"Feel Good, Inc." - Gorrillaz

I am a bad man. I have not posted in a long time, excusing myself on account of the not-at-all-as-fast-as-blogging pace of my precious baby The Groton Independent. Let's all put this behind us. I know that any number of misspelled primates would love to do so. You remember the Gorillaz, don't you?

I'm happy, I'm feeling glad,
I've got sunshine, In a bag,
I'm useless, But not for long,
The future, Is comin' on.

Damon Albarn (of Blur) sure knows how to lay down an absolutely killer/haunting/soothing/jaded/stoned hook line. All of Gorillaz was phenomenal. And, although it says nothing about him here, Dan the Automator is really really good at laying a beat, which is why I have been living off of Deltron 3030 and Handsome Boy Modeling School tracks in my assuption that Gorillaz was done after Gorillaz. Never say die. Demon Days is out now, and the first single, "Feel Good, Inc." really is so so so good. Check out the guitar. Is it a sample? Did they play it all the way through? What is going on? I don't know or care.

Link to "Feel Good, Inc." - Gorrillaz

Hot Hot Heat - "Goodnight Goodnight"

Hot Hot Heat, previously reviewed here, has a track from theirn new CD Elevator called "Goodnight Goodnight" about embarassing girls. It's sweet.

Link to Hot Hot Heat - "Goodnight Goodnight"

D-Stroy - "Roll Out"

D-Stroy is from Brooklyn. D-Stroy wears a G-Shock watch. D-Stroy was on Matador records summer 2001. D-stroy is part of the Arsonists. D-stroy is of the genre of "mainstream rap beats are kinda tired" genre. I like D-stroy. That generalization about his take on rap beats is kind of unfounded, as my frame of reference is only his song "Roll Out". However, it is almost infinitely better than any number of similarly-named rap songs. And the beat is dope.

Link to D-Stroy - "Roll Out"

The Cuts - "How Can I Get Through"

Rockmedaddyrockmedaddyrockmedaddy! Yes, The Cuts will throw you into involuntary coital proclamations to the effect that they "do you right" they ought to "keep going just like that."
It 's not hard, but it's not soft. It's quite all right. Its smooth...that's the word, and filling like a cornbread muffin with peanut butter on each half. Their site has a number of streams as well as "How Can I Get Through" for download. It's filling like smoked salmon and cream cheese. I don't have a fetish for electic piano, I swear.

(Thanks, BoingBoing)

Link to The Cuts - "How Can I Get Through"

Stephen Malkmus

Lead singer of pavement Stephen Malkmus (does this mean that they broke up?) has struck out on his own with a few albums, and the work is pretty impressive. The vocals are still "fractured," but the instruments are different. The electric piano is killer, as is the guitar. The style is less all-over-the-place, and the tempos are more unified than Pavement.

However, none of this is to say that Pavement fans are going to go hatorade all over the new tracks. I like Pavement; I like Stephen Malkmus. The styles are not altogether that different, but different enough to distinguish the two bands. The work does stand up on its own, though.

"Baby C'mon" has some decidedly psychedelic guitars, as well as some pretty legit normal instruments that don't channel Woodstock. I always kind of zone out his lyrics, so I still don't know what it's about, but I'd guess his baby features in it.

"The Hook" is pretty mellow too. It reminds me of a song that I can't remember, from a place I've never been...Actually, email me if it reminds you of any song, as I really can't think of whatever song it is. On the plus side, it mentions pirates, my favorite genre of international badass, so I automatically like it. Plus, I like mellow.

Since I've already broken my rule about comparing to other bands in this post, as well as referring to myself, I'll go ahead and say that "(Do Not Feed The) Oyster" channels Cream in the beginning, The Beatles circa The White Album in the middle, and Pavement circa Crooked Rain by the end. It's pretty low key until the end, but it still rocks.

"Jenny & The Ess-Dog" does have a bridge in it, which is sort of welcoming after hearing the tracks that sound together all the way through. Disjointedness is still cool, even if tightness is the new disjointedness.

--P.S. sorry about not posting for a week, but AP exams are kind of killer. However, the English Language one had "describe how the following article from The Onion expresses satire. That was actually a really fun question

Link to Stephen Malkmus

The Hand that Feeds

Trent Reznor, lead singer and only member (?) of Nine Inch Nails, released his latest single as a Garage Band format file so that any old musician can remix it. Of the over five-hundred remixes available here, not all of which I have reviewed, Nathan Chase has the most promising ones. Toxic Trent", the remix with Britney Spears's "Toxic" is pretty sweet, contrasting Reznor's dark voice with the you-have-to-dance beat from "Toxic". But there is more to the track than just clever juxtaposition that won't last. The track has legit legs, as the lyrics aren't all doom and gloom; the song has synergy, rather than just clever irony.

"The Ghost that Feeds" is a remix with the lyrics and beats over the instrumental from the theme to Ghostbusters. I guess that the same applies to this as applies to "Toxic Trent". Still, the song is catchy, and kind of different than a lot of the other tracks on the site.

Link to The Hand that Feeds

Songzilla!

I just found another friendly repository of free hotness. Songzilla is cool in terms of quantity (at least 1500 songs), although it doesn't do reviews. Still, if quanitity is your game, Songzilla is the place to go.

Link to Songzilla!

Dizzee Rascal - "Fix Up, Look Sharp"

When I reviewed Atmosphere, I said outright that really sincere rappers are my new thing. Dizzee Rascal falls into that category in a different way. He raps about life in London, where the "front gate" and "the road" both refer to the street. The beat on "Fix Up, Look Sharp" is kind of crazy. Crazy Simple. Simply Crazy. Drums, claps, and a "Whoo". Don't get low, just dig. This is a sort of half garage half hip-hop tune. And it's old, but since he didn't blow up nearly enough in the states, he goes here. Hats off to you, Mr. Rascal.

Link to Dizzee Rascal - "Fix Up, Look Sharp"

Jasper Perkins - "James Wilson"

How many guitar tracks are enough? Two? Three? No, if you want to go absolutely bananas and dance dance dance, you need four guitar tracks. And a bass track. And simulated percussion. You need one minute and twenty-four seconds of pure unadulterated guitar dance. You need Jasper Perkins'"James Wilson". Jasper, my dear older brother, recorded this track with Thomas "Tomo" McDonnell, lead guitar and vocals of Tres Coronas, whose EP (album?) is this blog's namesake. They recorded it one afternoon with Garage Band on Tom's iMac. Jasper Played all of the guitar and bass tracks; they both mixed and added the drum loop. They sampled James Wilson's audiobook The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America, narrated by Nelson Runger. The sample is legit, as they are, according to me, parodying the Nelson Runger's academic tone by juxtaposing it over a dance beat. That they didn't clear their sample, and that they didn't even use an amp, makes them true cowboys of independent music.

Link to Jasper Perkins - "James Wilson"

Atmosphere

Really sincere rappers are my new thing. Slug, half of the group, Atmosphere is that kind of rapper. He has been pretty underbround for his whole career, and his latest album, last year's Seven's Travels showed a certain frustration at his anonymity. His songs are all pretty gritty, kind of dark. On this album, his lyrics are far more assertive than on his earlier work, he throws the words out of his mouth rather than sings them. "Trying to Find a Balance" is definitely kind of dark, but not so depressing. Slug makes you want to listen to him. Compelling comes to mind. And Ant's beats mesh really well with Slug's tone.

I'm not going to lie: I haven't listened to "Cats Van Bags" yet, but it's on my to do list. If it's in keeping with the rest of Atmosphere's oeuvre, then it promises to kick your hearts ass.

Link to Atmosphere