A new Wednesday (and a new month) brings a new Millah Mix! This one’s pretty freakin’ sweet, too, as you’ll soon see. Seriously, some great songs this week!
We start things off with “Easy Bear”, an awesome departure from former Northern State femcee Hesta Prynn. It’s a great little indie pop jam with hooks for days, putting Prynn’s solo career on our radar from this point on. The jams keep coming with an upbeat joint from Spanish multi-instrumentalist El Guincho, fond of stacking layers of noises in a Wall of Sound fashion that would make Panda Bear proud. “FM Tan Sexy” uses steel drums, hand claps, an organ, a xylophone (?), and snippets of backup vocals, among other elements. After that is the much-buzzed about Kanye West track “Monster”, which features an unstoppable team of guests: Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver. The song is solid in every sense, but Minaj’s verse is the definite standout. To say she kills it is an understatement. From there we have a rocking, Heart-inspired diss track from Katy Perry. Rumored to be aimed at her ex, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes fame, “Circle The Drain” laments their relationship by placing most of the blame on McCoy’s addictions. Then we have a new track from Starfucker, who you may remember from the first all-cover version of the Millah Mix, with their great update of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. This time around we have “Julius”, an original track that mixes upbeat synths with ethereal vocals.
Side B slows things down just a bit with “I Walked”, the brand new song from Sufjan Stevens off his just-announced, upcoming album The Age of Adz. Fans of his early work (A Sun Came and Enjoy Your Rabbit) won’t see this electronic, beat-driven vibe as a departure and the rest of the fans will be able to find the same old melodious Sufjan in there. Then we have another electronic, slow beat-driven joint: the Tiga remix of “Shelter” by The xx, which adds depth and accessibility to the original. After that we pick things up a little with “Big Wave”, a retro rock ditty by indie power couple Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice. They just released debut album I’m Having Fun Now as Jenny & Johnny, which totally fits the throwback sound. From there we go to a sweet RAC mix of Ra Ra Riot hit “Boy”. If you liked the original (and who didn’t?), then you’ll def like this dance-y, but-still-true-to-the-original re-do. Finally, we end on the brand new single from Brooklyn duo Matt & Kim. “Cameras” shows promise for their new album, Sidewalks by way of them further evolving their sound from 2009′s Grand. It’s the perfect end of summer jam.
Okay then. Hope you like this week’s mix. Hit me up in the comments!
Track list and download links after the cut. (more…)
It’s Wednesday, which means another fresh Mini Millah Mix! Huzzah! This week’s mix is cashing in our last days of summer, but rather than be all sad about it, let’s have fun and rock out to awesome new music. Ya know, songs like the brand new single “Hands” from The Tings Tings; the hand clap-laden Arcade Fire track “City With No Children”, which finds Win Butler refining his Springsteen impression; the excellent “Fuck You!” by Cee-Lo Green that juxtaposes the quippy kiss off lyrics with throwback Motown vibe (check out the lyric video here); the obvious inclusion based on it’s title, “Summertime”, from Sex Bob-Omb, the band-within-the-movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (sidebar: if you haven’t seen this movie, SEE IT. It’s so freakin’ great); another obvious inclusion based on artist title, “Pogo” by the recently buzzed-about Eternal Summers. And that’s only Side A!
Side B is little bit more chill, though in no way sad –I guess I’m going more for… bittersweet reflection with these mostly midtempo tracks. Like the sunny, morning-after jam “Come Wander” by my 2010 faves Delorean, who’ve been included in not one but two previous mixes; a sweet Little Loud remix of Goldfrapp‘s romantic “Believer”; Dr. Dog‘s take on looking back, “Where’d All The Time Go” (who’ve outdone Delorean by being on not one, not two, but three mixes); and ending with an awesome The Swell Season cover of Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free”.
Summer may be over soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a good time.
Okay then. Hope you like this week’s. Hit me up in the comments!
Track list and download links after the cut. (more…)
The music video for Ted Leo‘s second single off of The Brutalist Bricks, “Bottled in Cork,” calls out Green Day and their misguided foray into Broadway with such aplomb that we might need to start referring to him LL Cool Ted. Unless Billie Joe Armstrong has something along the lines of “Mama Said Knock You Out” up his sleeve … well, good luck following that up.
Last month we brought you the music video for Chromeo’s first single, “Don’t Turn the Lights On,” which is featured on the duo’s third album, Business Casual. Now, we bring you the remix of “Don’t Turn the Lights On” courtesy of Christian Martin. This song has so much electro-funk awesome, we can barely contain ourselves.
Give it a spin below, then grab a free download while it lasts.
Another Wednesday, another Mini Millah Mix! This one’s a lil peppier than most, which is exciting.
Things start off with a track off Mark Ronson‘s third LP, Record Collection, about which Jayvee posted the tracklist and release date earlier. Ronson always gets the best guests, which in this case is Ghostface Killah, from whom I stole attribute my Internetz namesake. The song is great and all, but I gotta echo what I said about previous Mark Ronson mix inclusion: where are the horns? From there we have one of the most delightfully surprising remixes I have heard in a while: Allen Blickle‘s jangly redo of Surfer Blood‘s “Twin Peaks”, which brings the pop sensibility from the original to the forefront. I’ve had it on repeat since the weekend, with no sign of slowing or stopping. Things do slow a bit on the next track, though: “See Me Now”, the latest from Kanye West featuring Beyonce & Charlie Wilson. This song is pretty low key compared to the aggression and emotion of previous mix inclusion “Power”, but it’s still good Kanye –whatever that means to you. Speed things up a bit on the next track, another excellent Robyn track (after the Webster Hall show, I’m more obsessed than EVER, which I didn’t think was even possible until it happened). “Criminal Intent”, off soon-to-be-released Body Talk Pt. 2, may be Robyn’s best impression of Peaches, but I don’t really think that’s a bad thing.
