MORE SELF-PROMOTION!

Cause I'm a crazy motherfucker. I feel like once my finals are done with, I'm going to be bored. And when I'm bored, I like writing. So, I'm probably going to be writing a lot of new track reviews on random shit, albums, stuff I come across that I like, old stuff, new stuff, stuff that doesn't exist... we'll see. But until then... listen to this!

COMEDY & TRAGEDY VOL. 1

Comedy & Tragedy Vol. 1 by DynamicsMusic

Tons of fat electro, fidget, tropical club music, etc. Listen up and be amazed, folks.

Dynamics - Happy Donuts #02

Shameless self-promotion. HUZZAH! Check out Dynamics' "Happy Donuts #02" @ Soundcloud, or right even on this website! We're working on more 10 minute mixes and some original songs as well.

Happy Donuts #02 by DynamicsMusic

Just click the play button. Give it a listen, it's full of enough great electronic dance music to get anyone's party started or to keep the night going. For more information:

www.soundcloud.com/dynamicsmusic

Happy Donuts #01 by DynamicsMusic

Here's Happy Donuts #01 too!

Again, check out www.soundcloud.com/dynamicsmusic, where you can download full quality versions of both Happy Donuts, or give us a shout out at:

dynamicsdjs@gmail.com

Thanks for listening!

Annie - Anthonio [Designer Drugs Remix]

Who doesn't love a good club banger? Brought to the table by Annie and warped and cut until it's become a song that will tear your ears and your heart to shreds, the Designer Drugs remix of "Anthonio" will have you listening intently to this epic dancefloor track with sheer delight. The best remix that Designer Drugs have ever put out in my humble opinion, "Anthonio" shines with hazy, coke-addled synths of the 1980s' with a nasty syncopated bassline and painful vocals echoing of lost love. Sway to the melody as you wish or lose your shit and stomp around electro-thrash style, this song, no matter which way you do it, will get you dancing and grooving harder than you can even imagine. Yes, it might be relatively old, but great music is timeless and I can assure you that with "Anthonio," Designer Drugs have made some great music.

Album Review: Blakroc - Blakroc

by David W.

“Slide out your clothes and baby take off your shoes/that coochie got me so confused that I don’t know what to do.” Sounds like a lyric from a Lil’ Jon song, doesn’t it? Usually if those were the first words off an album, it would have me running in the other direction but The Black Keys’ rap/rock album has me coming back for more. I usually like hip-hop, but I LOVE hip-hop that can musically hold it's own against any recent rock album. You won’t find any flat overused synth drums here: every snare beat and cymbal crash has the slick style I’ve come to expect from The Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney. It’s a start-studded album too, with tracks from Mos Def, Ludacris, Raekwon and Rza, and even a track from beyond the grave by ODB. It’s a Jay-Z track shy from hitting all of white people’s favorite rappers. At times it can be a little dumb, (like on Coochie when ODB describes a girl as having “a body kinda like a horse, if you know what I mean” She has big thighs? A big dick? Jockeys like to ride her? People make jokes about her long face? Sorry ODB, but I guess you’re gonna have to explain that one) but Pharoahe Monch said it best: Fuck the white ones, The Black Keys got so much soul.

Significant Sounds [Album Highlights]

1. Coochie
It may be brain dead, but that's half the fun. Just don't play it around a girl you like.
2. Why Can't I Forget Him
Nicole Ray lends her heartache to this classic tale of love lost. Dark and moody, somehow even the xylophone (Vibraphone? Who knows...) is depressed.
3. What You Do To Me
The song that packs the most punch on the album, it's the best fusion of The Black Keys' blues rock and classic hip-hop.

