cause you never know when you gonna need to go back
♫ Dam-Funk – Hood Pass Intact (feat, MC Eiht)
Dam Funk’s largely instrumental (and large in size) double album, Toeachizown, garnered a ton of praise last year but the little I heard didn’t quire grab me and I never really tackled it. Well, now that Dam-Funk has thrown some vocals on a few of those tracks for his new EP my ears are perking right up. “Hood Pass Intact”‘s premise is about as awesome as it’s throwback 80s funk mega-handclap beat. Dam Funk’s high pitched soul provides a nice contrast to MC Eiht’s gravely flow. If this jam doesn’t make you want to cut the top off your car and put mega hydraulics in then you are lost, my friend. California love, baby. It’s nice to see a guy bringing back a genre and doing it with zero irony. (No surprise that Dam is on Stones Throw, the same label as Mayer Hawthorne)
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
September 3, 2010
so i am a man up in the air and i float around this town
♫ Grouplove – Colours
Did you hear the one about the 5 people from LA, NYC, and London who all met and formed a band on the island of Crete and then stayed in touch before deciding to record an EP in LA? No, you haven’t heard it before, because shit like that does’t happen. Well, it doesn’t unless you are in Grouplove and then that is the exact story of how you got to the point where I am now listening to your single and being blown away. Backstory aside, this jam is a hugely impressive blend of all the things I love! Huge anthemic vocals! Soaring harmonies! Shredding guitars! Foot stomping beat! And most of all, a feeling that I am listening to something real and alive! Emotion and feeling are bursting through the seams of this track! Grouplove’s debut 5 track EP is out now and while I wait for the band to read this post and hook me up with a copy so it can become my favorite EP of the year I suggest you get a head start and pick it up! After all, NME named these guys #10 on the list of best new 2010 bands! They should probably have been higher.
Bury your face in MySpace
September 3, 2010
i promise i’m a well intentioned explosion
♫ Cloud Cult – Today We Give Ourselves to the Fire
Some of you might know Cloud Cult from them being a band for forever and Light Chasers being their 8th record but I’m being introduced through this anthemic and life-affirming rock jam. A band with that much of a back catalog is waaaay too intimidating for me so I can promise you now that I won’t be giving myself to that fire, if you know what I mean. I have no problem just cranking this up, tying my sweater to my head, and conquering the shit of this couch! I can’t help getting pumped with those grinding guitars and huge harmonies!
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
September 2, 2010
you been travelling all alone down that road and all i have is a photo
♫ Barbara – Unicornica (demo)
What the only thing better than stumbling across some nice new jams? Finding out that the people behind that sweetness are also behind one of your favorite music blogs! First there was the out-of-left-field but Kid Cudi approved cover of “Pursuit of Happiness” that was instantly refreshing. Then I got “Unicornica” in my inbox and instantly fell for it (in demo form, no less!). Such a delicate little beat coupled with those intimate vocals make for some great listening. So after all that “Barbara-ness” I finally read this Audiomuffin post on how how their own Bootsy and Frank are a core part of the band! Hell yeah! So “Unicornica” is still in the oven (hee hee) awaiting a full LP release but their Robopopironica EP is out now and features the fantastic ”Moon Trip.”
♫ Barbara – Moon Trip
Fragile and spacey. Great for winding down before some much needed sleep. I love when Booty’s vocals come in. The shift from husky to sweetness is perfect. It’s so nice to hear some music bloggers making music of their own. Sure make me feel humble. So if you are digging this greatness then support these guys!
Bury your face in their website
September 2, 2010
rawr! raah!
♫ Baths – Aminals
Baths is the moniker of 21 year old Los Angeleno Will Wiesenfeld whose debut album, Cerulean, is out now and garnering much acclaim. Some of the other tracks I’ve heard haven’t blown me away but “Animals” here instantly jumped out at me. Both delicate and pounding at the same time, its mostly instrumental beat skips and tweaks itself around until it’s some kind of hyperactive mess that is just waiting to burst. If you aren’t feeling this jam then you just need to turn up the volume, turn down the lights, and try again. Although the rest of the album hasn’t grown on me yet I can definitely say that headphones help. Right now I am loving how Baths takes these short vocal samples and streaches and weaves them into the rhythm until they are barely recognizable. “Maximalist” is another recommended jam
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
September 1, 2010
watched you fall apart so you’d think i learned my lesson
♫ K. Flay – 2 Weak
Yes, that’s a sample of Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” with some chick spitting rhymes and flow all over it. Well, that chick is the cute as a button K.Flay who has taken her Stanford-educated and basketball-toned ass and been busting it on a rap career. Buying a pony is definitely easier but dropping tracks like this are soooo much more rewarding for the rest of us. I am really feeling her delivery. Big things in small packages, yo! Oh, shit. I’m on her MySpace now and her track “5AM” came on and it’s so fresh! This jam might even be better than “2 Weak!” So grimy and funky. Now I don’t know! Questioning everything! But still rocking!
