TEST PRESSING: Listen to a Premiere of Fol Chen’s Liars Remix While Reading Our In-Depth Cover Story About the Sordid Roots of ‘Sisterworld’
Posted on March 9, 2010
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Liars frontman Angus Andrew
[Photo by Alexander Wagner]
He’s baaaaaack. And by he, we mean J. Bennett—the rather wild and crazy guy who earned a spot in last year’s Best Music Writing book for his extensive self-titled profile on Jay Reatard. We pay our respects to Reatard in the final pages of our new issue, which debuts today along with Bennett’s cover story on Liars and the following features: Read more
TEST PRESSING: Get Psyched For OSCILLATIONS At Tribeca Grand, With Rare Tracks From Memory Tapes and a Special Film Score Mix By XXXchange
Posted on February 20, 2010
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A couple last minute details about tonight’s OSCILLATIONS show:
1. Memory Tapes goes on around 11:30, with Veronica from Minimal Wave opening with a set like this, and Tanlines and XXXchange closing out the night. (You may remember the latter from his last-minute support slot appearances at Animal Collective’s two sold-out shows last summer. The former Spank Rock producer/one-time Kills collaborator has also delivered floor-filling remixes for Panda Bear, Yeasayer, El Guincho, Santigold, Gang Gang Dance and a bunch of others.)
2. We’re expecting a decent crowd, so please show up early, as we’re letting people in until we’re at capacity and, well, there’s free vodka at 10.
That’s it for now. Check out a slew of Memory Tapes songs after the jump, along with a special DJ mix from XXXchange… Read more
TEST PRESSING: From Swans and Simian Mobile Disco to the Cure and KLF, Download 50 Killer Songs That Happen To Have ‘Love’ In Their Title
Posted on February 14, 2010
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Richard Hell, the Rico Suave of Punk Rock
Since we love all of you more than life itself, the self-titled staff thought we’d spend the tail end of Valentine’s Day sharing our favorite “love” songs. And by that, we simply mean that the word’s in every title. Needless to say, this led to some rather random selections, including a self-indulgent Cure remix, rare groove rock from Singapore and Germany, dashes of dubstep and Italo disco, and some mighty fine music from PJ Harvey, David Byrne, Animal Collective, Spiritualized and many, many more.
By the way, if you’re an artist that disapproves of this message, simply tell us and we’ll gladly swipe your selection out for someone else. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Download Four Tet’s Two-Hour ‘Essential Mix’, Including Tracks From DJ Sprinkles, Joy Orbison, Zomby and Moodyman
Posted on February 4, 2010
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Four Tet live at the American Museum of Natural History
[Photo by Aaron Richter]
While we find it a little funny that some people are finally paying attention to Four Tet again—whether he was fielding remix requests or working with Steve Reid, the guy never stopped making new music in the past four years—we’ve gotta second There Is Love In You’s status as an instant Top 10 contender. Honestly, it’s the only album we’ve played at least once, every day, for the past couple weeks, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon. If anything, we’ll probably keep the record on repeat until Four Tet’s appearance at (Le) Poisson Rouge on February 17. Either that, or fire up the following two-hour set, yet another Radio 1 “Essential Mix” that’s actually worthy of such a title. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Klimek Reveals His Favorite SST Records Alongside An Exclusive Punk Mix That’ll Make You Want to Cockpunch a Co-Worker
Posted on January 29, 2010
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If you checked out last week’s Long Player of the Day post about Sebastian Meissner’s Klimek project, then you know the guy’s a master of ambient music. What you might not realize, however, is the extent of his punk/metal/extreme music collection. The producer will close the gap between these two very different worlds next Thursday at Lincoln Center, as part of a special Unsound Festival performance. The “Solid State Transmitters” collaboration with Kwartludium focuses on SST’s legendary DIY-or-die catalog, reinterpreting their records “in a surprising, often strikingly beautiful manner, to reveal the persisting uniqueness and relevance of this era.”
