poptastic: hold me.

dl: POPTASTIC - Hold Me (alt)

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I should say that I extremely enjoy Poptastic as a concept. It sounds good on paper--a co-ed group channeling the '90s boy-band era sound and electronically mangling the resulting songs beyond recognition. Awesome. I like to indulge in the occasional shameful boy-band tune. And if I have a legitimate excuse to embrace this indulgence in a way that involving some artistic merit and a little less shame, then sign me up! That's the thing. I want to love Poptastic so much, but some of the songs are a little too mangled for my liking. With that said, I need to give Poptastic major props for their hilarious website, where you can download desktop wallpaper's of your favorite band member that resemble fan-made High School Musical livejournal icons.

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BONER TRACK: POPTASTIC - Are You Happy? (alt)

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

brenmar: yeasayer remix.

dl: YEASAYER - 2080 (brenmar remix) (YSI)
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I remember that I once had this Choose Your Own Adventure book in which "you" get shrunken down to the size of an ant. The happiest ending finds you falling from very high into a cup of pudding! Oh, delicious...until you think about the physics of the situation. Technically you should have drowned in that pudding. But it sure beats the other option-- time-traveling and getting stepped on by a giant dinosaur! And you were just trying to time-travel back to the point before you got shrinky with it! Gadzooks!

Brenmar's remix of Yeasayer's "2080" is like choosing to confront the dinosaur. Except in this case, the dinosaur is magic and makes you as big as it is! And it wants to be your friend! And eat giant bowls of pudding with it! And then you'd step on people you don't like. You know?

Who is Brenmar? I'm glad you asked. Brenmar is Bill Salas, the man behind the drums/electronics of These Are Powers. He's done a remix of their song "Little Sisters" as well as remixes of Aa, Clipd Beaks, Mahjongg, and High Places. The tunes are constructed "out of old dusty records, digital and analogue synthesizers, microphones, samplers, pedals, toys, and found sounds." Such sounds make MGMT tour-mates Yeasayer's sufficiently more interesting, which is quite a task given that Yeasayer is (no offense) totally boring.

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- SPACE IT -

azeda booth: radiohead remix.

dl: RADIOHEAD - Nude (Azeda Booth remix) (YSI)

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like that Holy Fuck remix. After my last post, an internet acquaintance commented back, "The Holy Fuck remix sucks the holy out of my fuck." AMEN to that!

If you're wary of how far behind Dgenetics is from grabbing the crown, let me call your attention to another ITMS!! fave that's in the running-- Azeda Booth. As I write this post, they are just shy of the top ten, and they're only 5923 votes away from taking Holy Fuck holy-fucking down!

In I-promise-this-is-the-last-Radiohead-remix-I-post news, Azeda Booth has just finished recording their first full-length album. It will be released this spring on Absolutely Kosher Records, and it's almost guaranteed to be better than any remix of "Nude" that you've ever heard.

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- SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT -

pdl: featured on listen up podcast.

dl: PDL - Lots To Do (YSI)

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I can't deny that my blog has blatant ties to the Vanita Phone Company*, so I should probably mention that PdL was featured yesterday on the Listen Up! podcast.

You may have previously heard his song "Happiness" thanks to FLUXBLOG. Or caught word of his "playdate" Matt & Lil Kim album on BIGSTEREO or the Matt & Kim website. Maybe you heard his Cassie-OH remix of Cassie's "Me & U" on Discobelle or Palms Out Sounds. Or perhaps you were one of those people who were like "WTF is this?" in the comment section of MAKE blog's post on Gertrude, his LED drawing machine. And if you read this blog, you'll notice that his face is totally in a flyer two posts down (so sue me if I like to promote my friends!)

If none of this rings a bell, then now is the time to get familiar. His debut solo album Stop Means Go will be available digitally very soon, so I will spare you from anymore details...because you will probably be hearing about him again on this blog. Uh, very soon.

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BONER TRACK: PDL - Give (Dan And The Landladies remix) (YSI)

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- SITE IT - SPACE IT - VIRB IT -

big bang tv: send/receive.

dl: BIG BANG TV - send/receive (YSI)
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"Big Bang TV is what happens when four people who can't agree on anything try to make music. Matt is a singer/songwriter, Scott is a hip/hop DJ and producer, Joe was metal drummer turned electronic musician, Andrea's last gig was playing accordion for a female folk trio."

