Newer:

For the new album, it has got to be Walé's The Mixtape About Nothing which combines a variety of MC styles including Wayne, Talib Kweli, and Kanye west, rapping over Seinfeld samples and talking about DC, his place of origin (I just so happen to be of DC area residence as well). He's probably the next big thing in Hip-Hop and he's reppin' the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) quite nicely.

key tracks: "The Perfect Plan," "The Artistic Integrity"

Older:

As for the older album, 1999's Australian DJ set The Avalances' Since I Left You is quite a piece of work. One of the better solely sample produced records I have ever heard, similar to the likes of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing . . . , The Avalanches combine a vast array of samples to create a Soulful, Hip-Hop/Trip-Hop sound that's in a league of its own.

Key Tracks: "Since I Left You," "Frontier Psychiatrist"

Regie: Rob Leggat & Leigh Marli

Ein weiteres grandioses Musikvideo der Avalanches. Dieses Minenarbeiter Tanz - Mashup, räumte nicht nur mehrere Preise ab, es hat auch ein wirklich trauriges Ende. ;)

Regie: Kuntz & Maguire (2001)

Eines dieser Videos wo ich nach dem ersten Sehen nicht ganz sagen konnte, was ich da gesehen habe. Sieht schon fast so aus als wäre zuerst das Video entstanden und dann der Song.

Junior stood before me, wielding a plastic sword. That might have been how The Avalanches did it, come to think.

I can't wait for the Valley Fiesta, it's one of my favourite musical events because it's free and outdoors in beautiful Brisbane spring weather. Unlike other musical festivals, I don't think most people go just to be cool. It's all about the music.

Here's the lineup:

bands

operator please, sparkadia, urthboy, jeff lang, blue juice, katy steele (little birdy), avalon drive, winnie coopers, the gin club, texas tea, end of fashion, john steel singers, abbe may, the boat people, ups & downs, gentle ben and his sensitive side, jackie marshall & the black alles band, the cairos, ten fours, saruzu quartet, hot mambo, miguel, doch, the re-mains, washington (featuring megan washington & members of the cat empire), danger bunnies, del toro & at sea

djs

dj dexter (avalanches), ajax, christian moy, paul ison, dj ak47, alastair green, dj danny (empire), hump day project, act yo age, dj pete smith (met bar) and teenage bad girl and tydi (family).

performance

contact crew, fashion parades, flipside circus, a circus workshop, pheonix fire hula hoops girls, krumping displays, polynesian dance and art installations from room 40

tracklist: 1. play your part (pt. 1) 2. shut the club down 3. still here 4. what it's all about 5. set it off 6. no pause 7. like this 8. give me a beat 9. hands in the air 10. in step 11. let me see you 12. here's the thing 13 . don't stop 14. play your part (pt. 2)

valoración perkins: (8/10)

girl talk: myspace, wikipedia

toda la música que entró por tus orejas en el pasado está (re)mezclada en este disco que no te dejará parar de festejar. de hecho, al parecer cuando pincha girl talk el escenario es un escándalo de gentes bailando y animando la sesión. es lo bueno que tiene tener los permisos para explotar los originales de tanto grupos y músicos grandes. el género mashup se consolida, abriendo las fronteras en el debate de la creación / recreación. para mi gusto de coronel (la estricta educación militar hace mella) hay una presencia un tanto excesiva de hip hop pero es cuestión de gustos, y aún así las mezclas son brillantes.
sobre todo cuando de repente aparece ese trozo de canción que siempre te gustó o aquella otra que salió la semana pasada y te enganchó.

For those with good memories, you might remember the Avalanches simple but eye-popping video for "Frontier Psychiatry." For those who don't, here it is.

A essa altura de 2008, é melhor você já ir se preparando para uma coisa certa em 2009: as listas de melhores discos dos anos 2000. Entre Kid As, Yankees e Funerais, provavelmente estará em qualquer lista digna  (Bloody Pop incluído) o álbum "Since I Left You", belíssima e inovadora estréia (hypes como Girl Talk, Go! Team e Cut Copy não exisitiriam sem ele) do grupo australiano The Avalanches.

Mas os sampleiros feel-good de Melbourne nos deixaram há algum tempo - 7 anos são quase 70 nessa blog-vida, não são?. Até agora.

