JayeL Audio

photo via John Ruby

Oh hey there.
Plenty of established acts and lots of new artists on this edition. Reptar wins for best new band name though. You wouldn’t know it if you get hypnotized by the pulsing synth of “The Dauphin”, but Young Digerati gets sadistic about women flocking from his “valley” to Southern California. Oh Land more than aptly takes over for Lily Allen’s absence in indie-pop land. Chromeo and Ezra from Vampire Weekend emulate Hall & Oates in the best way possible on “I Could Be Wrong”. Friendly Fires (“Blue Cassette”), Foster the People (“Call It What You Want”), and Strange Talk (“Eskimo Boy”) hold things down on the indie/electro dance front. Digitalism returns with “2 Hearts” and Beastie Boys get together with my girl Santigold. Lastly, Outasight’s Figure 8 EP is chock full of hits, but I’m loving “Life or Something Like It” most right now.

Happy Summertime….
Oh and wish Laura HAPPY BIRTHDAY while you’re at it.

JayeL Audio 6-9-11: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Beastie Boys – Don’t Play No Games That I Can’t Win ft Santigold
2. Friendly Fires – Blue Cassette
3. Bon Iver – Towers
4. Foster the People – Call It What You Want
5. Oh Land – Sun of a Gun
6. Black Lips – New Direction
7. Strange Talk – Eskimo Boy
8. The Wooden Birds – Two Matchsticks
9. Yeasayer – Phoenix Wind
10. The Black Keys – Dearest (Buddy Holly cover)
11. Sondre Lerche – Private Caller
12. Cults – Abducted
13. Bahamas – Already Yours
14. Airlines – Neon Moon
15. Fitz and the Tantrums – Don’t Gotta Work It Out
16. Purity Ring – Lofticries
17. Reptar – Houseboat Babies
18. New Villager – Lighthouse
19. Young Digerati – The Dauphin
20. Digitalism – 2 Hearts
21. Outasight – Life or Something Like It
22. Chromeo – I Could Be Wrong ft Ezra Koenig
23. The National – Exile Vilify
Bonus Track:
Almost Free – Really Don’t Know About You (free .mp3)

7 mixtapes in 1 month? Looks like I’ve been much more productive than in March. Spring/early Summer brings about a plethora of new music and this season has been especially plentiful. With Explosions in the Sky, Fleet Foxes, Beastie Boys and An Horse readying new releases, its pretty easy to pluck mixtape ready tracks. Elsewhere, Freelance Whales continue their string of hits (5th mixtape appearance in a year), The Knocks churn out another solid remix with Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”, Long Walks On The Beach craft a hypnotic synth jam and Of Monsters Of Men could probably line up with Edward Sharpe’s “Home” on your next roadtrip playlist. My current favorite is Santigold’s “Go!” with its militant chorus, Spy Hunter-like beat and classic Santi yelps. Also, check for the introspective bars Jay-Z drops on the Sade remix.

JayeL Audio 4-25-11: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Outasight – Figure 8
2. tUnE-yArDs – Bizness
3. Holy Ghost! – Wait & See
4. Santigold – Go! ft Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise
6. Of Monsters and Men – 1269 Little Talks
7. Mumford and Sons – Unfinished Business (White Lies Cover)
8. Explosions in the Sky – Trembling Hands
9. Martin Solveig & Dragonette – Hello
10. Freelance Whales – Girl U Want
11. Emmy the Great – Century of Sleep
12. Okkervil River – Wake and be Fine
13. Long Walks On The Beach – metaPhysical
14. Infantree – Work Horse
15. Wolf Gang – Back to Back
16. Noah and the Whale – Tonight’s the Kind of Night
17. An Horse – Trains and Tracks
18. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks (The Knocks remix)
19. White Denim – Drug
20. Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean
21. Sade – The Moon and the Sky (remix) ft Jay-Z
22. Cults – You Know What I Mean
Bonus Tracks:
Title Tracks – All Tricks (free .mp3)

UPDATE: Stream the whole mixtape via MixCloud below

photo by John Bollinger

Its a little less overwhelming if I don’t name them “Disc One” and “Disc Two”, right? March was a big travel month for me so here is the rest of what I’ve been catching up on. Alex Winston, Cut Copy, The Strokes, Smokey Robotic and The Dodos all had great releases in the last two months (as witnessed by appearances on both mixtapes). The same can’t be said for Lupe’s latest, but at least “Stereo Sun” shows a glimpse of his capability. Toro Y Moi and Alex Clare might be two of the most intriguing new artists in 2011, but I’m pretty sure Justice is going to own it when their album drops.

