War of the Worlds

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here



Very cool new video from Röyksopp. It's as if it's the end of the world, and yet somehow I'm not so worried. The Space Invaders-wrought destruction reminds me of a hilarious episode of Futurama.

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If you hadn't already heard of them, Röyksopp is an ambient electronic band from Norway. Also of note, "[the] word Röyksopp is a stylized version of the Norwegian word for the puffball mushroom, 'røyksopp' or literally, 'smoke mushroom.'" (Thanks Wikipedia.) You may also remember them from that Geico commercial.

Röyksopp - Remind Me



The real music video is pretty cool, too.



"Happy Up Here" is going to be on Röyksopp's new album Junior due out in March. And props to Gerard R. for first introducing me to the band. Check out the band's website when you get a chance. They have an interesting blog where they list top fives for a number of categories: animals, actor's eyes, villain names. My favorite excerpt:

3. Xander Drax - “Again with the “x”s! If you’re lucky enough to get no more than 2 “x”s in your name, you’re meant to be a criminal. And if your name is Xander Drax, it sounds as if you’re ready to take on the world! Not in order to reap profits, but rather to destroy it! You’re probably a fiend when it comes to sharks, acids, lasers and nuclear explosions. Son, you are going places - The number 3 spot on our list, to be precise."

Hilarious Norwegians.

Let them eat cake

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

Very cool new track from Yeah Yeah Yeahs from their forthcoming new album It's Blitz! And another track from the album below.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero



And of course, one my favorite (yet one of the most difficult) songs from Rock Band.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

What About Our Fathers?

Just giving Avani a shout out here for introducing me to The Knife. Have been listening to the below quite a bit for the last week. I'm sure its society that compels me to do so, rather than any evolutionary instinct.

(If someone can explain wtf this video is about, that would be much appreciated.)

Audi-O

So as we were cruisin' the town last night in Chan's pimpmobile picking up ladies, we played the song from Audi's "Progess is Beautiful" A4 commercial. Somehow we were all transfixed by this wonderful piece of music. Coincidentally, at the same time, the ladies on the street stopped hollering back at us. I'm sure the two were unrelated. Apparently people have been looking for the extended version of this score but Audi says they only composed enough music for the length of the commercial itself. However, if you want a full length piece of music that sounds like this, the Audi song reminds me of Sigur Ros' "Hoppipolla." Not bad stuff. (The video posted below is not the actual video...its just put against a Planet Earth video montage, which is not bad at all).

Keri Hilson Flips the Script

Puneet has been hounding me for the last few days to post something, so here we have it. Was watching MTV Jams this morning and on came Keri Hilson's "Turnin' Me On." I guess this video has been out for a few months but I had never seen it before. And as some of you know, I think she's pretty awesome (and infinitely better than Rajiv's preferred manface, Nicole Schewhatzinger). Anyways, as I was watching the video, I thought it was interesting that she basically took your typical rap video and flipped all the genders. So now, she's the one throwing money around and objectifying the shirtless dudes in the video (Puneet, calm down...). When I mentioned this in an email to Rajiv and Puneet today, Rajiv said he noticed the same thing. Puneet was busy drooling. Aside from all this, the song is not bad to boot either.

(I am pretty technologically ancient so you can just go to the link below, or Puneet, you can fix it by embedding it here for me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvthIDQ3fEU

Keri Hilson - Turnin' Me On (feat. Lil Wayne)

Next Big Thing?

I think I may be late to this party, but Kid Cudi is going to be big in 2009. You may have heard of Kid Cudi from his collaboration with Kanye West on 808s & Heartbreak. That was certainly the first I had heard of him.

If you haven't yet, check him out. Pretty good lyricist from Cleveland, OH. Here's a rundown of his recent history:

• Released the mixtape A Kid Named Cudi last summer that was well-received
• Signed to Kanye's label, GOOD Music
• Featured as a performer on "Welcome to Heartbreak" from 808s & Heartbreak and was a credited songwriter on four tracks on the album
• Cast in a new HBO series, How to Make It in America that was just picked up
• Will release his first album, Man on the Moon: The Guardians later this year

Pretty decent.

You can download the aforementioned mixtape for free.

