JayeL Audio

I know I get pretty excited about festival lineups, even though I’ve only been to one, but I can dream can’t I?  The Coachella lineup was just released and it looks nothing less than stellar.  This desert music fest takes place in Indio, CA and has been around since 1999 (headliners were Beck, Rage Against the Machine and Tool).  Other than the Killers and Paul McCartney, the headliners (The Cure, Morrissey, My Bloody Valentine) aren’t must-sees in my book, but I would forcast a lot of scheduling conflicts if I was lucky enough to go.

Friday features Noah & the Whale, the Hold Steady, N.A.S.A., Girl Talk, The Black Keys, Conor Oberst, Franz Ferdinand and Paul McCartney.

Saturday kills it with Blitzen Trapper, Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, the Bloody Beetroots, Atmosphere, Drive-By Truckers, Hercules and Love Affair, Crookers, TRAV$DJAM, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Amy Winehouse and the Cure.

Sunday rounds out with the Knux, Friendly Fires, K’Naan, Clipse, Okkervil River, Lykki Li, Paolo Nutini, Jenny Lewis, Public Enemy, Peter Bjorn John, Lupe Fiasco, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Cure.

Saturday certainly appeals the most to my taste and I haven’t seen any of those bands in concert yet.  Sadly, the Coachella Valley is a tad far for me.  3-day passes are $269+fees, single day passes are $99+fees and camping is $55 per person if you so choose.  2008′s line-up set the tone for the rest of the big festivals (and led to Jack Johnson headlining almost every fest), so we’ll see if that is the case again in 2009.

(music links coming later below….)

Noah and the Whale – 5 Years Time

N.A.S.A – Gifted ft Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li

Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls

Timbaland – Miscommunication (The Bloody Beetroots remix)

Hercules and Love Affair – You Belong

Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You

Friendly Fires – Photobooth

K’Naan – Somalia

Peter Bjorn John – Lay It Down

If  you’ve paid attention to my Nark or JayeL Audio mixtapes over the past 6 months, you’ve seen they don’t really overlap.  Narks are strictly rap, hip-hop, pop/rap fare, while JayeL Audio encompasses everything from indie rock and electronic, to covers and alt country.  I have acquired an eclectic taste over the years.

You also might have noticed one artist pop up on both, Kyle Lucas.  Lucas is a rapper from Marietta, GA who’s been bubbling on the underground rap scene thanks to Kyle Lucas Is Still My Favorite mixtape.  Throughout 2008, he’s dropped slick rhymes over eclectic samples ranging from ’80s hits (“Silence”, “Somebody’s Watching Me”) to pop-punk fare (“Control”, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too).   “Sometimes I Take Chances, Sometimes I Take Pills” showcases Lucas’ witty wordplay over one of my favorite Iron & Wine songs.

Where Kyle really shines though is as the lead emcee for Vonnegutt.  The four piece band, including bassist Patrick Postlewait, drummer Mike Hardin and singer Neil Garrard, delicately balances hip-hop sensibility with alt/punk themes and backing.  Song topics range from everyday angst to troublesome ex-loves, resulting in a accessible, alt sound ready for a variety of listeners.  OutKast’s Big Boi saw enough in the group and Kyle Lucas to sign them to a record deal on Purple Ribbon Entertainment.

Kyle Lucas – Sometimes I Take Chances, Sometimes I Take Pills

Kyle Lucas – Control

Vonnegutt – Ex-Girlfriends Are Stupid

Vonnegutt – Shaky Love

Vonnegutt will be performing at the Masquerade in East Atlanta on tomorrow, January 30th.  Tickets are $8 in advance.  The Status, The Media Says and Arms of the Sea will also appear.

Pick up The Vice Nine EP here.  I hope to scoop it up Friday at the show!

Winter is usually pretty slow when it comes to quality rap/hip-hop, but 2009 has been proving me wrong as of late.  Nark City features appearances by Shady/Aftermath employees, current (Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Focus) and past (Stat Quo, Obie Trice, Royce Da 5’9″).  Also included is an A-List ATL connection (T.I. & Usher), the latest Mike Posner/Big Sean collaboration, the return of K-Os and more.