Side B goes from Sweden to Cape Town, South Africa with Die Antwoord‘s “Zef Side”. This up-and-coming trio is great because their dance-y, self-aware hip hop posturing stradles the line between parody and real hip hop. From there we have the latest 7 inch from previous mix-approved artistDum Dum Girls, “Stiff Little Fingers”. Nothing really expansive or evolutionary about this track compared to their album I Will Be, but I think that’s a compliment for lo-fi garage outfits. After that we have a surprising cute little folksy joint from Margaret Cho, featuring Fiona Apple & Ben Lee. “Hey Big Dog” was co-written by Patty Griffin and is basically a silly, yet telling dialogue between dog and owner, sung by Apple & Cho, respectively. We go from folk to 80s synth pop with Visitor‘s “Los Feeling”, suggested by our very own Forest. I love this song because it’s such a compact lil pop journey –with a great amount of ramp-ups and cooldowns in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Rounding out Side B, and the overall mix, we have a great Noisettescover of Buzzcocks favorite “Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn’t've”.
Whew. Anyway, hope you like it. Hit me up in the comments!
Track list and download links after the cut. (more…)
Another Wednesday, another Mini Millah Mix! Like most, this week’s mix is pretty freakin’ eclectic. Hope you enjoy the genre-jumping as much as I do! Case in point: we start things off with a new Wale track, “The Black n Gold”, off his “Seinfeld”-ian mixtape More About Nothing that samples/features Sam Sparro. Then we have former Sleater-Kinney member Corin Tucker‘s self-proclaimed ‘middle-aged mom record’, “Doubt”. After this juxtaposed duo comes a brand spankin’ new dance track “Love Kills”, from Robyn‘s hotly anticipated Body Talk Pt. 2, which is followed by one of my current faves, Best Coast‘s rockin’ girl group vibe of “Each & Everyday”, followed by an excellent J Dilla instrumental cover of Men Without Hats‘ perennial classic “Safety Dance”, which rounds out Side A.
Side B is equally as eclectic and awesome, starting off with Magic Kids‘ latest, the delightfully bouncy twee “Superball”. The mood relaxes a bit with a Neon Indian-esque groove, “Sundriped”, from the brilliantly-named Com Truise. Then we have previous Millah Mix artist Hoodie Allen with “Words of Wisdom”, which samples anotherprevious Millah Mix artist (Two Door Cinema Club) to bring it full circle! Side B is rounded out by straightforward poppers The Vaselines with “Sex With An X”, followed by Antony & The Johnsons free track, “Thank You For Your Love”.
Holy crap. What a mix!
Track list and download links after the cut. (more…)
We’ve profiled artists from the Background Noise Crew roster a few times here on The Round Table. In the past year, both T.Q.D. and Analyrical have graced our digital pages. If Status Reign is any indication, BNC releases are just going to keep getting better.
“Tonight” is the lead single from Status Reign’s upcoming debut for BNC, entitled Brutally Honest. The verses are thick and enunciated, much like Aesop Rock, but a little less abstract. They play well against the beat, which comes off like an updated version of Freestyle. (Re: Awesome)
Ghostface Millah here, back again with this week’s Millah Mix. This one’s purty guhd, too! It’s got a bunch of new tracks that have been making the blog rounds this week, like the adorably, albiet a bit predictably, wordy Jens Lekman single “The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love”; Deerhunter‘s latest jangly affair “Revival”; Black Mountain‘s Classic Rock-tinged “The Hair Song”; and another Suburbs standout from Arcade Fire, the aptly titled “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” –delightfully dubbed by our very own Forest as “[Blondie's] ‘Heart of Glass’ on indie ‘roids”.
Plus, there’s a few songs that maybe I’m a little late to the game with… stuff like Marnie Stern‘s “For Ash”; J Dilla‘s Donut Shop outtake “Sycamore” and Grass Widow‘s harmony-laden surfer rocker “Shadow”. Oh, and we’ve also got a sweet new remix of Yeasyer‘s “O.N.E.” (of which the original appeared on the very first Millah Mix ever) and a brand new track from the oft-overlooked Ray LaMontagne called “For The Summer”.
Holy shit, that sounds awesomely random! Or randomly awesome! Whatever!
Track list, download links & song info after the cut. (more…)
I’m so far behind on my Beat Radio, it’s not even funny. So, I’ll keep it brief.
1) If you haven’t listened to Beat Radio’s 2010 Singles Collection, here it is. Please absorb the greatness. The music is free, but I highly recommend donating to the cause.
2) If you love vinyl and you love Beat Radio, but so far haven’t been able to enjoy them together, fear not! You can support the pressing of “Golden Age” on vinyl over at Kickstarter.
The pressing is over 70 percent paid for, but with 11 days left, they can still use your help!
We started as a three friends having conversations about music during lunches together at the office. Since then we have expanded to seven members, including a Chi-town native, and the conversations have gotten bigger and better. The Round Table has grown into a casual setting where music aficionados can gather to discuss all things music. Topics include (but not limited to) artists and bands, new music releases, concerts, recording industry news and concerns, and the occasional nugget of entertainment gossip. We have tastes that cover the entire music spectrum and love to share them (and our opinions) with each other. We are The Round Table! Come join the conversation!
A new Wednesday (and a new month) brings a new Millah Mix! This one’s pretty freakin’ sweet, too, as you’ll soon see. Seriously, some great songs this week!
