DISTILLED SELECTIONS

Diplo- “Express Yourself (Emynd Bounce Remix)”

Diplo’s latest work has been getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so.  I love it when Emynd gets his hands on a track I was already feeling- dude just has a gift. Here’s another recent remix of which I can not get enough:

Both of these have free downloads, don’t say I never gave ya nothin! If you don’t know Emynd, get acquainted.  He’s worth knowing, but what the hell do I know anyway?

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Field Report- “I Am Not Waiting Anymore”- From an upcoming 2012 release

This picture is taken from Field Report’s new website.  Looks like what the Canadian Flag would look like if I had been allowed to design it (I’ll get you next time George F.G. Stanley).  It also looks like a Bon Iver album cover.  Being as Chris Porterfield was a member of Justin Vernon’s previous band, DeYarmond Edison, I bet that’s no accident. The other non-Vernon members of DeYarmond Edison became the indie-folk band Megafaun.

That’s quite a pedigree.  A birkenstock wearing, wood chopping, unplugged pedigree.  Field Report sounds more like Megafaun than Bon Iver, which is unfortunate, but it’s still pretty good acoustic folk.  This song actually reminds me more of Justin Townes Earle, but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros- “Man on Fire”- off Here, which came out 5/29/12

“Man On Fire” is one of my favorite tracks of 2012, and now it has a new visual to support it.  In stark contrast to the M83 videos we posted yesterday, this video is boring and uninspiring. 

“I want the whole damn world
To come and dance with me”

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are like modern day hippies- I think Alexander Ebert last showered in 2010, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that had been on accident, like he got caught in a rain storm or something.  I think with this video they were attempting to show a diverse mix of people unified in their love of dance- they show people jumping rope, doing step, performing gymnastics and cheer-leading.  I guess those could be loosely interpreted as “types of dance” (step clearly is), but not one of those activities is done as a celebration of music.  And at no point did I feel that any of the people in the video were people who listen to this type of music.

Anyway, enough beating on this shitty video.  Since I’m posting about ESaTM, I want to share this awesome video my buddy Derek showed me of a live performance of “Man On Fire” at KCRW:  

That should have been the video for this song! I downloaded Here off amazon MP3 for $5.  It’s only 9 songs and like 38 minutes.  I’m sad to say there is nothing on the rest of the album even remotely close to how good “Man On Fire” is.  Maybe it will grow on me…but I doubt it, sounds kind of boring so far.  Definitely no gems on Here like “40 Day Dream”.

Check it out for yourself, because really, what the hell do I know anyway?

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M83- “Reunion”- off 2011’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

M83 recently released a new video for their fantastic song, “Reunion”.  The video is the long awaited follow up to the official video for the lead single off Hurry Up We’re Dreaming- “Midnight City”.  Watch this video first:

These videos have an amazing amount of production value- I mean shit, these look like deleted scenes from X-Men: First Class.  This is how videos should be done!  They compound and elaborate on the art of the audio to generate an immersive experience.  Even the videos that M83 allows to use their songs in are great- check out this video for Project Yosemite where they use the song “Outro”.

I’m done, there’s no way to write more about this and not have me sound like some kind of art school D-bag.  Regardless, well done M83.

M83 clearly “gets it”…but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

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Beck- “I Just Started Hating Some People Today”- off the “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” 7” single which came out 5/28/12

Beck is back with a new single that was produced and is being released by Jack White and his label- Third Man Records. On the surface, this sounds like a match made in Heaven, but I am always wary when two mega-superstars and friends get together for a collaboration.  Sometimes it seems like they use these opportunities to record the craziest shit they can think of, almost as an opportunity to remind people that though they have had mainstream success, they can make music that will be panned by the mainstream…kind of a “reverse psychology of credibility”. (patent pending on that term)

On first listen, “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” will fuck with your ears. It is a major departure from 2008’s Modern Guilt, and the stuff he did for the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack. This basically was my reaction:

That said, this song is really growing on me…it is a curious, adventurous track, but thankfully it does not stray too far from listenable (depending on your tolerance for old-style twangy country music).  It is a 5 minute track that has two separate drastic style changes.  It starts as an old school country track with dark lyrics and a humming reverb laden bass-line as backing.  Then, around the 3:43 mark, it makes a 180 degree style change to a hardcore riff and shrieking (that kicks tremendous amounts of ass).  Then again at the 4:08 mark it shifts dynamically into a genre Stereogum referred to as “porno-funk”.  Not gonna lie, it kind of blew my mind.