Richie Beretta - Zombie Prom Night

Humans have always been fascinated with the idea of zombies. The reanimated dead have been rising in popularity ever since the 1960s' when George A. Romero took it upon himself to create some of the greatest zombie films of all time. Hearken back to nowadays and we've got films and books popping up everywhere like "28 Days Later" or "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." Hell, zombies have mindlessly marched their way into the musical scene too, what with songs such as Designer Drugs' single "ZOMBIES!" Here to bring you more of the flesh-hungry undead with his new single "Zombie Prom Night" is Richie Beretta, an up-and-coming New York City electro/indie producer. This song is dominating my ears right now and with good reason: full of infectious melodies and loads of that "NYC Goes Hard" energy, there's nothing else I want to do but dance when I hear it. "Feel-good" doesn't begin to describe this song, and I can't help but grin widely whenever that drop hits; it's almost too fun, too enjoyable. Beretta borrows the use of an acoustic guitar to create a short break in the music and it takes you away from his world full of filtered builds and ravey stabs, only to bring you back within a moment's notice and hit you with a tsunami of overdriven, crackling synth-pop. With the release of this unusual, yet super fun, club banger, I'm all too excited to hear what's to come from Beretta in the future, hopefully in the same vein.

Here's the description of the song by Richie Beretta himself.

"If Zombies had the privilege of going to High School this would be their Prom theme song. Imagine if you will: It is 1997 and Stanley the quiet polite zombie is asking Daisy the hot popular zombie to the prom. And Daisy, that scornful bitch, she declines because she’s going to the prom with Lumbar Jones the quarter back of the football team, the Howard Beach Brain Eaters.

Fastforward to Prom night, and our hero, Stanely, is alone at the table in his aqaumarine tuxedo his mother bought for him at a second hand store. He sees Daisy disappear from the dancefloor with Lumbar Jones out into the parking lot and his heart sinks. Meanwhile in the parking lot Lumbar Jones is being a bit too forceful with Daisy – and Daisy tries to explain to Lumbar that even though she shakes her ass on the dancefloor like a huge zombie whore and wears overly revealing clothes to Home Ec. that she’s waiting for marriage to have sex. Lumbar Jones says “come on baby it’s prom” Just then Daisy realizes that Lumbar is only interested in her rad Zombie bod and that she passed up the man of her dreams, sweet sweet Stanley. Just then she rushes back into Russo’s on the Zombie Bay and shouts “Stanely!” Stanley looks up in disbelief as Daisy rushes over and says “wanna get outta here?” They hop in the limo and go to Sound Factory for the after prom party and eat a bunch of humans."

HOW BADLY DO I WANT TO SEE A MUSIC VIDEO FOR THIS!?

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La Roux - In For the Kill [Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix]

DUBSTEP SONG OF THE YEAR

I'm sitting here bumping this song at full volume with the bass knob of my sub-woofer turned to 11. There is absolutely no other way to play it. The intensity of the song can only be translated in this way, otherwise the feeling is lost. This song is easily one of the best (if not the best) dubstep songs of 2009 and it'll probably be one of the most powerful dubstep songs I'll hear within the next year even. Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix doesn't try to impress you with explosive 1/12th or 1/16th wobbles in your face every second. Instead, he lets the bass ride under La Roux's painfully soothing vocals, and drive the song forward without even really letting its presence be known. There aren't that many words I can use to describe this song because it's a song that really just needs to be heard. Fuck, I don't even want to imagine what hearing this live is like.

SebastiAn - Threnody

Due to it having made quite the ruckus across the world wide web, I feel compelled to hop on the bandwagon and share with you all the new track by French electro-thrasher / Ed Banger label boy SebastiAn. The song, known as "Threnody," has incited anger, joy, and a whole lot of confusion from listeners everywhere as it clocks in at a solid 13 minutes. The part that confuses most, however, is the fact that 11 of those minutes are comprised of harsh, semi-melodic noise, all too disjunct and kinda completely fuckin' crazy. The 11 minutes give way to a solid 2 minutes of headbanging, floor-stomping, dirty-as-hell electro, the Parisian's usual antics. I don't think anyone knows what SebastiAn had in mind as to the reception he thought he would receive, but if his aim was shock and awe the general public, I would certainly say it was a job well done. And really, those last 2 minutes are exemplary of why I'm so excited for SebastiAn's album to drop this year on Ed Banger. Threnody as a whole might not be the most sensible testament to that, but no one can really deny... the man knows electro like the back of his hand. Check it out if you're in the mood for something crazy. OR, if you're in the mood for something that makes a little more sense, check out the Capt and Cooked Edit. A little slice of French electro that we're more used to.

