe
1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Videos of Merit - 2007
Kavinsky - Testarossa Autodrive

Testarossa autodrive - KAVINSKY
Uploaded by RECORDMAKERS

Feist - 1234

The National - Start A War (Takeaway Show)

#40.3 - The National - Start a war
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Menomena - Wet & Rusting

And for good measure...
(make sure you watch to the end)

#62.3 - Menomena - Wet and Rusting
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Rihanna - Umbrella

Ghosthustler - Parking Lot Nights

Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do

The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave

The Knife - Heartbeats

This may be from last year, but it's so good, you should see it in this one.
Clark - Ted

M.I.A. - Bird Flu

Modest Mouse - Dashboard

That crazy shit jbell put up.

Kanye West - Stronger (good lord this video must have been expensive)

Top Songs of 2007 - Victor 9K

Here's my list:

20) Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
The prototype for electronic music in 2007.

19) Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready
I am sure there's a 14 year old kid in Detroit, wearing an Interpol shirt, who hears this song and thinks "Fuck this bullshit, 1993 was awesome!"

18) Underworld - Glam Bucket
God-awful title aside, it's been a while since I've dug an Underworld song this much.

17) R. Kelly - I'm A Flirt
How is it that a song promising infidelity and alpha male dominance over me is so damn fun?

16) Hans Zimmer - Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho
Hate if you must, but the film score is a great medium for taking you through many moods. Guilty pleasure pick.

15) Justin Timberlake - SexyBack (Tyler Fedchuk Mix)
This is everything a great remix should be - a little playful, a little irreverent to the original spirit of the song, and most importantly, it puts a smile on your face and makes you feel joyful

14) Chromatics - Runnin Up That Hill
So incredibly good. But then I heard the Kate Bush original, which is better. Still, one of the year's best.

13) A-Trak - Get on My Pony
Hugely danceable, but that deep soldier voice chant dumps testosterone into your system, stimulating the rawk zone of your brain without sacrificing your dignity (see: Creed, Linkin Park).

12) Dan Deacon - Wham City
After spending a good portion of the year watching The Wire, it's got me thinking that something great is happening in Baltimore.

11) Muscles - Hey Muscles, I Love You
The sonic capture of that moment when a really great party peaks and everyone tries to hold on as tight as they can to the feeling.

10) Rihanna - Umbrella
Rihanna's jam is sexy in the way that nothing is really sexy anymore, langorous and you have to give it about 30 extra points when you realize how it's got a full, unique sound in a pop landscape where that is about as useful as the ability to play an instrument.

9) Shystie - New Style Remix
The mid-point breakdown with reversed vocals is perfect, just perfect. I want to send "Wish You Were Here" postcards from it.

8) King Kahn & the Shrines - Welfare Bread
Makes me want to own a stoop in Brooklyn in 1967.

7) Le Loup - Fear Not
A little bit folksy, a little bit ethereal, and [full disclosure of bias] one of the best things DC has going for it.

6) Tigercity - Powerstripe
This is such a welcome introduction to the record that follows - it warms you to a sound and a place that requires you to check your edge and cynicism at the door.

5) Miami Horror - Don't Be On With Her
"I keep thinking that if Justice was fun then this is what they’d sound like" - not my quote, but Bullseye!

4) Sunset Rubdown - The Mending of the Gown
"This one's for Maggieee. This one's for Sal." Perhaps the peak of the year.

3) LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
This one wins the Most Likely to Provoke Strong Feelings of Nostalgia In The Future Award.

2) Menomena - Wet & Rusting
Enjoying this song is like experiencing a novel, article or documentary whose strength comes from the integration of seemingly dissonant ideas. It's like a Pynchon novel or an early Godard film. And the video makes me cry a little.

1) The Knife - Heartbeats
I know it came out in '06, but shit if I'm not going to recognize one of the best songs ever. It's #2 on the All-Time list behind Naive Melody.

Other notable jams of 2007 in the comments...

Who We He Be

I think you can trace every strain of our generation to this:

It features reappropriation, reverence coupled to an irony-tinged distance, unabashed fondness for childhood and childish things, using coolness (here the canonization of the Talking Heads) as a foil for the haters while spectacularly geeking out, the dense layers of references one must understand to enjoy the media...
I don't know, am I taking this too far? I would appreciate voices of skepticism on my little theory.

Top Ten List of Top Ten Lists of People On Top Ten Lists.

Pitchfork, whose own top songs and albums lists will undoubtedly be out next Tuesday or Wednesday, today released its Guest List: Best of 2007 List. Basically, these are the top ten lists of all the musicians who will be on the aforementioned Pitchfork top songs and albums list in a few days.
In celebration of this orgy of self-reference I have entered the fray with my very own Top Ten List of Top Ten Lists of People On Top Ten Lists, using this morning's Pitchfork List as my source. Also, one thing I noticed is how few indie musicians listed In Rainbows.

