unreal: can you get to heaven.

UNREAL took a random TRL freestyle from Nelly Furtado and created a relatively catchy and listenable song out of it.

Despite the fact that "Can You Get To Heaven" was produced with nothing but shitty headphones, a computer, and a MIDI keyboard...the shit sounds relatively legitimate. This created a bit of conflict on message boards when people started thinking that this was a new or unreleased song by Ms. Furtado, but honestly...do you really think she'd pop out a song about getting slurpees at 7-11? But then again, did you really think she'd pop out a song about being promiscuous? Answer to both questions: Probs not.

Think he shouldn't quit his day job? Well, he hasn't. Unreal is just an 18 year old-- "going out, working, and playing video games". Music is just his hobby. With that said, he's damn good for just being a part-time musician with a Timbaland infatuation. People who admire Timbaland tend to create poor carbon-copy imitations of his beats, but I've recently been encountering a good amount of producers who transcend above this.

Beyond "Can You Get To Heaven", I'm really loving the "Madman" beat he has bumping on his space. Also, he has some amazing remixes of the two most over-played songs of last summer-- "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley and "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado. By amazing, I mean that you don't have to throw back a whole box of Franzia before you find yourself dancing to these. Both of them have a little bit of that fresh '80s revival vibe that the world seems to be feeling right now.

Check out his remix compilation for more mixes, including Busta Rhymes, Yung Joc, Rich Boy, Jeannie Ortega, Slim Thug, Justin Timberlake, Sebastian, 50 Cent, Cassie, and Clipse.

d/l: NELLY FURTADO- Can You Get To Heaven (YSI)
d/l: GNARLS BARKLEY- Crazy (Unreal remix) (YSI)
d/l: NELLY FURTADO- Promiscuous (Unreal remix) (YSI)
(remixxxes)
- space it -

BLOGGER NOTE: The "purple people" are all fired up because of a wikipedia article with a rumored tracklisting for the next album by The Pussycat Dolls which states that they will have a song featuring Prince. (Discovered from someone who linked to my very early post on Eden's Crush.)

BLOGWATCH: Who The Bloody Hell Are They? has a new remix by Miami Horror. Fluxblog talks about a new UGK track featuring Outkast, produced by Three 6 Mafia. Not a blog, but Wu Tang Corp hooks us up with 215 unreleased/rare Wu Tang Clan tracks, link courtesy of Spine Magazine.

samuel: remix of timbalands "give it to me".

d/l: TIMBALAND f/ MS. FURTADO & J.T.- Give It To Me (Samuel remix) (YSI)
(relatively minimal mix of Timbo's latest single)
- site it - hype it / pre-order it - site it - space it - hype it - wik it -

To be entirely upfront, I was never feeling the original mix of this song. Despite my supposed hiatus, I couldn't resist posting this remix of it after I got word about it from Samuel. I guess I'm just a sucker for supporting artists that I like...and this mix is super-addictive like some Lays potato chip shit. I'll be humming this beat in my sleep.

NOTE: Samuel now enters the IT'S THE MONEY SHOT!! club house.

samuel: cassie remix.

download: CASSIE- Long Way 2 Go (Samuel remix) (YSI)
(minimal refix of pop tune)
- site it - hype it / buy it - site it - space it - wik it - hype it -

I don't know much about this Samuel character, but he's kind of the shit (no pun intended with above photo). Make sure to also check out his remix of Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl". Sure, the original is a little played out, but his version made it okay for me to listen to the song again (when I'm not drunk).

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.

destroyer: shat on the radio.

DESTROYER: Since the mixtape, I've been posting a lot of pop & hip-hop, so I decided I'd switch it up for a minute. The latest effort from Dan Bejar, Destroyer's Rubies, is on the shelf next to St. Elsewhere, Rabbit Fur Coat, and Silent Shout as what are, in my opinion, the best albums of 2006 so far. With that said, it'd be a shame if I didn't refer you over to i (heart) music to download the Radio 3 session the band did last month.

BONUS TRACK: DESTROYER- Students Carve Hearts Out of Coal

BUY This Night
BUY Destroyer's Rubies

If Dan Bejar's vocals and cryptic poetry aren't quite up your alley, may I suggest a cover of Gnarls Barkley done by none other than the newly sexified Nelly Furtado? All I have to say is that this girl is quite far from her days of being a bird that didn't know where her home was. To sum it up-- Sex sells, and we're buying it. Her lead single off the new album Loose, "Promiscuous", scored her the first US number one single of her career thanks to a little help from sir Timbaland, the self-proclaimed Gandalf of hip-hop. With all that said, she recently did an acoustic cover of another song that's topping the charts right now. It's been described as "hauntingly beautiful". If not that, it's certainly a nice break from the original.

DOWNLOAD: NELLY FURTADO- Crazy

BONUS TRACK: NELLY FURTADO- Maneater (UK single, also produced by Timbaland)

PRE-ORDER Loose, officially dropping June 20th