Monthly Archives: August 2007

Julieta Venegas – Limón y Sal

Can you speak and/or understand Spanish? Doesn’t matter, I think you’ll absolutely love Julieta Venegas. She’s a Spanish “singer-songwriter” who plays several instruments including acoustic guitar, accordion, and keyboard. She grew up in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and began studying music at the age of 8 and has gone on to win several Grammy Awards.

42-julieta-venegas.jpg

Maybe it’s just me but I think Spanish is a language that is beautifully sung. Here she is singing “Me Voy” which roughly translates to “I’m leaving”.

Another song you should listen to is Limón y Sal, which translates to “Lemon and Salt”. The video is shot to look like a silent film and goes on to show a very interesting story.

She’s available on iTunes

Mypsace

Official Site

-Erick

Frank Turner – Sleep is for the Week

I can’t remember how I came across Frank Turner or what made me listen to this song but I like him. He is a singer-songwriter from the UK. In my opinion, singer-songwriter stuff is more about personality and storytelling than technical skill. In this way, they are able to speaker directly to the listener and tell their story in a very human way.

Check out his official site to read his blog or get updated.

Myspace

-Erick

The Great Snowboard Playlist. Part 1: Bomb Hill

Hey all! So as promised we are going to start dishing out some cool playlists for your audio pleasure. The first theme being Snowboarding. The songs in my mind have to be a really pumped and energetic to match the dizzying speeds that I often go at on bomb hill down runs. This includes a lot of rock, electronic and funk, heavy guitar ridden anthems, deep bass and fast drum beats.

  1. No Pun Intended – The Hives
  2. Luno – Bloc Party
  3. Where’s Your Head At – Basement Jaxx
  4. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
  5. Block Rockin’ Beats – Chemical Brothers
  6. Huddle Formation – The Go! Team
  7. Two-Timing Touch And Broken Bones – The Hives
  8. Search and Destroy – Iggy and the Stooges
  9. Assassin – Muse
  10. Do What You Want – Ok Go
  11. Guerilla Radio – Rage Against the Machine
  12. Higher Ground – Red Hot Chili Peppers
  13. Torture Me – Red hot Chili Peppers
  14. Cosmopolitan – Nine Black Alps
  15. Woman – Wolfmother
  16. Head Like a Hole – AFI
  17. Jacques Your Body Makes Me Sweat – Les Rythmes Digitales
  18. Here It Goes Again – Ok Go
  19. Jerk It Out – Caesers
  20. Hypersonic – Jane’s Addiction
  21. Play It Out – MXPX
  22. Way Away – Yellowcard

I think that’s good enough for now. Next time in part 2 we are going to “Take It Down a Notch” for a more chilled but still pumped playlist and then again ending with a playlist that is as “Smooth as Powder”.

Tell us what you think of the playlist in the comments or at theantihypeblog@gmail.com , if you have any suggestions or things you think we should add or take out and we might revise the list. All playlists that we do will be put up as iMixes on iTunes in future.

-Alx

Crystal Castles

“A terrible accident, but compellingly beautiful, like a nun-packed bus crashing headlong into a truck full of scalpels made of gold.”

Crystal Castles

Ok…I think the only way to describe Crystal Castles is to imagine that you are back in the 80′s( yes, I know many are trying to forget) and computers are alive and have been programmed to make dance music, full of rising/falling 8-bit synth lines. An unconventional analogy, yes, but it should prepare you for this video.

While some may be turned off by that sound, I find it spontaneous, innovative and full of energy like your computer may explode, though a bit “out there” I agree. Their remixes are more accessible, if you don’t like their original stuff.

MP3| Lovers Who Uncover(Crystal Castles Remix) -The Little Ones – This may make you LOVE Crystal Castles…be careful.

MP3| Trash the Rental (Crystal Castles Remix) – Soho Doll

Myspace – stream some original stuff here – Listen to “Alice Practice” it has an interesting story about the band.

But how are they live?

-Erick

Read More »

We Can Create by Maps

maps we can createThis one I discovered a little while back but I’ve still been listening to it so I decided to share it with you. Maps is a fairly new group having just released their debut album early in July and are categorized as being an Alternative band although they have a very distinct post-punk/synthpop feel and a sound similar to maybe Postal Service. This is one of the few albums I enjoy listening to from start to finish without skipping through it. The album is a very mellow electronic experience with soft vocals, consistent beats and wide usage of synth piano and electronic organ. This is a great album to listen to if you just want to chill. Best songs on the album: So Low So High, You Don’t Know Her Name and Don’t Fear.

iTunes Link

-Alx

Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion

After watching Mika perform his song Grace Kelly, I have to say I was very intrigued, mainly because he was clearly enjoying what he was doing and he doesn’t really fit a mold.

Mika

Apparently he wrote the “Grace Kelly” when he started working in show business and in a meeting record executives said, “Yeah, you’re great but… could you write songs just like Robbie Williams or Craig David?” So he siad that if they want him to be like Craig David, then he’ll just be like Grace Kelly and see if they still want to sign a contract with him. The similarity in the melody to “Le Mariage de Figaro”makes it almost the perfect insult to them.