A tempo de colocar mais uma obra-prima nas nossas listas de melhores da década, o grupo deixou essa semana uma mensagem no seu myspace dizendo que seu segundo disco não está muito distante de ver a luz levemente azulada dos nossos iPods. Então, é só acertaram mais uns dois ou três samples e pronto: você terá o LP2 do Avalanches!

1983 New Order Power, Corruption, & Lies

Sadly, 1983, an incredible year for births, was not a great year for music. This album was a hands down choice, which is more of a reflection of its competition than the role it's played in my life. I've still listened to it a ton, but there was never a time where this was the only album I listened to or anything like that. In 1983, smack in the middle of their incredible 1979-86 run, XTC released the thoroughly ordinary Mummer, which impacted this pick, as well as the fact that I'm not into any of the other highly acclaimed releases from this year.

Rate Your Music 1983

1984 Prince Purple Rain

With apologies to Double Nickels on the Dime, this was an easy decision. "Computer Blue" is the only song on Purple Rain that I don't absolutely love (I dislike it). I always say things like "I wish I were alive during . . . .", and since I was alive when Prince and Michael Jackson ruled the world, I have to merely wish I had developed a consciousness in time to appreciate how awesome 1984 was.

Rate Your Music 1984

1985 Celtic Frost To Mega Therion

1985, as far as my tastes go, was pretty similar to 1983. I almost picked Rain Dogs, but I gave the edge to this album because I like Celtic Frost better than Tom Waits overall. (Celtic Frost also has the greatest band name of all time.) I've been on a metal kick lately, but I've liked Celtic Frost for years, so this pick isn't colored by what I happen to be listening to right at this moment.

Rate Your Music 1985

1986 The Smiths The Queen Is Dead

Picking this over Skylarking was an extremely difficult decision. Skylarking doesn't have a momentum-derailing song like "Never Had No One Ever," and it's much more coherent overall, but The Queen Is Dead is basically a greatest hits album. Case closed.

Rate Your Music 1986

1987 Prince Sign O' the Times

Congrats to Prince for becoming our first multiple award winner! He didn't have much competition for this one.

Rate Your Music 1987

1988 Sonic Youth Daydream Nation

A predictable choice, to be sure, but who am I to argue?

Rate Your Music 1988

1989 The Cure Disintegration

A very easy choice. The best thing I can say about this album from a personal standpoint is that when I'm driving long distances I prefer to listen to long albums. I take Disintegration with me every single time I make a roadtrip. I just love the fact that Robert Smith went all out to make the biggest, best album he possibly could and completely succeeded.

Rate Your Music 1989

1990 Fugazi Repeater

One thing I discovered while writing this post was that there are barely any albums from 1990 that I really like. I mean, just look at what finished first in Rate Your Music's list. Holy crap. 1990 definitely had some high quality hip-hop albums, but none I've fallen in love with. That said, I'm glad Fugazi has a spot on this list. Repeater isn't my favorite album of theirs, but it is the first one I bought, so it definitely has personal significance. Plus, "Blueprint" is one of the sickest songs ever.

Rate Your Music 1990

1991 Pearl Jam Ten

I can't remember the last time I listened to this album all the way through. I never, ever have the urge to. But I would be lying to myself if I put any other album here. That's how much I loved Ten when I was in fourth grade. I still feel a strange surge of energy when I see the album cover, and when I'm on my deathbed, I'll probably want this album to be playing in the background.

Rate Your Music 1991

1992 Pavement Slanted and Enchanted

In the never-ending Slanted and Enchanted vs. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain debate, I side emphatically with the former. Yes, Crooked Rain's songs are more ready-made for Guitar Hero, but I just think S&E is way more unique. "Summer Babe" might be my favorite album opener ever, and "Zurich Is Stained" might be my favorite Pavement song ever.

Rate Your Music 1992

1993 The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream

(Before we begin, I want to apologize to the sublime Clouds Taste Metallic, one of the handful of albums that truly defined a period of my life. Why couldn't you have been released three years earlier? Holy shit I'm an idiot. That came out in '95.) Siamese Dream has become a musical artifiact from rock's final moments as a true cultural force, thank God, and that's why most people like it even though they probably hate everything else Billy Corgan has ever done. Well I like Siamese Dream so much because it was made just for me. I don't care if it turned the Pumpkins one of the biggest bands in the world at the time. Billy had my future music tastes in mind the entire time he was making it, so all I can do is say thank you, Billy. No one ever did it better. Except for you in years to come.