1. Diplo
2. Vampire Weekend
3. Yeasayer
4. Annie Clark (of St. Vincent)
5. A-trak (despite having Justice on the list. also gets props for having the balls to list himself)
6. Bradford Cox
7. Dan Snaith (Caribou)
8. Axel Willner (The Field)
9. Bowerbirds
10. Noah Lennox (Panda Bear - not all music related, but still good).

*UPDATE*
For those still not getting enough lists, here is a list of Best of 2007 lists.

Misheard Lyric of the Year

"You can stand under my armed Beretta"
-heard by coolerdanu

It's That Rap Phenomenon

Why does Biggie freestyling over a Hitler mashup work so well? Are there any He-Physicists that can explain this to me?

(potentially NSFW, more likely just inappropriate. Wait, why the fuck are you reading the He Blog at work?)

The White Stripes on Conan

I've never seen this live set of the White Stripes on Conan O'Brien and I'm very unhappy with myself for making that mistake

Robbie Williams - Goodbye To The Normals

what up, stein.

Seventy Minutes of Joy

You can download it here.
100 points for the cover riffing on the Judgment Night soundtrack. 'Spec to the genre's elders.

Thriller, 25th Anniversary

It's the 25th anniversary of the release of Thriller. No snark. No snobbery, justified or otherwise. I was fresh off the boat from Manila, when my parents got it for me--the first album I ever owned--and it's still a masterpiece.

The Grammy Nominations

This makes me want to riot.

Best New Artist
(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)
* Feist

[Commence Justified Snobbery]

Bonde Do Role - 'Marina Gasolina'

Thanks Mr. Whatevs for the heads up. Just keep watching. You will love it by the end.

Kleptones Bestival download

The Kleptones love you. And you. And you.

And since they do they're giving you an early Christmas present. Unless you're Jewish and then it's a Hanukkah present. Or African American and it's a Kwanzaa present.

Kleptones Bestival 2007 - A compilation of their favorite live sets from the 2007s

Indie Rock and Football

I know some of you may hate sports, but the section beginning at -4:04 uses Explosions In the Sky, so you have to watch it as a music video.


I think the music and slow motion in that segment really work to showcase the grace within so much speed and power.

Pimp C Found Dead in Hotel Room

RIP to the Prince of P.A.T.

R.I.P.

Fun Chart!

Hey He Man Zero:

Elitist T-Shirt

He Man Woman Haters Podcast #5 (bonus track)

This was accidentally left out of the original podcast. The track is by Bonde Do Role and is called "Solta O Frango" and should be the second track on the HeCast. Our deepest He-apologies for this unfortunate oversight.

Bonde Do Role - Solta O Frango

(If you're subscribed to the podcast it will be downloaded the next time you refresh your podcatcher).

He Man Woman Haters Podcast #5

He Men: Never on schedule, always on time.

We've put together our fifth He Man Woman Haters' podcast. This a big one. More than usual with tracks from seven different He Men. It's 26 fucking tracks. It's over an hour and a half. Fuck yes. FUCK. YES!

The whole thing can be downloaded directly via this link (download podcast episode #5).

Download the individual tracks as a ZIP file via this link (He Man Podcast #5 ZIP File).

Here's the track listing

01 Shout Out Louds - Time Left For Love
02 Bonde Do Role - Solta O Frango
03 Japanther - Seventy Nine
04 White Williams - Fleetwood Crack
05 John Maus - Do Your Best
06 The Wombats - Kill the director (CSS remix)
07 MGMT - Time to Pretend
08 Mum - They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded
09 Codebreaker-Exiled!
10 Tiger Tunes – Charlie
11 Pull Tiger Tail – Animator
12 Kid Sister - Pro Nails
13 Young Dro - How you do that
14 MF Doom - Wu Tang remix
15 Mr Fantastic & MF Doom - Rap Snitches
16 Ghostland Observatory - Sad Sad City
17 Figurines – Ambush
18 Feist - My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)
19 Young Galaxy - Outside the City
20 Justin Timberlake VS Metronomy - Sexyback (Tyler Fedchuk mix)
21 My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallows
22 Flight Of The Conchords - If You're Into It
23 Purple Ribbon Allstars vs Broken Social Scene - Kryptonite (Certified Bananas remix)
24 Whitey - Wrap it up
25 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood (My!Gay!Husand! Redo)
26 Mazzy Star - Halah

If you'd like to subscribe to the RSS feed for the He Man Woman Haters so that you can get all of them, here are the links.

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SHHH! Everybody! Blender is saying something.

