Music for… celebrating long time TBE favorite Erik Hassle‘s return to form with this seductive guest on the bedroom break up jam that will surely line up some new options.
Location: Picard Brothers: Paris, France. Erik Hassle: Stockholm, Sweden.
Future: More like this please.
♫ Penguin Prison – A Funny Thing [from 2009]
♫ Penguin Prison – The Worse It Gets [from 2010]
The October 18th release of Penguin Prison’s self-titled debut is interesting for a couple reasons. The first thing is that I didn’t know it came out until 6 weeks late. And I think the second thing is directly tied to the 1st. Penguin Prison has been around so long that it seems hard to believe that his album hasn’t been out for years! TBE has been posting singles from the album since 2009 (above) and that doesn’t even include “Something I’m Not” and “Fair Warning” which also came out as singles before the album came out. Add on the heavily remixed “Multimillionaire” and new single “Don’t Fuck With My Money” and Read more
Did someone say remixes!?!? Oh, no, that was just the sound of my sweat hitting the laptop, which along with the clackity of the keyboard, sounded like morse code for “roundup.” Shit, I may be losing it in this heat…
For more jams or by any of these artists use the ‘tags’ links at the bottom of the post!
♫ Sleigh Bells – A/B Machines (French Horn Rebellion Remix) / I get a little bummed out every time I hear this but that is only cause French Horn Rebellion will be opening for Cut Copy this Saturday IN WARSAW but I will be on vacation. How’s that for shitty luck? Well, my trip is going to be pretty epic in it’s own right, a lot like this remix, so I can’t really complain. Now get dirty with this glitch-heavy take on the Sleigh Bells shredder!
♫ Focus – Hocus Pocus (Buffetlibre Remix) / Buffetlibre are back and Read more
As I’ve been compiling this best songs list I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a great track. Last year I went by play counts to determine what songs I “loved” the most but this year I noticed that the list that came out didn’t really match my perception of my favorites. A lot of my top played songs this year are indeed great songs, but they also happen to be on a great album so they get played by themselves as well as in the course of the album. So I got to thinking about which are the tracks that I seek out, that I crave, that I have to hear every night before bed or every morning to wake up. Those are the songs that make up this list. Songs that for whatever reason hooked me to the point where I need(ed) them in my life this year. Those great albums (and their highlight jams) will get their moment but for now we celebrate the song, or as Read more
If this is your first time to the Burning Ear then welcome to The TBE Digest, a place where I take a break from my usual gushing enthusiasm and cover some recent tracks that I am not so in love with but are still interesting/relevant/whatever. I’ve also started throwing covers in as well because, well, because I love covers. Dive in!
♫ MGMT – Flash Delirium / The first single from MGMT’s follow-up, Congratulations, which is streaming for free at their website. I haven’t heard it yet because frankly, “Flash Delirium” doesn’t really make me want to. It’s not that it’s even “not as good as “Kids”/”Time To Pretend”/”Electric Feel,” it’s just not very listenable.
♫ Born Ruffians – Sole Brother / The first taste from Born Read more
Time is tight and I’m late for a date with with the sandman so I’m gonna forgo my usual ramblings for an edited version. I’ve arranged these in a loose order of great to merely relevant so use that as a guide. Or just cherry pick. Whatevs.  If enough people miss my personal notes then I can bring ’em back but if not then frankly I could use the extra time. Word.
♫ The Hood Internet vs The 2000s – Decalogue / The hood Internet take an epic 6 minute trip through the 2000s. A must listen for anyone who has been alive for the past 10 years and enjoys good times and great memories. For realz. Crank this and bust your moves all up on memory lane.
Apologies in advance to any Swedish readers ’cause Erik Hassle is full blown over there and they have been listening to “Hurtful” for 15 months now. Dude even won “Newcomer of the Year 2009” at a recent event called the P3 Guld Gala. Anwway, the point is that “Hurtful” is about as excellent and infectious as sugary slick pop can get and it is currently my jam of choice for getting in touch with my inner romantic. The jam comes from a 2009 album our ginger-haired newcomer named after his daily hairstyling routine (see cover at right). However, things just got more tangled because Erik just dropped a UK version of that album with a few tracks re-produced/changed. That album is called Pieces and came out today. I only have last year’s version, Hassle, but have been listening to it a bunch this past weekend and digging it quite a bit. If you can get down with some Top 40 level production and catchy-as-shit soulful pop then this is your album. Every track is impeccably crafted and packs just enough sing-in-the-shower power to keep my inner teenage girl very happy. That is very much a compliment. (She doesn’t get much attention.) “Hurtful” too much of a love ballad for you? Get on “Don’t Bring Flowers” (below) and ride that little funk train straight to jams-ville. I’l be there. We can read more about Mr. Hassle and check out come sweet covers he did recently. Or we can talk about which one of these tracks would go best on a mix-tape for a girlfriend. I’ll vote for “Feels Like The First Time” but you’ll say “Isn’t It Obvious.” We’ll laugh. Good times.
♫ Erik Hassle – Don’t Bring Flowers After I’m Dead
If you are down with these jams then grab Pieces. Or Hassle. Whatever. They seem nearly identical so whatever you can get your mitts on should have you singing along through the week.
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