Dolce & Gabanananana

So, my laptop is a bit broken so I have limited access to the internet. This also means I haven't been able to search high and low for all things tuneful but I'd like to share London-born rapper Sway's latest that I can't get out of my head. I warn you, it's pretty addictive.

Sway - Mercedes Benz

Apologies for the lack of content, all will be well soon enough.

Roundup Of Things I've Been Listening To Lately

Not the most creative title, but whatever, it's to-the point. You know, soon enough I am going to have to start posting one or two songs at a time. This means that my titles will sound a lot cooler and I can make a big point about a track and give you more information about it, unless you don't care and just want the music, which is also possible but tough!

On to today's main feature(s):

Chromeo - I Can't Tell You Why
New Chromeo! The funky electro duo lose none of their Fancy Footwork feel with this smooth track which, to me, sounding like it could have come from the softer side of Daft Punk's backcatalogue. If you don't like it at first, let it rest for a while and give it a listen later on, I guarantee it'll grow on you!

Electric Wire Hustle - They Don't Want
This Mauri outfit's twist on modern hip-hop has got me hooked. Electric Wire Hustle have captured a big city sound with this one that's been pretty scarce in music lately. Be prepared for a large portion of soul food.

Olive - You're Not Alone (Kill Light Remix)
I'm loving the airy, ebbing synths in the intro to this one. It soon develops into a kind of half-wobble bassline where it sounds like it's been chopped up and fed back to you in small doses.. but nowhere near as grimey as you might be imagining it. In fact, it's sounding like a bit of an anthem to me. Especially that chorus. Inspiring.

CRS - US Placers
CRS is composed of Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. US Placers samples The Eraser by Thom Yorke. Yes, it's as good as it sounds.

I'm very much enjoying these above tracks. I hope you do too.

Happiness

What do you do when you're happy? Do you sit down and think about all the little thing you really appreciate? Do you nod your head to some super smooth beats? Do you dance around the house naked? People express happiness in different ways. Today I am particularly happy as I just banged out some essay I've been putting off for ages and tomorrow it is Friday. Here is some music which may or may not make you feel happy, or maybe you'll listen to it when you're happy and smile.

Kidda - Under The Sun (Hervé's Ain't No Sunshine Remix)
This is the kinda thing you'll hear at a summer dance festival and it is simply euphoric! Everyone around you will take off their tops, put on some shades and grin like fools as they jump up and down to Herve's self-claimed brand of Ghetto Bass.

Filewile - Number One Kid
Or maybe you prefer some oddball, electro hip-hop? Pretty smooth with a bit of wonk to balance it out. May cause you to dance in that ridiculous, quirky, awkward, robotic style that the post-trendy kids are doing.

Cooly G - Love Dub
Even smoother than the aforementioned. Smoother than clouds and marshmellows. This 26 year old lady has been crowned the queen of 'funkstep'; the lovechild of funky house and dubstep. A suitable theme tune for the effortless suave out there.

Salem - Skullcrush
Happy in a very, very niche way. You might be able to extract some weird, melancholy pseudo-happiness/sad-happiness out of this slow, abstract, electro-goth fuzz. I've actually been getting into a bit of Salem lately, but they are very obscure and pretty scary.

And there we have it. 'Til next time!

Man on the Moon: The End of Day

Soooooo.. Kid Cudi's latest album hits the shelves on September 15th and you should all be pretty excited because it's gonna be massive. The latest single's gonna be called 'Pursuit Of Happiness' featuring MGMT & Ratatat - you know it's gonna be good already. Cudi tells it's going to resemble movie scenes and here I give you the scene listing below:

ACT 1 - THE END OF DAY

1. In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)

2. Soundtrack 2 My Life

3. Simple As…

ACT 2 - RISE OF THE NIGHT TERRORS

4. Solo Dolo (nightmare)

5. Heart of A Lion (KiD CuDi Theme Music)

6. My World Feat. Billy Cravens

ACT 3 - TAKING A TRIP

7. Day N Nite (nightmare)

8. Sky Might Fall

9. Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1)