I am pretty sure that Blender is a magazine. I mean, I am sure, now, but I think that it was a print mag a while ago that rests firmly now in interwebs obscurity. Anyway, I just saw a top 100 indie-rock album of all time list, which they compiled. While such a scatter-shot is bound to hit some great albums, I left the whole thing wondering mostly what their criteria for "indie-rock" were.

New Snoop Video - Sensual Seduction

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction [EXCLUSIVE]

Consider your life up until this point as completely unfulfilled.

Christmas Season Begins

By way of Ethman comes this little gem which should help you get into the holiday spirit:

Ludacris - Ludacrismas

"Ho ho ho" indeed.

Excellent Crotchety Old Man Article

David Brooks writes about the fragmentation of a shared musical experience in America. His point is illustrated by the following thought experiment: What would happen if The Rolling Stones started making music today? Is there any realistic chance that they'd be so broadly accepted?
I tend to agree with him, but I ask for your thoughts (or in Hemanzero's case, accusations of bourgeois lamentation for an idealized past).

DMX vs Ghostbusters

Rap Collab

This is some fucking nerdy shit. Wait, did I say nerdy? I mean awesome!

This research student used OHHLA.com to search by artist and collaboration. He then mapped who did guest shots on each others albums. I'm not sure what you do with this info, maybe some sort of Kevin Bacon type of thing but it's still pretty cool.

Turns out what we always suspected: Snoop is friends with lots of people.

(on another note, when did Ma$e become a "top 50 rapper")

Rap Collaborations [via]

End of year lists

As the year slowly grinds to a close, I am interested to see the various lists (and make our own) compiled w/r/t the year's goings on. I just stumbled upon this 50 top album list from Stylus, but any others that you guys find would be fun fun fun.

Justice minus the DANCEing (belated post)

I intended to post something to this tune a long time ago, but I was pretty busy lawyering the shit out of some people. I, along with several of you, saw Justice perform several weeks ago at Terminal 5 in New York. I love Justice. The album, the DANCE video, the French-house-techno thing. Love it. I think that the venue is solid too. Huge open space, three floors with bars. It has a good club feel with the vaulted loftiness of a proper auditorium. The show, however, while fun, was highly imperfect, and I think that for the forthcoming reasons, this was the necessary outcome.

In Terminal 5 that night, there were thousands of people packed in, all facing the direction of the stage. While the lights were well done (see photo for the general layout of the stage), there was no room to dance, and it was very clear that the "band" was simply playing the majority of their album by pushing button, perhaps with minimal beat matching and certainly with the occasional roof-raising gesture to the crowd. I enjoyed the songs, but by the halfway point I was pretty bored and antsy. The crowd called for an encore (by singing "We Are Your Friends" chorus en masse, which was awesome), but the guys just appeared on the second story balcony and waved. I am sure that they didn't do an encore because they didn't pre-program an encore into their button pushing. My point here is that the two members of Justice, as electronic music producers, have no business giving a concert in the same manner as a live group that does anything live on-stage. This music would be best enjoyed in a proper club-type atmosphere, with the focus on dancing and community, rather than pretending that anything is actually being re-created on stage that the crowd must intently watch. So, I guess I am asking, is the problem here isolated to this concert? Isn't this a problem that the industry, while marketing electronic music side-by-side with "live" music (rightfully), cannot allow for any variety in the method or mode of concert presentation? Is this a stupid question?

Mark Ronson w/ Lily Allen - Oh My God

Remake of the Kaiser Chiefs song from his album Versions. I like the song more than the video, but it is watchable.

What makes a He Man?

----------------No.



----------------Yes.

Rap Charts

I found* this awesome collections of the world quantified and categorized a la rap.

*stole from Greg

Radiohead Experiment = Not a Total Failure

see the stats

The average downloader from their website paid $2.26. But consider that the real average may be lower (because of all the people who just copied it from friends) or, eventually, higher (because some people will buy it in the store when it is released in 2008).

Detachment Kit - Heavenly Escort

now here's a good song

Muscles

About 35 seconds into Track 2 on Guns Babes Lemonade, this album was assured a place on my Top 5 list for 2007. I'm only on Track 3 now, and there's a real possibility it will creep higher.
This is what music listens to when it needs a boost.

Talib Kweli Video - Everything Man

The track is really nice (not a great single though). Just thought I'd share it.

Random Podcast

Some San Francisco DJ named White Mike has a semi-regular podcast which is really nice. I strongly recommend, it's really nice.

White Mike - White Listed Podcast
Download Episode #4

New Bangers and Cash Video

I hate Bangers and Cash. I'm only passing this on because it's easily the most offensive thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

If you like Bangers and Cash feel free to shoot yourself in the head after you finish watching sports and beating off to Maxim magazine.

Bangers and Cash - I Want Some Pussy (P.S. Not at all safe for work)

NPR Music

If you haven't been paying attention to the music offerings of NPR recently, consider this your wake up call. They just launched NPR Music which is officially my new favorite place to linger. They've got live streams, live concerts, videos, downloads, interviews and more.

