Filed under: music, songs on the internet | Tags: Micachu & the Shapes, mp3, music, pregame playlist
Woo! Happy Saturday! So I’m not even going to pitch this like dudes I just found this cool new band because, realtalk, I’m a little late on the uptake here.
Really the most disappointing thing about this whole scenario is that Pitchfork beat me to the Pokémon joke. bastards!
Not only p fork of course but everyone else who talks about music on the internet has already been losing their cool over Micachu et al since their album came out last summer.
All of this being said, I still felt the need to write about this band because I am feeling very good about them on so many levels. Their frantic, jumpy electrobeats make me think of Le Tigre or something, and that fiercely wide-eyed, technicolor spunkiness is a little bit Alphabeat-ish…
…but finally the music that the apparently immensely talented and classically-trained Mica Levi and her Shapes are making on their weird menagerie of homemade instruments is really just doing its own thing. Sometimes it’s pop for just a second, but then it clicks or it bloops or it sizzles or they shout something like “after this we’ll slip your disc” and suddenly you realize you’re at a birthday party in the 4th dimension.
Also, she looks like a boy but that’s ok.
You can buy all their records through their label’s website. Plus not that I condone this but pretty much all the songs off their new album are to be gotten free on various music blogs. Just ask the hypemachine.
PS Also props for not putting a ‘Crystal’ in their name like all the other little electropoppers are doing these days. Micachu and the Crystal Shapes? Nope.
Filed under: getting dancey, music, party, songs on the internet | Tags: Birds & Batteries, electropop, mp3, music, pregame playlist, San Francisco
O MY! How have I left you alone in a world of silence without giving you any new music to listen to for so so so long? Were you bored? I’m sorry!
Here is something fresh for your atrophied ears.
Birds & Batteries are from San Francisco. All the leading authorities agree that no one can agree what their style is. They are like a kaleidoscope of twangy clangy folk, rushing American rock, something kind of psychedelic, a bouncy chunk of funk, the tendency to sound a little bit spooky, and a healthy jolting current of electropop lighting the whole gig up like christmas.
I’m not going to say any more, because I want you to listen. This song is on my workout playlist and releases breathtaking adrenaline cascades whenever it comes on. I kick into hyperdrive and run all the way to next Tuesday. But you can stay right here in Saturday where the party is. Everybody wins.
**Birds & Batteries – Lightning (UTNG Version)**
This is off their new EP, “Up to No Good”.
Filed under: club, concerts, food, getting dancey, music, party, restaurants, songs on the internet | Tags: diplo, major lazer, mitte, mp3, music, partyy, switch, themroc, wmf
You might say that the theme for this post is bad photography.
Or: what happens on a Friday night when you power through from work>>dinner>>club/party.
Namely, exhaustion, drunkenness, bad photography.
And fun times.
(Just don’t expect good pictures, is what I’m trying to get at here)
The night began righteously with a restaurant I simultaneously want to tell everyone about, and not tell anyone, so that it will stay a little lovely secret, because I don’t really like to share.
I’m talking about cozy-wozy Themroc on Torstraße, where we almost got turned away at 8 because of “reservations,” but after milling around the bar for 5 mins. we were apparently legit enough to be seated.
The awkward shuffle at the door was quickly forgiven and forgotten.
The view from our table was…the kitchen. As in sink, spice rack, cook. As in making our food. And no, this doesn’t mean we got hustled into the nosebleed section on account of no reservations. The kitchen is adorably right by the door.
As in any kitchen worth its guests, the refrigerator is covered in magnets/cute pictures. Jazz in the background and the gentle hum of various groups of people who like each other talking about things that make them feel good.
The menu is very small and exists only in the brains of the cook (1) and waiter (1). On offer was one appetizer, a sort of tabbouleh-style salad with shrimp. I like my tabbouleh with a little more zing and zest i.e. lemony-mintyness, but the shrimp were flavorful morsels grilled to perfection.
Next was a choice between something lamb and something chicken, I regret to admit that I was paying nil attention at this point, focusing more on like the wine-aspect of the meal (also excellent and plentiful), and so can tell you nothing about the lamb, since everyone at my table and at all the neighboring tables seemed to be going for the chicken.
The entree was solid and satisfying, if not spectacular. A little mogul of basmati rice mediated between a hunk of (baked?) chicken and a tzatziki salad. The chicken was tender and melty, basking but not bathing in a zesty-sweet-curry kind of sauce….mm now that I think about it, it actually was pretty perfect. It just didn’t stand out, exactly, but with the obvious theme here being that feel-good satisfaction of utter simplicity, wouldn’t anything more have been too much?
In any case, the dessert launched me to new heights of happiness: a warm fig amid fruity sauce and vanilla cream, all gooey and soft and choice with tiny caramelized crunchy nuts sprinkled on top.
All this warm and wonderful comfort food + drinks aplenty for less than the price of a pair of American Apparel leggings.
Speaking of which, the next stop was Major Lazer at WMF. This was really a great party, mostly because they had a little side room where the dj actually laid down the hip-hop all night long (this never happens in Germany), including some mash-ups that even though I feel negative about the mashup genre generally I have to say were pretty tight.
