Some of my favorite dance-y cuts of the decade...
#2: Cut Copy - "Hearts on Fire" (2009)
I've listened to this song an untold number of times, and I still go crazy for the cut-and-paste samples hook at :30 and again at 2:20. Perfect!
#3: Metro Area - "Miura" (2002)
Darker and more bitter than the other two songs on this post, "Miura" is nevertheless probably my favorite to dance to. You may think you've got it pegged by the two-minute mark, but wait a few more seconds for those wordless, layered vocals: they make this song special. Great strings throughout, too.
#4: Mylo - "Drop the Pressure" (2004)
I don't know what "motherfuckers gonna drop the pressure" means. All I know is that this song's oscillating, vocodered expletives rush straight to the bliss receptors of my brain and make me run harder, talk louder, and dance better. Basically, it's music's answer to cocaine.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
21 Favorite Songs of the Decade
Things I realized while compiling a 2000-2009 list:
1. My 90s list would have had more hip-hop, more confessional-style songs from piano-playing females, and some Swedish people.
2. If I tried to draw up a list of my favorites from the 80s, I'd have way more than 21 songs.
3. I'm too lazy to order these by favoritism, either ascending or descending.
#1: The Flaming Lips - "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" (2002)
One of my favorite songs for the second stage of post-breakup recovery. The sentiment behind this song is simple, but it's the perfect medicine for self-pity...whenever I eventually tire of self-pity.
1. My 90s list would have had more hip-hop, more confessional-style songs from piano-playing females, and some Swedish people.
2. If I tried to draw up a list of my favorites from the 80s, I'd have way more than 21 songs.
3. I'm too lazy to order these by favoritism, either ascending or descending.
#1: The Flaming Lips - "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" (2002)
One of my favorite songs for the second stage of post-breakup recovery. The sentiment behind this song is simple, but it's the perfect medicine for self-pity...whenever I eventually tire of self-pity.
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Beach Boys Vs. J Dilla - Pet Sounds In the Key of Dee
Remember when Danger Mouse mixed Jay-Z and The Beatles and it actually came out sounding awesome? This seems like the kind of proverbial muscle-flexing DJs probably attempt all the time; the results usually wind up being neat party tricks but not the kind of stuff you want to download.
Pet Sounds In the Key of Dee, a marriage between The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds and beats from J Dilla, was released way back in '07 but only came to my attention a few days ago. I'm linking a few of the tracks in case anyone else missed out. Enjoy! (And don't let the bad cover art scare you off; this is really good!)
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
God Only Knows
Saturday, January 9, 2010
In Defense of Westernized Afro-Pop aka Here We Go Again
In preparation for my trip to South Africa, I'm revisiting/discovering a few of the greats in the African musical canon. African artists who log the most time on my itunes are Orchestra Baobab and Fela Kuti; obvious classics, but not at all a bad place on which to found your education, right? Anyway, I like to think I have a DJ's transitional mindset, and when I listen to this stuff I often find myself also craving songs that employ one of the most popular indie rock trends of the latter half of the 2000-2010 decade: incorporating Afro-pop and tropicalia into Western rock.
Vampire Weekend fused the two genres with eerie seamlessness on their debut album and got skewered for it by Julianne Shepherd, a writer whose self-professed punk ethos comes off as something dangerously short of philistinism. But VW aren't the only example; in one of my favorite songs from 2009, Animal Collective's Brother Sport, you can hear a Caribbean influence throughout the acid-eaters' changing time signatures. And I don't disagree that modern indie bands are borrowing from African musical traditions, and I don't feel the least bit guilty for liking and sometimes loving the results. Ms. Shepherd ends her article with hands effectively thrown up in innocent opinion; yet the headline of her piece is boldly critical.
She's clearly capable of skilled composition, albeit journalistic rather than musical in nature, and ostensibly familiar with her subject. All this makes her total failure to understand and appreciate the creative process that much more deplorable. If she can't stomach a Westernized interpretation of 60s and 70s African pop, fine: that's her right and her loss. But to recommend overlooking one of the most fun twists in indie rock--one that I'm sure, for many people, will lead to an exploration of its cultural roots anyway--is just ignorant and reeks of tired politics. Art builds upon art, and as long as we're honest about our influences and bring our own imagination to bear, no one should have to apologize for their inspiration.
Vampire Weekend fused the two genres with eerie seamlessness on their debut album and got skewered for it by Julianne Shepherd, a writer whose self-professed punk ethos comes off as something dangerously short of philistinism. But VW aren't the only example; in one of my favorite songs from 2009, Animal Collective's Brother Sport, you can hear a Caribbean influence throughout the acid-eaters' changing time signatures. And I don't disagree that modern indie bands are borrowing from African musical traditions, and I don't feel the least bit guilty for liking and sometimes loving the results. Ms. Shepherd ends her article with hands effectively thrown up in innocent opinion; yet the headline of her piece is boldly critical.
She's clearly capable of skilled composition, albeit journalistic rather than musical in nature, and ostensibly familiar with her subject. All this makes her total failure to understand and appreciate the creative process that much more deplorable. If she can't stomach a Westernized interpretation of 60s and 70s African pop, fine: that's her right and her loss. But to recommend overlooking one of the most fun twists in indie rock--one that I'm sure, for many people, will lead to an exploration of its cultural roots anyway--is just ignorant and reeks of tired politics. Art builds upon art, and as long as we're honest about our influences and bring our own imagination to bear, no one should have to apologize for their inspiration.
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