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DJ Shadow: Artifact (w/Zack de la Rocha vocals)

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The fine folks at Solesides.com never let me down. This time – via Twitter – they introduce us to a vocal/rough version of Artifact, a track off DJ Shadow’s 2006 LP The Outsider, an album that was unfortunately met lukewarm praise at best.

Zack de la Rocha’s highly charged political screeds were meant for this punk-rock-sounding instrumental, which makes you think Shadow concocted the tune in the first place with the former Rage Against the Machine singer’s vocals in mind. Not sure why it didn’t make the album, but glad this version found the light of day.

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Editors: Papillon (video)

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When nobody was looking, Editors went ahead and released a new album. In This Light and On This Evening is available digitally with a physical U.S. release due out on Jan. 19.

After a few spins, I’m not sure what to make of this new, synth-heavy direction the band has taken. The dark/industrial undertones are ripe for remixes and singer Tom Smith’s voice sounds even more affected and theatrical than normal.

Check the video below for the first single, Papillon, featuring a bunch of dudes running … and running some more. Lots of running.

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The Whigs: In the Dark

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When we went to San Diego Street Scene last year, The Whigs were stuck in one of those somewhat sweaty/sparsely attended afternoon time slots, when festivalgoers are still shaking off the exhaustion from the previous day. But we made a point to catch the Athens, Ga., trio and it was just the jolt I needed to start the day.

With an opening stint on tour with Kings of Leon last year and the scheduled release of a new album, In the Dark (ATO), due in early 2010, my guess is that more well-earned publicity is headed The Whigs’ way.

To get a jump-start, the band is offering up the title track from the forthcoming release as a free download – another perfectly blended three minutes of energetic power and melody.

Related:
The Whigs on Jimmy Kimmel
The Whigs: Like a Vibration (video)

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Frightened Rabbit: Swim Until You Can’t See Land (video)

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Thanks to Casey for calling attention to the new video for Frightened Rabbit’s single, Swim Until You Can’t See Land, which you can also stream (along with the B-side) at Fat Cat Records.

Frontman Scott Hutchison’s lyrics continue to touch an emotional nerve, perhaps showing signs of a recovery from the gut-wrenching breakup anthems from The Midnight Organ Fight. On Swim, he seems to have resolved to move on:

“Let’s call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past.
She’s there on the shoreline
Throwing stones at my back
So swim until you can’t see land.”

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Mayer Hawthorne: Green Eyed Love (video, remix)

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We are heading to the Clubhouse tonight to check the sorta-odd twin bill of Mayer Hawthorne and Ghostface.

And wouldn’t you know it: Stones Throw released a new video today for the Mayer’s Green Eyed Love, the closer on his excellent debut A Strange Arrangement.

The video coincides with the release of a six-track 12-inch EP – on green vinyl, of course – that features remixes of Green Eyed Love. Stones Throw is offering one of them, by Classixx, as a free download.

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Designed Entropy I – Gold Robot Records

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It’s always a thrill to get a package from our man Hunter at Gold Robot Records, a boutique vinyl label that deals mostly in limited-run 7-inch gems.

The latest is Designed Entropy I, a four-song compilation that features cuts from Bomarr, Copy, Meanest Man Contest and Roman Ruins.

The 7-inch – produced on brown/orange-colored vinyl – was created and designed as a full experience. Gold Robot details it:

“The first entry in the Designed Entropy series features exclusive tracks by 4 different artists inspired from a common starting point. As a cohesive unit, this EP explores the relationship between design, structure, and humanity. Suggested reading to accompany the listening experience: ‘Atlas of Novel Tectonics’ by Jesse Reiser.”

Stream the tracks below and pick up the vinyl for five bucks. You can also go the digital route at eMusic, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

[STREAM]: Various artists | Designed Entropy I

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People Under the Stairs: Trippin’ At the Disco

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A few weeks ago, I downloaded the digital single for the new jam from People Under the Stairs – Trippin’ At the Disco – and completely forgot to post about it until Weiss offered up the video for the track today.

PUTS continues to be one of the most prolific but overlooked acts in hip-hop. Their new album and second in as many years, Carried Away, drops today. I’ve always felt Thes One, who is living the dream, and Double K offer the perfect blend of West Coast cool and underground ethos. It’s a shame they’re not more popular.

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Asthmatic Kitty: Library Catalog Music

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(Jason continues to breathe air into this blog while a rather busy time for work keeps me from doing much other than eating and sleeping.)

AKR202 LP CS3 No Text

I’ve been really delighted with Asthmatic Kitty’s Library Catalog Music series, a set of instrumental albums designed by the label “for possible use in films and television, background sounds for home or office, or personal needs, such as relaxation, stimulation, meditation, concentration, or elevation,” with specific uses such as “accompaniment to cooking, eating, sculpting, exercising, high stakes poker, soaking, panoramic landscapes, cuddling, car chases, drawing, knitting, bandaging, romance, playing chess, or planning the rest of your life, of which this is the first day” suggested. Sounds good, right?

I’ve really enjoyed The Law of Least Effort album, Music For Measurements, a set of Booker T & the MGs style funk by noted side-man Casey Foubert, of the sorely missed Crystal Skulls. The catalog also includes entries from his Skulls bandmate Yuuki Matthews, Asthmatic Kitty co-owner Lowell Brams (joined by “Minister of Aesthetics” Sufjan Stevens and members of The National), Roberto Carlos Lange (Savath & Savalas) and James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens, Ester Drang).  Future installments include an LP from Richard Swift (who I’m a pretty big fan of) under his Instruments of Science and Technology banner.

All in all, the stuff is interesting and wildly diverse.  Check out Brams’ ambient offering, and some grooving from Matthews and Law of Least Effort.

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Q-Tip (feat. Norah Jones): Life is Better (video)

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Just a couple weeks after the proper release of his once-shelved album Kamaal the Abstract, Q-Tip is back with a new video for Life is Better from The Renaissance, his critically acclaimed return that was one of my favorites of 2008.

Much like the revered Midnight Marauders album cover(s), this is Q-Tip’s ode to hip-hop – his predecessors and peers – and he shouts out some of the best: Kool Herc, The Furious Five, Run-DMC, J Dilla, Nas, Rakim and so on. I mean, I think we’ve all used the whole hip-hop-as-love metaphor. I can’t be the only one.

Anyway, the video offers a fluid storyboard-like animation that keeps the action swirling around Tip and Norah Jones.

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Music Go Music: Live on Face Time

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mgmpoodle1

I think that if it were the 70s, I’d probably be one of those “Disco Sucks” guys, probably jamming out to Boston on headphones while getting stoned in my parents’ basement, or maybe, if I was really cool, shaving my head and going punk. After all, I despise my generation’s club music, be it obnoxious rave fare or the even more disgusting hipster-baiting, extra low-V neck sporting Indie-Electro-Dance-Rock-Bangers scene.

Of course, it’s not the 70’s, and given a few decades’ distance, I really can’t even try to deny the pure pop power of stuff like The Bee-Gees, Donna Summer, and Labelle.  It’s from this stuff that L.A. (of course they’re from L freaking A) combo Music Go Music draw their sound, with liberal doses of Blondie’s punk-edge, E.L.O.’s classical flourishes and ABBA’s laser-beam precision Swedish melodies tossed in for healthy measure.  The band issued their debut full length on Secretly Canadian Oct. 6th, and these live videos from talent show Face Time showcase their particular sound.  Not sure what Face Time is, really, but it seems weird and pretty awesome.

Music Go Music-Warm in the Shadows Live on Face Time