“MAJOR LAZER is a fictional cartoon character, who (according to press releases) fought as a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in a secret zombie war in 1984. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket-powered hoverboard.” (Wikipedia)
I don’t feel like that requires further explanation, except that it’s the mutant science experiment of dj/producers Diplo and Switch and rocked pretty effing hard.
um you may recall I mentioned something about substandard photography. i think i should get points for even trying to take pictures and dance simultaneously.
why yes, thank you for asking, that is in fact a storm trooper in the right hand corner on stage. mostly blocked by some hombre getting way better pictures than me.
Forget the visuals, here’s an audio.
**Major Lazer – Hold the Line**
so get your dl on
Filed under: club, concerts, getting dancey, music, songs on the internet | Tags: disco, drinks, electropop, mp3, music, tape, the whitest boy alive
It makes me sad sometimes that it takes me a week to get it together and blog about anything…that being the case here I am just bloggity blogging about a concert I was at LAST Sunday.
But here we go so The Whitest Boy Alive played a wonderful show at TAPE open air garden…a big dusty post-apocalyptic courtyard right outside the club, which weirdly enough started in the afternoon (4), which turned out to be a great idea because just as WBA went on, the sun started going down, making everything flash and glow.
<<outside the gas station…prosecco run, duh
(<<on the way back in after prosecco duly chugged)
We got there (we thought at 5, tho actually it was 6, as it turned out my watch was an hour behind), as the first opener was still on, a girl electroband called Laing. They were so much fun and the lead singer danced like a ballerina, also she was a friend of a friend of a friend.
Then DJ Erobique came on, which was funny because at first I kind of thought he sounded like he was looping instrumental Stevie Wonder samples over and over, also he kept dropping the beat for long periods at a time and then he would just stop making noise completely, or start talking, so we were like big thumbs down, and then all of a sudden it just got really good, kind of newage disco-ey with an R&B backyard BBQ vibe. I was dancing.
<<so were the kids on the rooftops right outside. get a job, hooligans. yea right, im just jealous i didn’t have that idea.
So as I was saying, as the sun sank sank WBA took the stage, and boy are they EVER precious. I dig the napoleon dynamite aesthetic of the lead singer.
He only *looks* like a dork tho. On the inside he is a rockstar. Anyway I guess the dork look is totally rockstar these days anyway, right? By “he” I mean the frontman of course, Erlend Øye, who is also the singer from Kings of Convenience, which I might characterize as a faded polaroid of Whitest Boy Alive, all washed-out and fatalistic and conducive to deja-vu-style memories of childhood summer vacations and rainy days indoors.
WBA bumps it all into a major key and makes you want to jump around.
…
which we did, until like 10.30. Or was it 9.30? Not sure, my watch was broken.
PS I ♥ this remixxx
**The Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)**
UPDATE: O dude sorry I already posted that one ages ago!
Well here’s another song, whiners.
**The Whitest Boy Alive – Burning**
jk jk about the whiners thing. Don’t be mad, ‘s just a blog.
Filed under: club, concerts, getting dancey, made in berlin, music, party | Tags: mp3, music, partyy, tape, the whitest boy alive
whitest boy alive will be getting their outdoors on. in the TAPE garden at 1600 hours. so will i.
Filed under: club, concerts, getting dancey, made in berlin, music, party | Tags: dance remix, electropop, junior boys, modeselektor, mp3, music, partyy, pete doherty, tempelhof, whomadewho
Up until yester-eve at 1800 hours the tricked out electrofest that is BERLINFESTIVAL 2009 was not on my skejj for the weekend but the unexpectendess doubtless made it all the more awesome.
arrived around 9ish, when nothing yet exciting was happening. o yea except we were at the AIRPORT. word.
defunct tempelhof is WAY cooler than functional tempelhof.
got my tix at a steal from twitchy kids confused about which language they wanted to speak, in the parking lot, unclear whether they were aware of said generous discount.
anyway soon junior boys went on. front and center ppl were dancing, they were way sick.
thought i didnt know them but i totally know that song “too young”.
UPDATE whooops that song is actually called “in the morning”
give it a listen *Junior Boys – In The Morning*
whomadewho was fun too, cute in lil hats and suspenders.
then these plant ppl did a little weird dance and celebrated green growing things or something.
they were chill, i guess.
but it wasn’t all weirdos playing with hay. hot kids in hats were all around.
pete doherty looked a little tired, but he held it together. didn’t exactly bring it, tho.
O yea, drunkies, just in case u forgot u were at the AIRPORT, here’s an airplane bitches.
But real talk now. MODERAT brought it like i’ve NEVER heard or felt or seen. didn’t know what to expect from them but duuuuude. Didn’t actually plan on staying for their set but I can’t even imagine what my life would be like now if i had missed it. Freal.
While they mixed it UP with outrageous soul gripping beats from the fourth dimension, and everykid grooved his/her own personal groove, little individualistic waves in one great grooving sea, the screen behind them showed mindbending scenes of surrealistic awesome. exploding plaster, wooden spiders, flickering t-rex skulls i don’t even know but it WAS majestic. damn o damn.
