Local Natives - Simon and Garfunkel - Cecilia (Acoustic Cover)

HT: You Ain't No Picasso`

Flight of the Conchords- I'm Not Crying

Ridgley without Michael, Hall without Oates, Jemaine without Brett.

Phoenix - Lisztomania Live at the Wiltern 6/28/2009

Phoenix were impressive last night. One of the surprises and joys was seeing the drummer bash the shit out of his kit like a French version of Animal.

I've heard that mobile uploads to YouTube are up 400% since the new iPhone came out. If that means more videos like this, i'm all for it.

Thanks to Butter for dragging me out to Phoenix.

MJ 6 pack

Contractually obligated to do this.

In 2 zip files, unfortunately.

DOWNLOAD: MJ 6 pack.zip
DOWNLOAD: MJ 6 pack2.zip

TRACKLISTING:
Emau Masawayu & Radioclit - Will You Be There (Free Willy sample)
Michael Jackson - Beat It (2002 Bushwacka remix)
Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Starting Something (Streetlife DJs mix)
Michael Jackson & Dianna Ross - Ease On Down the Road (from the Wiz)
Naughty By Nature - OPP (ABC sample)
The Notorious B.I.G. - Mo Money, Mo Problems (just because)

Epiphany 6 pack

Epiphanies can happen, even when you're not at Burning Man. This week, it was in yoga. Things in your heart can change in a moment. Now, I can begin to see the good in myself that others have always seen clearly.

Thank you for seeing the good in me even when i couldn't see it myself, and thank you for reaching out to me with love and kindness, even when i wasn't ready to accept it.

With a much more open heart and with joy,
M!

DOWNLOAD: epiphany 6 pack.zip

Elvis Presley - "There's a Brand New Day on the Horizon"
"The old dark clouds are going to roll away, the sun is going to shine"

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - 'T.R.O.Y.'
rephrasing "But you saw what took me a long time to see, i dedicate this to you for believin' in me"

Definition of Sound - 'Now is Tomorrow'
yes.

doves - "There Goes the Fear"
Let it go.

Richard Ashcroft - 'Brave New World'
I'll see you on the other side of this changing world.

Bree Sharp - "We're going to be friends (White Stripes cover)"
Thank you my friends.

eels - Fresh Feeling (HT: k8)
Birds singing a song,
old pain is peeling,
this is that fresh
that fresh feeling.
Words can't be that strong,
my heart is real,
this is that fresh,
that fresh feeling.

Friday 6 pack, Go away gloom edition

This week's 6 pack is all about the sunny days that are right around the corner from those of us b'gloomed in Lala. Love and light are just around the corner.

DOWNLOAD: d'gloomed sunshine 6 pack.zip

Air France - 'Collapsing at your doorstep'
Building on a sample(?) of 'No - better. Like a dream', this will be a natural for your Burning Man photo slideshow on YouTube.

Heart Attack - 'Right Now'
Cee-lo gets down on a sunny day jam along with uh, shit. My notes say 'someone else'. So just know that someone else wants you to get down in the sun this weekend.

Bill Withers - 'Lovely Day'
You know someone else that wants you to get down in the sun? (Points thumbs at self). This guy. And Bill. I highly recommend using this song as a Pandora station. Goodness, goodness.

Ace - 'How Long'
The Eclectech pool party kids and DJ Wiseacre love throwing this one into the mix. Gorgeous people dancing poolside throwing out sunbeam smiles, that's what deglooming is made of.

YACHT - 'Psychic City'
Portland made sunshine jam: Summer is here for you, if you'll just 'Come on over, over, over we're having a party for you.' Cool backstory here.

Lipps, Inc. - 'How long (dublindisco edit)'
Reprise, because the good times do last and they happen again and again and again. :)

and finally, every beautiful day deserves a beautiful evening. Tonight, mine's at the Greek seeing Ms. Neko Case live with my friends Alan, Vallier & Glenn.