On a side note, I got into a big argument with my father this weekend over whether or not the ubiquity of music has hurt the idea of "music" in our culture. His feeling was that with the over saturation of music that people get tired and that's the reason why people aren't buying music. My argument was that music is finally coming back around to live music (especially since it's the last viable business model for musicians). I think this site argues his point while proving mine.

NPR Music Beta

I hope you don't have epilepsy

Clip-Daft Punk-harder better faster stronger-live
Uploaded by stardaft

There are about 100 cameras filming throughout the venue. Then someone edited the footage together. It's like Bentham's Panopticon in reverse, all in the service of rockin.

The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave

Good song. Good video.

He Man aftermath

I would like to think that my addition of this song to the he man mix of late prompted some research and this post.

Holy Hail

Video for "Cool Rock." Me likey.

GTTFD

Learn how the get things the fuck done.

I'm Not There Trailer

Biggest thing learned from this trailer: Bob Dylan used to be a poor Michael Jackson before bleaching his skin, molesting little boys, and moving to Dubai.

He Man Woman Haters Podcast #4

He Men: Never on schedule, always on time.

We've put together our third He Man Woman Haters' podcast. We're giving you fourteen songs at just under an hour of pure He Manishness.

The whole thing can be downloaded directly via this link (download podcast episode #4).

Download the individual tracks as a ZIP file via this link (He Man Podcast #4 ZIP File).

Here's the track listing

1. Black Francis – Blue Finger
2. Jen Lekman – A Postcard To Nina
3. MSTRKRFT – The Looks
4. TacocaT – UTI
5. Hey Hey My My – Merryland
6. Alela Diane – The Pirate’s Gospel
7. Sunset Rubdown – The Mending of the Gown
8. Wolf Parade – Disco Sheets
9. Soho Dolls – Trash the Rental (Crystal Castles Remix)
10. Chromatics – Running Up That Hill
11. Matt & Kim – Yeah Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix)
12. Flosstradamus – Overnight Star
13. I Was a Cub Scout – The View
14. Calvin Harris – Disco Heat

If you'd like to subscribe to the RSS feed for the He Man Woman Haters so that you can get all of them, here are the links.

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I had no idea they were filming me

(Update: Here's the MP3 of the song for you to enjoy)

Good news gentlemen

OiNK is coming back (kinda)!!!!!!!

New Music

Alright gentlemen, ever since the Event Without A Name (EWAN) earlier this week we've been seriously lacking in new and interesting music. I understand that we are all hurting inside from the EWAN but life must go on.

I suggest a new way of sharing our musical tastes. Here's everything that I've gotten in the last month. Most of it has been passed along by my fellow He Men so you've probably already got it in your library as it is. If you'd like to experience any or all of it, just let me know with an email (if you don't know it, leave a comment with a way for me to get in touch with you) and I'll happily "come over to your house and play it for you"

The Cool Kids - Totally Flossed Out
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Band of Horses - EP
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
Little Brother - Get Back
Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Math and Physics Club - (Self Titled)
The Cave Singers - (Self Titled)
The Cave Singers - Invitation Songs
Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
MSTRKRFT - The Looks
MSTRKRFT - EP
WU-Tang Clan - Wu-Box: The Cream of the Clan
Spank Rock and Benny Blanco - Bangers and Cash
Black Francis - Blue Finger
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
The Poison Control Center - A Collage of Impressions
Tokyo Police Club - Smith

Our Geneneration's Iwo Jima

Sometimes, I love the internet: case and point. And seriously, why is Idolator scaring the shit out of everyone? I generally like the gawker media sites--they're snarky and more or less align with the remorseless anarchic philosophy so fancied by kids today--but Idolator marches to the beat of its own narc drum. Not cool.

Back from the dead(?)

For those of you in need of needing: STMusic.com

A Post-Oinkalyptic World

New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky

More evidence

My life is over.

Nnnnoooooooo!!!!!!!!!

It's only 7:45 here in New York, but we're already getting some bad news:

Oink.cd raided by police, shut down

Thoughts?

Sigur Ros/Mobb Deep - Untitled Shook Ones (Emancipator Mash-up)

Brad Sucks

Worst name for an artist/band is very easily "Brad Sucks".

However I'm a little obsessed with his/their song "Making Me Nervous". For a song that was clearly recorded on a laptop it's really good.

Brad Sucks - Making Me Nervous
Brad Sucks website (with other free MP3s)

Some Music Because I love You

Here are two ZIP files of music for all of you, because I like you my fellow He Men.

Band of Horses (three albums: Untitled EP, "Cease To Begin" and "Everything All of the Time")

Little Brother - Get Back




ENJOY!

This is where babies come from.

