There’s a place for Optimus Prime in Hip-Hop

There’re certainly some things we can all agree should be shunned, things we easily don’t support: Neo-Nazism, The Octomom’s recent conception attempts, Booger Eating, this website (mm, on second thought), Chris Brown’s career. So, putting up this song may make some of you, well, wince, then shout, “Chris Brown! But he is a despicable little bitch! How dare you suggest this track!”

Just keep in mind y’all, the I Can Transform Ya remix is made by DJ Sat-One, a long time hip-hop producer still tossing up some of the smoothest, glossiest songs released only on Myspace. Download support goes solely to Sat-One. I even doubt Chris Brown knows this mix exists.

For some, this track is a loophole for guilt-free Chris Brown enjoyment, a rare chance to soak in his boyish vocal hooks. For most, it’ll be a favorite crunky booty jam.

The other songs included are just as solid, but…how should I say this…Weezy-less. You’ll know what I mean.

I Can Transform Ya (Dj Sat-1 Remix) – Chris Brown

What U Want (DJ Sat One Remix) – The Roots
Be Alright feat. Hezekiah (produced by DJ Sat One) – E Major

You on point, Fyfe?

Whenever I get around to finish building my time machine – the first step on my departure towards mega success as a 70’s rock star – I think I’ll invite Fyfe Dangerfield to come along a few decades back. He can join my band. I picture myself igniting a face melting guitar solo while he’s sauntering around the stage, eyes closed, mic loosely flopping in his hand with the gyrations of his body. The man’s got the British swagger ladies love, so I figure he’ll make for a suitable frontman.

Until I get that ball rolling, I’ll be listening to what he’s been putting out without me (and his band Guillemots, for that matter). It’s damn good. Solo, Dangerfield may spark a bit more hype than with his very hit-or-miss indie outfit. His album Fly Yellow Moon will be released in the States come later this month.

*How this usually goes is we introduce an artist, throw a few tracks your way, and then maybe append some DJ’s “re-interpretation” of a song to the bottom of the post. Not the case for Dangerfield. The Monarchy remix of She Needs Me is surprisingly tremendous. Although the track feels a lot like an extension of the original, it adds a much appreciated danceability. Perhaps my favorite song of the decade – so far. First and foremost, check it:

(Grab the Monarchy mix through the Soundcloud player)

The rest:

When You Walk In The Room

Well, Love Does Furnish A Life

She Needs Me

Let’s Take It Slow

Hell the mixes been?

Ah, you know. Well, uh, things kept coming up and we’ve all been a little… With this time of year and all…Baby, I was gonna get back to you sooner, I swear!

YeahD has been YeahDickin’ around. A bit unhurried to toss the goods atcha. But we haven’t forgotten your needs, Honey! We know what you like! We know what you gotta haaaave.

So let’s pick this relationship up a bit. Don’t worry. We’ll take it slow for right now. Nice and slow.

I’ll keep it nice and sweet, cushy, kushy. Might bite a little…but just a play nibble. Sum like thissss.

Hm hm. (wink)

Now. Here’re the goods

Sound Inside A Vacuum

You’re hungry for something chilled and sweet like ice cream, so you are tearing through tracks, tossing songs over your shoulder one after another, giving fewer and fewer seconds to each intro, starting to get desperate, beginning to generalize something like “Mannnn music is really getting terribly plain and repetitive these days.”

Then you begin playing something from someone you’ve never heard of before, and you give it a few seconds, and then a few seconds more, and a few more, and you realize all these creamy layers are stacked right in front of you.

You start to feel lighter. Your expression is brightening. There’s a smile being scrawled across your face.

Hey, listen, there is even a cherry mounted on top.

That was sorta my experience with Floating Points. He’s a London based composer making electronic music from another planet.

Vacuum Boogie – Floating Points (mp3)

Love Me Like This (Nonsense Dub) – Floating Points (mp3)

After The Rain (Floating Points remix) – Little Dragon (mp3)

K&G beat – Floating Points (mp3)

J&W beat – Floating Points (mp3)

All mp3 linx removed at the request of Eglo Records. Have a listen at Floating Points’ myspace page (link above^^^).

Where Yeah Been?

yeahD is on a bit of a hiatus. Here’s a quick list to sail you through the liman between summer and fall, ‘til we return in full force.

Boneless (Panda Bear Remix) – The Notwist
Tunnel vision – Here We Go Magic
Many Ways – Navajo Bixby
Feel It All Around (Toro Y Moi Remix) – Washed Out
Ghost In The Boom box – Memory Cassette
Let’s Go Surfing – The Drums
Sweetness of Air France – Air France
Yesterday and Today – The Field

Packaged with a bow on top for your convenience.

