bjork loves dj pumpkin patch: grooveberry jam.

dl: DJ PUMPKIN PATCH - Grooveberry Jam (YSI)
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In the realm of "Wha?" that enters my inbox, this is the most surprising. Remember those DGENETICS remixes a few posts back? Well a member of the DGENETICS MUSICS crew is totally getting love from my favorite Icelandic superstar. Behold...

"Last Thursday, DJ Pumpkin Patch dj'd the premier for Bjork's new video for 'Wanderlust.' Bjork was dancing right up in front of his DJ booth the whole time. She especially loved his original track 'Grooveberry Jam.'"

Motherfucking BJORK. Can you talk about big deal? I am trying to imagine what this looked like. My guess is something like this, and by guess I mean that's actually an image of Bjork standing next to Mr. Pumpkin Patch himself. However, this may be more accurate...because DJ Pumpkin Patch is blowing up? It's open for interpretation.

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT -

alice smith: do i.

ALICE SMITH has been rocking my pod for a while. The first time I heard "Do I", I nearly cried. The emotion in Alice's voice is so raw, and it's soulful in the kind of way that isn't trying too hard to be soulful (see Joss Stone).

Though don't call it soul around her. She won't agree.

"I don't think of it as a soul record. When I was in school, I really thought about soul a lot. I was listening a lot to Björk and to the Commodores. I really wanted to know how they felt. And especially with Björk, the music there told me wow, that's really her soul, there. I thought about her a lot, about the sound of her music… Well, it wasn't exactly about the sound, and it wasn't about what other people call 'finding your bounds', or whatever. I thought of her soul; her music made me contemplate her soul. It made me think of Björk, and how she felt. You know what I mean? What she felt like inside. It was never about the genre. So I just came never to think of the idea of soul as being about a category."
Strangely, this makes sense. Few of Smith's songs sound the same, and as she grows in popularity major labels have been trying to sign her. Unfortunately, this process has been incredibly frustrating as they have been asking her to focus her sound to fit into a defined category or genre. "A lot of people at these labels treat audiences like they're stupid. Like, 'You should focus your style or people won't get it.' I don't think that's true. Who only listens to country music? I mean, I'm sure there are people out there, but not the normal ones," she states in an article from Rolling Stone. Well, whether she remains indie or heads to the majors, she'll still have my ears.

If you happen to be in the Philly area, Alice Smith will be playing on May 6th at the Black Lily Film and Music Festival. Be sure to check it out!

d/l: ALICE SMITH- Do I (YSI)
(heartbreaking bluesy soul-rock ballad)
- buy it - site it - space it - hype it - wik it -

BLOGWATCH: Scattermish has a teaser for the new Bjork album, as well as a track from Diplo's protege DJ Blaqstar. Bigstereo shows me how late I am in discovering the amazing Yelle by posting her also amazing video...From Blown Speakers has a few songs up for download.

moneyshot exclusive: the swansong of gazpacho sanchez.

Today I received this message in my inbox at still-a-g(thang)mail...

"Dear all,
It is with a heavy heart and phat beatz that I deliver to you in mp3 form the first, last and only song of Gazpacho Sanchez. Gazpacho was a singer, time-traveller, friend of lemurs both real and puppet alike, ModelSpace resident, one of five SARS victims, and, first and foremost, he was a model. Gazpacho travelled into the future (which is now) to join ModelSpace and make a hit record with production team PdL and JJ Shonshay at Dregs Productions. He successfully became a ModelSpace member in June of 2006. ModelSpace featured him on ModelsYouShouldKnow. His hit record faced more difficulty. Time travel left him with only enough money for one hit song at Dregs and transformed his lemur friend Olivia Newton J. into a puppet. Tragically, Gazpacho was only able to record one verse before the Department for Homeland Security deported him from now. He died in 1999 of SARS-related complications while relaunching his career in Shanghai. His lemur (puppet) friend advised the rest of the project, seeing it to completion and blessing it with her mournfully beautiful eerily kazoo-like voice. She also helped us to locate Gazpacho's people the Plantains because Gazpacho had always thought that the world would be a happier place having heard the sounds of their tribal flute choir as they gather their daily mushrooms from the forests they call their home. Olivia has requested that all proceeds go to help keep developers out of those forests so that, even though Gazpacho is gone, the Plantains will live on. Enjoy... Gazpacho would have wanted it that way.