New YACHT, from a compilation (audio) called Worried Noodles, which GvB is touting.

The Ramones Come Full Circle (and I still hate them)

So. The music that the Ramones were tongue-in-cheek "impersonating" in the style of "punk" has now started to cover them. I love this. And by loving it, I do not mean that I want to listen to it. I love that finally the whole stupid project is out in the open (though every preppie shit who wants to dress in the style of "punk" still may not catch the nuance).

Please prove me wrong, because I wish I was wrong. It is hard being this right, all of the time.

The Moby Equation

The Washington Post has a great article today on what they called "The Moby Equation": or the mathematical formula for deciding whether or not an artist has sold out when they license their music to be used in an advertisement (or if you're British an "advert you stupid twat").

It's a surprisingly well reasoned equation which accounts for the status of the company, the artist's reputation, and the sacredness of the song being sold. Check it out and check out the article as well (just because).

The Moby Equation - Washington Post
How To Calculate Musical Sellouts - Washington Post

Sigur Ros Don't Understand What They Do

Remember when all those kids flew off that cliff in that Sigur Ros video? It was amazing, uplifting, and it made my day. If only they had planned that out! Apparently everything strummed, beaten, and yelled out by Islandic superstars Sigur Ros "just happens." I really like this band, and I will continue to like them, but everyone should watch this 5-minute NPR interview (which I imagine was slated to last considerably longer).

Help the Hype Machine

Hey, everyone's favorite music resource the Hype Machine needs our help. They're launching a new version of the site. But (and it's a big but) they want 10,000 people to be on the site at any given time. So go! Go already!

It's live updating so if you have a computer you don't mind leaving on, just leave it open in a tab and go about your business. Please. I need this.

The Hype Machine

Lovely.
Also existent is a version of "State Trooper" that doesn't do enough justice in the recording.

He Man Woman Haters Podcast #3

He Men: Never on schedule, always on time.

We've put together our third He Man Woman Haters' podcast. The theme for this episode is "The Forgotten Heroes". We wanted to bring back the songs that we were crazy about for a long time but haven't listened to in a long time. The intention is to reclaim how much we used to love these tracks and what they meant to us. We're giving you eighteen songs.

The whole thing can be downloaded directly via this link (download podcast episode #2).

Download the individual tracks as a ZIP file via this link (ZIP File of Tracks).

Here's the track listing

1. Deltron 3030 – Love Story
2. The Presets – Down Down Down
3. Wilco – Heavy Metal Drummer
4. R.E.M. – Pop Song 89
5. Kid ‘N Play – Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody
6. Elefant – Sunshine Makes Me Paranoid
7. Guided By Voices – You’re Not An Airplane
8. Hum – Stars
9. Le Loup – Le Loup (Fear Not)
10. Young Love – Discotech
11. Health – Crimewave (remix)
12. Shystie – New Style Remix
13. Ghostface & John Spencer – Holla If You Wanna Get Heavy
14. The Mean Reds – Octopus
15. Sex Mob – Mothra
16. Tom Vek – C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)
17. The Bravery – Tyrant
18. Ash – Kung Fu

If you'd like to subscribe to the RSS feed for the He Man Woman Haters so that you can get all of them, here are the links.

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Mash Up

Hey, check out this country singer, born of Egyptian parents and raised in Oklahoma. His music is bad in the way that all saccharine mainstream country music is bad, which I guess means he has a shot at being successful. Oh wait. He's Muslim. And he plays country music. Sorry. My bad.

Casting Biggie

NYT article about casting B.I.G. Check out the slide show.

Thanks Jon.

New Jay-Z Track

Is this song even a new leak? How knows anymore. Here's a Jay-Z song. Guess who produced it? I'm looking at you Cold4thestreets



Jay-Z - "Roc Boys (and the winner is)"

The Floppy Album

Saw this story on BoingBoing and thought it was pretty cool.

"Trunkeret & Ikonisk" by Batch Totem (an alias for musician, Jonas Olesen) consists of 19 tracks, which are heavily compressed in the GSM 6.10 WAV format, at various bitrates. The album is on the Ristretto label, and can be bought online with PayPal.

"The idea is essentially to release an album on an almost obsolete medium that fits very well with the music on an aesthetical level," says Olesen. "Secondly, the scope of the project is to use heavy compression as a feature that shapes the music, instead of a limitation that reduces sound quality."

See I like to talk a lot about how CDs are going to be obsolete soon, but this is a great way to actually use that to make something interesting.

Band Releases Album on Floppy Disk

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

The Arcade Fire released a pretty cool interactive video for their track "Neon Bible" which is kinda cool. Definitely won't blow your mind or create a new model for the record industry or anything like that. It's just pretty cool.