Threnody



Threnody [Capt and Cooked Edit]

Au revoir, 2009

I think with this post, I'm going to keep it extremely simple. Do yourself a favor and check out some of this stuff if you haven't. 2009 was a really great year for music.

Top 10 Albums of 2009:

1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
[indie rock / indie pop]


2. The xx - The xx
[indie rock / electronic / post-punk]


3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
[indie rock / folk / psychedelic]


4. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
[lo-fi / psychedelic]


5. The Bloody Beetroots - Romborama
[electro / dance]


6. Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
[indie rock / experimental / electronic]


7. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
[indie rock / post-rock / ambient]


8. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
[indie rock / experimental]


9. Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself
[ambient / electronic]


10. Girls - Album
[indie pop / indie rock / lo-fi]


Honorable Mentions:

Vitalic - Flashmob [electro / dance]
Japandroids - Post-Nothing [lo-fi / garage rock / noise rock]
jj - jj n° 2 [electronic / dream pop / balearic beat]
Florence + the Machine - Lungs [indie pop]
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart [shoegaze / indie pop]

Designer Drugs - Drop Down

In a world of dirty hipsters and even dirtier electro, those that resound with gritty, zealous synths and frantic basslines reign supreme. Designer Drugs, a couple of odd fellows who have come out of the woodwork with those assets and more, have churned out remix after remix and made a name for themselves as purveyors of true fucking party music. Lucky for us, their original music is just as good as the many remixes that they lay claim to, and with their newly released singles, "Riot / Drop Down," they prove this to club kids with a stunning array of caustic, and often violent, beats. I'm somewhat concerned about the general anger and sense of sadism that I expect, and thoroughly enjoy, from a lot of the music I listen to... but with videos like The Bloody Beetroots' Awesome and the studded fist that adorns the cover of "Riot / Drop Down," this theme of animosity seems rather self-perpetuating, though it does happen to perfectly coincide with the "get fucked and dance" party atmosphere of electro as well. The single that stands out more to me out of the two is "Drop Down." The little hook, "drop down, let me give it to you," is catchy as all hell and signals the coming of an atomic explosion of sound and weird, manic melodies. The wobbly electro synth melody pervades through the music as convulsive and dark and conjoins fantastically with an equally invasive crazy resonating alarm sound. The build is fucking beautiful, and the drop even more so. If you want darkened electro with a taste of pure party frenzy, this track is for you. Check it.

MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker [Music Video]

MSTRKRFT (featuring John Legend) from Vincent Haycock on Vimeo.

The awesomely cute video for "Heartbreaker" by MSTRKRFT. I've been obsessed with this song lately, check it out.

Emancipator - Shook [Sigur Rós vs. Mobb Deep]

What do gangsta rap and post-rock have in common? Well, not a lot by their lonesome, but in the world of bastard pop, conventionality is not the name of the game. Mash-ups have risen immensely in popularity as of late with artists such as Girl Talk, Super Mash Bros, and Milkman slicing up tracks every which way, blurring and reshaping musical designs and fashioning new memories out of old ones. Downtempo artist Emancipator brings us the ethereal soundscapes of Iceland's Sigur Rós and warps them with a verse of one of hip-hop's most revered tracks of the 1990s' "Shook Ones (Pt II)," by east coast legends Mobb Deep. I'm not the biggest Sigur Rós fan for reasons I don't care to mention, but when one of the most impressive and raw verses of the 90s' is layered over it, I can't help but appreciate. The emotionally-driven piano and string instrumentation build and build with chopped up vocals pushing against the melody as spare breaks and the song eventually drops, the short but commanding discourse of Prodigy combining with Sigur's vivid background music, the presence of the song rather bleak and visceral. A chill vibe with a hint of lyrical dynamism. Genius. And another great song to sleep to as well.