Neko Case - 'This Tornado Loves You'
Really looking forward to the section at the end where 'this tornado loves you' swirls around before Neko belts out 'What will make you believe me?' Monumentally wonderful.

Have a great summer weekend.

The Beatles vs LCD Soundsystem vs The Kinks - Mashup by FAROFF

Summer cross-species romance (delayed 6-pack)

The 6-pack got delayed by late hours working on a way to get more people to put stuff up their noses. The music this week is all boppy indie-dance for the most part. Songs to soundtrack your upcoming summer cross-species romance (but not cross-phylum romance - that shit is a perversion). Impossible and doomed, but sunny and so worth the ride.

DOWNLOAD: Up Their Noses 6-pack.zip

Maria Taylor - Cartoons & Forever Plans
Sweet & quirky. You know that moment after you've finally hooked up with someone and you both are thrilled you like each other and reveal how long/when/how you first realized you liked them? This is the song for that.

Matt & Kim - Daylight
Dorky-indie & adorable. For that moment when you first decide, I can't swim, but fuck it - I'll jump in the ocean for them and see what happens.

Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Dorky-electro & slightly too saccharine. Like when you're infatuated with someone and all talk leads back to him or her to the exclusion of any other kind of chatter.
"See, I'm a dolphin and she's a bovine, but we're both mammals, right?"

Little Boots - New In Town
Cool&dark. Now you realize that you're going to take her around to meet your friends. And suddenly, all of the differences really come to the surface.

Metric - Help I'm Alive
Half dark & rocky in a Hole meets Bloc Party kind of way. Now you've realized that you're a fucking sea mammal, a goddamned dolphin and what the hell are we doing trying to walk on feet we don't have? Why is everyone staring? Can someone please help? Please?

Noisettes - When We Were Young (The Killers live lounge cover)
Breathy&self-conscious. Ten years on, you find a pre-internet photo of the dolphin and you in sunnier days. sigh.

Drums

Cannonball Run Music Video

Mute this clip and play any of the songs from today's 6-pack. May heaven be full of chesty 70s foxes and gourmet French cuisine, Dom.

DOWNLOAD: Captain Chaos Cannonball Run 6pack.zip

Tracklisting:
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire
Take a Little Time to Smile - Peggy Lee
Let Me Ride - Dr. Dre
Let There Be Rock - Drive-by Truckers
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Descending - The Black Crowes

2 of my favorite things, 1 video

Indiepop & getting naked, all in one video. Matt & Kim - Lessons Learned

Swine Flu

Heading down to San Diego this weekend to see my folks, who are in from Orlando, visiting my aunt & uncle. Because the best thing to do in a pandemic is to drive closer to the source. We're having dinner at Typhoid Mary's on Saturday night.

Below is retro-funk greatness from Curtis Mayfield, retro-90sindie low-fi-ness from Sebadoh, retro-maudlinness from The Smiths and retro-comedy from Airplane! the Movie.

More contemporarily, Passion Pit will be smashing dancefloors all summer long, Ferraby Lionheart ragtime celebrates and eulogizes New Orleans, and Cansei de Ser Sexy does what they do best.

Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: MayDay! Swine Flu! 6-pack!.zip

'The Freed Pig' - Sebadoh
'Jive Sick' dialogue - Airplane! the Movie
'The Reeling' - Passion Pit
'Before We're Dead' - Ferraby Lionheart
'Girlfriend in a Coma' - The Smiths
'Rat is Dead' - Cansei de Ser Sexy
'Freddie's Dead' - Curtis Mayfield

Torture 6 pack

throwing this up as my dad and i take off for our Santa Barbara Sideways adventure:

DOWNLOAD: Sideways Torture.zip

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
Chairlift - Evident Utensil
Gareth Person - Time to Pretend (MGMT cover)
School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
The Dears - Disclaimer
Empire of the Sun - We Are The People

FEATHERS&victory! six-pack

It's spring again in LA.