Rate Your Music 1993

1994 Weezer Weezer

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that nowadays when Weezer is standing in front of a brightly colored background with only themselves and their name in the picture it's cause to run screaming in the opposite direction. The fact of the matter is that this album hasn't aged one single day, and it never will. You take your car to work. I'll take my board.

Rate Your Music 1994

1995 The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

My favorite Pumpkins album simply because it has the most songs. It's also probably my favorite album ever simply because it has the most Pumpkins songs. Sure, there's some filler, but there's also "1979." And I should mention that, even though I don't like it much anymore, I've never loved a song more than first time I heard "Bullet With Butterfly Wings."

Rate Your Music 1995

1996 Weezer Pinkerton

Pinkerton is probably responsible for more bad than good. Just think of all the horrendous emo bands who were inspired to release their filth to the world after spending their formative years crying to this album. It also caused Rivers Cuomo to lose his mind, and he still hasn't recovered. Was it worth it? Uh, yes, by miles and miles.

Rate Your Music 1996

1997 Daft Punk Homework

I've slowly come to accept the fact that I'll never hear any other dance music that I like as much as Daft Punk. I spent years searching, and no one could top them. All hail Daft Punk.

Rate Your Music 1997

1998 The Smashing Pumpkins Adore

Another Pumpkins album, another slam dunk choice, even though Adore completely put an axe to their world-beating popularity. Just goes to show you how stupid people are, especially ones that buy music.

Rate Your Music 1998

1999 The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I

Toughest decision of all. I basically had to sleep on whether to pick this one or Apple Venus Vol. 1, my favorite XTC album. Messrs. Partridge and Moulding, I'm sorry. Apple Venus is an album I love, but it has nothing to do with my life, whereas Emergency & I would have to go in the Ross time capsule. My decision shouldn't have been impacted by the fact that my favorite concert I've ever been to was a Plan show before they broke up in 2003, but I couldn't separate the album from that extremely, extremely fun night.

Rate Your Music 1999

2000 The Avalanches Since I Left You

It took one of my all time favorite albums, an album that forever altered my musical tastes, to save me from embarrassing myself and picking Machina, a universally reviled album, as my favorite album from 2000. Good God, I could write a 33 1/3 book about this album, so I'll stop here before I get carried away.

Rate Your Music 2000

2001 Daft Punk Discovery

Why, speaking of albums I've listened a billion times and somehow still haven't gotten sick of, it's Discovery! I don't even care that many of the best parts of this album were straight jacked. I don't even care that Daft Punk may never again release another album that isn't a total cashgrab. It's called permanent immunity. Ask Antwaan Randle El and Hines Ward about it if you don't understand.

Rate Your Music 2001

2002 Clipse Lord Willin'

I'll freely admit that Lord Willin' isn't a great album in the traditional sense. But an album full of babies crying on airplanes would be incredible so long as you threw "Grindin'", "When the Last Time", and "Cot Damn" in there somewhere. This album introduced the world to the Brothers Thornton, so it falls somewhere between the Mona Lisa and man's first cave drawings in terms of historically significant works of art.

Rate Your Music 2002

2003 Prefuse 73 One Word Extinguisher

I have to say, I've listened to this album so many times that I'm pretty much sick of it now, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when determining all-time favorites. Plus, look at that RYM list. 2003 wasn't exactly an exemplary year for music.

Rate Your Music 2003

2004 Ghostface The Pretty Toney Album

So many wonderful memories. Not only is this one of my favorite albums ever, but it plays so coherently to me that it's also one of my favorite books. And what's more, the first track isn't merely just the greatest rap skit ever. It's the greatest thing ever.

Rate Your Music 2004

2005 Clipse We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2

This is the last album that I became uncontrollably obsessed with, the soundtrack of countless walks around campus during the second semester of my junior year of college. As soon as I heard about it, I expected greatness. Somehow, it completely destroyed my loftiest expectations. (I realized that every sentence is now neck deep in hyperbole, but I am writing about my favorite albums ever, after all.) Hell Hath No Fury was pretty awesome, but this was too much for it to live up to.