JayeL Audio 4-01-11: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. The Strokes – Taken For A Fool
2. The Dodos – Don’t Try and Hide It
3. Hercules and Love Affair – Shelter (the xx cover)
4. Miami Horror – Holidays
5. Justice – Civilization
6. Alex Winston – Sweet James
7. Toro Y Moi – New Beat
8. Smokey Robotic – Outside the Lines (Uptown)
9. Cut Copy – Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat
10. TV On The Radio – Will Do
11. Lykke Li – Youth Knows No Pain
12. Wolf Gang – Lions In Cages
13. Ben Harper – Rock N Roll Is Free
14. Lupe Fiasco – Stereo Sun
15. Maritime – Paraphernalia
16. Alex Clare – Too Close
17. MSTRKRFT – Beards Again
18. The National – Think You Can Wait
19. Robin Pecknold – I’m Losing Myself ft Ed Droste

Patience rap fans. The Narks are on the way!

Return me to this place. No. Seriously.
I’ve been staring at spreadsheets and flowcharts all week so forgive the math correlation. If I had to classify this mixtapes into 4 quadrants it would be:
Harmonies – the Local Natives/Fleet Foxes charm has spread to U.S. Royalty, Yeasayer, and Wolf Gang
Covers – this month was especially rich in artists’ take on their favorite artists like MJ, Beirut and Seal
Veterans – TV On The Radio, Adele, Cut Copy, Death Cab and The Strokes all stormed back onto the music scene with work from solid new albums
That New New – Up and comers like Young the Giant, Oh Land, Airlines and Theophilus London all represent current blog favorites that could end up as your next favorite act. BTW, is it just me or does Theophilus sounds a little like Cudder on “Flying Overseas”?

JayeL Audio 3-31-11: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. U.S. Royalty – Equestrian
2. Smokey Robotic – Forever My Love (Single mix)
3. Young the Giant – My Body
4. City and Colour – The Girl
5. Yeasayer – Crazy (Seal cover)
6. Toro Y Moi – Human Nature (Michael Jackson cover)
7. TV On The Radio – Caffeinated Consciousness
8. The Strokes – Gratisfaction
9. The Milk – (All I Wanted Was) Danger
10. Oh Land – We Turn It Up
11. Cut Copy – Need You Now
12. Adele – Rolling In The Deep
13. Airlines – Burial Grounds
14. Wolf Gang – Dancing With The Devil
15. Architecture in Helsinki – Contact High
16. Florence & the Machine – Postcards From Italy (Beirut Cover)
17. Death Cab For Cutie – You Are A Tourist
18. Bag Raiders – Way Back Home
19. Theophilus London – Flying Overseas ft Solange & Devonte’ Hynes

Check back tomorrow for more goods…

I was surveying old posts last week and realized I have been writing on this blog/site for 4 years. Kinda crazy. 4 years is like 8 in blog years. My first post was even douchey enough to refer to it as a “space”, but at least the music was good (Maximo Park and the Fratelli’s). When I started this site, I had no idea anyone would look at it besides me. With friends moving across the country, it seemed easier than mailing burned cd’s every few weeks so thats as far as I thought about it.

So Thank You to…
Laura - for being patient with all the hours I put into this after work and on the weekends.
The Readers - When I started the blog (originally Bout That) 4 people read it and the numbers continue to grow. Everyone has done a great job of passing the site on to others and I hope you’ll continue. Last year saw the highest number of comments in my short history. This really supposed to be a collaborative project, so keep the suggestions and comments coming.
Donations - Everyone who donated, I hope you are getting your money’s worth. Any amount you have given over the years has been amazing.
Hype Machine - duh.
All the blogs for supplying the music I pass on - PMA, Mixtape Maestro, All Things Go, P4K, Consequence of Sound, Largehearted Boy, 2dopeboyz, Nahright
Artists who have sent over music and spread the word to their fans - Kyle Lucas/Vonnegutt, yOya, TGCHU, Lettercamp, mochibeats

Mixtapes are the typically the most popular posts, but I didn’t start publishing those until October 5th, 2008. To commemorate 4 years, I put together two mixtapes of the best of the early years before I sent you all .rar files. You can definitely hear the heavy influence of the days when I listened to BBC Radio 1. Enjoy.

JayeL Audio – The Early Years
Disc One – DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Arctic Monkeys – Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
2. The Black Keys – Just Got To Be
3. Mates of State – Punchlines
4. Bon Iver – Skinny Love
5. Tilly & the Wall – Bad Education
6. Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
7. The Bees – Who Cares What The Question Is?
8. The Kooks – Eddie’s Gun
9. The Mystery Jets – Diamonds In The Dark
10. The Knife – Heartbeats
11. The Rapture – Don Gon Do It
12. Kings of Convenience – I’d Rather Dance With You
13. Rogue Wave – Lake Michigan
14. Editors – Lights
15. Just Jack – Starz In Their Eyes
16. The Fratellis – Creeping Up The Backstairs
17. Peter Bjorn John – Young Folks
18. Bloc Party – Banquet
19. Spoon – You Got Yr Cherry Bomb
20. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps

Disc Two – DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Grand National – Talk Amongst Yourselves
2. Tokyo Police Club – Nature of the Experiment
3. Iron and Wine – Boy With A Coin
4. Maximo Park – Apply Some Pressure
5. The Walkmen – Louisiana
6. Yeasayer – Sunrise
7. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
8. Cut Copy – Feel The Love
9. Sam Sparro – Black & Gold
10. Rilo Kiley – Close Call
11. The National – Apartment Story
12. LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
13. Scott Matthews – Elusive
14. Razorlight – Los Angeles Waltz
15. Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
16. The Sadies – Never Again
17. Interpol – The Heinrich Maneuver
18. K-OS – Born To Run
19. The Decemberists – The Engine Driver
20. Neko Case – That Teenage Feeling

William Mackinnon painting via You Can’t Fall Off A Mountain
Disc Two offers up new music from Holy Ghost!, Tennis, The Knux, bubbling buzz bands Vaccines, Yuck and Smith Westerns and the catchiest leak from Peter Bjorn John’s next effort. I’ll continue my Lissie and Alex Winston promotion and just say that you need to hear “Bully” and “Locomotive” ASAP. These ladies should keep the rest of the female vocalists on notice throughout the year. Its safe to say 2011 will probably be a huge year for Fleet Foxes. “Helplessness Blues” is already a contender for song of the year (according to my ears).

JayeL Audio 2-14-11 Disc Two: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Corinne Bailey Rae – I Wanna Be Your Lover (Prince Cover)
2. Walk the Moon – Anna Sun
3. Smith Westerns – Weekend
4. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
5. Tennis – Long Boat Pass
6. Lissie – Bully
7. The Knux – She’s So Up
8. The Wrong Airport – Unwasted Nights
9. Holy Ghost! – Do It Again
10. The Forms – Fire To The Ground ft Matt Berninger of The National (.mp3)
11. Alex Winston – Locomotive (.mp3)
12. Young Galaxy – We Have Everything
13. Vaccines – Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
14. Dirty Gold – California Sunrise
15. The Strokes – Under Cover Of Darkness
16. Alex Ebert – Lets Win
17. Yuck – Coconut Bible
18. Peter Bjorn and John – Second Chance
19. Purity Ring – Ungirthed
20. Cee Lo Green – Fool For You
21. Kid Sister – Gucci Rag Top ft Gucci Mane

Busy time equals less time for the plethora of new music being released already in 2011. Seems like this is an annual occurrence because I also had a double disc mix last Feb as well. Disc One has a choice Passion Pit remix of a Cold War Kids track, more great indie pop from the likes of Foster the People, Freelance Whales and Alex Winston and a Beach Boys cover by rising Detroit band Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr. The unlikely combo of Theophilus London and Sara Quin only continues the versatility and appeal of Mr. London. Most encouraging though is the work of Alex Ebert aka Edward Sharpe, whose solo track “A Million Years” makes me hopeful for the full album.

JayeL Audio 2-14-11 – Disc One: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Cold War Kids – Mine Is Yours (Passion Pit Remix)
2. Foster the People – Houdini
3. Panda Bear – Last Night At The Jetty
4. Alex Winston – Sister Wife
5. Dry The River – New Ceremony
6. MNDR – Cut Me Off
7. Freelance Whales – Day Off
8. Best Coast – Sunny Adventure
9. Hoodie Allen – Dreams Up
10. Brown Recluse – Impression Of A City Morning
11. The Dodos – Black Night
12. Theophilus London – Why Even Try ft Sara Quin
13. Alex Ebert – A Million Years
14. The Decemberists – Rox In The Box
15. The District Attorneys – Going to Carolina
16. Strange Talk – Climbing Walls (.mp3)
17. ANR – Big Problem
18. Ducktails – Killin the Vibe ft Panda Bear
19. Foster the People – Helena Beat
20. Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr – God Only Knows (Beach Boys cover)
21. Munchi – Murder Sound VIP ft M.I.A. (.mp3)