Not that we themed up this week's 6 pack of mp3s.

DOWNLOAD: Feathers & Victory 6 pack of mp3s.zip

Tracklisting:

United States of Electronica - "All the World"
Seattle's 'greatest Daft Punk but dafter' party band return! They use exclamation marks in all their lyrics! Or should! Lots of vocoder! Dancey beats! Monomaniacally focused on partying like Andrew W.K. (sample lyrics from It Is On: "It is on! Party people c'mon! It is on! It is on! Everybody singing along!) The perfect band to soundtrack a pillow fight.

The Boy Least Likely To - 'Saddle Up'
Twee as fuck. Settles in at a donkey clip-clop complete with horns, violin and mandolin. Bound to be used in an Apatow movie at the moment when one of the heartbroken characters needs a good cheering up. Btw, love that I Love You, Man is set mostly in Venice.

David Byrne and Brian Eno - 'Strange Overtones'
Comes bubbling up and hints at an ecstacy groove. Then the hook gets all rubbery with a hushed Byrne melody before the chorus explodes into something joyous with yes, strange overtones. How meta of them. "You are strong and you are tough, but a heart is not enough".

The Cocktail Slippers - 'Sentenced to Love'
I think this sounds a little Go-go's. If they'd had an apprenticeship with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The opening shrieks also remind me of Kate & from the B-52s. And there's handclaps. Which they've got going for them. Which is nice.

Harlem Shakes - 'Strictly Game'
This will be a better year, they keep telling us. Maybe they were talking about 2010? I wish they were called The Harlem Shake though.

Soul Asylum - 'Sometime to Return'
From MTV's Nevermind the 80s: 120 Minutes vol 1.
Man, swinging a pillow around is ti-ring. I have a newfound appreciation for medieval battles. And I was only wearing our Reorient shirts, not chain mail. And no one hit me with a flail or mace. After about 10 minutes of pillowfighting, I needed to take a quick break and catch my breath, before diving back into the fray. This would've been perfect psyching up music to do so.

Carolina Chocolate Drops performing "Hit' Em Up Style"

Cover of the Blu Cantrell song, bluegrass style. Yow.

Pillow Fools Day

Pillow Fight Day: Los Angeles from bk on Vimeo.

Cross-metaphorization today - an April Fools mix and a call to arms for Global Pillow Fight Day.

DOWNLOAD: Pillow Fools Day.zip

GOTO: Your local global Pillow Fight Day. In Los Angeles, that'd be 3pm in Pershing Square.

Tracks:
The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
Neko Case - Runnin' Out of Fools
Run DMC - It's Tricky
Tricky - Black Steel (Public Enemy cover)
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco
Le Tigre - Fake French
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Lick the Tins - Can't Help Falling in Love (Fools rush in) (Elvis cover)

Out Like a Black Sheep 6 pack

The 6-pack says goodbye to March this week by getting a little dark, rocky & squelchy. A hearty welcome back to Silversun Pickups, no doubt ensconced in fur and draped with diamonds after their extensive licensing of 'Lazy Eye'.

Above is the video for the pretty amazing 'Playing for Change's Stand By Me'(HT: Maureen). Inspiring.

DOWNLOAD: Out Like A Black Sheep.zip

Silversun Pickups - 'Panic Switch'
In which the erstwhile Smashing Pumpkins stomp on an fx pedal and strum as furiously as ever. A little more muscular than before.

Greyboy - Bronson f. Mainflo
(HT: Jay the travelling planner) Just dark, eerie, suspenseful and electro enough for anyone's case study about a Russian assassin.