Rate Your Music 2005

2006 Grizzly Bear Yellow House

Not the strongest selection on this list, but I do have an affinity for this album because I feel like Grizzly Bear are one of "my" bands. I'm not the type who finds out about the hot new bands before everyone else; I'm perfectly happy to be a year behind everyone else. But I did latch onto the largely ignored Horn of Plenty early enough that I eagerly anticipated Yellow House months before its release, expecting a fuller realization of songs like "Deep Sea Diver." I'm still smarting over the fact that I missed the show Grizzly Bear played in Pittsburgh ON MY BIRTHDAY because I only found out about it a day beforehand and it had already sold out. But I'll be seeing them open for Radiohead in Cleveland in two weeks. Cheyeah.

Rate Your Music 2006

2007 High On Fire Death Is This Communion

I'm still figuring out my favorite album of 2007, but this is on top of the list right now. This is one of those rare albums where every track is awesome on its own merit, while everything still flows together in a natural order, so I think its position is pretty safe for now. Plus, just look at that cover. Another Pittsburgh show I hate myself for missing.

Rate Your Music 2007

It’s a silly record, representative of its parent album Since I Left You only by dint of the ear-popping collage of samples. ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ is a bit Fatboy Slim; Since I Left You is warm, inspired, mood-driven and dazzling. If I were the type to stat these things up and make list upon list – and I am – I’d say it’s not just the album of 2001, it’s the album of the century so far. From the thrilling four-song build-up to ‘A Different Feeling’ to the gorgeous come-down of ‘Summer Crane’, ‘Etoh’ and ‘Three Kings’, it’s a seamless tapestry of ideas, emotions and balls-out party fun. Where’s the follow-up, lads? If they’re making one – and they occasionally insist they are, still – they must be clearing even more samples this time.

As the vinyl presence in charity shops starts to dwindle, you have to fear for The Avalanches’ source material. I might beat them to the punch myself, cutting up rough with those 93 BBC sound effects 7”s I bought in Oxfam last year…

Saltillo na verdade é o nome do trabalho solo de Menton J. Matthews III, que mistura batidas eletrônicas com seu violino afinadíssimo. A primeira faixa, A Necessary End, me faz lembrar demais a música tema de Réquiem Para Um Sonho, talvez pela melodia repetitiva - mas que em nenhum momento fica enjoativa. Tem também umas músicas cantadas,  cujo vocal feminino é bem típico de bandinhas de trip-hop. Entrei no site dele, mas não tem nada dele; pelo contrário, ele comenta trilhas sonoras de filmes que ele venera. Bom, todo artista tem suas influências, ele provavelmente tem esses filmes como preferência. O que eu achei mais legal, além do mix entre clássico e moderno, são os samples que ele usa em algumas músicas.

E por falar em samples, Wax Tailor (ou JC Le Saout, se preferir pelo francês) entrou para a lista dos meus artistas favoritos de samplers - em primeiro está The Avalanches, seguido do DJ Shadow. Acho o máximo fazer esse tipo de colagem musical, ainda mais quando é com diálogos de filmes (Ben-Hur, Contatos Imediatos de Terceiro Grau, Planeta dos Macacos  e Cassino são alguns exemplos). No caso do Tailor, ele usa trechos de falas para montar as letras de suas músicas. Sim, tem umas músicas meio hip-hop, mas é comum eles puxarem para esse lado mais "mano". Paciência. Até que eu consigo ouvir.  Charlotte Savary dá o tom da fineza para as faixas em que canta. The Man With No Soul é a minha preferida, dançante e bem sensual.

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
I admit, I have kind of a soft spot for it, but this is still one of the schmaltziest songs ever written. Nothing about it suggests ninjas, bikers, football players or flying alien choirboys, but there they are. And what's up with that ending, exactly?

Rock DJ by Robbie Williams
Is Robbie a prisoner in a futuristic roller derby? Is he a stripper? Is he a Vincent Price creation? Things are weird enough when the dancing deviant decides to remove his meager briefs, but it goes to a whole other level when (at around 3 minutes in), he decides to remove his skin, and then begins to toss his gory muscle tissue on the disaffected skater girls. Yeah.

Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches
I was with this one until the dude with the turtle body appeared. By the time the bird and monkey were dancing and the mariachi band showed up, my brain had pretty much exploded.