At least that's what they say. Someone else might say, "Big Bang TV is a four person band hailing from Brooklyn." Then some asshole like you might say, "Oh, another one of those?" And then I'd get all up in your face (kind of like that one time some kid in my class "Primate Behavior: The Real Monkey Business" did when I expressed uncertainty about Spank Rock). I'd say, "No, they're actually GOOD"...Because they are. You'd listen to their music and realize that I was right...Because I was. Got it?

There's this band called Radiohead. You may have heard of them once or twice. Big Bang TV lists them as an influence on facebook. I hear a lot of kids have been listening to this album called In Rainbows, and I have this vague feeling that those same kids would enjoy BBTV's send/receive EP. They might even love it so much that they become fans of Big Bang TV on facebook, but let's not jump to any conclusions. Don't you hate when bloggers (even vaguely) compare bands to Radiohead? I know I do.

With the combined sounds of guitar, turntable, electric and acoustic drum, bass, laptop, and a few mouths, Big Bang TV creates a sound that can only be (self-)defined as "experimental-electro-post-indie-rock-hop". If you are living anywhere near Brooklyn, you can experience such sounds live on February 21st (10PM @ Europa) or March 7th (8PM @ Don Pedro's). For those of us who aren't lucky enough to have such an experience, I offer a consolation prize-- a free download of "Send/Receive", the title song off of the send/receive EP. It should be noted that this EP is only $3 and equipped with a nifty hand-painted cover. I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'...

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- buy it - site it - space it - face it -

cars and trains: my birthday present to myself.

CARS AND TRAINS is exactly the type of music I like.

I'm a big fan of the undefined genre of semi-experimental folksy electronic indie stuff. This is the type of music I listen to while making art. There's a sort of peacefulness to it, paired with a chaotic element that mirrors my mind's unruly creative process.

What makes cars and trains even more appealing to me is that I can see a bit of myself in Tom Filepp, the man behind the many instruments or sound-making devices that create this music. Filepp spent high school screaming in hardcore/metal bands. He later broadened his musical interests to include hip-hop, many types of electronic music, and folk, such as Guthrie, Seeger, Dylan, etc. I like to think of my pre-teen self who refused to listen to anything but hip-hop until 10th grade when a friend of mine paved the way for my obsession with angsty emo music. And then...well, I just listened to a lot of different stuff. I guess it's considered common for teenagers to delve into subcultures based on a certain genre of music they listen to, only to realize when they're a bit older that they were stupid to limit themselves. But for some reason, this common ground makes me like this guy more.

Filepp will be releasing his new album Rusty String in the near future. You can listen to two tracks from the album below. "Fake Plastic Guns" has been said to have "a bunch of kind of crazy childhood sort of stuff in it." As someone who is slowly becoming an actual adult, I love kind of crazy childhood sort of stuff. Happy 22nd birthday to me.

dl: CARS AND TRAINS - The Wires From My Broken Record Player (YSI)
dl: CARS AND TRAINS - Fake Plastic Guns (YSI)
(multi-instrument electro-folky music)
- buy it - site it - space it -

frikstailers: foonkie boogie.

FRIKSTAILERS just friended me on the space as I was about to go to bed defeated that I had no good songs to blog about.

Hailing from Argentina, Rafael Caivano (Ralf) & Lisandro Sona (Sandro Lee) are Frikstailers. They are on the label Pino Rec, which seeks "to agglutinate, to promote and to give space of development to different emergent projects from heterogenous Latin American music electronic fusion as far as style and line, but equal as far as initiative and musical sonorous investigation." Essentially this means that their artists make incredible electro-experimental tunes. Well, it doesn't actually mean that. But it's what they do.

On their blog, Frikstailers writes about their song "Foonkie Boogie"...

"it's our hit at the moment, everybody dance with this in our parties, it's made with voices of justin, britney , madonna and lot's of other guys, each and every sound was sampled of some pop tunes we found in mainstream records."

Unlike Girl Talk's pop-music creations, this is a bit more subtle. When I say subtle, I mean that you'd have a very difficult time picking out each pop element. "Suparitmo" seems to take a similar approach to "Foonkie Boogie", but I'm only saying that because I can kind of hear Justin Timberlake in there somewhere.