The Nextdoor Neighbors
(HT: Marcus) Kinda dubby and bassy with a cute kewpie voice. A line could be drawn straight back to the Sugarcubes, but without that awful Einar shouting about lobsters.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons
This is supposed to be the YYYs' dance record. If so, this is more their 'Into Their Groove' than 'La Isla Bonita'. It's more that Nick Zinner's guitars get left to the side but they still leave room for something epic and rock. This'd be a great pre-dawn/sunrise song at the Burning Man.

Yeasayer - Tightrope
World rhythms for the Dark Was The Night charity comp. This song makes me think of long caravans through the desert. I find a lament and a worldweariness in the singer's voice, but somehow it feels welcoming and inviting - sit by the fire and let's wait for the dawn.

Phoenix - 1901
It's really a straightahead 80s new wave song with some extra production magic thrown in to keep the skinny jeans kids excited.

March Midtemponess 6 pack

DOWNLOAD: March Midtemponess.zip

Royksøpp - 'Happy Up Here'
Midtempo electronic squelchiness. Good tempo for shooting down aliens.

Vetiver - 'Everyday'
Midtempo jangly jauntiness. Good tempo for 'bladin'.

AC Newman - 'Heartbreak Rides'
Midtempo power pop goodness from the New Pornographer. (Sans Neko Case, et. al).

Fight Like Apes - 'I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me'
Truthful bizarre midtemponess. I think the title is hurtful only if it refers to the new 90210, not the old one with Luke Perry & Shannen Doherty.

Bat For Lashes - Daniel
Sultry female midtempo weirdness. Cat Power's electro British cousin?

Roger Miller - 'King of the Road'
(HT: Dellapina).
In these economic times: midtempo road trip goodness?

The Tick - 'Going Sane'
Stay on the right side of madness, mis amigos.

Danny Boy

the Beaker Animal Chef trio, for your enjoyment

friggatriskaidekaphobia 6 pack

Bad shit happens on Friday the 13th. Like rainbow-fire-breathing pandas. (HT: Don)

To ward that type of crazy shit off, we've got a covers-heavy version of the Friday 6-pack for your listening pleasure.

DOWNLOAD: friggatriskaidekaphobia.ZIP

Sara Lov - Timebomb (Old 97's cover)
Where the Old 97s original is a glorious romp(play it on Rock Band 2 and see), Sara Lov makes it dreamy and sunbitten. Like lying around on a stolen Sunday morning with a n affair you know won't last, but don't care.

Katie Hasty - Forever Young (Alphaville cover)
(HT: Ben @ musicforpicture). Been sitting on this one forever. Katie picks at an acoustic guitar, backed by an organ and enunciates the lyrics. It's like the opposite of a Ryan Adams cover. This should play over the end of a high school romantic comedy while a graudation slide show plays. See the whole Music For Picture Presents Revisionist History tracklisting here.

The Books f. Jose Gonzalez - 'Cello Song (Nick Drake cover)'
(HT: Maxwell) Honestly, I don't know a damned thing about the original. I believe it was for the original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 1973, and was a collab between yo-yo ma and nick drake. This is from the very excellent Dark Was The Night compilation. At the rate that he turns out amazing covers, Jose Gonzalez is fast turning into indie's Lauryn Hill. Quiet, but wonderful.

Cloud Cult - No One Said It Would Be Easy
Internets: "This is from Cloud Cult's new DVD, No One Said It Would Be Easy, a retrospective of the band's 10 years of existence." Me: Cloud Cult's been around for 10 years? Still grand.

Andrew Bird - 'Fitz & Dizzyspells'
I love how it starts with Andrew singing "Comes and" without accompaniment before the guitar chuggs in for 'goes'. I really should have saved this for another top-down mix, but liked it too much to wait.

Art Brut - 'Alcoholics Anonymous'
The ironic hipsters (hip ironicists? hard to say) craft pretty simple great punk tracks that serve as the bed for Eddie Argos devastatingly wry lyrics. The perfect way to kick off your weekend.

Have a safe weekend. Please remember to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at your favorite Mexican watering hole this coming Tuesday.