Gazpacho Sanchez hopes that you reach your final destination,
PdL"

This all happened last night. It was quite strange so I have little memory of it but this one song. The lemur pictured above is not Olivia Newton J, but could possibly be her cousin. Rumor has it that Olivia will be pursuing a musical career in honor of Gazpacho. She will collaborate on an album of duets with several up and comers in the music industry. In the long run, she has expressed interest in working with Bjork, Outkast, and Phil Collins. Proposed songs include "I Will Always Love You (Even If I Am a Puppet)" and a cover of "Time After Time". But this is all just rumors.

"The Swansong of Gazpacho Sanchez" is full of lyrical complexity that will change your life.

DOWNLOAD: The Swansong of Gazpacho Sanchez

BLOGWATCH: Beauty N the Beat has a whole lot of hotness including new ones from Kelis, Tatyana Ali (seriously), and a rare remix with Brandy of Sunshine Anderson's "Heard It All Before". Bigstereo has a new song by Fannypack, which is apparently in Old Navy commercials?

venus hum: like björk but more fun

VENUS HUM found me in an unusual way. At work. Well, they didn't literally pop through the doors of the office, throw headphones on my ears, and force me to listen to their music of course. I suppose it's better to say that I found them while working. I was browsing through the site of a remarkable PR/marketing company and Venus Hum happened to be one of their clients. When I visited their space page, my ears were met by the most succulentistic (I had to make up a word for it) electro-indie pop I've heard in a while. It was polished, yet still unique.

My first thought upon listening to "Fighting For Love" was that it reminded me of a Björk remix, particularly the Soft Pink Truth remix of "It's In Our Hands". I quickly decided that I needed to do my research to confirm this...so I turned to my boyfriend, who happens to be studying at Oxford for a degree in economics, politics, and philosophy with a minor in Björkitude. Even though he was on dial-up (I know, right! Who uses THAT anymore??), he agreed to the laborious task of downloading the song and taking a listen. His immediate reaction-- "You're right. It's like Björk...but more fun."

Upon further thought, I came up with my own hypothetical "what if" pseudo-hipster I'm - going - to - name - a - band - you - probably - haven't - heard - of - unless - you - know - Max - from - shitparade description. Venus Hum is what would happen if the tourbuses of Björk and Bedtime for Toys crashed, only to miraculously combine the group and artist into one super, electronic indie power group.

Later in the day, I downloaded the Venus Hum album The Colors In the Wheel and took a listen. Unfortunately my assessment was a little bit off. The album was much more complex than this one song I had used to evaluate the entire sound of the band. It also was, well...good.

All in all, I learned one important lesson: The reason PR/marketing companies exist is to make you buy things. I fell into their trap, and I don't regret it. I highly recommend that you download "Birds and Fishes" by the way. It is required listening for lovers of a certain multi-talented Icelandic singer-songwriter...and no, I'm not talking about Silvia Night.

DOWNLOAD: VENUS HUM- Fighting For Love
DOWNLOAD: VENUS HUM- Surgery in the Sky

BUY The Colors In the Wheel, BUY Songs for Superheroes

BLOGWATCH: Soul sides has a great write up on the Neptunes, including new tunes by Pharrell Williams, Lupe Fiasco, and Famlay. Popbytes has a new tune by gangstress Khia, in which she asks for the Lord to forgive her...seriously. When your pussy and your crack is licked that much, you need to find a little Jesus. You can also hear another Khia track at DListed in which she states, "I know you wanna suck this pussy so get down on your knees". I suppose it's time for a little repentance yourself...just for reading that line.

kelis: i don't just like this, i like this like this

Kelis is a fascinating individual. I once deemed her the "American R&B equivalent of Bjork" due to her eclectic repertoire, and I didn't just come up with that title because of her collaboration with Bjork. She's all over the place. One minute she's falling apart and floating in a creepy, gothic wasteland, and moments later she's a pop culture phenomenom. She's an R&B sensation, yet she's a rockstar. She's a commercial failure, and a dance music superstar. She's a child! She's a minimalist! She's the first girl to scream on a track.

Now, she's back with an 808...and a new haircut. And, oh yeah, a new album. Her new single "Bossy" has been met with mixed reviews by fans, and it isn't quite causing a storm on the charts. Despite this, there is much hype among fans about Kelis Was Here, which is full of collaborations with today's hottest producers-- Scott Storch, Cee-Lo, will.i.am, Linda Perry, Swizz Beatz, and more.