The boys of Frikstailers have also completed remixes of Justice and Garbage. Admittedly, the Justice remix isn't life-changing. However, the "Stupid Girl" remix strips away the poppiness of the original, taking Shirley Manson's vocals to a much darker place. In a good way.

dl: FRIKSTAILERS - Foonkie Boogie (YSI)
dl: FRIKSTAILERS - Suparitmo (YSI)
(electro-experimental creations made with pop tunes)
- space it - blog it -

BONUS TRACK: GARBAGE - Stupid Girl (Frikstailers remix) (YSI)
BONUS TRACK: JUSTICE - D.A.N.C.E. (Frikstailers remix) (YSI)

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': Check out the Boody B remix of Mapei's "Belly" over at BIGSTEREO.

lovelife: br8ke free.

LOVELIFE is probably my favorite electro-instrumental musician.

Perhaps this is because I'm entirely ignorant of the genre as a whole. Perhaps he's just awesome. Either way, I like to have his music in my ears. I swore I had brought him up on this blog before, but I can't find a post.

I first fell in love with his tunes over a year ago, thanks to the all-around party jam "Spring Break, No Rules". I lacked the bloggitude back then to realize that the rest of his tunes were incredibly delicious...and that he wasn't an entire band. Basically he's a dude who makes music when he's not at school. I don't know how the music winds up being so good, but it does. Between him and T-Pain, I think I'm starting to really love Tallahassee. I like love! I like life! I like Lovelife. The end.

d/l: LOVELIFE- Br8ke Free (YSI)
d/l: LOVELIFE- Spring Break, No Rules (YSI)
d/l: LOVELIFE- Hi Dee (YSI)
(fun electro tunes)
- space it -

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': This blog will be better once I get back from vacation. Promise?

unicornicopia: one woman emotional sound sculpture.

UNICORNICOPIA has accordions, a Barbie Ferrari double cassette karaoke machine, a mbira from the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe, and a lot of other instruments and things that make sounds. She makes music with these things.

Born Natalie Weiss, she has been performing as Unicornicopia since 2001. The project has taken many forms-- a rock band, a musical with puppets, and now "a one woman emotional sound sculpture". I know, I know...a one woman WHAT? Don't fear listener. All you need to know at the moment is that she is a pretty girl with a pretty voice, and she makes pretty extraordinary experimental pop music. You can figure out the rest later. Her vocals are very reminiscent of someone I can't really think of. Essentially, if you like the voices of Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs of The Finches or Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, then you will probably like Natalie Weiss when she sings. You will especially like her if you always wished those other two bitches* had accordions.

Currently, she is recording a new album produced by Joe McGinty, a former member of The Psychedelic Furs who has also worked with Nada Surf, Amy Rigby, and Ronnie Spector. She promises that it will be "uplifting". If you like this uplifting music and happen to be in the Brooklyn area, be sure to check her out on June 24th (Luna Lounge, 8PM). I would if I could. But I can't.

d/l: UNICORNICOPIA- Grace. You're a Dear. (YSI)
d/l: UNICORNICOPIA- Crash My Bike (YSI)
(experimental pop with a pretty voice)
- space it -

* Okay, so they're not bitches. They're just girls! But sometimes I like to call people bitches. Sorry.

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': Unicornicopia also worked with Travis Stewart of Machinedrum, who just so happens to be streaming "OOHEE", a Yo Majesty track that a lot of the internet might not have heard yet. Hear it on his space. Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." is the single of the week on iTunes, and it seems that the general iTunes community doesn't like it much, eh?

chris broke it: end. (the ep).

CHRIS BROKE IT creates "simple, beautiful songs immersed in gritty and powerful swirling electronic textures". Well, at least that's what they say they create. Personally, I feel their music is an appropriate soundtrack for lying in bed and exploring the negative space beneath your blankets.

The duo is composed of two individuals going by the names of Chris and Broken, who had known one another for quite some time before they decided to collaborate musically. The two come from very different musical backgrounds--- Chris having studied composition, audio-engineering, and performance (influenced by Debussy, Radiohead, Her Space Holiday) and Broken being a self-taught musician with a heavy indie/rock foundation (influenced by Badly Drawn Boy, NIN, The Robot Ate Me). With their talents and influences combined, they are Chris Broke It. And they are damn good.

End. (the EP) is a collection of four experimental-pop arrangements recorded within a span of months. It opens with "Thank You Toni", which sounds deceptively simple at first-- "I'd like to thank you for always being there. Everywhere I go I find your hair." It's the type of lyric that 14 year olds might find endearing and romantic, but then the next line catches you by surprise-- "You're the only bitch for me." This may actually be the most endearing and romantic lyric of the entire song. It's a type of love that 14 year olds just wouldn't understand. It's like...You can be a bitch sometimes. But I love you. And I love you more than any other bitch out there. If I was ever told that by my significant other, I'd shrug cutely, hug them, and then I'd punch them in the stomach. Because I'm a bitch.