So Atlanta got some snow this week…. (photo via David K. Smith)
One last item from 2010 to go, a mixtape of the best tracks from November/December. This round features a few covers from some of my favorite artists in 2010: Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend and Ellie Goulding (“Georgia”, “Fight For This Love”, “Only Girl (In The World)”) and a Hood Internet mash-up that I’ve already mentioned and admitted I’m addicted to (“Just Wanna Dance Yrself Clean”). Cold War Kids, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Lykke Li and The Black Keys are pretty much mixtape regulars at this point. Elsewhere, Tanlines bring twinkling tropical pop (“O Seizing the Day O”), Tennis continue to build buzz with yacht pop (literally) and Daft Punk add a song I wish were 5 minutes longer. R.E.M. even made this edition, which I never thought I would say. Alex Clare has my favorite track of the month though with Diplo & Switch that is sort of brit pop/dancehall combo I can’t get out of my head.
FYI, if you are burning tracks to CD the old fashioned way, this mixtape is 1.4 hours.
JayeL Audio 1-11-11 DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Band of Horses – Georgia (Cee Lo Green cover)
2. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Our Hearts Are Wrong
3. Cut Copy – Take Me Over
4. Alex Clare – Up All Night ft Gilbere Forte
5. The Hood Internet – Just Wanna Dance Yrself Clean (Jay-Z vs LCD Soundsystem)
6. Tanlines – O Seizing The Day O ft Luke Jenner
7. Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
8. Kid Sister – Kiss Kiss Kiss
9. Tennis – Take Me Somewhere
10. The Radio Dept – Never Follow Suit
11. Young Galaxy – Cover Your Tracks
12. The Decemberists – Down By The Water
13. The Ting Tings – Hands
14. The Babies – Run Me Over
15. Bag Raiders – Sunlight ft Dan Black
16. Vampire Weekend – Fight For This Love (Cheryl Cole Cover)
17. Ellie Goulding – Only Girl (In The World) (Rihanna Cover)
18. Iron & Wine – Walking Far From Home
19. Cold War Kids – Louder Than Ever
20. Daft Punk – Derezzed
21. Chromeo – Hot Mess ft La Roux
22. Kyle Andrews – Bombs Away
23. R.E.M. – It Happened Today
24. The Black Keys – Ohio

Have a favorite track from the latest mix? Let me know in the comments.
UPDATE: Apparently, all this 2010 talk made me name the mixtape 1-11-10 in iTunes. If you are overly organized like me, you’ll probably want to just rename it within iTunes.

The posting around here hasn’t been as active as I would like it to be, at least I’m increasing my mixtape output. Three in one month isn’t too shabby, right? The latest mixtape is a little more reserved than October’s effort, but its still filled with quality hip-hop, dance, folk and indie. Cee-Lo Green continues to impress with two features (“Bright Lights Big City”, “Old Fashioned”) from his highly anticipated album, Lady Killer. Lovely imports, Lykke Li and Duffy return from brief breaks and pick up where they left off with upbeat jams. I have been enamored with two covers this month: one from Mumford and Sons, who take on Old Crow Medicine Show’s forgotten gem “Wagon Wheel” and another from Shakira, which might not best the original, but will hopefully turn more listeners on to Mercury Award winners, the xx. Lastly, Kanye (with some help from new BFF Justin Vernon) and Lupe show the entire industry how to utilize an indie record and turn it into hip-hop gold. Let me know how many times you have “Lost In The World” and “The Show Goes On” on repeat.
JayeL Audio 11-02-10: DOWNLOAD (.rar)
1. Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
2. Lykke Li – Get Some
3. The Go! Team – T.O.R.N.A.D.O.
4. Cee-Lo Green – Bright Lights, Big City
5. Robyn – Indestructible
6. Duffy – Well, Well, Well ft The Root
7. Josh Ritter – Long Shadows
8. Kanye West – Lost In The World ft Bon Iver
9. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks
10. Shakira – Islands (the xx cover)
11. Lord Huron – Mighty
12. Foals – Blue Blood
13. Fyfe Dangerfield – Call the Shots (Live on BBC 2)
14. The Thermals – I Don’t Believe You
15. California Wives – Blood Red Youth
16. The Wombats – Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)
17. Florrie – Give Me Your Love (Fred Falke Club Edit)
18. Stepdad – My Leather, My Fur, My Nails
19. Mumford and Sons – Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show cover)
20. Freelance Whales – Enzymes
21. Cee-Lo Green – Old Fashioned

Artwork by LJG, of course. Leave comments on your favorite tracks below.

My friend Andrew (also lead singer of the best cover band in South Florida, Heroes 4 Hire) came up with a genius idea Thursday. Say you’re attending a concert, sporting event, summiting a mountain, camping, etc., you probably brought your JayeL Audio trucker hat, right? Definitely take a picture with the hat at the event, send it to me and I’ll post it(hopefully, as part of a regular segment). Andrew took the initiative with the first entry at Matt and Kim’s show at Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale. Nice work and lets see all the places JayeL Audio visits!

On another note, GOOD Friday came and Kanye dropped off a slick, boom bap style track in “Take One For The Team”. Almost a continuation of the BET Ciphers, Mr. West, Pusha T and Cyhi The Prynce verbally spar over the dark, Halloween-piano style cut with a little up from Keri Hilson. I’m guessing this one won’t be on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but still worth a listen. How amazing would it be if Bon Iver was the one beat boxing?
Kanye West – Take One For The Team ft Pusha T, Cyhi The Prynce and Keri Hilson