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Washed Out - Feel It All Around

Chillwave. Glo-fi. Silly hipster bullshit. It's a beast comprised of many names and entities, resembling the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythos... that is, if it were decked out in plaid and high-tops. Washed Out brings us this emerging brand of music from the confines of his very bedroom, enveloping everything in his reaches in a smokey haze of surrealism. The lethal combination of chillout and lo-fi creates true hypnotic sound, lulling you into a relaxed and vulnerable state. If you want something to throw on when you're crashing tonight, or even if you're staying up and doing a ton of work like me, grab this track.

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Tim & Jean - Come Around [Transcribed lyrics included]

These two gentlemen are Tim & Jean. Tim & Jean have composed the track that has broken my rabid dubstep addiction. With an eerie similarity to Passion Pit, as noted by countless other individuals [read: everyone, PERIOD], Perth's Tim & Jean have worked up a musical storm with their warm & sparkling feel-good hit of the late summer, "Come Around." These skinny-jean-rocking blokes from down under compound the vibrancy and exorbitance of electro-pop with a lot of fun tropical, hazy elements and top it all off with some fucking cute lyrics. "When sunshine comes around, will you still be with me?" Fucking cute, right? Check it.

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Lyrics (because I've been unable to find them elsewhere, I transcribed them myself):

Tim & Jean - Come Around lyrics

When sunshine comes around, will you still be with me?
You know it's not the same, but you can count to three
Why don't you find yourself a nice dress to wear
While you're at it, you might as well even care [x2]

I can't complain with what I've got in this life
Possessions only make it hard to feel alright
That's why it's so much harder for people to smile

Hold on, girl, don't be talking like that to me
I'm the one who's been there through the misery
Fall in love, 'cause I'm supposed to be the bad guy
I just need to take a breath and look with my eyes

We're never gonna feel the same
Hey, no, look what you've done now
You should've been the one to blame
Hey, no, look what you've done now [x2]

I can't complain with what I've got in this life
Possessions only make it hard to feel alright
That's why it's so much harder for people to smile

We're never gonna feel the same
Hey, no, look what you've done now
You should've been the one to blame
Hey, no, look what you've done now [x2]

X & Hell - Jump the Gun [Jakwob Remix]

To those of you who are stuck dealing with me on a daily basis, you're probably well aware that in the last week or two, I've been on an unstoppable (possibly life-threatening) dubstep binge. The genre is propelling itself upwards out of the musical underground and tearing to shreds everyone's vestibular systems with grimey, syncopated basslines encompassing earth-shaking wobbles. As it's shoved into the limelight, I'm assuming somewhat against the will of many cause now it's just fucking "trendy," we can also see producers sprouting out of the ground like flowers in spring... and I assume we'll see that these very flowers wilt. Hell, I wouldn't lie to you, I've tried my hand at dubstep - it's a fun, new, and very expansive genre, with much room for creativity and experimentation. At the same time, I'm one of the aforementioned flowers. Granted, you won't see me grow, but... well, enough with the fucking plant metaphors already. Whether you're a dubstep musician or a dubstep fan, you see producers come and go like nothing; some have their 15 minutes of fame with a successful track, and some wreak havoc upon everything they lay their dirty little synths on.

Jakwob is very much the latter.

I would never be able to tell you whether the man is having a very well-coordinated and fantastically-timed streak of luck with his production or he holds the philosophers' stone of dubstep. It's not up for me to speculate about such supernatural issues. My job is to listen, and I would love to think that I do my job well, although people may tell me otherwise. But I do listen, and I hear naught but golden waves of sound from this track. "Jump the Gun" isn't as intense as some of his other remixes, but the staccato of his melody remains persistent and memorable throughout. Simple melodies like these tend to bore me, but he manages to pull it off perfectly, fusing his homogeneous principal against a bouncy and well-timed auxiliary harmonic line. In layman's terms, he kills it all too simplistically. If you're a fan of dubstep, a fan of electronic, or just a fan of good music in general, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed by this track.

