DOWNLOAD: Lana Del Rey x Notorious B.I.G.: "Born Ready To Die"

Now that it's happened, it seems as inevitable a mashup as "The Grey Album." Honestly, it seems incredible it took this long for someone to lay the verses and beats of the towering rap classic "Ready To Die" by the late Notorious B.I.G. on top of the strings and vocals of Lana Del Rey's painful 2012 debut, "Born To Die," but DJ Terry Urban has finally performed the inevitable. It's really the best possible use of Del Rey's album, which is an offensive and just bad piece of music with TONS of atmosphere. The result is, at the very least, pretty badass. It's a bit much at album length, but it's an entertaining and interesting recontextualization of one of the greatest rap albums ever, and it's worth some of your time. Download the entire mixtape here, via Pretty Much Amazing.

Also from PMA: check out this kinda sorta addictive remix of LDR's "Blue Jeans."

Video of the Week

This week's video is a bit different than the last one. Okay, a LOT different. Kendrick Lamar is one of the sickest rappers out there right now. His flow is OUT OF CONTROL. I didn't even know words could come out of someone's mouth this fast. This video has a lot of subtleties that can easily be missed, so pay attention to the lyrics and the graphics and just you may find yourself in a state shock, or rigor mortis.

Tunezday!...aka New Music Tuesday!

TECHNO: Fans of Depeche Mode, listen up!  It’s been nearly thirty years since Depeche Mode co-founders Vince Clarke and Martin Gore have worked together, but this week they are releasing a brand new album of instrumental, dance techno tunes under the artist name VCMG.  The album, Ssss, consists of 10 brand new tracks comprised of super heavy, undulating bass, juxtaposed with danceable, melodic synths.  Grab a nice set of headphones (I attempted to listen with cheap ear-buds and regret it immediately) and check out this new album!

StreamVCMG - Ssss

COUNTRY: The Memphis band Lucero's newest album, Women & Work, can be more accurately described as not just country, but country soul mixed with some classic, gritty rock and roll.  While "old-school" Lucero stuck to a strictly alternative-country sound, after signing with Universal/Republic Records in 2009, the band took on a bigger sound by adapting a heavy soul influence and a powerful horn section.  The band is no longer with the label, but the sound influence remains evident on their newest album, which you can check out this week on Rolling Stone.

Stream Lucero - Women & Work

INDIE ROCK: One of the best things about writing this blog post is that every once in awhile I follow a link expecting nothing, and finding something awesome.  Fenster is a band that started as a project between New Yorker JJ Weihl and Berlin native Jonathan Jarzyna with hopes of, according to Earbuddy, “creating pop songs from distortion and various effects to build dreamy sonic backdrops.”  Their first album, Bones, is being released today and manages to conjure up thoughts of so many other bands and sounds, while simultaneously presenting a completely unique sound in and of itself, perhaps better than most other albums being released these days.  The distorted vocals are immediately reminiscent of The Strokes, Arcade Fire and the Flaming Lips, while the musical melodies made me think of Beirut or the xx or maybe both depending on the song!  While this all seems to be completely incompatible, Fenster somehow does it so right. 

Stream Fenster - Bones

UPDATE: JJ Weihl from Fenster is a Midd alum! They will be playing at 51 Main on April 6! Check out the comments section for a bit more info and check out their website here!

Stream a few more of this week's best new releases here:

The Decemberists - We Raise Our Voices To The Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11)

Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit

Beauty in Strange Land

Yellow Ostrich released their second album, Strange Land, last Tuesday and it's well worth a listen (or twenty).

After coming out of the gates running with their debut album, The Mistress, I was skeptical to how a sophomore album would compare to what I already considered one of the best albums in my iTunes library. While I still think The Mistress takes the cake in terms of overall excellency, Strange Land is biting at its heels.

The first track on the album, "Elephant King," starts the album on a playful note that continues throughout. The album exudes a new confidence in the band and they've clearly stepped up their songwriting. "Daughter" begins with the lyric "I won't let you bring me down/said the man with the grin." The album overall has a deeper, darker feeling than tracks from Mistress like "Hahahohoho," but manages to make the music just as fun. It's definitely a sophomore album, but don't we all have to grow up at some point?

Grade: A-

Best tracks:

"Elephant King"

"Marathon Runner"

"Stay At Home"

"Wear Suits"

Stream it here:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2012/03/album-premiere-yellow-ostrich-strange-land.html

Virtual Virtuosos: Caitlin Bell

This week's featured artist is Caitlin Bell, a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Canada:



Caitlin started posting her originals and covers to YouTube in 2008 (when she was just 15!) but has just recently enjoyed more widespread fame thanks to collaborations with big name YouTube musicians like Sam Hart. If you'd like to see more of Caitlin, she's on Twitter, Tumblr, and occasionally does live shows on BlogTV. You can also check her out on her Facebook here.

Video of the Week

Prepare to be overwhelmed...

It's an exorbitant amount of colors and images that all lay over one another. At some points you don't even realize the song is at the heart of this whole thing. "Matchstick" by the Los Angeles trio American Royalty is reminiscent of an early Animal Collective, a band experimenting with the combination of sounds it can create.

...enjoy.

Listen to the new BEACH HOUSE

I should be sleeping right now but this is just too exciting. Pitchfork just informed me that BEACH HOUSE just posted a BRAND NEW TRACK called "Myth" on their website. It's swooping and gorgeous and I'm already listening to it on repeat. Word on the street says that their new album, Bloom, the long-awaited follow-up to 2010's Teen Dream, is due out May 15. Listen to the new song below and brace yourself to fall in love.