Check out a few of my favorite Kid Cudi tracks.

Kid Cudi - Day 'n' Nite



There are a ton of remixes out there for "Day 'n' Nite" but this is a standout.

Jay-Z & Kid Cudi - Party Life / Day 'N' Nite (Terry Urban Remix feat. Jay-Z)

Kid Cudi - Is There Any Love? (feat. Wale)



Kid Cudi - The Prayer

Something about tomorrow

Starbucks has released a compilation album of love song covers in commemoration of tomorrow. Generally, I stay away from retail compilation albums, but this is pretty good. Unfortunately, you're not supporting a worthy cause (like other compilation albums). Instead, you're supporting Starbucks, which could use some help. Actually a couple of pretty good tracks here. Track list and some links below.

Death Cab for Cutie - Lovesong (The Cure Cover)
Katy Perry - Black and Gold (Sam Sparro Cover)
DeVotchKa - Hot Burrito #1 (I’m Your Toy) (Flying Burrito Brothers Cover)
Department of Eagles - Love Me (Elvis Presley Cover)
Jessica Lea Mayfield - Words of Love (Buddy Holly Cover)
Ben Bridwell - Your Love Is Forever (George Harrison Cover)
Kate Tucker - I’m on Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover)
Rogue Wave - Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cover)
A.C. Newman - Take On Me (a-ha Cover)
Jem - Yellow (Coldplay Cover)
Richard Hawley - Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot Cover)
Daniel Martin Moore - I Hear Music (Billie Holiday Cover)
She & Him - I Put a Spell on You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Cover)
Lila Downs - My One and Only Love (Frank Sinatra Cover)

Sometimes gchat says it better

Lotsa criticism for Left Eye's recently released album, which features everyone from TLC to Missy to Wanya Morris (B2M).

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Legendary (feat. Tupac)



And on 9/26/07: An Ode to Jose Gonzales & R&B

12:12 AM me: have you listened to jose gon's new album?

Ajay: just a song or two.. good??

me: i think i just liked that one song, nothing more

Ajay: the single was good

oh ok

yeah

me: one song = heartbeats

but on this album

nothing tickled my fancy

12:13 AM you can listen to it too - aolmusic streams new album releases (cd listening party) - and it's one of them

admittedly, i was more taken by jagged edge's new record

(seriously)

baby making project, i believe it's called

Ajay: hahaha

wow

double whammy

i think is the correct term there

Nomenclature

New video from Chicago hip-hop duo The Cool Kids. This track appeared as "2K Pennies" on the soundtrack to NBA 2K9, and may appear as "Pennies" on the upcoming When Fish Ride Bicycles album due out later this year.

Enough of that, check the video.

The Cool Kids - Pennies



Verdict: Another really cool song from The Cool Kids. Sparse production. Sweet rhymes. Crocodile head on an RC car. Good job.

(Don't hold me to the crocodile claim. It could be an alligator. I have difficulty differentiating.)

And if that wasn't enough to keep you satisfied, check out this Cool Kids track that will be on N.A.S.A.'s upcoming album which also features an appearance by H-Town legend Scarface.

N.A.S.A. - The Mayor (feat. The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & DJ AM)

(Thanks to EastofLA.com for the link.)

Hard Work and Patience Pays Off - Parents Everywhere Rejoice

N.A.S.A.'s five year project finally comes to fruition on Feb. 17 when their album drops. This looks to be a very cool album. Some of you may remember the last time I wrote about N.A.S.A., but now we have more tracks.

N.A.S.A. - Hip Hop (feat. KRS-One, Fatlip & Slim Kid Tre)



N.A.S.A. - Money (feat. David Bryne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip)



Also, check out this cool trailer for their album.

N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo Trailer



And for those who are interested, N.A.S.A. will be at The Mezzanine in SF on Feb. 28 as part of Noise Pop 2009. And finally, N.A.S.A. will be at Coachella on Apr. 17.

"Art" rock / "experimental" rock / "difficult to appreciate" rock

For today's post we're going to cover one of the biggest bands of last year and one of the biggest musicians of the past three decades - TV on the Radio and David Bowie, respectively.

TVOTR just released this cover version of one of Bowie's biggest songs.