You know what’s not strikingly beautiful? The exclusive “We Don’t Need Your Freedom” mix Meissner sent us to get you ready for his set next week. It’s the closest you’re gonna get to a lovingly made mixtape from a dude with a denim jacket and lots of back patches, and it’s presented alongside a guide to Meissner’s favorite SST records. Enjoy. Just don’t blame us if you feel compelled to punch the person next to you. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Presenting Crossfader Friday, Featuring Mixes From The Black Dog, Popnoname, Pink Skull, and Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas
Posted on January 22, 2010
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Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas
The last thing we want to do on a Friday is fuck with our iTunes. That’s why we’ve decided to start sharing our favorite mixes with you at the end of each week, everything from full-on dance sets to highly-conceptual mixtapes. This particular installment includes an epic BBC Essential Mix from Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, a Kraut-rock comp from The Black Dog, a Pop Ambient survey from Popnoname, and a “Naked Fridays” soiree from Pink Skull, who’ll be playing (Le) Poisson Rouge tomorrow night.
Get into it… Read more
TEST PRESSING: Download Amp Live’s Speaker-Flexing Rendition of Why’s ‘Eskimo Snow’ Record
Posted on January 21, 2010
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Amp Live has released a free EP of Why? remixes called One Dark Eskimo. Aside from a guest appearance by the producer’s Zion I mate Zumbi (”Against You”), most of the collection steeps Why?’s pitch-dark pop songs in a sea of skittish beats and stutter-step samples. While the project isn’t as high profile as Amp Live’s Rainydayz take on Radiohead’s In Rainbows album, it’s still a killer reminder of Yoni Wolf’s abstract hip-hop roots. Not to mention an excuse to dig out Eskimo Snow, easily one of last year’s most sorely-overlooked LPs.
Check out One Dark Eskimo in its entirety after the jump along with a zipped copy of Amp Live’s rather awesome Radiohead record… Read more
TEST PRESSING: Download One of Jay Reatard’s Final Recordings, A Fierce Cover of Nirvana’s “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle”
Posted on January 14, 2010
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Jay Reatard at one of his favorite Memphis spots in 2008
[Photo by J Bennett]
We’re not going to read too far into the following Nirvana cover, one of Jay Reatard’s final recordings. We’d rather let the guy’s sorely-missed brilliance shine on through. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Download Nosaj Thing’s Remixes of The xx and Drake, Plus an L.A. Podcast
Posted on January 11, 2010
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Nosaj Thing—one of L.A.’s most talked-about producers outside of his beat-chopping buddy Flying Lotus—has shared a pair of recent remixes for Drake (”Forever”) and the xx (”Islands”). Both are moonlit and moody, creeping along to a bleary-eyed backdrop of spacey synths and diamond-edged drums.
Check ‘em out after the jump, along with tour dates and an “L.A. mix” that was delivered to XLR8R last fall. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Download ‘Colouring of Pigeons’, a New Track From The Knife’s Darwin Opera With Mt. Sims and Planningtorock
Posted on January 6, 2010
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Remember Mt. Sims, the electro-clash survivor/International DeeJay Gigolos alum responsible for the rather ridiculous UltraSex LP? If you do, then you’re probably as surprised as we are to hear about the guy’s involvement in the Knife’s Tomorrow, In a Year opera. That’d be the Hotel Pro Forma commission based on Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species book, as premiered in Copenhagen last September and featured on a double LP that’s due out on March 9 (February 2 digitally) through Mute.
“At first it was very difficult as we really didn’t know anything about opera,” Olof Dreijer said in a press release about the project’s creative process. “We’d never been to one. I didn’t even know what the word libretto meant. But after some studying, and just getting used to opera’s essence of pretentious and dramatic gestures, I found that there is a lot to learn and play with.
He continued, “It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer and now I really do. I really like the basic theatrical values of opera and the easy way it brings forward a narrative. We’ve approached this before in The Knife but never in such a clear way.”
Speaking of feeling moved, the 11-minute “Colouring of Pigeons” cut after the jump is pretty spectacular; almost as spectacular as Sim’s “How We Do” video. Read more
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