UPDATE did a little reading up. MODERAT are equal parts Modeselektor (an age old Berlin electro group from the illicit underground days,1 of Thom Yorke’s fave bands.) and Apparat (aka Sasch Ring; a Berlin-based electro guy). Their self-titled album just came out this March. a frantic frenzy of excellence.
BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!!! listen: **Moderat – Rusty Nails** (mp3)
o yea then peaches played some schizoid electrobeats while her dancers pissed on stage and she spit champagne on ppl while wearing some fifth element style modular sparklesuit.
o kids that means bedtime. tomorrow is another day. HEALTH and Digitalism, and Deichkind, o my.
Filed under: getting dancey, music, party, songs on the internet | Tags: dance remix, electropop, mp3, music, partyy, pony pony run run, pregame playlist, stereoheroes, work
Good god what’s gotten into me Ive actually been working these days and so haven’t been able to blog all day as I truly wish I could..
This means I’ve been sitting on a number of delicious dance remixes which I will deploy as the mood strikes& time allows.
Here a perfect one to make even Tuesday twinkle with magic.
Pony Pony Run Run name Weezer as one of their greatest influences, though I dont rly hear the likeness except maybe in terms of like, both make me want to move my feet, and it’s sort of impossible not to sing along by the time they reach the second chorus, &plus their songs display a special stealthy ability for getting played on repeat by me until I hear them quietly continue in my ears when they’re not even playing anymore.
They maintain a certain mystique, identifying their 3 members by only the letters G, A, &T.
What this is is fun fun synthpop, Cut Copy comes to mind a little, very much in the vein of the chimey dancey discoey stuff coming out of the French electropop scene these days. The early 80s come back to life with a yearning heart, a sexy french accent, adorable falsetto moments, & the whole thing lends itself amazingly to the creation of slightly more intense remix versions. I heard it first a week ago and thought it was sugarsweet, embarassingly happy stuff…but i sat on it, and listened to it again, and again, and it has gotten its claws into me somehow. I’m even falling for the cutesy video
And now presenting the downy little songlets themselves: “Hey You” is off their new album, “You Need Pony Pony Run Run” (check out their myspace to buy it for your own) which dropped earlier this month. First the original, then a remix which makes you want to run run like a pony pony.
**Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You**
**Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (StereoHeroes Remix)**
original + remix courtesy Trash Menagerie
Filed under: club, concerts, getting dancey, music, songs on the internet | Tags: cookies, disco, electropop, glass candy, mp3, music, partyy, pregame playlist
True, this event has come and gone, but in honor of their appearance at Cookies on Tues. we raise our first glass on this Friday night to Glass Candy–Ida No (vocals) & Johnny Jewel (everything else), that is–an electropop (most recently with Italo Disco leanings, but they are prone to experimentation) outfit from Portland, OR.
The duo’s look is just as decadently retro eurosexy as their sound. Perfect soundtrack for rifling through ur lamé, diamonds, furs, painting your eyes pink and teal before venturing into the urban night.
(music courtesy Gorilla vs. Bear)
Filed under: getting dancey, music, party, songs on the internet | Tags: cubic zirconia, dance remix, jubilee, mp3, music, nacho lovers, partyy, pregame playlist, proper villains
beyond the fact that the title of this track really speaks to me, the song and all the remixed incarnations with which it’s about to be released (jun 22) are wacky and fun and new. you want to think about it, maybe, or you want to just dance to it.
1) *Cubic Zirconia – Fuck Work (Proper Villains & Jubilee Remix)*
2) *Cubic Zirconia – Fuck Work (Nacho Lovers Remix)*
Cubic Zirconia are a fledgling hybrid from Brooklyn (who isnt?) that might be best characterized as a “spaced-out RnB acid house revivalist outfit”. Singer Tiombe prefers the designation “Soul white boy nerdy disco dance house fun party time music.” sounds good to me.
in any case they may be a little difficult to classify, but thats what makes it interesting, duh. the group’s founding members are Nick Hook, Todd Weinstock, and Tiombe Lockhart, more recently joined by percussionist and keyboardist Daud Sturdivant. for some reason they seem really into sake. they have another song called ‘i wanna freebase you’, which you can hear on their blog.
if you happen to be located in nyc, CZ is playing bklyn yard on june 13 and santo’s party house on july 2.
1) courtesy of RCRD LBL, who also have the Dâm Funk remix available for streaming, btw. 2) courtesy Discobelle.net
Filed under: getting dancey, made in berlin, music, party, songs on the internet | Tags: dance remix, electropop, fred falke, mp3, music, pregame playlist, the whitest boy alive
yea its monday but this is also berlin. anyway here is a lowkey, turn the lights down low and find the one you dressed for tonight kind of track.
**The Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)**
the Whitest Boy Alive has existed since 2003, so why don’t you know about them yet? theyre based in Berlin and their singer is Erlend Øye, that guy from kings of convenience. they’re into making electronic dance music, among other things. they have a new album out called Rules. rule #1, listen to this song.