Bury your face in MySpace
August 31, 2010
it’s getting late but i don’t mind
♫ David Guetta – Memories [Ft. Kid Cudi]
I am guessing that if you have been in any dance club in the past six months you have heard this song blasting at least twice. Well, somehow it had eludued me until my recent jaunt through Italy where it soundtracked my time among the maximally tanned. I guess it’s possible I’d heard it before and my distaste for Cudi filtered it from my consious mind. Either way, hearing it pumped at maximum volume and dancing along with great vacation teammates made it intsantly stuck in the memory banks. And Cudi is actually pretty great on it. Casual singing, loose rapping, and lots of instantly sing-along-able “oooh-oohh”/”hey yeah” make for instant fun. Whether a first timer or reigniting a romance, I highly reccomend you get on this track and let it pump your weekend up! The rest of the album is pretty good too if you are into that.
Bury your face in MySpace
August 28, 2010
moving all alone, i won’t attach now, growing like a wave, to anywhere far
♫ Steel Train – You and I Undercover
Two facts: The song above is one of my favorite songs of the year and the LP it comes from (at right) is one of my favorite albums of the year. So there’s that… Anyone who knows Steel Train knows how much these guys have evolved since their days as the “non-pop-punk band” on Drive Thru. Weirdly enough, I’ve been fond of them since their first EP and even caught an under-packed and under-appreciated live show during a 2006 Pianos NYC residency. So what I’m trying to say here is that despite the fact that I have been following these guys since 2003, nothing prepared me for this album. On this self-titled second LP Steel Train has stepped out of appreciable and into danceable, rock-able, and straight up lovable territory. I. Can’t. Stop. Playing. This. Album. Seriously, I’m so impressed here. “Turnpike Ghost” was a pleasant enough introduction that grew on me quickly before “You And I Undercover” (above) swooped in and blew me away. And now the whole album is rocking and I’m swooning.
♫ Steel Train – Children of the 90′s
Since I have already posted 2 of this album’s 12 tracks I was hesitant to put up another but “Children of the 90s” is so instantly epic that I had to sneak it in. These two tracks trace the spectrum of this album’s energy and if you are feeling either then you need to do yourself a favor and get on board the Steel Train. Join me in the first car for an open-windowed sing-along!
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
August 27, 2010
woooooaahhh ooohhh ooahhh oooooh
♫ Joe and Will Ask – Man The Cannons
If I’m going to get my crazy club music on then this is how I want it done! Instrumental save for some well placed “woaaahh”s, “Man The Cannons” is prime dance party material: thumping, pulsing, scratching and grinding it’s way through my sweat soaked t-shirt and into my heart. Apparently Joe and Will Ask? have been peddling their awkward moniker and electro-house beats around London for a while now. Judging by this track I’m guessing their live shows/DJ sets are bonkers. I just know I’ll be getting pumped for my Friday night with this jam. Grab another, more slow building JaWA? track over at RCRD•LBL.
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
August 27, 2010
if you’re feeling like feel throw your fists through the ceiling, some people call it crazy i call it healing
♫ AWOLNATION – Burn It Down
WOOOO! Talk about a cheek blasting roller coaster! Awolnation absolutely blast this one out of the gate and barely take a breath! Grinding guitars, machine-gun percussion, and pumped up vocals make for the kind of sonic insanity that gets my blood pumping. As if I already wasn’t hooked on these guys after one listen to “Burn It Down” the story just gets better. First of all, the rest of the Back From Earth EP is solid stuff. The 4 tracks showcase a surprisingly impressive mix of vibes and talent that show that this Los Angeles based crew/dude is definitely cooking with gas. “Burn It Down” does just that. “Guilty Filthy Soul” puts some blues and funk through an electro-soul treatment and then dusts heavily with hand claps. “Sail” is the lighter-in-the-air slow-burner that grinds and “ooohs” to great effect. “MF” closes it all with a bit of late 90s rap-rock that should offend the ears bit somehow totally fits in context. So there is the great EP but that isn’t all from Awolnation! These guys are going all in and getting into some crazy video stuff as well. Their website features all kinds of fun stuff like a shower-sung rendition of “Sail” and a fresh Cee-Lo referencing “MF” mini-video. But what really sets these guys apart are the not-one-but-two retro styled 3D movies that they have made faux documentaries and trailers for. Yeah, I know, read that sentence again, It’s a lot to take in (or just go actually take it in). I’m not really sure what it thing has to do with the music or the Awolnation’s master plan but I am stoked that they are super into the whole thing. Certainly gets me pumped. Time to play “Burn It Down” again! OH, and I almost forgot, they have an iPhone app too! Download it free here and I think you can listen to the whole EP and watch videos, etc. Crazy times.
Bury your face in MySpace /// eMusic too
August 27, 2010
![Uhh Yeah Dude [♡♡♡]](http://www.theburningear.com/media/2009/10/uhh+yeah+dude.jpg "America through the eyes of two American Americans. Seatbelts.")
Uhh Yeah Dude [♡♡♡]