Gay Bar by Electric Six
I only have one question. Why Abe Lincoln?

And finally,

Golimar by Chiranjeevi
I would not normally put a parody video here, since that would kinda defeat the point, but this dude is apparently an award-winning actor. I really can't tell if he's taking the piss here or if this is a tribute, but either way it's pretty damn crazy.

I could rant and rave all day long about the many, many, many reasons that the music industry has been spoon feeding us sorry ass BS for our whole lives, but instead of focusing on the negative side of the issue (cause let's be real, everyone knows it's true if they stop and think about it) I decided to put together a definitive list of the best music videos that have ever been conceived.

I have worked on this post for two(ish) weeks, and have searched the internet high and low to bring you my list. I carefully searched through multiple top 100 music video lists, through books and magazines, and checked out the marijuana enthusiast forums across the globe. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of music videos. I'll tell you this though, I figured finding ten really good videos would be easy, but I had no idea how much good stuff is out there that I had forgot, or just never heard of. I've found dozens of new artists I like that I had never heard before I started this. And when it came time to pick my ten I had a really tough time narrowing it down. I found a shit ton of good videos, and I will definitely be doing this again. I excluded Thriller, and I Believe in a Thing Called Love because I already threw them up on this blog, and everyone knows those are the coolest music videos ever anyway. And there is no way I could really pick the top ten of all time,

so, here we go, in no particular order besides my personal preference which is always correct, I present to you the ...

(my) TOP TEN MUSIC VIDEOS EVER RIGHT NOW

10 - Rob Dougan: Clubbed to Death

What does it mean? Is he traveling backwards through time, or is he ascending to another level of consciousness? Is he trying to prevent a disaster, or is he showing the way for the little girl as she begins her own transformation? I don't know whether this music video was made before or after the Matrix, but the similarities are obvious. Not that I care, running through slow-motion-backward-people, fast enough to set a damn road on fire is cool enough for me. Not to mention the power of explosion-flight.

9) My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade

Ok, I admit, My Chemical Romance is one of my guilty pleasures. I know they're emo, so what, Freddie Mercury was gay too, and he still rocked. I thought the whole song was expertly put together into the kind of massive production that made Pink Floyd and Metallica famous. That damn hook at the beginning has been stuck in my head for days and days. In fact, My Chemical Romance routinely makes excellent videos for their music, and this video had a really great concept behind it. A father gives his son the destiny of being a leader for "the broken, the beaten and the damned", and at the end of his life he gets greeted by a parade of the dead, there to celebrate his life, give him a medal as their savior, and lead him into the afterlife. Or maybe it was just the kick ass skeleton vest uniforms, or Gerard Way's blatantly homoerotic face.

8 ) Green Day: Warning

Two words: fucking hilarious. Running with scissors, staring at the sun, putting yoru head right next to the microwave, eating raw meat. What true bachelor hasn't done all these things. If it were possible to giggle in a manly way, this video would make me do it. Screw safety, and screw following the rules, and screw authority. Except mine.

7) The Avalanches: Frontier Psychiatrist

This one is a brain ninja. At first you might not completely grasp how incredibly kick ass it is, but later, maybe tomorrow, it will jump back in your head, and you won't be able to think about anything else. And how cool was that old man-turtle? or the ghost choir? Or the friggin monkey dancing with the bird? Very my friends, it was very cool.

6) Fatboy Slim: Praise You

It's got dancing retards. I shouldn't have to explain why this is awesome. But for those of you who are wondering why I didn't use Weapon of Choice, since Christopher Walken dancing through the air in a hotel is clearly the coolest thing ever? Well it's because I mentioned this video to Emerald and she said she didn't like it because it made her uncomfortable, and whenever I have the opportunity to make people as jaded as Em uncomfortable with retards, I take it.

5) The White Stripes: Seven Nation Army

Ok, if you're on drugs, and you really should be before you read this blog, this video kicks a lot more ass, but it still rocks even without the psychotropics. In fact the White stripes as a whole kick ass. Frankly, not many people can do as much with two people and three colors. Plus they like Conan O'Brian, and Meg White is hawt! Here the White stripes ask you what could be cooler than black and red triangles of exploding rock poses? A seven nation army made of fucking skeletons, that's what. They thought silhouettes were cool before iPod and Frank Miller did. Chew on that bitches.