Dream Boat

Toro Y Moi was included in a quick list about a week back entitled Take-Off. But Toro, alias of promising lo-fi whiz-kid Chaz Bundick, is worthy of a little more than an undersized feature. He’s been steadily gaining hype over the past few weeks as more and more listeners discover his hard to describe brand of dream-pop space-rock.

Toro’s not exactly reinventing the wheel with his recent batch of tracks. His music is reminiscent to many contemporary lo-fi/ambient/electro hybrid acts, like Ariel Pink and Panda Bear. It is more as though Toro is taking a few wheels and building a Penny-farthing bicycle, something that is unusual but still takes you on a ride. As each track progresses, his fuzzy, dreamy audio atmosphere comes into focus as brilliantly arranged pop music. He assembles crisp backbeats to somnolent, plaintive vocal hooks, with instrumentals shifting from song to song . But no number of adjective combinations will accurately put Toro Y Moi’s music into words. This is possibly because of the array of influences that have contributed to his distinctive sound. Perhaps the most endearing quality of Toro’s music is how different it will sound from listen to listen, person to person, depending on how one tries to describe it.

Let’s just hope for an album to come out soon.

Human Nature (Michael Jackson Cover) – Toro Y Moi

Talamak – Toro Y Moi

Causers of This – Toro Y Moi

109 – Toro Y Moi

Dubtribe

Dubtribe Sound System is the ideal house act. My reasoning? Well, the members of Dubtribe are named Sunshine and Moonbeam. Their first gig was a rent party. They gained notoriety putting on live shows that lasted for hours, long before the days of double-click, computerized DJ sets. They employed a variety of African and Latin percussionists from show to show. They played to play, refusing financial support from anything with an outside interests. They even brought their own lights! They were simply musicians inspired by the holy act of dancing and the sometimes overwhelming display of different sizes and shapes moving on the floor in harmony.

Unfortunately, Dubtribe Sound System is no longer together as a performing act. However, tomorrow is special. After six years, Dubtribe is coming back together for a performance in DC. Although this show isn’t incredibly accessible, it signifies a return to music for Sunshine and Moonbeam. Maybe this one-time show will blossom into something more? Pray to the God of dance, my disciples of groove.

Rhythm In Your Mind – Dubtribe Sound System

Nothing Is Impossible – Dubtribe Sound System

Do It Now – Dubtribe Sound System

Take Off

These dreamy tracks pick up off the ground, begin to fade into the violet sky, then disappear into thin air.

Don’t worry. They bring guests.

Blessa – Toro Y Moi

Praia Mole – Wax Poetic

Beach Party – Air France

Harmless Lover’s Discourse – The Odawas

A Review: See Mystery Lights

I am finally getting around to writing a review for See Mystery Lights, YACHT’s DFA debut. With the lack of track variety available from this album, I don’t have any qualms throwing out an honest write-up with a few samples.

For more than half a decade YACHT’s been the alias of Oregon musician/producer Jona Bechtolt. Last year, Bechtolt returned to the formula of his previous project, The Blow, and added female vocalist Claire Evans. Based on a few short press releases, it can be assumed that the two were bonded through a love for solid electro-pop, the paradoxical, life after death, and lots of triangles. YACHT provides an extensive mission statement in an attempt to explain their peculiarity.

The YACHT members’ eccentricities ring throughout See Mystery Lights in the album’s dominating theme. Track after track, with a few exceptions, wraps a bit of YACHT’s casual occult philosophy into cushy, bouncy, danceable lo-fi. The lyrics will inspire little spiritual contemplation, but they do function well to create a smart yet bizarre focal point.

The pace is consistently upbeat, and the layers stack easily. Many of the songs ooze quirkiness by utilizing a variety of cleverly assembled elements, including synth basslines, tweaked vocals, laptop-processed beats, and an array of decorative effects. It’s a characteristically DFA sound incorporated with an eeriness spawned from the album’s subject matter. The final product is a possessed summer electro LP, a perfect soundtrack for bikini-clad, undead beach-goers setting and spiking through a game of volleyball.

It would be tough to argue See Mystery Lights is the most interesting and perhaps most creative record to come out this summer. Not only does each song resonate haunted pop hooks and groove, it genuinely sounds as though YACHT is having fun in the studio. Give each song a full listen. Despite the lyric content, every track on See Mystery Lights gradually comes to life.

Ring the Bell – YACHT

The Afterlife – YACHT

And while we’re on the subject of YACHT…

Danse Music (YACHT Remix) – Kumisolo

Sunny Delights

Of course the heat and the sunshine are two glaring signs of summer, but the only things reminding me it’s the middle of August are all the songs I’ve been tripping over lately. Tanned and still sporting shades, these DJ tracks only fit in when the temp is sizzling. Everything you hear, the horns, the riffs, the beats, and the bass, feels inspired by the carefree thinking that’s inescapable this season.

Bam Bam – Dj Fashen

She Came Along (Re-Up Club mix) – Sharam feat. Kid Cudi