On Caffeine and Music
There’s music you can sing and dance to, there’s music to intensely listen to and there’s music to sleep to. None of that music is on todays subject, I just wanted to tease you. Today’s music is going to be about chilling, dreaming, having fantasies, falling asleep, sitting at a cool bar, doing nothing, just being. Calm, inspiring music. This is the kind of music they’d play at Starbucks if they weren’t so douche-y and hooked on that jazz sickness (that is not to say that jazz music is bad; au contraire, but they really take it to a ridiculous state by pretending to be all sophisticated and shit, I really hate that).
Here’s my Best Of Stargazing Alone In The Woods Soundtrack:
Burial – Shell Of Light Dubstep at it’s finest moment. It really doesn’t get better than this, so watch out for Burial.
Burial & Four Tet – Moth Again with the Burial, with the British, with the Dub. This person is a genius, and now with the brilliance of a Four Tet, this track has got me shivering under the stars. Seriously. Goosebumps. Don’t drive and listen to this, it’ll haunt you forever.
Broken Social Scene – Looks Just Like The Sun This could be abused for frisky sessions of endless love, but to me it’s more like reading a book while it’s raining outside… every now and then stealing a glance at the beautiful person next to me (except there hasn’t been anyone lying next to me in a long time, so fuck that fantasy).
Little Dragon – Twice Same as above, difference is less instruments and a stronger voice. I love the lyrics.
Nothing like hot stuff for this blog!
El Perro Del Mar – Change Of Heart This song makes my heart ache, it’s so beautiful. This is definitely nothing like background music, it’s music you lose your mind to. The kind of song you cry or laugh to, depending on the situation, the context you’d been living it with. El Perro Del Mar must be one of my proudest (personal) discoveries. Dreams are made of music, my friends, they really are.
The Kings Of Convenience – Sorry Or Please What Erlend Oye touches turns to gold, and so is one of his latest project, Kings of Convenience. All of their songs, sans exception, sound like a childish summer in the grass, picking flowers. Blonde girlfriends, saggy sweaters, sensitive boys and smiles. Basically, a prospect for happy youth on the countryside.
The Six Parts Seven – Saving Words for Making Sense I’ll go with the title of that song and save my words. No vocals, only dreams freeing your soul.
That was a quickie, but I’ll try and add more to this playlist by the week; there are so many songs on that “Chill Out” playlist, I wouldn’t know where to end it. So by every two weeks, I’ll try to pick five or so and post them again, and again until I run out of comfort music. Peace Out!
Weekly Roundup, July 13 – July 19
System fucking overload! I’m on vacation right now, back at home… I hate doing things in a different setup, and I don’t even have my usual clickwheel, awesome mouse. In fact, I don’t even have a mouse. I don’t have a desk. I’m in bed with my notebook on my lap and it’s giving me a bad back and worse eyesight.
But, I will not let you down, my dear friends. I will keep it short though, also be prepared not to hear anything from me next week, I’ll be in Amsterdam burning my lungs away…
Shakira, torturing everybody
Florence and the Machine – Howl “Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart”. This. This line. Awesomeness.
Gym Class Heroes – Peace Sign – Index Down ft. Busta Rhymes Uhm, this was on one of their EPs from years ago, and then it was on their album from last year (was it last year, I’m not even sure), and then I finally got arond listening to some of their stuff, and whatcanyasay, it’s nice. It’s poppish rap, but it’s nice.
Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana My mother loves that song. She has been playing it all the time and now I can’t get it out of my head. So much for not going into the MJ obsession that is going on these days. Damn.
Shakira – She Wolf Don’t blame me. With exception of the auto-tune exaggeration as always, this is perfectly annoying and hooking pop music. Also, I have the hotties for Shakira.
Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge Not a huge fan of SMD, and I’m sure there’s an even cooler remix flying around the interwebs, but it does exceed my personal expectations so far.