ACT 4 - STUCK

10. Alive (nightmare) Feat. RATATAT

11. CuDi Zone

12. Make Her Say Feat. Kanye West & Common

13. Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare) Feat. MGMT & RATATAT

ACT 5 - A NEW BEGINNING

14. Hyyerr Feat. Chip Tha Rapper

15. Up Up & Away (The Wake & Bake Song)

Anyway I know you guys are all like hungry hungry hippos for the music as well as the news so here is some older material to keep you going for the next two weeks or so:

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (The Anthem)

Kid Cudi - Call Me Moon Man

Kid Cudi - Heaven At Nite

Cool? Get to know Cleveland's best a little better. See you soon.

Kid British, Mr Hudson & Calvin Hazbags

Afternoon. You may have noticed there's been a fair amount of commercial music in my last few posts. It's not because I'm getting too lazy to search for the most indie-est bands on the globe, it's simply because there's been a stream of new releases, and now you will experience the audiovisual delights of a few of them below:



Kid British - Our House Is Dadless
Manchester-based hip-hop group Kid British's new single has a most british air about it, unsurprisingly. It's a good-times, sing-a-long tune partly due to the sampling of Madness but also because of the light-hearted, humourous verses. I'm not sure about you guys, but the video took me on a trip down memory lane when life was simpler. How nice was it to wake up on a saturday morning without bleary eyes and a headache? Just flicking on SM:TV live and eating a bowl of coco pops?



Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend
The scotsman's second release off the upcoming album (named 'Ready For The Weekend', incidentally) is a good few steps away from the club feel of 'I'm Not Alone' and for some it takes a while to get used to. The track's got a definitive air about it - it might be a bit too forward to call it the definitive pop sound of 2009, but it seems like a contender, what with most of pop being based around electronic equipment now.

If you were hoping for something to match the energy of 'I'm Not Alone', keep your eyes and ears peeled for remixes from Fake Blood and High Contrast, which I would post but I could only find radio rips. I'm always reluctant to post radio rips, they just seem so sloppy and corny when you've got a DJ talking about his mad night out when this beat got dropped and the club went mental; you understand what I'm getting at, I'll stop before this turns into a rant.

Mr. Hudson - Everything Is Broken (feat. Kid Cudi)
Mr. Hudson's second album, 'Straight, No Chaser' is out October 5th this year with executive production from Kanye West. The album aims to be less ornate and more direct, which is more than apparent in this track. We've got no intricate, fiddly little layers of anything and Mr. Hudson's vocal and instrumental style on this number lets us know that he understands the importance of simplicity. As he rightly explains about the album, "It's not trying to reinvent the wheel. It's straight, no chaser."

New New New! Lupe Fiasco! Wale! Dizzee Rascal!

Lately, there's been a lot of good music coming from the rap region of the musical spectrum. That's enough of an introduction today, it's too humid outside for small talk.

Lupe Fiasco - Shining Down (feat. Matthew Santos)

Lupe's hailed as one of the most intelligent lyricists in the game right now and it's more than apparent on this track from his 3rd studio release, 'We Are Lasers', due for release just after Christmas this year. That riff and those strings aim to hit deep; take a listen and decide for yourself.

Wale - New Soul (feat. Yael Naim)

You remember New Soul right? Well, if you don't, it's another cutesy, twee song used on a MacBook Air advert. Up and coming hipster hop man Wale dishes us a piping hot batch of clever, sentimental lyrics over an edit of the original. Absolutely loving the choir samples in the background. On second thoughts, scrap 'up and coming', Wale's already here.

Dizzee Rascal - Holiday (feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome)

This here is BIG. Chart topper material, but you'd expect that with this lot teaming up (Dance Wiv Me, anyone?) although we hear Calvin Harris' production's which has now matured into those trancey synths as with 'I'm Not Alone'. Even though 'Bonkers' is still all over the airwaves, Dizzee slings out his latest track just in time for the summer and it does not disappoint. 'Holiday' shouts SUMMER louder than anything I've heard in a good while. Oh and sorry but it's a radio rip - best I could get at the moment.