Don't forget to click on stuff. That's what makes it interactive, stupid.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Quickie

Ze Frank continues to make me happy

Let's build a social network for two

not relevant to anything, ever.

Music Wednesday

Hello fellow Hemen. I like you and so I will share with you some music.

No special reason. No mix. No real description. Just some stuff for you to listen and hopefully enjoy as much as I did.

By the way, we can all thank honorary Heman inductee, Ethman, for most of this.

With much love,
Whatevs.

Band of Horses - "Is there A Ghost"
The Wombats - "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
The Bird and the Bee - "Fucking Boyfriend"
Clipse - "Flashing Lights" (Benzi remix)
Of Montreal - "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" (p.s. just wait for the "Oooohs!" about halfway through)

I Ain't Nothin' But a Robo Hound Dog

I ran across a clip of Pop Lock and Drop It performed by animatronic animals that reminded me of childhood birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese. Apparently there is a subculture of people who bought these Rock-afire Explosion animatronic stages on eBay from the original creator and now make videos of the bands reprogrammed to perform current songs. In this clip, christhrash talks about the process of programming the robots. He doesn't go into tech, but talks about many of the movements that can be controlled with each character and his programming philosophy.



Rock-afire on Wikipedia

Other Rock-afire programmers on YouTube:
showbizpizza
looneybird78
dsfii
Snap1975

Radio Lab 9/25/07 music episode

Thanks to Mr. Whatevs for encouraging me to listen to the Radio Lab podcast from September 25, 2007. The topic is the connection between music and language, and I want to encourage everyone to listen to it in hopes that we will connect it back to our own appreciation of music.

Click here to load the podcast onto your iTunes.

Viva Radio

For those of you who sit around in an office all day trying to avoid being a productive member of whatever small society you are part, may I suggest Viva Radio. Really interesting shows, music, and a mix feature which has yet to let me down. I still prefer KEXP.ORG (see links on right), but this is good stuff. They are advertising in Vice (which is good and bad), and I take this to mean "we care."

New Radiohead - "In Rainbows"

Radiohead announced that they're coming out with the new album called "In Rainbows". That'll be exciting right?

Want to hear something else that's exciting? Well they're letting you choose your own price for the album. That's right.

So it sounds like eventually they'll sell it in stores, but for now you can pre-order it for whatever price you want. Sweet! It's a $0.45 charge for credit card processing, but beyond that it's up to you. I paid 10.45 euros (god damned Europeans) and it's the first time I've bought an album in 2 and a half years (since M.O.P. came out with "Mash Out Posse").

Album is out October 10th

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Cool Kids- Black Mags

Worst name for a hip-hop group: Cool Kids.

Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way, check out their new video for the song Black Mags. I'm absolutely digging it. The song is fucking crazy good. The video is nice. I want what they're wearing. What's better than riding your bike around some afternoon? Nothing. Plus it all looks like a Nike ad from 1987. Fucking bad ass.

Anyone know any details on the Cool Kids? All I know is they're from Chicago and roll with the Flosstradamus crew.

(nod to Derek for the heads up on this)

Cool Kids - Black Mags (official video)

Hotel Chevalier free download

I am always the last to know, but Victor has been out of the country so maybe this is news to him. "Hotel Chevalier" is Wes Anderson’s short film that serves as a prequel to his upcoming feature, The Darjeeling Limited. There was a line around the block for a showing in the SoHo Apple Store yesterday (?), but the great news is that it is available for free download on iTunes. I haven't watched it (on accounting lawyering the shit out of a bunch of folk all morning), but I would like to someday.

Amazon's New unDRM'ed Music Store

The big news today is that Amazon has launched it's new DRM-free music store. That's right, straight up MP3s. All the songs are 100% transferable to anyone you want to send them to. You can play it on any MP3 player. You can burn it to as many CDs as you want. And, unlike emusic.com, you buy it per song rather than a flat monthly fee.

I'm very much against DRM (Digital Rights Management or as I call it "corruptible media") and I feel pretty guilty about illegal downloads so this sounds like its right up my alley.

Amazon MP3 Beta

An Open Letter to Apple Computers Inc.

Dear Apple,
I know it's been a long time since we've last spoken but I wanted to speak to you about your most recent commercial and the placements in which you've been running it.

Let me begin by saying that I am an enormous fan of your products. I've owned two Shuffles, a Nano, and in the coming months I plan to purchase your new phone. I own two of your computers and my office is exclusively a mac environment. I'm a total brand zealot.

On top of that I am obsessed with your commercials. As someone who works in advertising I am a little more aware of them than the average person. They're beautiful, moving pieces of communication. I would be proud to some day create something half as moving. Your most recent advertisement is no exception. The song "1, 2, 3, 4" by Fiest is yet another amazing choice, the editing is great, and the concept is so simple. I love it.