Dorrough – Ice Cream Paint Job (Remix) If you don’t like ridiculously silly gangster Hip Hop, don’t even bother listening to this. I really fail at good taste right now.
Okay, this is it. Told you I would keep it short. Nothing spectacular. Move on.
Weekly Roundup, July 05 – July 12
I promised there would be a weekly roundup of new songs, and yep, there will be one. Except this is one day late already, I’m sorry much. Blame work and laziness. Let’s go.
Tegan & Sara, but who is who?
Tegan & Sara – Call It Off This one’s a couple of years old but I hadn’t heard it until a few days back. That’s cause I never bother to listen to albums completely. I like tracks to stand alone, not to be framed by the following or preceding songs. Anyway, when I first heard the title track of their then released album, The Con, I liked it, but not enough to get their album. And so, two years later, there’s another track to hype on. At least for me. Buy The Con on Amazon.
Atmosphere – The Ropes Oh, where to start with Atmosphere! Most of their songs score an average on my sheet. In fact, there are only a handful of songs I dig. But these I will listen to for ever and ever (namely “Trying to find a Balance” and “God Loves Ugly”). This one lines up right behind. Nice beat and decent rap. I think Atmosphere are the last rappers who don’t pretend to be all ghetto. Fuck Asher Roth, this is the real shit. Download their give-away EP “Leak At Will” at Fifth Element
Belle & Sebastian – Funny Little Frog I’m in a good mood. And when I’m in a good mood, I tend to listen to yuppie music with a pinch of extra-cuteness. Funny Little Frog might sound like any other song Belle and Sebastian have ever recorded, but you know what, I love musicians who stay consistent in their field. Buy The Life Pursuit on Amazon.
Four Tet – Iron Man (Black Sabbath Cover) What is this? Heaven? Double-chocolate muffin? It could be sex with Johnny Depp for all I know. This guy just knows how to push the right buttons to make a girl want to dream more than she already does (still does not catch up with Burial, but ever since they teamed on an EP a couple of months ago I don’t even care about competition anymore).
Yes Giantess – Tuff & Stuff Backstreet Boys meets Passion Pit. You’ve got yourself a winner for this week. I like it, it’s annoying but edgy and electronic and damn fucking hipster. Where’s the glitter girls at?
Kate Simko – Margie’s Groove Some minimal stuff for a change. I tend to ignore anything minimal on my playlist unless I’m in a club full of likeminded ravers on Berlins eastside. Every now and then an interesting groove, such as Margie’s, haha, will sneak back into it and make me lose myself while preparing the dish of the day. Can’t help the nodding though. Buy Gamelan/Margie’s Groove EP on Amazon.
Mr. Hudson – Everything Is Broken ft. Kid Cudi Long live auto-tune! Long live the Hipster Hop! Blame me as much as you want, Kid Cudi is awesome in my book, no matter who he teams with. Song gets boring after a while, though.
M.I.A. for AWESOME
NUMP – Legalize My Medicine ft. M.I.A. In my last post I asked why M.I.A. couldn’t release tracks on a daily basis. Well, she still doesn’t, but if weekly is the alternative, I’m happy anyway. This one’s not as awesome as her feature with Blaqstarr, but come on, how much less than awesome can M.I.A. ever be? Damn right and there she goes again.
Sian Alice Group – Close To The Ground Fuck yeah, rock music with a creepy touch to it. Don’t know who these guys are and will probably never find out (it’s not that good yet), but I will surely follow up to their next songs. Very promising so far.
The Twelves – When You Talk Love the Twelves! Wish I could see them live, but I’m too old to rave to such monuments of electronic music. Nowadays, whenever you visit an event that is supposedly “underground”, a gazillion of hipster-kids will simply knock you out. Someone’s always higher, fitter and drunker than you, my friend. Applies to me anyway, and thus I’ll just observe from my comfortable bedroom and sway in wouldacouldashouldas.