"Thank You Toni" is followed by the much darker "I reK", which isn't just darker in theme but also in musical quality. "I reK" opens with plucked strings, quickly joined by a hypnotic electronic layer. As if this song was a bit too heavy for the listener, it is followed by "Pavil's Song", a very listen-able electro-folk tune with dual-vocals.

End. (the EP) is appropriately closed by a song titled "End of the Year". Its lethargic pace may be off-putting for some listeners, but it seems that it has received quite a bit of love on the space. Either way, it's certainly one of the most interesting and complex arrangements on the album. This song is worth it alone for the moment when the background vocal layer overlaps with the trumpet solo. Beauty.

Chris Broke It is currently recording their first full-length album. If you'd like to listen to songs off of End. (the EP), head to their space or take a listen to "Pavil's Song" below.

d/l: CHRIS BROKE IT- Pavil's Song (YSI)
(experimental indie electronic)
- space it -

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': Learn where the hell the name for this new feature came from on wikipedia. Explore the wonderful self-centered world of Wonderella (ella ella, eh?). Hear two live songs by The Knife at Distance Has The Way. Explore the nation of Elgaland-Vargaland.

compass: the catacombs.

COMPASS is basically a dude named Dave Doom. With the help of many friends and instruments, the dude made an album called Munchy the Bear, and that album has actually had a surprising impact on my life.

I realized this when I decided to use "Harp", a 43 second composition from his album, for a dance I am choreographing. As I watched my dancers writhing under blankets to this song, I recalled several months before when I listened to Munchy the Bear on repeat while carving woodblocks for my senior art thesis. Moments later, I was taken back to a year ago, when the album pushed me through a tumultuous but lovely spring break in Vermont.

Behind the experimentation, weirdness, and dissonance...there is something surprisingly uplifting about Doom's compositions. Tiny Mix Tapes put it well by saying, "...Munchy the Bear, though cynically obsessed with the ever-present threat of impending doom, is nonetheless filled with pleasantly upbeat pop tunes..." Death, war, addiction, and general doom and gloom overpopulate this record, yet there's a sense of catharsis in all of it.

Perhaps I am heavily influenced by my brief encounter with Eiko Otake earlier this year, but Doom's music makes me want to curl up on the floor and yawn out all tensions..."to move/dance actively, forgetting the clutter in my life and fully "tasting" the body and mind". I know I sound cray-cray at this point, but I just have a lot of feelings, ok?

In any case, I didn't mean for this post to be about Munchy the Bear, though I do highly recommend purchasing it. (All profits from the album go towards Oxfam International, which seems to be a worthy cause provided you don't care much about that whole Starbucks controversy from last year.)

Compass recently opened up "the catacombs", a collection of unreleased material available for download on their website. The songs are random, and as Doom notes, "many of these tracks are unmastered or fancilly mixed and all are weird." Despite the warning, some of these creations capture that Munchy magic, and I couldn't be happier about exploring the catacombs.

The songs in the catacombs range in length from the 17 second "Call Me" to the 8 minute "Ginger Angel", in sound from the acoustic feel of "Even In The City 11/06" to the electro "Eon the Fidget", and in theme from birdies to Hiroshima. Explore them yourself here, or download a few selections below.

d/l: COMPASS- Wake Up On Time (YSI)
d/l: COMPASS- Even In The City 11/06 (YSI)
d/l: COMPASS- Philosopher's of America (YSI)
d/l: COMPASS- Never Live Forever (YSI)*
(3 unreleased indie-experimental tracks, *from Munchy the Bear)
- buy it - site it - space it - hype it -

BLOGWATCH: Brooklynvegan interviewed Bjork, who apparently is into Animal Collective, Public Enemy, and the cocaine raps of Clipse?

music for feedback: elmo and animal hospital.

DOWNLOAD: ANIMAL HOSPITAL- Para Larva
- website - myspace - cop that -

This begins a series of posts that will continue up until April. What's the deal? I give you a tune a day in return for feedback on my senior art thesis. Hypothetically, this will allow me to share music with you AND encourage me to have something new to show to you every night. If you want to know a little bit about the tracks, you can check out the tags on the post. I won't have time to write much more than that, but I will direct you to websites, myspaces, links to purchase, and any press for the artists involved.