Anybody else excited for the summer now?

Pop-Hop?

Above we have one of a new wave of rappers, Wale, shopping for a pretty pair of new shoes.

Is it cool for rappers/hip-hoppers to rap over quirky hits nowadays? I'm sure it's been done before, but it seems since Kanye West reworked Daft Punk, I've been seeing a lot more artists sampling 'cool' songs. I guess, once he made 'Stronger', this was the transitional period where he started blogging, embraced the french electro scene, started thinking he was an artist, and turned freaky (Martin Luther King Jr?..)

What I'm saying is that, it seems these hip-hoppers are using trendy songs by trendy bands for trendy people for their samples, in hope that they'll eventually get big and into the charts. It's the same thing with grime - noticed how a load of grime artists have made it into the charts with tunes that have the grime factor turned down a notch? Wiley, Skepta, Chipmunk, Lethal Bizzle, Dizzee Rascal! How I could I forget Dizzee Rascal's collab with Armand Van Helden! Yeah sure you might call that grimey, but not in the same way. I'm not saying I dislike any of this stuff anyway, it's all good fun :)

But yeah, the grime --> electro/pop crossover is one thing, but now there's these new trendy, genre splicing rappers popping up all over the place. I've gotten quite into it, check out this new trend below:

Chiddy Bang - Kids (feat. MGMT)

Kanye West - Young Folks
Not in the same position as these other guys, but still good fun!

Wale - W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.

Chiddy Bang - Truth (feat. Passion Pit)
Chiddy Bang was pretty quick on this one, realising the endless amount of hype surrounding Passion Pit. Some are calling them this year's MGMT. I guess Chiddy Bang's got a theme running.

Wale - Chillin' (feat. Lady Gaga)
This doesn't use a chart hit as a backing track but it's still good. I thought Lady Gaga was too 'up there' to feature on this, but I guess she's a kind girl, or she's friends with Wale, or she just like the idea of this collaboration. Whatever, it's catchy.

Let's not forget Kid Cudi, he's my favourite out of all this lot, but I thought it'd be unfair to the others if I posted another one of his tracks - I'll do it some other time.

Clear skies? Sun's out? 4 rill??

Seems like summer has arrived already! Knowing England though, it won't last for long, but let's stay optimistic (touch wood). I'm not going to spend long on this post because I have some serious lying down to do in the garden. Here's a fresh portion of tropical, summer beats:

Fatboy Slim - Talking Bout My Baby (Midfield Generals Disco Reshuffle)
Majorly summery song. Makes me wish I saw him play new years on brighton beach when he did.

Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing es Tropical
This song featured on an iPod commercial a while back. When I listen to this I get this image of it being performed in a hotel resort with drunken parents dancing about palm trees, particularly amusing.

Air France - Beach Party
Right what it says on the tin. One of my favourite songs to mellow out in the sun to.

Skream - Summer Dreams
Skream boasts his musical versatility with this chilled, summer-evening style filled with trumpets and lazy synths.

Zero 7 - Somersault (feat. MF Doom) (Danger Mouse Remix)

I wouldn't really say this is as tropical as the other tracks I've posted, but definetely 'lazing on a sunny afternoon' style song, not like The Kinks mind you.

Kid Cudi

"Again, I am sorry, but it's the only way to keep me from going completely insane ... I'm too real for this high school musical sh--. Bak to the moon I go."

Kid Cudi posted this on his blog a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, he's going to quit music after he releases his album in the summer, and focus on being an actor which is a shame given all the good music he's put out:

Kid Cudi - I Poke Her Face (feat. Kanye West & Common)
Witty. Track samples the acoustic version of Pokerface by Lady Gaga.

Kid Cudi - The Prayer
The sample is from a song called The Funeral by a band called Band of Horses, lovely song.

Kid Cudi - Maui Wowie
Stoner anthem.


Can I also just say that Kanye West is SO much better without autotune:

N.A.S.A. - Gifted (feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li)