That’s it for today children. I’ll see you next week or somewhere inbetween, depending on how much time I have (my mom’s coming up to visit and I’ll be back home from Saturday on, so let’s see how that works out). Cheerio and goodbye!
Weekly Roundup
Because there are so many good songs, good and old, lying around my harddrive, just waiting to be shared with the world, I decided the time is ready for a weekly roundup of music.
That is, I will try. I am already seeing myself desperately fighting for more time so I can make Sundays the weekly roundup days, but bear with me and my efforts if I don’t make it on time. Anyway- the weekly roundups are soley based on what I deem a good song, particularly one that I’ve been listening to the whole week. As I said, it doesn’t have to mean I’ll be picking out only new songs, though they’ll probably be rather recent than old.
So here are the rules: Every week, I’ll add a new post about 10 songs that have been somehow intruiging. I might even simply post the charts from my Last.FM account, but I’ll leave that to creativiy. If you have any more suggestions on how to improve this game, let me know. And if you have any more criticism, feel free to hit the comments.
Here are this weeks top songs I loved listening to (that is, what was left besides Kings Of Leon):
Florence, maker of awesome music
Florence and the Machines – Cosmic Love
This is a powerful song. Florence has got herself some energetic voice there. This sounds like it should be played when the hero rises from the ashes to the sky. Sounds a lot like Bat For Lashes, though not yet exactly of the same quality.
M.I.A. – Way Down In A Hole (ft. Blaqstarr)
That woman just knows how to make my brain pop. This one’s an awesome interpretation of the Tom Waits original, Blaqstarrs voice gives it the hardcore dark-spirited touch it carries throughout the whole track. There should be more M.I.A. songs, preferably on a daily basis.
The Gossip – For Keeps
I hate when people say that The Gossip are post-punk. They’re not. Actually, they’re more techno than post punk. This song proves how decent and quality pop music should be done. Beth Ditto, you had me at Hello.
Prince – Erotic City (Morsy Remix)
Really, there are only a couple of remixes I like, there are only a couple of Prince songs that I like. A perfect match right here, enjoy.
Robots In Disguise – Turn It Up
Meh, I don’t usually like electroclash/pop/hipster music, but there are a couple of exceptions. This one, albeit old, still gets me hooked. It’s also the only song from the RID-discography that I like.
She Wants Revenge – Sister
She Wants Revenge have some sort of talent for making evil music. Seriously, when I listen to them, it’s like I’m watching a movie about drugs and sex and human brain waste. Sounds a lot like Interpol, even catchier though. Song is not very special, but a hooker.
The Trucks – Zombie
“You just can’t hate a girl that looks good dancing”. So true. Indie-pop, synth-pop, call it what you will, I approve.
The Dance Party – Sasha Don’t Sleep
Yeah, I don’t know what that is exactly. Fall Out Boy meets Metro Station meets a shrill voice meets something about Sasha who likes to dance alot and you’ve got me a dance floor boomer. I don’t really approve, and yet I do. Figure that.
Michael Jackson – Scream
Yeah, it’s caught up with me too… I swore I wouldn’t fall into the hype-trap but I eventually did. I’ve always loved that song and someone played it a couple of days back at a party, and here I am now, dancing to it like it’s 1999…
Alright, that’s it for last week’s random picks, let’s see if I can find something new for next week then.
Cover Mania
Everyone knows I’m a fan of unknown music; well, at least not mainstream music. That’s not because I don’t like mainstream music. In fact, I love pop and I love Britney and I love the jink that’s going down on the radio. What I hate is the ever so obsessive rotation of popular songs. It does ruin the mood if you’re hearing the same track gazillion times in a row.
So that is why I like discovering new stuff, preferably by artists who’re never going to make it to the surface, no matter how good their music is. I like to call them “my precious”, and I hate sharing (unless I get to take the credit for my great discovery, which never happens, so I quit that too). I will share with you though.
Today’s theme is: famous songs covered by unknown artists OR known artists who’ve made absolutely awesome acoustic covers. I’ve already picked some in my last posts, but I’m sharing them again for the sake of it. Have fun! (Links are all Mediafire).
