It's baaaaaack! After a long break, it's the return of Funky Friday. Today, a fresh crop of beats for your feets - new Neon Indian, Rapture and Holy Ghost! (with Michael McDonald!), a couple of bitchin' covers of Duran Duran (Tinpong) and Cherelle & Alexander O'Neal (Toro Y Moi), and a groovin' Adele remix by the Buffetlibre team that bumps up the dance factor. Oh yeah - DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah have made an album of hip hoppin' r'n'b that is actually pretty damn good. The best part? It is available for you to download for free here.
Your Loft is the new single from the forthcoming Death In Vegas album Trans Love Energies. It features Katie Stelmanis from Austra on vocals, and marks a return to the dark electro sounds of their early career. The album drops on September 26th on Drone Records.
My new favorite record this week is Ford & Lopatin's Channel Pressure. Formerly known as Games, Joel Ford & Daniel Lopatin have created the '80s record of your dreams. They've taken all of the sounds that were so revolutionary back in the early '80s and made one hell of a groovy pop record for the oughties. I hear echoes of so many good things - Scritti Politti, Junior Boys, Jan Hammer's Miami Vice soundtracks, Harold Faltermeyer's electro themes, and even a bit of Neon Indian's chill wave-y goodness. There are straight up pop songs, abstract instrumentals, loads of funk and plenty of vocal trickery. It gleams and glistens in all the right ways. LOVE. And while it is a love letter to the sounds of the '80s it holds up as very well as the sound of Summer 2011 too!
This is a great find for you T.Rex fans - free T.Rex! Billy Super Duper is Marc Bolan's unfinished rock opera. Some of the songs have been previously released, and a few have never been out before. I am totally digging it. It has all of the glam-tastic riffing you love, and some of this stuff is also pretty damn funky - which I love. Anyway, listen, and if you like go to the Bandcamp page and download it! For free!
I am a big fan of Toro Y Moi, the nom de plume of musician Chazwick Bundick. His music reminds me of MGMT, but a kinder, gentler, and much funkier version. His latest album Underneath The Pine came out in February and I have been playing it ever since. He is about to drop an new EP called Freaking Out, and it features a bitching cover of a Minneapolis funk classic, Saturday Love. The original song was recorded as a duet by Alexander O'Neal and Cherelle, and it was the bomb tune back in the day. I love that Chazwick has decided to cover it - he does a great job of bringing his chillwave flavor to it. Bonus video action of the original below...
Yasercise are a relatively new band that has popped up from Minneapolis' always fertile rock scene. They have played a few shows around town over the last few months, and have also been spending some time in the studio recording. These two tracks are the first to leak out from those sessions and they are pretty sweet. Both are cool, atmospheric indie rock songs topped off with the lovely and sultry vocals of front woman Yasmina - who just happens to be a co-worker of mine! Anyway, I dig and hope you will too. Like 'em on Facebook and follow them on Soundcloud...
Yasercise - Lights on For Gaza
(image courtesy of Keri Carlson) Yasercise - Charlie Machine ______________
I have always loved to share my favorite music, going way back to my mix tape days of the early '80s. This blog is an extension of that, a sort of an ongoing mix tape.
If you like what you hear I encourage you to go out and buy the CD, LP, cassette, 7" or 12". Support the artists who make the music.
FYI - ALL LINKS ARE DEAD ONCE THEY DROP OFF OF THIS FRONT PAGE.
If you own the copyright to something and want it removed contact me at djrez1 at silence is a rhythm too dot com.