aaron roche: central florida christmas.

d/l: AARON ROCHE - Central Florida Christmas (YSI)

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You know how in that craptastic movie Love Actually there's this weird obsession with telling the truth around Christmastime? I never understood that, although it gives me an excuse to confess something-- I have this extreme desire to run away to Nashville, and I have no idea why.*

So I guess it's appropriate that today's song comes from Aaron Roche...of Nashville. It's been an exciting Christmas for Mr. Roche, as a song from his project The Choir At Your Door (with Nathan Phillips, The Winston Jazz Routine) has been streaming on the Asthmatic Kitty site as part of "The Great Sufjan X-Mas Song Exchange". Roche also played guitar on Phillips' tune "Through the Snow", which was featured a few days ago as NPR's Song of the Day and can also he heard as part of the Sufjan Stevens X-Mas Song Exchange.

"Central Florida Christmas" appears on the album Big Beard Christmas, available for free on Speakerheart. The compilation also features Nashville's Aron Wright, Allie Peden, Daniel Ellsworth, Matthew Perryman Jones, "quote", Natalie Prass, Steve Lee, The Liberty Bell, and Evan Goodberry.

I was immediately drawn to Roche's selection because it doesn't sound like a Christmas song at all. I might even be able to listen to this song in July without being reminded of guzzling down enough wine to deal with evading my grandmother questioning whether I have a girlfriend for the twentieth time.

* This is almost as lame of a secret as "I eat ice cream in bed". Also, awk segue. Can someone get me a writing class for Christmas?

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FREE CHRISTMAS MUSIC: Big Beard Christmas - The Choir At Your Door - An Elephant Hug Christmas (Vol. I-III)

leif: little bit.

d/l: LEIF - Little Bit (Lykke Li cover) (YSI)

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Leif has been mentioned on this blog plenty of times, but it was mainly for his mash-ups and remixes. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of his voice tenderly colliding with your earbuds, the time has now come. "Little Bit" is a cover by Swedish songstress Lykke Li, who you may have heard of on some blog that one time.

I'm not about to go make some big claims that Lykke Li will be the "next big thing" to come out of Sweden, and I'm not about to compare her to Feist or some crap like that. Homey don't play that. I have one single thing to say about this song. And I am going to say it with hesitation, because this isn't the sort of thing you should admit to the internet. I'm not really even sure if I've ever felt this way about a song ever. It's kind of inapprop...THIS SONG MAKES ME WANT TO TAKE MY CLOTHES OFF. Now I said it. There's no looking back.

Consider Lykke Li's version the foreplay. Leif's version falls somewhere before or after that depending on how you go about in your freaky ways. It still retains the vulnerability that makes the original so drawers-dropping, yet brings the song to the CLUBZ in the most delicious way possible.

Predictable blogger pun: I think I'm more than a little bit in love with this jam! LOLcat.

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bonus track: LEIF - Electric Feel My Cool (MGMT edit) (YSI)
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les vinyl: ghosts.

d/l: LES VINYL - Ghosts (YSI)
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Sometimes I have days when my eyes are really sensitive to light to the point that even staring at this computer screen makes me want to hatefuck someone with a pitchfork. Therefore this is going to be a short post. A post about a song that doesn't hurt my head on days like these.

Les Vinyl is from Staten Island. My friend sent me this song and I like it. Maybe you will listen to it and maybe you will like it too. And then maybe you will download some more songs by Les Vinyl on the space, including a cover of "Christmas Time Is Here". The end.

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medina: number man.

d/l: MEDINA - Number Man (YSI)

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It's not every day that the words "produced by Timbaland" pop up in my inbox, but that isn't the only selling point Medina has going for him. In fact, Timbaland's production is the least interesting thing about "Number Man".

I'll be honest. When most rappers pull the "my life was so hard" card, it can come off as entirely trite and "been there, heard that". Perhaps that is a problematic statement to make, but I fully acknowledge that their lives were legitimately hard. That doesn't mean they should be rapping about them. With that said, there's something really sincere about Medina's flow as he states, "Hate my mother for making me sleep in a shelter or dwell in the basement of an abandoned hotel. Why she do this shit? Locked in a mental ward, afraid she'd kill herself, they made her take out her shoelaces." Just try to ignore that those particular lines of the song don't rhyme at all. Ignore that this is (at best) a mediocre Timbaland beat. Ignore that the chorus leaves something to be desired. But please don't ignore that Medina kills it on this track when it comes to sheer flow.
Rumor has it that he's being chased by a few labels including Dr. Dre's Aftermath, and has already worked on tracks with Timbaland, Polow Da Don, Nappy Roots, Dr. Dre, Mark Batson, and (for serious press release?) Carlos Santana. On his space, you can here "The Yeah Yeah's", his latest rock-tinged single that will go over well with the Gym Class Heroes crowd without being as annoying as Gym Class Heroes. Did I mention that it will appear on the Sex and the City soundtrack? Because it will. I'm a little uncertain about this whole rock vibe he has going on, but I'll be rooting for Medina all the way to the top either way.

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bonus track: MEDINA - Even Superman Dies (YSI)
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the real heat: come we go.

d/l: THE REAL HEAT - Come We Go (YSI)

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It baffles me that I've never featured The Real Heat on ITMS. I was first introduced to them through the space, where I quickly declared their song "Stand and Deliver" as a dirty dance tune sent from heaven. And apparently heaven is a place in London? I know, I'm just as surprised as you are!

Their latest tune "Come We Go" is produced by Richard X, the man behind some of the best songs by M.I.A. and Annie. However, the trio generally produce their own songs, including today's bonus track "U Know". Both of these songs give me a mental image of myself at a club, licking the face of anyone who happened to come in my predatory path. Luckily, I don't go to clubs because you can now go to sleep knowing that my saliva will never be all up in your grill.

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bonus track: THE REAL HEAT - U Know (YSI)
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