Nark City – http://www.sendspace.com/file/s97kck

1. Eminem – Crack A Bottle ft Dr. Dre, 50 Cent
2. Royce Da 5’9″ – Homage to Premier ft Phonte and Stat Quo
3. Kid CuDi – Sky High (The Kickdrums remix)
4. Jadakiss – Letter to B.I.G.
5. T.I. – My Life, Your Entertainment
6. N.O.R.E. – NY Groove
7. K-Os – Zambony
8. Freeway – When I Die ft James Blunt
9. Stat Quo – In California
10. Jo Weel & DJDviousMind – Dust In The Wind
11. 50 Cent – I Get It In
12. Big Sean – Who Knows ft Mike Posner
13. Obie Trice – You Burn
14. Royce Da 5’9″ – Shake This
15. Kanye West – Amazing ft Young Jeezy
16. Tekneek – Money In The Air ft Kurupt, Havoc & Roscoe
17. The Knux – Bang Bang
18. Collie Buddz – Come Around Remix
19. T.I. – Hero ft Akon
20. Black Milk – Give the Drummer Sum
21. Jay-Z – Go Hard remix

Comment. Hate. Let Me Know.

I got a request for a new running/work out mix.  What better place to post it than here?  For whatever reason, mash-ups and electronic music seems to make me sprint a little faster than some of the other music I listen to.  It probably has to do with BPM or something, but let’s not get technical.  Hopefully it works for you also.

Runtastic – http://www.sendspace.com/file/icc4qy

-He Say She Say – Crash Dummie
-Cut Copy – Hearts on Fire
-Midnight Juggernauts – 45 and Rising (Cut Copy remix)
-Timbaland – Throw It On Me (Bloody Beetroots remix)
-Daft Punk – One More Time (Million $ Mano remix)
-Hot Chip – Shake A Fist
-LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
-The Rapture – Whoo! Alright-Yeah…Uh Huh
-Cut Copy – Lights and Music
-Kanye West – Flashing Lights (Diplo remix)
-Matt & Kim – Its A Fact ft Hollywood Holt (Million $ Mano remix)
-Mylo – Drop the Pressure
-Jay-Z – Jockin’ Jay-Z (Travis Barker remix)
-Young Love – Discotech
-Cut Copy – Far Away
-Bell Biv Devoe – Poison (Million $ Mano remix)
-Justice – Phantom pt II
-Bloc Party – Banquet
-Daft Punk – Human After All
-Timbaland – Miscommunication (Bloody Beetroots remix)
-Mylo – Ottos Journey
-The Rapture – Get Myself Into It
-Just Jack – Starz In Their Eyes
-Hot Chip – Over and Over
-Digitalism – Pogo
-Pleasure – Uptown
-Armand Van Helden – I Want Your Soul
-Matt & Kim – Yeah Yeah (Flosstradamus remix)

Let Me Know What You Think.

I thoroughly enjoy how random finding music can be.  Here are the steps I took to find this gem:

1. In the process of cleaning out text messages
2. Found a friend recommended a song by Laura Marling (Thanks Russ)
   
3. Searched Laura Marling on the Hype Machine
4. Found a Mystery Jets track featuring Laura Marling
5. Downloaded from Yellow Stereo blog
6. Sampled other songs from another post
7. Loved “Sushi” by Kyle Andrews
8. Downloaded from Yellow Stereo blog
9. Added Yellow Stereo to RSS feed

Simple as that.  New, good music is everywhere, you just have to look.

Kyle Andrews continues the enjoyable electro/synth revival taking place on the indie music scene.  A Nashville/Chicago based singer, recorded and played all instruments on his sophomore album, Real Blasty (buy it here).  Based on the pop fun of “Sushi”, I’ll be checking out the new album ASAP.

Kyle Andrews will be opening for The Morning Benders and The Submarines at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta on Friday, Feb 6th.  Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 DOS.

Kyle Andrews – Sushi

Mystery Jets – Young Love ft Laura Marling

Laura Marling – Failure

I’ve mentioned the goodness that is Neko Case before.  Her chanteuse way caught my attention on her last album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and I’ve been a follower ever since.

In support of her highly anticipated album, Middle Cyclone, Ms. Case is taking a unique approach to generating awareness.  As a known animal lover, she is offering to donate $5 to Best Friends Animal Society for each time people blog about her new single, “People Got A Lot Of Nerve”.  The alt country jam is everything you would want in a Neko Case offering: smoky vocals, foot tapping drums and sly lyrics about her heartbreaking skills.  And you people say I hate animals…

Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve

Ms. Case is making a stop in Atlanta (among other US destinations).  I hope will to be there to witness the great show I’ve been missing.

Neko Case Tour Dates

4/2 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA

4/7 – Progress Energy Center – Raleigh, NC

4/10 – Keswick Theatre – Glenside, PA

4/11 – Berklee Performance Center – Boston, MA

4/13 – Nokia Theatre Times Square – New York, NY

4/14 – Nokia Theater Times Square – New York, NY

4/23 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH

4/24 – Chicago Theater – Chicago, IL

4/26 – State Theatre – Minneapolis, MN

Buy Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Pre-Order Middle Cyclone

I didn’t get a chance to post this mixtape last fall with Blogger’s “Big Brother” operation hindering things.  It features mash-up mainstays The Hood Internet and Immuzikation, along with relative newcomers QUIX and Motown/Chi-Town connected Phoenix Jukebox.  I’m hoping to post another Mashed Up 3 within the next 2 weeks.

