The Round Table

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.
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By “popular” “demand” I’m continuing what I started with last month’s Ghostface Millah Mix Volume 1 by giving you, dear readers, whatever excellent new music I’ve acquired or gotten-into of late. I present to you the Ghostface Millah Mix Volume 2.

If I do say so myself, it’s better than the first. For starters, it’s longer which means more goodness for you, and, just like last time, it’s a decent combo of blogosphere well-knowns and some deeper cuts from recently released albums to which I just can’t stop listening.

Download, listen and let me know what you think!

Ghostface Millah Mix, Vol. 2 – February 2010

Download

1. “U + Me =” – Dan Black (off UN, released in the U.S. on 12/21/2009)
2. “VCR (Matthew Dear Remix)” – The xx (off unknown)
3. “Take It Easy” – Surfer Blood (off Astro Coast, released 1/19/2010)
4. “Backseat” – STAYGOLD feat. Damien Adore & Spank Rock (off unknown)
5. “You Must Be Out of Your Mind” – The Magnetic Fields (off Realism, released 1/26/2010)
6. “Answer to Yourself” – The Soft Pack (off The Soft Pack, released 2/2/2010)
7. “Good Intentions Paving Company” – Joanna Newsom (off Have One On Me, out 2/23/2010)
8. “Please Don’t” – Santigold (off Here Lies Love, out 2/23/2010)
9. “I Can Talk” – Two Door Cinema Club (off Tourist History, out 3/1/2010)
10. “In the Sun” – She & Him (off Volume Two, out 3/23/2010)
11. “Stylo” – Gorillaz feat. Mos Def & Bobby Womack (off Plastic Beach, out 3/9/2010)
12. “No Hassle” – Robyn feat. Diplo (off unknown)

I cannot stop listening to this song. It’s an The XX remix of a Florence + the Machine cover of a Candi Staton song from the 80s. Get all that?

Today I discovered the video, which is just re-cut from the original F+tM video and lacks the ‘oomph’ of the song for me… The video’s pretty, but I guess I was expecting something darker and preferably not a Studio 54 remake, i.e. less of a disco flair. The video does bring attention to punctuation of the syncopated harp and drop-in/drop-out of the beat, which is cool, but I guess I was expecting more The XX and less Florence + the Machine…

See the video for the remix and the original; let us know yr thoughts after the cut.
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