Friday, April 30, 2010

Funky Friday

BEATS FOR YOUR FEETS.
A variety of styles to fit all moods, as long as they're funky.

Yoko Ono - Give Me Something (Junior Boys Remix)
Eighth Wonder - I'm Not Scared (SirBilly Re-Dub)
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer (Streetlab Remix)
I'm Not A Band - Crazy (BORRACHO Remixx)
Via Tania - Fields (The Juan MacLean Remix)
Funki Porcini - This Ain't The Way To Live
Midnight Juggernauts - Get Connected
Sia - Clap Your Hands (Diplo Mix)
Prins Thomas - Orkenvandring
The Knocks - Blackout

Thursday, April 29, 2010

MSP/ Communist Daughter

Communist Daughter - Not The Kid

Communist Daughter are a Minnesota folkie-indie rock band. Their debut album Soundtrack To the End was released a few weeks ago on Grain Belt Records. It is an album born of pain, addiction, heartbreak and prison time. Singer John Solomon used to front local heroes Friends Like These, until a couple of years ago when he had had enough and he broke up the band. He moved to a small town in Wisconsin, bought a restaurant and worked at getting his shit together. A while back he began inviting musical friends over to jam on songs, and Communist Daughter was born - named after a Neutral Milk Hotel song. They made an instant impact on the local scene, and are poised to try and take it national. Their album is great. It has quiet, dreamy introspective moments, full of lovely folksy harmonizing. There are electric rockers, full of riffs and swirly synths. John's voice is reminiscent of Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan, and his lyrics are as sharp as the record's hooks and subtle melodies. Not The Kid chugs along on a T.Rex-ish riff, features lovely chiming keys and strummy guitars, and reminisces about childhood memories gone by. Lovely. You can stream the rest of the record on the band's Myspace. Worth checking out.

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FYI - if you're wondering what the significance of MSP in the title of this post is - it is the airport abbreviation for Minneapolis/St. Paul. If you see it in the future you'll know you're about to hear some Minnesota music...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

R.I.P. Guru

SIART is very sad to learn of the passing of hip hop icon Guru (Keith Elam), formerly of seminal '90s duo Gang Starr. He had been fighting cancer (and had kept his fight secret from fans) and recently suffered a heart attack that put him in a coma. He was 47. Before he died he wrote a letter to his fans which you can read here. Back in the '90s Guru's music was a big part of my musical diet, from his stuff with Gang Starr to the 4 Jazzmatazz albums. I loved his laid back and sleepy flow - it was a unique voice in hip hop. He brought so many great artists together on the Jazzmatazz projects, and exposed a whole new generation to some jazz greats. His creativity will be missed. Today I offer two of my favorites, one from Gang Starr's 1994 LP Hard To Earn and one from 1993's Jazzmatazz Volume:1.

Gang Starr - Mass Appeal
Guru feat. N'dea Davenport - Trust Me

Monday, April 19, 2010

Air

So I'm Jo - Air
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SIART is a big fan of the Sydney, Australia duo So I'm Jo - I featured several of their songs last year. Damon & Glen craft sweet electro pop with loads of atmosphere - "accessible song based tunes ready made for the ballroom or bedroom". Their music puts me in the mind of Junior Boys or Metro Area or Zoot Woman. They've sent me a tasty new track to share with you, the lucky reader, and a brief message - "We're busy working on an EP but thought we'd share this tune with you called Air. We've been playing it live since the backend of last year but never really put it out there, let's see how we go. We'll be playing gigs again around July."
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So I'm Jo on Facebook - be their fan!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Funky Friday

Time to put the funk in your Friday.
These are the jams that will get your weekend grooving.
Enjoy the soundtrack...


Charlotte Gainsbourg - Time of the Assassins (Matthew Dear Remix)
Architeq feat. Ilija Rudman - Mind Games (Vinyl Version)
David Gamson - No Turn On Red (Fat Camp Version)
The Andrew Allsgood Experience - Macho Wizard
The Third Degree - Mercy (Greg Wilson Version)
Ladytron - Predict The Day (Grey Ghost Remix)
Bryan Ferry - In Crowd (West End Wolf Mix)
Lindstrom - Paaskelyd (Bottin Remix)
Caribou - Sun (Mondkopf Remix)
J Dilla - The Safety Dance

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Buffetlibre + Amnesty Intl. = Peace


Welcome to PEACE, the first music atlas on the net. A co-production of Spanish DJ/production outfit Buffetlibre and Amnesty International Catalunya, it features 180 exclusive new songs by artists from more than 50 countries. It is as simple as this - just make your donation and download the full mp3 compilation. The collected money will be used for Amnesty’s investigation and action campaigns aimed at preventing cases of human rights abuses around the world. The line-up is pretty spectacular, with tunes from a some big names and a bunch of artists you haven't heard yet. SIART highly recommends checking this out. Here is a small sampling to whet your appetite before checking out the full feast!

Dubstar - I'm In Love With A German Film Star
(Passions cover)
Marc Almond - Dead Eyed Child
Patrick Wolf - Army Dreamers
(Kate Bush cover)
Tahiti 80 - Crack Up

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I'm From Barcelona - Anywhere You Looked (Au Revoir Simone cover)

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

New Music Tuesday

New Young Pony Club has finally gotten around to following their great 2007 album Fantastic Playground. The new album is called The Optimist, and it is available digitally as of today. The band have self produced and released it themselves in Europe and PIAS are helping them get it out to the rest of the world. Their debut was a nice mix of disco and post-punk riffing, mostly a blueprint ripped from the early '80s, topped off with Ty Bulmer's sassy/snotty vocal stylings. With The Optimist they pretty much pick up where they left off - big beats, shiny riffs, loads of funktastic bass and catchy songs all over the place. It has a grittier edge to it, and is more of an adult pop record than the last one. I really like it. The band have offered up a bonus track to share with you, a Ty Bulmer remix of the album track We Want To. It's a tasty death-disco romp - enjoy!

New Young Pony Club - We Want 2