Mashed Up 2 – http://www.sendspace.com/file/os0v6w

1. QUIX – What You Know Scientist (T.I. vs Coldplay)
2. ABX – Gallery Piece of Everything (Bun B vs Of Montreal)
3. Phoenix Jukebox – That Purp
4. DJ STV SLV – I Run This Bomb (Birdman & Lil’ Wayne vs Primal Scream)
5. ABX – Fast Piano (Clipse vs Studio)
6. The Hood Internet – Belonging It Up (Lykke Li vs Hercules & the Love Affair)
7. ABX – I’ll Be Lovin’ U If U Want To (Mariah Carey vs Dosh)
8. DJ STV SLV – Shut Up, American Boy (Estelle & Kanye West vs The Ting Tings)
9. ABX – This Year The Club (Broke My Heart) (Usher vs Los Campesinos!)
10. Immuzikation – We’re Gonna Have A Party (Ratatat vs The Eagles vs Pharohe Monch…..)
11. The Hood Internet – Watch My Big Feet Jump (Dude N Nem vs Office)
12. ABX – Get Like Pterodactyls (David Banner vs Fujiya & Miyagi)
13. Phoenix Jukebox – You Better Stop
14. ABX – Anthemillas (Pitbull & Lil’ Jon vs El Guincho)
15. The Hood Internet – When Baby Mamas Collide (Qualo vs Chin Up Chin Up)
16. ABX – Draped Up and Creeped Out (Bun B vs Islands)
17. The Hood Internet – Pro Nails Forever (Kid Sister vs Walter Meego)
18. Phoenix Jukebox – We Goin’ Down
19. Kanye West – Homecoming (DiscoTech Remix)

As usual, let me know what you think.

Now that 2008 is settled.  Lets move on.  One of the many tracks that caught my ear so far this year comes from New Villager.  They are a talented duo (Ben Bromley and Ross Simonini) from Brooklyn, NY/California…other than that, that’s all I can tell you.  Their label, Two Syllable Records, mentions some randomness about a mythological character transformation, but they sound like an intriguing experimental dance/electronic band to me.  Their track “Rich Doors “, enters 2009 with booming drums, a catchy hook and enough space-age sounds to make Pharrell and Chad jealous.  I foresee a Hood Internet helmed Clipse mash-up in the future.

New Villager – Rich Doors

Thanks to My Old Kentucky Blog for turning me on to another great band.

Buy New Villager – Rich Doors “7 single here

I consume a massive amount of music each week.  My Google Reader count is constantly at 100+ and I can’t seem to catch up with the numerous blogs, reviews and Pitchfork information I read.  As a result, I’m much more selective in the music I purchase.

It doesn’t seem that long ago, when I would walk out of Circuit City, Best Buy or Wyatt Earp with 2+ cd’s a week.  Those were high school days, and all I had to spend my grocery store paychecks on was gas, fast food, clothes and fun.

Today, I am listening to a great deal more music and it would be impossible to purchase everything I hear.  And in today’s online ADD music society, if you wait until an album’s physical release, the music is almost obsolete. For example, Common’s foray into “Planet Rock” with Pharrell, “Universal Mind Control” leaked in January.  The album finally came out in November.  Can you imagine having the patience to hear that single and have to wait 10 months to purchase it?  Thankfully, I didn’t have to.

I know what you’re thinking: why buy music at all?  Isn’t it all free and there for the taking?  Well most of it is out there if you look hard enough, but that’s not really the best thinking.  As much as I hate the whole business model the industry uses, if everyone quits buying music, we really might not have any.  It would be completely unaffordable to buy everything I sample, but I purchase what I feel the need to.

I usually buy lesser known artists that are worth my money and probably need it.  The big names albums I buy because I like to say that I have their entire catalog (Jay-Z, Nas) or know I’m purchasing a decent product (T.I., Kanye).  I pretty much test everything online (blogs, Hype Machine, Largehearted Boy), so its not hard to see if an album is worth buying.  Its not like the old days of walking into Record Town, paying $19 for an album that has one hot single.

The other main reason I buy music is sound quality.  If I know an album is good, I don’t have to worry about scouring LimeWire for the new T.I. album with out DJ drops or an f’ed up track listing.  It might be that I’m getting older, but the difference between most music available on the internet and a 256kps song ripped from a CD is huge.  And if I ever decide to really DJ, the average listener would notice the quality over loud bar speakers.