TV on the Radio - Heroes (David Bowie Cover)



It's very, very well done. I would say it even approaches the level of the original, but, of course, Bowie fans would vehemently disagree.

David Bowie - Heroes



This song is being released as part of a charity compilation for War Child, which is "dedicated to providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world," which is pretty cool. (Read more about the album here and here.) What's also cool is that Bowie chose TVOTR to cover this song.

For some background, TVOTR released one of the most widely-acclaimed albums of last year (even by MTV), which I have been excoriated for ignoring on our "Best of 2008" list. Personally, I found their music a little difficult to listen to - not as catchy relative to the hip-hop or pop that I generally appreciate. But I did like one song a heckuvalot.

TV on the Radio - Crying



TVOTR and Bowie have a history of collaborating as Bowie lent his vocals to a track on TVOTR's 2006 album Return to Cookie Mountain.

Finally, here's a cool widget that you can explore which has samples of more tracks off of the War Child benefit album.



P.S. Happy birthday, Rajiv. Also, remember when Bowie was in Labyrinth. That was hilariously bad.

Revelations

I found out recently that one of my favorite remixes of the past few years (DJ A-TRAK's remix of "Get 'Em High") is mostly from the Swedish brother and sister duo The Knife. And then I came across this recent article in the New Yorker on The Knife's new (nightmarish) endeavors.

Anyway, listen to the original song which the remix heavily sampled: The Knife - Heartbeats



And now listen to a pretty cool cover: Jose Gonzales - Heartbeats (The Knife Cover)



This really changes my perception of Swedes.

NOTORIOUS

"We can't change the world, until we change ourselves" goes the saying. Gandhi? King? Obama? Phil (Dr.)? Nope. Apparently Diddy, P. uttered these inspirational words to guide and mentor the young Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G. aka Big Poppa aka Biggie Smalls into superstardom. At least that's how it's all depicted in the biopic NOTORIOUS. Not proclaiming to be an expert by any means on all things notorious, or big for that matter, I can at least spot a notoriously big ego when I see one (groan) Note: In case you didn't know Sean Combs aka P. Diddy produced the this thing, and therefore not surprising that he puts himself in almost Obi-Wan-like light. And though Notorious was everything I had expected, a good kid-turns bad kid-turns bad man-turns good man who is cut down at the prime of life story, a few surprises potentially worth noting:

• Well done voice acting, and girth acting by Jamal Woolard. Note: Beanie Siegel and Sean Kingston auditioned for this role so you know competition was tight
• The atrocious Jamaican accent used by Angela Basset as Voletta Wallace, Big's mom. Seriously it makes you cringe.
• The negative light cast on Lil Kim as an attention starved, Biggie-obsessed, starlet-hussy, whose lyrics would be explicit for most 1-900 numbers I know of. On second thought, not that surprising.
• The schizophrenic tendencies of Tupac Shakur, (think more Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll), who's family (or whoever owns his image) must be drafting the libel suit as you read this.
• The apparently dwarf-like stature attributed to James Lloyd (aka Lil' Cease). He doesn't age in the movie's 24 year timeframe and is definitely not old enough to drink or drive, though is Biggie's personal driver. "Throw the keys to Lil' Cease, pull the truck up front and roll up the next blunt" - Big Poppa
• The audacity/blinding ignorance of the 40 year old white man who brought his 10 year old daughter to see this R-rated, violent, sex-filled, bad mouthed, drug taking movie. Ill-played sir.

Verdict - I enjoyed but best to buy the soundtrack (which disappointingly enough, they don't make good use of in the movie)

-D.I.G.

Obligatory Slumdog Post

No I still have not seen the movie. I'm not even sure that I can actually call myself an Indian anymore.

But after some prodding from my sister, I have listened to a couple of songs from the soundtrack.

Favorite original song from the soundtrack: A. R. Rehman - Jai Ho



Favorite song from a previous release on the soundtrack: M.I.A. - Paper Planes (DFA Remix)



I also caught this interview with A. R. Rehman on NPR this weekend. Interestingly enough, he compares making music with cooking.

By the way, if anyone wants to go see the movie, let me know. I need a date.