Editors note: Meg White is only hot when she is really dolled up. Apparently without makeup she magically transforms into Janis Joplin's much uglier sister who smashes walls down with her face.

4) The Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood

Dude, cartoon zombie gorillas, with a Thriller reference, for real. And for those of you who don't know, this song is about weed. Not just the sunshine in a bag part, the whole damn song. Back in the day I sat and broke down every single verse of the song, and every frame of animation, and compiled it into one giant summary explaining how this song was all about pot and how awesome it is. Sadly, I lost my copy over the years, but I might try and explain it to you one day. For now trust me when I say that people who use cartoon zombie gorillas in their music videos probably smoke a lot of it.

3) Junior Senior: Move your feet

I dare you to match this music video and not start dancing. It's impossible, it's just too much fun. Not to mention, I totally want a button in my house, which when pressed will summon a singing, dancing robot. Also, here's fun, gather the whole family around the computer, just like the old timey pilgrims did, and play an old Baptist game called "count the sexual euphemisms".

2) The Chemical Brothers: Get Yourself High

If this video hasn't kicked your ass straight into a multiple eyegasm by the time you see the boom box, you should just stop whatever you're doing, and check your pulse to make sure you aren't dead. And not cool dead, like a zombie, or a vampire, or a ghost, but lame dead, like Hootie's music career. It's a friggin kung fu movie man, with genius special effects. This is actually the video that inspired this whole post. I want to chop this video into fine powder, then mix it with coke and gunpowder, light it on fire, and inject it straight into my balls, because surely I would grow forty feet (taller) and become some kind of warlord with a harem of flexible, energetic, and wildly experimental nymphos.

#1) Muse: Knights of Cydonia

Holy, hell damn, shit fire, that's without a doubt the fuckin coolest music video that has ever been made, ever. I can't even begin to describe what was so cool about it, because as soon as I think of one scene, I get a huge boner, and all the adrenaline in my body is released at once, and I start jumping around filled with the holy ghost and transform into a fucking cowboy who knows karate, has a laser gun, and bangs how women by kicking their ass at games of chance, then letting them slap me till they're naked, then rescues them from filthy law men at the gallows by shooting the law with laser ricochets that kill you 70's style, then rides into the sunset past a robot on a fuckin motocross bike. Everything else on earth is lame compared to this music video, and now that I've seen it, I can die happy.

So anyway, that's my top ten pick for right now, what are your favorite music videos?

I just wanted to share a part of the odd plethora of music that has been infiltrating my headphones recently. I have noticed that it has been rather varied and different than my norm, and thus worth writing about. Enjoy.

Handlebars by Flobots
If you like that then check out Mayday!!! and Stand Up also by Flobots for some more calm hip-hop stuff.

Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches
If you like that then check out Two Hearts In 3/4 Time and Tonight also by The Avalanches.

Rescue by Seabird
I know its kind of popular soft-rocky sounding, but its not too bad.

Divine by Sébastien Tellier
If you like that then check out La Ritournelle and La Dolce Vita also by Sébastien Tellier.

Can't Get It Right Today by Joe Purdy
If you like that then check out I Love the Rain the Most also by Joe Purdy.

(Don't) Push Me by Jesse Stephens
If you like that slower stuff, then check out (Slowly it is) Killing Me and Drama Queen also by Joe Purdy.

Find a New Way by Young Love
It is techno-y, but good.

"Movie Monster" by Sound Team
If you like that then check out No More Birthdays, Shattered Glass and Handful of Billions also by Sound Team. Actually, just buy the whole cd. It is worth it.

Nine Inch Nails has been blowing my mind recently.
Check out both the Ghosts I-IV and The Slip. Both are great. I like the songs Discipline, 22 Ghosts III and 17 Ghosts II. The song 22 Ghosts III is just begging to have a bad-ass motion graphics piece made to go along with it. I already have it pictured in my head, I just need to get access to a copy of After Effects now to try to make it a reality. We will see. Ambition in motion graphics is not one of my stronger points.

That's it. Check 'em out. Buy them on iTunes.