If you like Freddie Mercury, Scissor Sisters, or Elton John definitely check him out. You can stream some samples of his album “Life in Cartoon Motion” here or on iTunes. I eagerly urge you to check out his other song Relax…Take it Easy.

Love Today (Mp3) – Guaranteed to lift your spirits.

-Erick

Post Millenium New Age Dance Compilations

Phew that’s a mouth full! I’ve been searching around for some new age and original dance music lately. Mainly songs that seemed to have a new feel to them or really good mixes. I am particularly fond of dance songs that are a little less trance and synth and more instrumental and vocals. I have come across two sets of compilations that help whet my appetite. (I actually found these both in Urban Outfitters, check out your local shop and you might discover something cool.) The Kitsune Maison compilations and the Leave Them All Behind compilations.

The former, Kitsune Maison Compilation 1-4, is French based and has a bit more European and underground club scene influence. The base way to categorize the music on this album would be Indie-Dance or Dance-Punk for some of the songs. The compilations included some of the hottest names in electronic like Hot Chip, Dragonette, Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Architecture In Helsinki. It also includes some sick remixes of songs by bands like Wolfmother, Bloc Party and Feist, not typical people to do remixes of but comes out well all the same. Unfortunately the Kitsune gang didn’t put some of the best works of these groups on the albums, so if you are a little disappointed by some of the songs, try and find more from that artist. You might find something better that you like (on a side note check out the song A Cause Des Garçons (RIOT IN BELGIUM REMIX) by Yelle. legend). If you are looking for at least new names in dance style music to start listening to then this is well worth a listen. Best songs on compilation 4: I Get Around (Midnight Juggernaut Mix) by Dragonette and Drugs In My Body by Thieves Like Us.

Next up we have Modular presents Leave Them All Behind 2. This one has a little more of what I had been talking about earlier and is a better album in my opinion. It has a little more guitar-driven/instrumental stuff so you will find names like The Gossip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ali Love and Peter Bjorn and John. You also will find more of those indie/alternative rock remixes (like from the Kitsune comps) of bands like Futureheads, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand and Scissor Sisters. Last but most definitely not least is of course the original dance style content on the album from the likes of New Young Pony Club (Ice Cream is a super funky-fresh song) and The Shakes. All the songs on the album blend seamlessly into the next one so you can just let the whole album play as one continuous dance track at parties if you want. Best songs on the album: Gravity’s Rainbow (Van She Remix) by Klaxons, Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix) by Wolfmother and Ice Cream by New Young Pony Club (but they are all good really).

After finding these albums I could almost say mission accomplished for new age dance, but there is far more stuff to find. I will actually be posting about an incredible mash-up album soon so stay tuned! If you have a dance compilation you feel is worth checking out gives us a shout! theantihypeblog@gmail.com

-Alx

Bass line hugs and hi-hat kisses

One my guilty pleasures in a song is a great bass line and the use of a hi-hat. So I thought I’d make a post about songs that have just that. This is sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so we’ll see how this works, if it does at all.

We Are Scientists 2

First is the song that made me think of this idea. Lousy Reputation by We Are Scientists. A three piece rock suit that delivers rock with no filler. Stream their full album here.

Then there is Giddy Stratospheres by The Long Blondes. A really good English indie rock band, also could be called glamour punk, whatever that means. Buy the album (really worth it) or song here.

(And I Was A) Boy From School by Hot Chip has a bit of disco/dance vibe to it. The whole album is actually worth checking out and buying. This too comes along with a cool video.

Moving along, this remix of Justice‘s D.A.N.C.E. by Mstrkrft is simply killer. Personally, I like it more than the original song. I’m still not sure as to what I think of Justice though. I actually found this one via Kidz by Colette.

Daft Punk profile

You’ll probably recognize this by Daft Punk. It’s recorded on a handheld so it has bad sound quality and isn’t the full thing but you’ll get the mp3 further down it’s simply but a taste of hi-hat goodness. Alex actually told me about them, so long ago.

Frase+Bri is a duo from New Zealand, creating what I’ve read as rave-pop. 8hr Crush will get anyone moving. You can stream it here.

Emilie Simon
Émilie Simon is an incredibly talented French singer. She released a US album at the end of last year but has several others. Not only can she compose and play several instruments, she’s also kinda cute and by “kind of cute”, I mean very cute. Watch and listen to some interviews with her here. Most importantly though watch this and then watch her live here.

“On the other Side” by the Strokes is quite a contender. To be quite honest, I was very impressed with their third album First Impressions of Earth. I just found their first two albums to be sort of the same and didn’t think they many distinct songs. That’s just me though.

Finally, I’ll end on a jazzy note, click on this link but don’t watch the video, you’ll just go “wtf.” Don’t watch, just listen to it. That my friends is “Dance Me To The End Of Love” by Madeline Peyroux, her voice is reminiscent of Billie Holiday… Buy the album here, or at least the song.

Download the whole shabang here (90mb), plus a few extra songs. This is the first in many playlist posts, we’re in the works of integrating some more stuff to make it everything better but the music cannot wait!

Read More »