My guess is that you’ll either love this or completely hate it, but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

Gif credits

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Hanni El Khatib- “You Rascal You”-off September 2011’s Will The Guns Come Out

There is a shitload of music out there.  I’m not complaining, but even when you scan as many music blogs as I do, you can’t possibly listen to everything.  Inevitably you start to get selective about what you’ll really listen to, and even what you will check out.I find I gravitate towards bands with cool names.

Hanni El Khatib is not a cool name.  It sounds like the name of a lebanese fast food restaurant.  If I hadn’t heard this song before I read his name, I probably never would have taken the time to listen to this LA based artist and his particular brand of garage-rock blues.

I’m really glad I checked this guy out…just AWESOME.  Sounds like all the best things I loved about early The Black Keys- bluesy, gritty and raw. This song is an oldie that has been done many times in the past by artists like Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway.

Hanni El Khatib is still new to me, but I bought Will The Guns Come Out for $5 at amazon.com. I don’t usually buy full albums anymore, but I figured this was worth a roll of the dice.  But hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

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The National- “The Rains of Castamere”- off Game Of Thrones: Season Two, due out 6/19/12

I am addicted to Game of Thrones.  The HBO show started it, but now I’m reading the books.  I just finished the 3rd book (which is a fucking miracle- these things are over 1000 pages each and small-as-shit print), and this song, “The Rains of Castamere” came up multiple times.  I can’t think of a better band and singer to deliver this track than The National.  Matt Berninger’s baritone is perfect for the tone and story behind this song.

The National’s last full album was 2010’s High Violet, but they’ve stayed busy.  Last year they contributed the fantastic “Exile Vilify” for the soundtrack to a video game, Portal 2.

This songs serves 2 purposes- it indulges my infatuation with GoT and it gives me a much needed dose of the National.  About time they give us another album IMHO, but what the hell do I know anyway?

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Foo Fighters + Mick Jagger- “Miss You”- Live in Rockefeller Center after 5/19/12 SNL Season Finale

This is a short post.  If you didn’t already know Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl were two of the coolest famous people on the planet, watch this.  This live video was recorded in Rockefeller Center after the SNL season finale.  As a bonus, they perform “Miss You”, my favorite Stones song.

But hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

The Mynabirds- “Body of Work”- off Generals, due out 6/5/12

We previously posted the titular track off The Mynabirds forthcoming album, but the band (and Saddle Creek Records) are making another track available free right now.  Check out “Body of Work”.  It is the 1st part of the 4 songs featured in the preview video above, and you can stream and download the track for free from Rolling Stone here.  

Sounds like more fun stuff- definitely worth a free download, but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

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Sleigh Bells- “Demons”- off Reign of Terror, out now

Sleigh Bells have the distinction of being the first ever post on DISTILLED SELECTIONS.  Reign of Terror has been out for a few months now, and all told it hasn’t blown up quite as big as I initially expected.  It got a good review by Pitchfork, and I haven’t heard anyone bash it, but buzz has been relatively quiet in my circles.  

They performed on SNL (video below) to lukewarm reviews, and they’ve been touring in support of recent Hall of Fame inductees, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Usually, when a band gets to open for a big name band like the Chili Peppers, their next album is the one that blows up in the mainstream.  That’s what happened with Kings of Leon (opened for U2) and The Black Keys (opened for Pearl Jam).

Here’s the new video for “Demons”.  I think this is my favorite track off the album, and now it has a visual…kind of.  This video sucks.  I’m sure they were going for some raw live performance look, but it’s boring as hell.  Great plan, shitty execution, much like this:

It’s definitely no “Infinity Guitars”, but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

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