Music Bought in 2008

Physical CD’s (Gifts or Purchases)

• The National – Boxer
• The Black Keys – Attack & Release
• Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
• Phoenix Jukebox – Grand Circus
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
• Zac Brown Band – The Foundation
• Mike Moran Music – Spaces
• Buff1 – There Can Only Be One
• Jessica Lea Mayfield – With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt
• Kanye West – 808′s & Heartbreak
• Elzhi – The Preface

Digital Albums

• Paper Route Recordz – Fear & Loathing in Hunts Vegas Mixtape (artist)
• Black Kids – Partie Traumatic (iTunes)
• “Once” Soundtrack (iTunes)
• The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (Amazon)
• T.I. – Paper Trail (Amazon)
• Keane – Perfect Symmetry (Amazon)
• CSS – Donkey (iTunes)
• Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line (Amazon)
• Lil’ Wayne – The Carter III (iTunes)
• Passion Pit – Chunk of Change EP (Amazon)
• Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Amazon)
• The Killers – Day & Age (Amazon)
• Fall Out Boy – Folie a Deux (Amazon)
• Nas – Untitled (iTunes)

It may not be of interest to anyone else besides myself, but my purchases reflect that of the industry trend.  Again this year, record companies saw physical album purchases fall, while digital albums increased.  To the dismay of the labels, the digital increase was not enough to cover the decrease.  Also interesting is the fact that most of my online purchases were at Amazon.com.  This was due to the “Amazon DailyMP3 Deal of the Day”.  These albums were $3.99 at the most and DRM free.  Apple and major labels who scoffed at this model recently took note.

I’m still not a huge fan of buying mp3 albums because I need something to hold in my hands to validate my purchase.  Thats why I think Girl Talk’s method made so much sense.  I paid what I wanted for the high quality (256 kps) mp3 album in May and was sent the actual compact disc in October.  This way I got what I wanted immediately and Illegal Art only pressed what they needed.

Paper Route Records – Wood Grain (Emynd Remix)

Phoenix Jukebox – Mitas Touch

Keane – Spiralling

The Hold Steady – Constructive Summer

Elzhi – Motown 25 ft Royce Da 5’9″

I posted this track on the last Nark mixtape, Nark Streets, but I have a feeling it didn’t get as much play as it should have.  Its pretty rare for Wale to be shown up on a track, but he’s never been on a song with Brother Ali before.  For fans of Brother Ali, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but his story-telling skills seem even more poignant as he destroys “2nd Time Around”.  Take a listen and look for your self.

Wale ft Brother Ali “2nd Time Around”

Rappers can’t clap me
Jackers can’t gat me
Original meaning of jazzy fat nasty
I don’t bite rapper’s lines, I bite the captain’s arm off
I don’t throw shots in the air, I throw that Molotov
Cocktail, reservoir dog my collar off
Ya’ll scared to get that revolution popping off
You really got the guns you claim in the track
Then my question to you is who you aiming ‘em at
You complain that the rap police caught you with a gat under the seat
Misdemeanored that twenty bag of weed
But little old me with the few facts that I speak
The homeland security gaveled me over seas
Froze my bank account and seized my guarantee
And ya’ll are soundscanning like a hundred more than me
They kicking you off tour for freaking a chick or two
Verizon dissed me too ’cause I was too political
Ya’ll are all safe and shit, ya’ll are not saying shit
You just snap your fingers and dance and make your label rich
Gotta pay back that advance, so they ain’t gave you shit
This is your chance to say something and you’re wasting it
People are starving, you talking bout balling
Can’t think of nothing more important than that jargon
Hundred different ways to describe diamonds sparkling
Eighty percent of kids are listening to ya’ll shit
I heard that statistic I almost cried
Never wanted so bad for 2pac to be alive
What the fuck happened to rap when
The gangsters are scared of upsetting they industry masters
It ain’t my place to say and I hear all that
But fuck that, I live in the hood and we need ya’ll cats
So as soon as I hear ya’ll on some real pro black
Then I will gladly go back to my emo rap
They say the truth don’t belong to nobody, if you see it you speak it
It would be a sin to keep it a secret
So if I need to breathe then believe that I mean it
Quit trying to be somebody’s boss and be a leader
If it wasn’t bad enough your labels are hoeing you
You can’t even scan, your fans are downloading you
There’s no connection, so they’re not supporting you
You ain’t never shed light on nothing that they’re going through
We ain’t buying cds, we striving to live
And these artists don’t need me they already rich
I ain’t hating on you, rock them shines
Just remember us from time to time when you drop them lines
Rappers can’t clap me
Jackers can’t gat me
Original meaning of jazzy fat nasty
Busy raising babies and living on tour
Signing off Brother Ali, sincerely yours

Shadows on the Sun was one of my favorite albums of 2003.  Hopefully there will be a Brother Ali release in ’09!