I Call Shotgun – Ride With Me (Nelly Cover)
Yeah, I found this one by accident and guess what, it’s awesome. I still remember when I first heard the Nelly track on MTV. It’s one of the rare hip hop/pop songs that still makes me smile (probably also induced by the use in one of my favorite TV shows, Scrubs, in a really light-hearted scene). The singer messes things up by the end, he starts doing the chorus to “Cupids Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes. I do like that song, too.
Bat For Lashes - totally missed her concert last month
Bat For Lashes – Use Somebody (Kings of Leon Cover)
I will make an individual entry for both Bat For Lashes and Kings Of Leon soon, but for now enjoy this glorious combination of awesome singer and awesome lyrics. Use Somebody is probably going to hit the Top 10 of the most inspiring songs of my twenties (mind you, I’m not even 21), and this cover does it. Still not hitting the original mark, but good enough.
Lykke Li – Hustlin’ (Rick Ross Cover)
The transition of rap song to a hyped indie track seems to be very popular these days. This one’s especially charming because I’ve seen the video to it (which I’m too lazy to look up right now, google it), and I love how Lykke Li starts posing like a bonafide rapstar.
Goldfrapp – It’s Not Over Yet (Klaxons Cover)
Awwww. This is a cute one because I don’t like the original song that much (correct me if I’m wrong, but I think even that one is actually a cover of another song), but Alison Goldfrapp does some magic with her voice and voilá… although, I suppose the reduction of those scary keyboard sounds that Klaxons have overused on their album(s) might also be a reason.
The Gossip – Are You That Somebody (Aaliyah Cover)
A tribute post-mortem is not always the best option to go, especially when you’re a lesbian indie-rock band attempting to cover one of the greatest R’n'B songs created to this day. But what can I say? It’s a good cover, it’s not too much, not too strong, goes with the flow and gives it a different, yet subtle new touch. I approve.
Cat Power – Wonderwall (Oasis Cover)
I won’t dare comparing anyone to the genius of Oasis (well- Oasis from “back then”, anyway). This song is untouchable. I’m a huge skeptic when it comes to Cat Power, which adds to my opinion about this cover. Yet I wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t something great, good enough at least. Cat Powers songs might sound almost the same, but sometimes I find a pick like this and remember why everybody loves her so much. She makes me want to die inside, a little bit.
Klaxons – No Diggity (Blackstreet Cover)
What is it with the hip hop covers, again? Now that Klaxons have been done, they’re probably taking on that cover-level, too. I don’t know how old this cover is, but it’s a good change to the even older (but still good!) and classic Blackstreet track (I’m ashamed to say it’s also the only one I know or remember). They really hit it on the second verse!
Katy Perry – Electric Feel (MGMT Cover)
There she is again, our beloved Katy Perry. Seriously, I love her. She rocks at covering music, I’ve mentioned that in my post from a week back- “Hooked on Katy Perry“. She kind of jumped on the acoustic-cover-of-hyped-bands bandwagon, but I don’t mind as long as she stays fresh.
The Kooks – Crazy (Gnarks Barkley Cover)
Oh damn, that one’s seriously old. I know I heard it first before I heard the actual Gnarls Barkley, which then became crazy famous. I still prefer this cover over the pop-track with the terrible video. It’s also pretty much the only song by the Kooks that I like (except for Naive, also one of the greatest tracks I’ve ever heard).
Hot Chip – Wearing My Rolex (Wiley Cover)
Not an acoustic cover, I know, I cheated. But I suppose it’s unplugged so that makes it fair again. Also, I can’t think of another theme that I would put this one in, I saw this fit. There you go.
Radiohead - Greatest Band Alive
Milow – Ayo Technology (50 Cent & Justin Timberlake Cover)
This one’s relatively new and going through German radio station’s like swine flu through Mexico. This one, you don’t listen to the lyrics very much, because if you would, it wouldn’t sound so grown up anymore. I have never heard a mommy-track like that. It’s for grandmothers, seriously! … I dig it.
