A Remix & The Run Down - Saturday February 9, 2008

Finally it has happened. When I first popped in MGMT's super great fantastic album Oracular Spectacular, I had two thoughts. The first was, "Dang this is the bee's knees!" The second was, "There's gonna be some killer remixes of this." Sadly I waited and waited, checked the hype machine, checked my email, checked my mailbox, but nothing....until last night. I received an email last night containing the first remix of MGMT's Kids blended with DFA 1979. It's great. Check it.

mp3: Peter Dragontail - KFA 1979 (Power Of The Dragon Edit) --> myspace

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As far as shows are concerned, there's many great ones tonight. At Johnny Brenda's in Philly, White Williams smokes out another venue with Ecstatic Sunshine and Rings. In Baltimore you have the choice of going to the Lo-Fi to check out The City Veins and Lights Resolve or heading down to the Metro Gallery for The Squaaks, Baby Aspirin, and Goldbug. Enjoy.

mp3: White Williams - Route To Palm
mp3: Rings - You Remind Me (Ruby Beats Remix)
mp3: The City Veins - Toe The Line
mp3: The Squaaks - Two Hippies

The Run Down - Friday February 8, 2008

So you're bummed that you missed not one Vampire Weekend shows, but two Vampire Weekend shows. Well luckily today there are a few good ones to help you cope. In Baltimore you have the choice of two sure-to-be-awesome concerts. First up at the Lo-Fi Teletextile from NY (who I posted on here) plays with Photovoltic/Dygn, Cinemasophia, and Kadman. The other is the great White Williams who is smoking out the Ottobar with Ecstatic Sunshine. In Philly you can catch a great local show at the North Star Bar with the Major Leagues, Brown Recluse Sings, and Birmingham's own Wild Sweet Orange. Continuing the sold out theme of the week, catch if you can Cat Power at the Starlight Ballroom with Appaloosa. Have a good Friday!

mp3: Teletextile - Heartquake --> website --> buy
mp3: White Williams - Fleetwood Crack --> website --> buy
mp3: The Major Leagues - Fire --> website
mp3: Cat Power - Free (Diplo Remix) --> website --> buy

New Music - White Williams & The Octopus Project

This past Tuesday was a day I was looking forward to for a long time. New music day! White Williams put out his full length debut Smoke on the Tigerbeat6 Label. His New Violence EP definitely had me excited about this release. There are always doubts. Is it going to have the same creative energy? Will I like a full album of this music? Both were answered yes. White Williams seems to put together a barrage of electronic, analog, sampled, and live instrument sounds that at some points come across as chaotic. Luckily he seems to have mastered writing pop songs to these orchestrations because the songs really take hold when the vocals come in. They just make sense, beautiful, wild sense. If you want something new, get this. If you want something inspiring, get this.

mp3: White Williams - Danger
--> website --> buy



Another album I acquired Tuesday was The Octopus Project's Hello, Avalanche out on Peek-A-Boo Records. What turned me on to these guys was their mix of Black Moth Super Rainbows' Drippy Eye. That was fantastic giving me high expectations for this album. If this is the way modern music is going then I will be a happy man in the future. Carefully blending indie guitar pop with sample based electronica, The Octopus Project has put together a deep collection of tunes that is worthy of many listens.

mp3: The Octopus Project - Bees Bein' Strugglin'
--> website --> buy

Toofer Toosday- White Williams & BOAT

White Williams has sparked my interest recently and has me anticipating his November 2nd release of Smoke, his debut album from Tigerbeat6 Records. White Williams, aka Joe Williams, has been playing music for a good while now alongside Girltalk's Greg Gillis. Williams' music reflects Gillis' in a certain way, but then again not at all. Williams' crafts pop songs emersed in life. His use of samples and synthesizers build homes, hills, and mountains around his timid vocal melodies. He pushes the definition of pop songs to new levels much like Girltalk completely rewrote the book on mash-ups. Please check him out.
White Williams - Violator

More White Williams --> website --> mp3s


Don't let the picture scare you, these guys are good. Hailing from Seattle, BOAT is indie rock at it's best. Catchy pop and an unfiltered sound means these guys are stuck on repeat on the pod. Please check them out.
BOAT - Holding All The Globes

More BOAT --> website --> buy --> mp3s