Or at least I did love it the first 17,342 times that I saw it. At this point approaching 30,000 viewings and I regret to say that I've grown tired of it. Though I'm not a big watcher of TeeVee it seems to follow me everywhere.

In the future I would recommend having the following internal dialog with your marketing department, "Hey guys, I know we're buying a ton of placements for this new ad, maybe we should have the creative department working on a replacement that will run as the ad begins to wear out."

My point is that the media weight that you've purchased for this single spot is, in a word, "inhumane". The spot has gone from "interesting" to "grating" and at this point is quickly approaching "torturous".

All I'm really asking for here would be a little bit of variety. Just one more execution would be perfect and would save me from tearing out my own hair. Two or three would be even better.

I hope that you are understanding of my situation. Thank you for your continued hard work and dedication to the fields of both consumer electronics and advertising.

Sincerely,
Gregory "Whatevs" Rutter

Deerhoof

Whatevs, I appreciate your Deerhoof post--not because I like the band; in fact I find their music a bit abstruse. What can I say? On these simpleton ears, their alleged, Pitchfork-approved genius is lost. However, I have apparently moved in across the street from vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki, and that's worth a blog mention. Moreover, while I've left the Eastern Time Zone, I'm still right by He Man. Oh, He Man, how wonderful life is, now you're in the world.

ps -- Fun Game: How many indie bands with "deer" or "dear" in their names can you think of?

genius

now that i know how to post videos, you better watch out.

Free Deerhoof downloads

If anyone is interested in some free downloads from the band Deerhoof, they've offered up a whole mp3 "album" on their website. It's a lot of rare tracks, remixes, and live tracks. Can't pass it up though.

Check out the track "Flower, panda, you're our two, the last trumpeter swan" which is awesome.

Deerhoof - Free Downloads

Amen Brother

I'm sure most everyone has seen this documentary by now, but I thought it was worth posting here in case anyone has missed it.

It's a short(ish) film about the "Amen Break" which is a six second piece from the song "Amen Brother". This drum break has been sampled countless times so across many different genres of music that you've probably heard it hundreds of times already. Check it out.

Britney 4eva

Ummmm...

Straight outta Japan, DJ Sara, age 8, battle scratching DJ Ryusei, age 5.

Thanks Nick.

Heman Woman Haters Podcast #2

Hemen: Never on schedule, always on time.

We've put together our second Heman Woman Haters' podcast. It's fourteen tracks, a little over an hour of utter Hemanery.

The whole thing can be downloaded directly via this link (download podcast episode #2).

Download the individual tracks as a ZIP file via this link (ZIP File of Tracks).

Here's the track listing

01 - Terry Poison - Ballroom (DatA Remix)
02 - Alex Gopher - Brain Leech
03 - Good Shoes - Ice Age
04 - Junior Senior - Hip Hop A Lula
05 - Das Llamas - The Wedding Song
06 - The Lonely H - Don't Worry
07 - The Mendoza Line - Since I Came
08 - The Thermals - Pillar of Salt
09 - Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew - Lucky Ones
10 - Zero 7 - Crosses
11 - Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do?
12 - Kanye West - Flash, Lights
13 - Riot in Belgium - La Musique
14 - The Sounds - Tony the Beat

If you'd like to subscribe to the RSS feed for the Heman Woman Haters so that you can get all of them, here are the links.

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Shakey Jake: 1925-2007

If you didn't go to the University of Michigan, this post will make no sense to you.

You can call him an eccentric or a bum, but in a big way he was a symbol for Detroit and what it has become in recent years. Does he represent what Heman embodies? Certainly not, but respect must be paid when it is due.

Friends Recall the Larger-Than-Life Persona of Shakey Jake - The Ann Arbor News

Boadrum 77

I'll forever hate the fates for not making aware of this event until months after the fact.
From Vice Magazine

On 7/7/07, the Boredoms put on a crazy, already-legendary concert under the Brooklyn Bridge with 77 drummers spiraling out from a humongous guitar gong that Boredoms leader Yamataka Eye struck with a giant trident scepter. It was, according to all who attended, “the best show ever.”

I was one of the 11 drum leaders for the concert and my initial reaction to the experience is to say simply that there are no words or recordings that can approach what it was like to live that piece and participate in it. Friends who weren’t there ask, “how was it?” and I have no answer. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life—how do you say that and not seem like a blowhard?

When I found out I had been selected I felt honored and unworthy. I had visions of Eye having a huddle with the Boredoms after the first rehearsal and deciding that I needed to be let go. There are artists who you respect and there are a few who are beyond understanding. The Boredoms are like that for me. My head was full of fantasy and fear. Failure felt palpable.

The load-in time was at 8:30 AM. By the time I arrived most of the drummers were already there with their kits set up. And like drummers tend to do, they were all banging away. It was a war zone and completely overwhelming. The drums obliterated all thought.