Artist: The Avalanches
Album: Since I Left You
Årstal: 2001
Sjanger: Electronica

The Avalanches driv med såkalla sampling, som tyder at ein tek gamle opptak frå tv, radio eller plater og set saman lydspora til ei låt. "Since I Left You" inneheld totalt godt over 1000 lydspor, som er samansett til ein utruleg harmonisk, sommarleg klang. Frontier Psychiatrist skal visstnok vere den mest kjende låta deira, men eg vel å promotere opningslåta og tittelsporet, som forøvrig har ein veldig søt musikkvideo:

Artist: Brooklyn Funk Essentials
Album: Watcha Playin'
Årstal: 2008
Sjanger: Funk

Brooklyn Funk Essentials er eit lite ensemble frå Brooklyn, New York (d'oh) som lagar funk (d'oh). Dei har no heldt på i 15 år og har vore innom område som balkan, syrejazz og trip-hop i løpet av dei åra. Dei er absolutt ikkje store, korkje her eller i USA (sjølv om dei har vorte nominerte til Grammy med plata "In the Buzzbag") trur eg?). Dei brukar nokre heilt fantastisk diggbare rytmer, og det skal mykje krefter til for å ikkje danse til denne musikken.

Artist: Cornelius
Album: Point
Årstal: 2002
Sjanger: Indietronica

Keigo Oyamada er det opphavelege namnet hans, og då er han sjølvsagt frå Japan. Keigo brukar mykje koring à la Beach Boys, og som ein slags motsetnad har han ein del steinharde gitarsoloar/-riff innimellom. Sånn for å jamne ut ting litt. Ikkje sjå denne videoen om du har (tendensar til) epilepsi. Eg trur det kan vere farleg.

Artist: Gotan Project
Album: Lunático
Årstal: 2006
Sjanger: Tango

Sjølv om dette på aller høgaste plan er ekte argentinsk tango så held desse jäklarna til i Frankrike. Dei består hovudsakleg av tre musikarar - ein frå Argentina, ein frå Frankrike og ein frå Sveits. Og dei lagar heilt eineståande tango-musikk. Ikkje sånn keisam Middelhavs-gammaldans, men hipp og kul tango med nokre elektroniske innslag. Åh, hjartebank!

Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Album: Midnight Marauders
Årstal: 1993
Sjanger: Hip-hop

SATAN! At det går an å lage så feit musikk. Lat meg få gjere ein ting klinkande klart: det er ikkje LOV å seie at ein ikkje likar rap/hip-hop før ein har høyrt "Midnight Marauders". Eit av bandmedlemma er Q-Tip som blant anna er vokalist på Galvanize ilag med The Chemical Brothers. Så dette er ikkje kven som helst. Plata er riktignok frå nittitalet, men den er tidlaus, den er ein klassikar. Høyr/sjå Award Tour, og elsk kvart einaste sekund av han:

PLAYLIST:

THE FUTUREHEADS - Radio Heart
HOLY FUCK - Lovely Allen
WHITE DENIM - Let's Talk About It
CLINIC - Memories
BRUCE RUFFIN - Rain
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS - My mistakes were made for you [SEE VIDEO BELOW}

LADYTRON - Ghosts
DAEMIAN FROST - Slut Style
BROADCAST - Come On, Let's Go
SANTOGOLD - Say Aha
THE AVALANCHES - Electricity
BORN RUFFIANS - Red, Yellow & Blue
OPPENHEIMER - The Never Never
ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN - Who Built The Road
THE NOTWIST - Good Lies
M83 - Highway of Endless Dreams
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND - Inside A Boy
THE AVALANCHES - Frontier Psychiatrist [SEE VIDEO BELOW}

FUTURE OF THE LEFT - Manchasm [SEE VIDEO BELOW}

MICHAEL KNIGHT - Coronation St.
DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - Seven Days Too Long
JAPE - I was a Man
LE GALAXIE - We bleed the blood of Androids
ELF POWER - Paralysed
THE AVALANCHES - Two hearts in 3/4 Time
RADIOACTIVE MAN - Nothing At All
ATLAS SOUND - River Card
MONADE - Regarde
MGMT - Electric Feel (J-La's BK Futures Edit)

RELAX is the word of the day. Things can get hectic quickly so make sure to take some time off and put it all in perspective. Listen to this mix, peer into this mandala and let the rest fall outta focus.

It's gonna be all right.

LISTEN!!! - THE AVALANCHES RELAXATION MIXTAPE