Tunezday!...aka New Music Tuesday!

INDIE ROCK: Andrew Bird, one of the more familiar names in the indie-music scene, returns this week with his seventh solo album, Break It Yourself.  Dedicated Andrew Bird fans will be quick to point out the album’s quieter feel compared to his previous releases; however, the subtlety of Break It Yourself cannot be mistaken for simplicity or brushed off after one listen.  If you listen carefully, the complexity and experimental flare that marked his previous work is still very much present behind the catchier choruses and country-folk guitar. Each song stands as a testament to Bird’s amazing musicianship, including his trademark whistling melodies.  Give this album a couple of listens on NPR’s First Listen and you will be sure to find the beauty and familiar elements in Andrew Bird’s newest sound.

Stream Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself

ELECTRONIC: In a time when ethereal synths seem to be taking over, Julia Holter manages to take the common elements of a popular sound and create something completely unique in her second full-length album, Ekstasis.  Holter blends electronic music, experimental modal melodies, and classical musicianship into one incredibly mysterious and intriguing sound.  Instead of droning out into the background, Holter’s ambient pop sound draws the listener in with an overwhelming desire to focus on every layered element, only to realize the inevitable inability to do so.  Ekstasis is already being heralded as one of the best new releases of the year, so check it out now!

Stream Julia Holter – Ekstasis

FOLK: If you are looking for a more familiar, accessible sound, the folk trio Bowerbirds is releasing their third LP, The Clearing, this week.  The Clearing totes a more classically folk sound with beautifully strummed guitars and strings, dynamic percussion, and perfectly complementing male and female vocals from all three members: Philip Moore, Beth Tacular and Mark Paulson.  The album was recorded partly in a cabin in North Carolina and partly in Bon Iver’s Wisonsin studio, and the intimate woodsy atmosphere clearly permeates into the sound of each song.  In this case, a familiar sound is more than welcome in this gorgeous album.

 

Stream Bowerbirds – The Clearing

Stream a few more of this week’s best new releases here:

Kaiser Chiefs – Start the Revolution Without Me

The Magnetic Fields – Love At The Bottom of The Sea

Xiu Xiu – Always

Get Evian Christ's debut full-length for free (legally)!

If you've been keeping up with the post-dubstep dance music scene at all -- which hopefully you have, 'cause there is some amazing electronic music being made right now -- you've probably noted the pervasive presence of a few qualities: vast empty spaces, ominously echoing beats, seismic-grade bass, chopped-n-screwed vocals, ironically appropriated Top 40 hip-hop/R&B signifiers, and a generally cold, gothed-out atmosphere. Looks to me like it's the combined influence of Burial's Untrue, the Knife's Silent Shout, J Dilla's posthumous Donuts, and first-wave U.K. dubstep in the flattening, democratizing era of the internet. Not too long ago, there was a short-lived subgenre called "witch house" that specialized in a cartoonishly exaggerated version of this very aesthetic; that sound is now largely dead (ironically, for a sound that tried hard to seem like it was already dead...), but the record label that became known for establishing the witch house sound, Tri Angle Records, is still around. Tri Angle is on the vanguard of all this gloomy hip-hop-inflected electronica being put out in the here and now, with such notable acts on its roster as Salem, oOoOO, How to Dress Well, Balam Acab, Holy Other, Clams Casino, and Water Borders.

The latest Tri Angle release is Kings And Them, the debut record from U.K. college student Evian Christ, and it's a perfect encapsulation of the label's aesthetic. Made on his laptop, grounded in gangsta rap and steeped in eerie, vaguely industrial ambience, it's a lumbering, blurry, and sometimes frightening album punctuated by an irresistible danceability. So it's good. Even better, Tri Angle is offering it for free! Get it right here, right now at Mediafire. Additionally, check out an interview with Christ (Evian, not Jesus) and an unreleased track at Pitchfork.

And if you're in the mood for pitch-shifted, nightmarish bass music (or even if you're not), you simply HAVE to hear the latest Burial EP, Kindred. It's one of the best albums I've heard in ages and surpasses even the U.K. producer's 2007 masterpiece Untrue, one of my personal favorite records of all time. Each of the three tracks on the EP is incredible: "Kindred" is driven by a have-to-hear-it-to-believe-it bass drop from hell; the stunning "Loner" is Burial's most open venture into house music territory yet, its jittery synths and fast pulse locking you into an infinite dance loop, but it's still characteristically Burial (i.e. borderline-evil); and the highlight, 12-minute closer "Ashtray Wasp," is the artist's single best track ever, an ultimate Burial composition that's emotionally wrenching, sunken in dark vocal atmospherics, propelled by a clattering, domineeringly militaristic beat, and blessed with one of the loveliest breakdowns you'll ever hear (is that a glockenspiel?!). Check out the each of the three tracks below; I recommend playing them as loud as possible on high-quality speakers or headphones, but make sure your subwoofers (and eardrums) can handle the onslaught.

"Kindred"
"Loner"
"Ashtray Wasp"

UPDATE: Hear the brand new Burial-Four Tet collab over at Pitchfork! Whoa!

Virtual Virtuosos: Brad Doggett

This week's featured artist is Brad Doggett. He's a really great guitar player and an equally great singer:

 

Brad was recently on "The Voice," but unfortunately none of the judges ended up turning around for him. Despite this, he recently moved from his hometown of D.C. to L.A. to pursue his music career. If you'd like to see more of Brad, check out his YouTube and Twitter. You can also listen to all of his covers and originals for free on his Souncloud.