The Very Best are back (minus half of production team Radioclit)! “Yoshua Alikuti” dropped a few weeks back and now “Kondaine.” These jams don’t seem as catchy as stuff from Warm Heart Of Africa but their lust for fun and silliness is in full affect and amen to that.
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
What do a group of pale, barely 20, sexed-up Londoners have to do with a black hip-hopster from Brooklyn and why put them in the same roundup? Well, besides both being pumped through my speakers nonstop lately, neither can seem to keep their hands clean of remixes. There is one track on which their paths even cross. Theo’s remixes aren’t really my favorite but they definitely provide an interesting view on one of the more eclectic artists on the scene lately and they certainly don’t lessen my excitement for a proper debut from the dude.
I’m too tired and you’re too anxious. Let’s get this show on the road. I’ll drop some kind of ’09 wrap up speech in “The Best Albums of ’09 / The Top 15” which should be out soooon. In the meantime, nibble on these biscuits. And leave your comments! You guys have piped up louder than ever lately and I love hearing what Team TBE thinks. Cause if two brains are better than one, well than imagi…. ok, we get it, let’s do this!
Oh, and since ranking albums is for wieners (songs are OK) I just alphabetized these lists. I don’t believe in favorites so it would be dishonest of me to attempt some sort of ranking system here. These joints are just the business, each in their own way.
I don’t know about you but 2009 was the year I fell in live with remixes. Starting TBE opened up my world to so many amazing reinterpretations of both great and not so great songs. Having always been more of a cover song guy this was new territory for me but I dove in headfirst and have been enjoying the ride so far. Good music is a personal thing and messing with great music is even more so. This is very much a subjective list and is based on nothing besides how much I love and respect the work done. Oh, and the numbering system is pretty much bullshit but I had to put them in some kind of order. Anyway, enjoy. I certainly have.
As the Remix Roundups enter double digits I decided to drop the incremental titles and go for a more archive-friendly date format. You will thank me someday. About this collection of hot remixes? You can thank me now.
♫ The Very Best – Julia (Javelin Re-do) / This is one of the best remixes I’ve heard in a while. Javelin takes one of the weaker tracks off of TVB’s fantastic album and completly rips it up, turning “Julia” in to a full throttle fist-pumper. [more The Very Best]
♫ The Gossip – Love Long Distance (Fake Blood Remix) / I haven’t even heard the original version of this song yet but i’m worried that after this I am just going to be disappointed. So far The Gossip’s remixes have treated me better than their originals. [more Gossip/FB]
♫ Chester French – She Loves Everybody (Pance Party Remix) / Read more
You know what sucks? Being underwear-bound at your laptop because your face-hair trimmer lost charge midway through it’s duty so you cant shower or go out. You know what is great? Remixes and beer! What happens when you put them all together?
♫ The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa (Ft. Ezra Koenig)
Since The Very Best have been well blogged about (including their mention here at TBE) I’ll skip the back story and get into the music. The first public taste of their upcoming album, it’s title track “The Warm Heart Of Africa,” has been out and about for a while now but I never fell in love with it so it ever ended up on TBE. Then leaked the other much hyped tracks, “Julia” and “Rain Dance ft. MIA.” Much like anything with MIA I felt they were over-hyped and passed on sharing them. Finally I have got a track off the album I can get behind! The Very Best recently released the “Warm Heart Of Africa” single and included the B-side “Yalira” (and Warm Heart Of Africa album opener) as a free download. I can’t think of a more perfect album opener. The thing is perfectly crafted to get me excited about the album I am about to hear! Hairs raise on my neck and a smile is still on my face every time I hear it. And to be honest, “The Warm Heart Of Africa” has grown on me. I am just not so sure Ezra is much of an expert on the subject. Anyway, if is your first time hearing the amazing Esau Mwamwaya sing then you are in for a treat. The guy sings in a variety of African dialects (a product of having a civil servant father) and kills it with each one, even though you have no idea what he is singing about. I wont say much about the whole album here, it’s still a few weeks away from dropping in September, but I do hope this gets you hyped for it. It’s pretty, prettttty, prettttttty great.
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