We started the piece at 7:07 PM. The sun was just beginning to set. Seventy-seven drummers sat in the spiral. Eye let out a long wail and we began to play. Drum patterns were passed along the spiral from the center where the Boredoms sat on an elevated stage. The rhythms were simple and powerful and when everyone was playing them at once they felt elemental.

By the time we finished it was almost dark. When the last sound finished I was overcome with emotion. Slowly and granularly the experience began to reveal itself. I had been borne upon an idea so clear and powerful that it transcended all individual weaknesses. I felt blessed and awed.

It is very difficult to relate to people who were outside the spiral. As I was walking the mile back home, I stopped to get a bite to eat. A dude was like, “Hey did you just play at the Boredoms thing?” I said yeah. “You were good,” he said. “There was another guy in a white shirt that wasn’t so good. He kept dropping his sticks. But you were good.”

Suddenly I knew I was going to cry. I could feel it in my chest. I kept rubbing my hands over my face and looking down at the street on the walk home. There are few musical moments that have brought me to tears. When I cried that night it was for the uncommon fortune that had visited me that day. I don’t think it’s too much to say that my entire life had led me to the moment I started drumming in Boadrum77.

Kanye's softer side

From some other blog:

"I'm not sure how much thought you've given to what the inside of Kanye West's Los Angeles home looks like, actually I'm pretty sure the answers is none. And if you have then 1. that's weird, and 2. you're probably wrong. I mean chances are you didn't come up with this: Andy Warhol? The Jetsons? Giant creepy plush happy face flowers? Yes, yes and definitely. Read the Interior Design article or just skip the words and go right to the slide show."

See it here in all its glory.

intergalactic struggles and dancing

Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!

This is really fun.

very clever, mr. cold

This belongs in the comment section, but I couldn’t help myself. Because I know you a bit, Mr. Cold, I know that a phrase like “reinventing” the “global pop music game” is intended primarily as ironic instigator and not as a substantive assertion. If I didn’t get this, mind you, your post would be downright offensive. So let’s start with your words. It was masterful to note that when you strip away “the bullshit, the self-aggrandizement, the petulance, the superficiality, the materialism, the chipmunk vocal samples, the sampling in general,” what you have left are the SINGLES. I feel bad for the poor fellow (or one of our female readers?) who thinks that a catchy single, especially one which can best be described as “silly,” deserves any more credit the hundreds of passing pop fads with which we are seasonally bombarded. And all this said, the mere idea we give any credence to the whims of the global pop scene? Brilliant. I am always saying, “every 14 year-old loves it; how could it be anything but progressive and perfect?”

This albums has 3 songs to which I would be happy to dance while out and about. That does not make it great, especially considering that the album also has some of the worst songs I have ever heard (enter Drunk and Hot Girls and the continued decline of Mos).

The girl in the video below is really fly. And so quoth two of my favorite idiot savants of cultural criticism:
Butthead: Dude I love rap videos.
Beavis: Yeah yeah! BRBRBRBB!!
Butthead: They don’t mess around with stupid stuff and just get right to what I want to see.
Beavis: Yeah yeah!
Butthead: Bouncing boobs.
(both): Uh huh huh uh huh huh.

Way to pave the way Kanye. I am a little disheartened that the reinvented game seems so derivative and unoriginal, but I guess “that’s just the way it is.”

Kanye -- The Counterpoint

So, I've been away from this gathering of souls, minds and energy we call HMWH for some time. Trust me, I felt the absence within, but now I'm back, and I'm just thinking--strip away the bullshit, the self-aggrandizement, the petulance, the superficiality, the materialism, the chipmunk vocal samples, the sampling in general, and, umm, Kanye's 3 LP career opening arc has redefined the game. Not the game of hip hop. I leave HMZ and his ilk to canonize and demonize when it comes to MC's. I'm talking about the global pop music game. The Graduation singles are burners and the whole disc's Euro-vibe is hott. I love it. Why does my soul stir, HMZ? I need you to berate me, call me names, because I'm thinking, despite everything, this motherfucker is the truth, and um, you're a hater, A.C. Slater.

Turn your Mac into a Karaoke Machine

Setting up your Mac to play karaoke is so fucking easy, I'm amazed:

1. Get a mic. USB mics are cheap. Headset mics are cheap. Whatever.
2. Google ".kar files" and download a few songs that you like. This site has a few thousand .kar files for free.
3. Play the .kar file in Quicktime. Listen to the cheesy midi sounds, watch the lyrics scroll across the screen. It's just like renting a booth in Japantown, but with a better song selection and without dropping a hundred large.
4. That's it. Quicktime natively supports karaoke files. Go nuts.
5. Sing "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and "Livin' On A Prayer."

Not sure if it works on PCs or not, it got passed to me and I'm no expert.