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BRAND NEW: The Bloody Beetroots - Warp 1977 (ft. Steve Aoki)

As far as I know, this beastly dancefloor-destroyer came out today. This represents the extensive intensity of The Bloody Beetroots' arsenal of synths, basses, screams and heavy to all hell kicks and snares. I'm still somewhat unsure of whether or not I like Warp 1977 better than Warp 1.9, but there's no denying it's astounding ability to get you to lose all control of your limbs. Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo has mutilated the electro scene once again, left it writhing and twitching in pain, and desperately wanting more.

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Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed [Jakwob Remix]

Thumping dubstep track with bass that will rupture your eardrums and mercilessly strip you of your dignity. It's not the dark, evil sound you've come to expect from the generally grimey genre. In fact, it's rather emotional, and of a much brighter tone than most dubstep, most likely due to the choice of song and artist remixed. You don't have to be a musicologist to recognize that dubstep and indie-folk are two highly different genres, which makes Jakwob's melding of the two more impressive than you could ever consider. Sample-laden with vocals gated and pushed until the drop, the song builds and builds to crush you at the peak. Altitude is high. Jakwob presents to you his Everest and dares you to climb it... so go ahead; seize the day.

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Sunday Recording

Princeton - Calypso Gold

Since when did being prep become so incredibly hip? With the emergence of bands like Vampire Weekend promoting their brand of Ivy League high fashion and music, the trend is slowly assimilating into the overall domineering indie mindset. It can only be a matter of time before "The Harvard Rowing Club" releases their debut album, but until that happens, we can find ourselves thoroughly satisfied with Princeton's "Calypso Gold."

The eclectic mix of Afro-Caribbean percussion, vibrant classical strings, playful lyricism and subtle baritone vocals fuse to provide an intricately soothing piece of music. The songs open with percussion and within a few seconds, bursts into a cheery, exotic melody accentuated with fragile lyrical serenades. Every tap of the keyboard complements the vocals, only to dissolve as quickly as they've begun and flourish into gentle string arrangements. Imagine every Oxford-and-collared-shirt-wearing-band you think can of, but a little more polished and a little less self-aware and you've got Princeton. The Los Angeles band has come a long way from their debut album and there could be no better proof of that than "Calypso Gold." Cheers to them.

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Vampire Weekend - Horchata

So I finally got around to listening to "Horchata," the most prominently featured and blogged about track off of Vampire Weekend's new album "Contra." It woefully pains the indie-hipster part of me to say I was pretty damn disappointed. I'm not the biggest Vampire Weekend fan by any means; in fact, I ostensibly opposed the hype surrounding the release of their debut album, "Vampire Weekend." But... because I couldn't beat 'em, I joined 'em, and they earned their rightful chance to grow on me.

And here we are, only...

"Horchata" seems to be a bit of a stretch for Vampire Weekend. It takes their laidback, summery afro-pop influences and touches them up with a heavier emphasis on synthesizers and symphonic / ambient sounds, but in the most tiresome, difficult way. The style IS mind-blowingly Vampire Weekend, and if you know them, you'll know what I mean once you listen to this track. As my situation concerning Vampire Weekend was prior to this, it just might have to grow on me, but with it's abrupt ending, painstakingly pretentious lyrics and over-relaxed / pseudo-cultural vibe, the days to come aren't looking the brightest for "Contra."

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If a frog can do it, so can I / The Shins - Australia

The more I play "Australia" by The Shins, the more I want to learn how to play banjo. The twangy, jingly-jangly back-country sound it emanates makes the song entirely what it is, bar none. I'm a little sad that they only use it during the chorus but the scarcity might be what keeps me coming back. In fact, I've been noticing the more prominent use of banjo in the music I've been listening to lately; Sufjan Stevens comes to mind as a huge example of that... re-listening to Michigan and Illinois has developed my new found love for the 5-stringed beast of an instrument.

The Shins - Australia

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