Speaking of those hot producers, let's talk about a recently leaked track done by Swizz Beatz (Beyonce's "Check Up On It", Busta Rhymes' "Touch It"). The song is called "Like You", and though it's been met by mixed reviews on the net...it's amazing. Sampling the opera diva song from The Fifth Element, "Like You" is a combination of fifth grade vernacular ("I don't just like you, I like you like you") and sleaziness ("He's making me hot...or is it his cock?"). This is something only Kelis can get away with.

Something about this track creeps me out though...A month ago, my friend Anna and I decided we were going to record a mini-movie called "KELIS: THE OPERA". The plot involved two milkshake stands, both alike in dignity...well, actually one of them was operated by an evil guy. Also, our main number "Milkshake" involved a synchronized swim routine.

After having developed this idea, I can't help but think that Kelis has stolen our thoughts, using them as inspiration for this song. I guess I'll be able to confirm this theory for sure when her next music video has aquatic choreography.

DOWNLOAD: KELIS- Like You (shoutout to Plavalaguna for this one)

PRE-ORDER Kelis Was Here, to be released August 8th

BONUS TRACK: KELIS- Get Along With You (Fake ID Remix)

BLOGWATCH: Check out The Gossip covering Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?" over at the space (link courtesy of mammoth press). Your Standard Life has Bright Eyes at Bonnaroo, and You Ain't No Picasso has it as a zip file. If that doesn't float your boat, maybe one of the 50 SONGS over at i guess i'm floating will...featuring Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, Oh No! Oh My!, Beirut, Phoenix, and more.

summer album preview: loose.

Nelly Furtado's new material has gained her titles ranging from slut to sellout to comeback queen. The lead single in the US, "Promiscuous", is in heavy rotation on video channels and radio. Some are shocked by her new sexy, "hip-hop" sound and image. Some are shocked by the fact that she's working with Timbaland...

These people are idiots.

Okay, that's a bit harsh...You may be among those people. If you are, let me educate you dearie. Ms. Furtado and Timbaland have collaborated as early as 2001 on the "Turn Off the Lights" remix. She was featured on Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" remix (2001) and Ms. Jade's "Ching Ching"...both produced by Timbo and recorded a year or two after her debut album was recorded. They're not strangers. On top of that, she has collaborated with The Roots, Jurassic 5, and Swollen Members. She even experimented with rapping and spoken word poetry on her first album. Nelly Furtado and the hip-hop genre aren't strangers either.

With that said, let's address the sexy image. Nelly has recently split with her husband. Quite simply, the girl is doing her thang and letting...um...Loose. You may be surprised to hear that the material of the album isn't all sex-charged pop. "In God's Hands" addresses the end of her relationship with her husband, "Afraid" is a classic soul-searching Furtado song that just happens to have a Timbaland beat, and "What I Wanted" showcases the same acoustic-guitar bearing Nelly who sang about birds. The album maintains Nelly's power of making every song a cultural and emotional explosion. It's the same Nelly we know and love (or hate), but she's back with a bit more...uh...flava.

And she sort of needs it. While her debut album Whoa, Nelly! managed to push two million off the shelves in the US, the follow-up, Folklore, only pushed a quarter of that off the shelves. This was partially due to issues with the record company and lack of promotion, as the album was minorly successful on a global level ("Try" reached #1 in Mexico) and embraced by her die-hard fans. In any case, Nelly had to switch things up if she wanted to keep making music. Timbaland was the man to help her do it.

Random interruption: Have you heard that Timbaland and Bjork are collaborating? I hope more than anything that this is true.

The track that stood out most for me was "Do It", mostly because it is a dance anthem strangely between two of the album's slower, more introspective tracks. "Do It" is sure to be compared to the style of Gwen Stefani's Love Angel Music Baby, a much more accurate comparison than Paris Hilton's "Stars are Blind" (which is reminiscent of Gwen, but on the No Doubt album, Rocksteady). The straight-up 80s feel of this track will likely enable it to be adopted as an underground dance party gem.

Another surprise on the album is the exciting alternate conclusion to the UK single "Maneater", which brings in the genius Mr. Mosley chanting "I been around the world, never seen a girl like this."

In less words, Loose is a strange collection of songs that are sure to gain a new collection of fans without straying too far from the formula that gained her the old ones. Will the original fans embrace it? Honestly...I don't even think that matters at this point.

DOWNLOAD: NELLY FURTADO- Do It
DOWNLOAD: NELLY FURTADO- Maneater (album version)

PRE-ORDER Loose, out on June 20th

BLOGWATCH: The big blogs are catching on to Tigarah...check out "Fake Out" and "Roppongi-Dori" at bigstereo.