rilo kiley: summer hookup, autumn breakup

dl: RILO KILEY - Breakin' Up (Z - YSI)

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Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong - sometimes it's letting go.

For a good friend of mine, it used to be about letting go. And for me, it used to be about holding on. Now I'm letting go and he's holding on. We both think we're happy. This one's for him. I gave up on holding on, you should too.

The Loving Hand (the last blog icons without a Myspace) provide the bonus beats of the day, a low slung disco cut that JJS describes as "pushing [his] disco buttons." I consider that a high endorsement, so there you go.

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BONUS BEATS: RILO KILEY - Breakin' Up (The Loving Hand Remix) (Z - YSI)

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little pictures: remix contest.

dl: LITTLE PICTURES - This House Can Fit Us All (Z)

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It's been a minute or 4 million blogyears since ITMS!! has held a remix contest, so it's time to do it up big with New Zealand's electro-bedroom-pop darlings Little Pictures and their tune "This House Can Fit Us All". The rules are pretty much the same as before. Anyone is eligible, anything goes. What are you waiting for? Download the remix kit below and make some magik happen. Obviously you don't have to use everything included in the remix kit. Hell, submissions can even be covers or reinterpretations.

The rules are a bit different this time around, as the winner will be chosen by the ITMS!! team and ultimately the original musicians. Because apparently, this time around, I think democracy is overrated. A few choice runner-ups will be written up on here, and the grand prize winner will receive...

• a signed copy of Owl + Owl.
• a temporary place on Little Pictures' myspace player.
• a customized ITMS!! badoodle.
• A SPECIAL MYSTERY PRIZE!!
  

Submissions can be sent to itisthemoneyshot.info@gmail.com. Deadline is now December 7, 2008. The winner and all runner-ups will be announced in a series of posts starting in December.

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dl: LITTLE PICTURES REMIX KIT (SHAREBEE)

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leif: cruz ctrl (demo).

dl: LEIF - CRUZ CTRL (demo) (Z)

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I'm sure most of you don't keep tabs on the blogroll here, and that makes sense. I can hardly keep up with all those blogs myself, you know? With that said, I'd like to direct your attention to a little ol' blog called terf- work. He caught my attention when I saw that he posted a rip of Leif's "CRUZ CTRL", and kept my attention when I realized that he also wrote about the lovely Benni E. In general, the blog's got some great energy for being relatively new and occasionally there's some bad-ass custom-made album artwork. Coincidentally, the blogger happens to be the little brother of one of my acquaintances in Philly, but is it okay if I adopt him as my little blogbrother?

Blog-love festival aside, Leif's "CRUZ CTRL" may just be a demo, yet it's pretty much the best thing that's been posted here, like, ever. Okay, possibly an overstatement, but this is a fucking jam. Until I had a rip, I would visit Leif's page on the space nearly ten times to get geeked up listening to it. And as much as I try to stick to blogger ethics and not post too many things that aren't available for download, this needs to get into as many ears as possible.

Also, be sure to check out the remixes of "Black Magic" and "Timbs" by Stay High, The Touch, Ian Johnson, and KEUKENGEREI.

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BONER TRACK: LEIF - Little Bit (Lykke Li cover) (Z)

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poom: very much in love

dl: POOM - Tonight's My Night (Z - YSI)

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Its been a long two weeks for me, juggling political coverage for my day job with keeping my sanity in the evening. Throw in updating this here blog all last week and we've got a recipe for exhaustion. I'm sleeping in today but Saturday I'll be out and ready to party. POOM will be my pre-party soundtrack. This is epic Sebastian-Tellier-doing-it-large-with-Ed-Banger kind of stuff that I'd drop early in the club and have fifty people asking me what it was. They've got 20 Myspace friends but a dance video up on Youtube already, so catch this one ground floor and all that. And the bonus jamz for today show a less poppy side, all tense headache house that's brilliant in spite of its distortion and not because of it.

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BONUS BEATS: POOM - Very Much In Love With Me (Z - YSI)

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japattack: anoraak & sgt sass remixes.

dl: ANORAAK - Nightdrive With You (JAPATTACK! remix) (Z - YSI)

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I have to confess that I've been stalking West Philly's up-and-coming electro remixers JAPATTACK! through their blog ATTACKTHAT! They first came to my attention when I heard their remix of "Faggot Snappin" by my boys Sgt. Sass, and I've been keeping my eye on them since. Beyond my favorite fag-rappers, they've been keeping the blog world busy with their remixes of Thunderheist, Rye Rye, Spank Rock, South Rakkas Crew, Amanda Blank, Pase Rock, and a very popular mix of MGMT, Pitbull, and Justice.

It recently came to my attention that they had been vying for a spot on the new ANORAAK EP and would be submitting a remix of "Nightdrive With You". The duo seemed a little uncertain about remixing a song with singing (up to this point they've only dealt with rapping) and are having a laugh "over remixing a love song", but it turns out that they've made one of their best remixes yet. I know this as trite as far as blogger-talk goes, but it really keeps the spirit of the original while bringing something entirely new to the table. I'd even go as far as saying that I enjoy this a little bit more than the Adeyhawke or Fear of Tigers remixes. You know I wouldn't lie about these things. I have such a music-boner for ANORAAK, so this is serious business.

Of note, this past Monday JAPATTACK! dropped Attack That Sass, a collection of Sgt. Sass remixes which includes the "Faggot Snappin" mix and more. They're also starting to record some tracks with original vocals, so it ain't just about the remixes! Keep tabs on these boys by adding their blog to your RSS feed. These boys have a lot of potential, and they're seemingly getting better with each day that passes.

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BONER TRACK: SGT. SASS - I'll Take Your Man (JAPATTACK! Runs This remix) (Z - YSI)

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azeda booth: in flesh tones.

dl: AZEDA BOOTH - Big Fists (Z - YSI)

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It's easy to forget about the sad, slow songs when it's summertime. I feel like my ears and body instinctually crave upbeat jams that correlate with the sunny weather, barbecues, and beach-time. Even if it's a cloudy day, I'm grill-less, or I get to the beach so little that I still look Casper the Friendly Ghost's first-cousin...there's some sort of innate tendency to stray away from what I like to call "indoor songs"---the slower, sadder, occasionally experimental tunes I listen to while curled up under a blanket on my couch, reading or drinking a hot cup of tea.

This explains why it's taken me so long to write about Azeda Booth's debut album In Flesh Tones, which was released on Absolutely Kosher back in late July. It's not the type of music to fit in my playlist between BMX and Passion Pit, yet it's one of the best albums that came out this summer. It just, well, shouldn't have come out this summer. The album's opening track "Ran" has managed to get a good amount of hype since the release. But if that's the only song on your iTunes, you're seriously screwing yourself. The musical arrangements paired with Jordon Hossack's scary-ass "I can't believe it's not (but) her" falsetto throw you into a forest of emotional ambiguity. I can hardly understand a word he's saying, I'm not really sure if it's all necessarily sad, and it all makes me want to bust out into some modern dance moves that incorporate a dash of delicious movement.*

This isn't an album made for shoving hot dogs and potato salad into your face, so don't let your summertime musical instincts get in the way when sampling this track. Even if you have to wait until December to grab a copy of In Flesh Tones, you won't regret the purchase.

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* I love that Eiko Otake's wikipedia entry includes this sequence of sentences: "She is teaching classes in both the dance and east asian studies departments in addition to intermittently organizing delicious movement workshops. They love to dance!" More importantly, I love Eiko Otake.