Perhaps I should explain what I'm doing art-wise. At Wesleyan University, art majors are required to complete a senior thesis exhibition. Essentially, this means that we work intensely for months and show the final product in a huge art gallery with a few other majors. I will be showing in approximately 3 months.

My thesis is composed of wood-block prints of a personal nature, exploring childhood, the imagination, the process of growing up, and the uncertain future. The future will be represented by a collection of garments for a single 3 ft. tall paper doll. The garments will span across a wall of approximately 150 square feet. They will detail various aspects of the future-- occupation, fashion, social standing, fantastical scenarios, etc. The block you see above will be used for a print emphasizing the bizarre possibility that I will wind up working at Sesame Place as Elmo.

I plan to complete the garments by the end of January and then focus on the second wall of the gallery. This wall will include prints detailing my growth as an individual. I know that this doesn't sound like the most intellectual or groundbreaking collection of art, but my hopes are that the piece will encourage others to revisit their childhood and remember the days of coloring books & imaginary friends. I feel like we grow up way too fast, quickly forgetting what made us who we are and worrying too much about what we'll become.

OH! And don't worry...I'll still be bringing you some exciting new stuff musically. Just wait.

quio: she likes to jump at people.

QUIO popped up on some random 16 year-old hipster kid's myspace page one day. Considering I don't usually take musical cues from teenagers who are trying too hard (very few teenagers aren't trying too hard, let's be honest), the strangest thing made me find her appealing. I'd ask you not to judge me for this, but the sole reason I was on the random 16 year-old's myspace was to judge him. Karma, I guess. So judge all you want.

Okay. So while I'm listening to "Gazon Gasolina", I swore that an element of the instrumental was taken from The Neptunes' instrumental for "Caught Out There" by Kelis. It's one single noise, and I may be crazy for noticing this, but it made a difference. I love, like, AND respect Kelis no matter what anyone else says. She's absolutely crazy. Crazy amazing. If you don't agree, perhaps you should read her cover story in VIBE Vixen, a magazine that was apparently created for women of color...and, um, me. So, in this article, Kelis talks about her relationship with her hubby Nas (which sounds like the healthiest show business relationship in the universe), her music, her family, and more. No, this isn't an advertisement for VIBE Vixen bitches. Admittedly, I read the article in Hudson News while waiting for my train back to the jerz at Penn Station. But seriously, Kelis is the real deal. Read that shit up in the Super Stop & Shop if you have to. She's the shit. <-- This video is further evidence. "BITCH...where'd you get that bag?"

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Now back to Quio.

The first thing you should know about Quio is that she should not be taken seriously. In fact, she is violently against being taken seriously-- "She likes to...break up what supposedly makes sense. In misunderstandings she sees both the chance to have performer and listener create something new, and to put into question the perception of understanding something the wrong or right way. Quio is against seriousness when it is used as a tool of dominance, in the way that seriousness gives weight, means truth, means realness. Never wanting to impose meaning. She writes against preconceptions and boxing people in, especially women into premade schemes." Crazy. Crazy amazing.

If that doesn't convince you, perhaps you will be swayed by lyrics such as, "I spread my vibes like an orca in ultrasonic." Orcas aren't mentioned quite mentioned enough in pop music, and I salute Quio for attempting to address this issue.

Quio doesn't quite fit into a mold. On "Gazon Gasolina", she sounds like a nonsensical version of Lady Sovereign over some random-ass experimental electro track. On another side, "So Dazed" is just as non-sensical, yet it's mellow vibe is more suitable for a fan (or former fan) of The Postal Service. You can watch the trippy video for the latter song here.

Some final things you should know: I'm super late in discovering Quio. Over a year. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I can agree with radio babylon's assessment that, "this is perfect for anyone who loves M.I.A. but doesn't think she's grime enough." I guess everyone will have different things to say about Quio due to her genre-fucking tendencies. And, oh...by the way, her name is pronounced "oooh!" Yes, that doesn't make sense. At all.

DOWNLOAD: QUIO- So Dazed
DOWNLOAD: QUIO- Gazon Gasolina
DOWNLOAD: QUIO f/ LISE- Mom + Wife

BUY Like Oooh!

BLOGWATCH: Said the gramophone, my older brother when it comes to blogging, brings us new tunes and a great write-up about Basia Bulat, who I interviewed way back in Febz. Blogs are for dogs leads us to a new track by Air "One Hell of a Party", featuring guest vocals by Jarvis Cocker. You Ain't No Picasso pays tribute to his favorite band Bishop Allen with a post featuring songs from the final two EPs of their twelve month project.