Katy Perry – Black & Gold (Sam Sparro Cover)
… and there she is again! Black & Gold, a very intruiging (what the fuck I won’t even try to spell that) song, can’t be beat in it’s original version, but give this one a shot for more KP love.
John Mayer – Kid A (Radiohead Cover)
Alright, so this one’s a no brainer. Again, I have no clue how long it’s been cruising the interwebs, but I’ve had it in my music library for a really, really long time already. I’m a day one Radiohead fan. I even bought their give-away album, that’s how much I love them. On the other hand, I hate John Mayer. Come on- Your Body Is A Wonderland? I’m this close to calling Nickelback better than that! … though, on another thought, forget that. Anyway. Kid A. Great song. Guess what? It’s even better now.
A honorable mention is reserved for Jay Brannan, who covered “Straight Outta Compton” from NWA. What a daredevil! I couldn’t find the mp3 to it, so here’s the video. Be cautious though, he didn’t censor the swearing.
If you have any more good covers to suggest, don’t hesitate dropping a line!
Welcome to Heartbreak
This one is quick add to the Kanye West Collabo Collection from a couple of days ago; I found this gold piece from upcoming artist Marv Milly, apparently promoted by Kanye West much like Kid Cudi. He took that monotone and pretty boring song, Welcome To Heartbreak, and made something actually interesting of it.
Here’s the deal (from Mediafire):
Kanye West – Welcome to Heartbreak (ft. Kid Cudi & Marv Milly)
Hooked on Katy Perry
Katy Perry (also unconventionally hot for a pop chick)
One of my favourite (German speaking) music commentary blogs just gave me a heads up on a new Katy Perry cover. Okay, hold your breath about Katy Perry – yes, I’ve heard better music. I know her from her “old days” where she tried to pull an Alanis Morrissette rather than a Christina Aguilera, but I like her much better that way. She just didn’t convince me of her indie roots, but she does produce pop at it’s finest. So alright, it’s still pop music, but what the hell.
Anyway, Katy Perry has me hooked on her songs. They’re so easy to sing a long, you can’t blame me! Like in the case of Mr. West, I prefer her remixes and covers over her original songs (with exception of “I Kissed A Girl”, which is pretty much a good reason to go back into my 13-year old state of mind where it was fun to be bisexual; and in any case, it’s just a fun song). So here’s a collection of my favourites:
Katy Perry – Hot’nCold (Yelle Remix)
Katy Perry – Electric Feel (MGMT Cover)
Katy Perry – Use Your Love (The Outfield Cover)
Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas (Calvin Harris Remix)
Katy Perry – Black and Gold (Sam Sparro Cover)
Speaking of Sam Sparro: That dude is just awesome. He makes the finest synthpop music you’ve ever heard, I promise. Whenever I hear that song – Black & Gold – I shiver from excitement. Also, because I think he’s gay and I have an uncertain attraction to gay guys. Err.
Well, one for the record:
(That video is blocked on YouTube for copyright restrictions. You say limit, I say piracy!) On another note: A heads up for Drop Box, one of the coolest services in the history of the web. Synchronizing was never easier. If you’re considering a Drop Box account, please use my referral link, it will get me more storage, which ultimately gives you more music (and unless I am mistaken, all very legal).
Cave Singers
I’ll be quick and honest with you: I know crap about Cave Singers. I do know that they remind me of that Fleet Foxes stuff that’s being hyped so much. I don’t like the folksy music thing, really. It reminds me too much of young people who pretend to be old and a last leftover of the hippy regime.
Anyway, Cave Singers have produced a song of such a beautiful magnitude, it makes me want to curl up and die because I can’t be in that place, in that glorious beach house, in that life they’re singing of.
And with that said, download.
Cave Singers – Beach House (from Stereogum)
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