Beck (again)

Beck gets the award for maintaining the best artist's website for these two amazing programs that he has come up with:

1) An interview series, in which his first two guests have been Tom Waits and Will Ferrell.
2) A program called the Record Club where Beck and his buds (including Devendra Banhart, and the guy from Little Joy) chose one album to cover from first song to last in a single jam session. The first album they covered? The Velvet Underground and Nico. Then the master-stroke: release it all one track at a time to keep people coming back.

Verrrry smart, Beck. These things are newsworthy (and numerous) events, causing Beck's name to pop up everywhere on heavily trafficked pulpits like Pitchfork. The kind of publicity that would cost SERIOUS bucks from the Label (which hardly pays for anything anymore).

Interesting as far as the music business is concerned. He's building his site into a virtual variety show -- and it's at little cost to the artist. Hit-makers have hit-maker friends. Call them up -- and record it. Jam with them -- and record it. I would not be surprised to see other musicians jumping on the band wagon. No pun intended. Aknowledged, nonetheless.
Here he is, at Pitchfork, talking about the Jam series:
http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7675-interview-beck/

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Waiting for My Man' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Double Dagger

Double Dagger is from the best place in the Mid-Atlantic Chesapeake Region of the Eastern United States: Baltimore, MD. Its like Ocean City, MD but without the Ocean, Casinos, and a boardwalk but it's like tots a city. Their sound especially in Lie/Truth is a mix between Butthole Surfers with their breakdown speaking evolving into rock and the punk feel of Fugazi from the "Repeator" era in 1990, which is insanely awesome.

Word on the street is that Double Dagger offers a "precarious mix of art-punk DIY aestheticism, hardcore political and social commentary and straight-up pop hooks.” I'm glad the pop hooks are straight up at least, otherwise I'd be worried.

Double Dagger - Lie/Truth (YSI)

Best Coast

Last Tuesday night I traveled to Echo Park to see Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, Bobb Bruno, and their drum machine's first ever show at the Echo Curio. Best Coast oozes California fuzz post punk distortion. The show was tiny, but offered an intimate glance into this fledgeling band, endearing those around on the similar vain of Mirah's live cut rendering of "Dancing in the Dark."

Definitely check out "The Sun Was High (So Was I)" Its catchy simplicity makes it a great song for lying out in the summer sun. "In my Room" is good too but definitely check these guys out.

On the off chance that either Bethany or Bobb read this post, please please please get a real drummer, at least for your live shows. Not to go all "the drum machine killed music" but don't you have a friend that could knock around on the drums for an hour? It's not like the drum pattern was complicated by any means. Anyway great effort on the part of Bethany for putting this all together and we look forward to seeing what they will produce in the future.

Best Coast - The Sun Was High (So Was I) (YSI)

Best Coast - In My Room (YSI)

Random Findings

Sorry to everyone much more up to date on the music scene than I have been recently, but I think these two songs are worth posting anyway. Radiohead is king, as usual, so an improved reworking of one of their tracks is always worth mentioning. This adds a piano rhythm here and a beautiful sax there from Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," really beefing up the quality of the song. The second is a Passion Pit reworking of a great Ra Ra Riot song that starts ethereally and builds from there. Enjoy.

Radiohead vs. Dave Brubeck - Five Step (YSI)

Ra Ra Riot - Ghosts Under Rocks (Passion Pit Mix) (YSI)

100TH POST

Sorry to everyone who has been checking the site, only to notice our lack of posting for pretty much the last month. With a writer in Cyprus and the other two just trying to finish up finals, we were all pretty busy. But as this is our 100th post, I would like to thank everyone for reading and getting some new music. I have two songs definitely worthy of the occasion, both sure to get the blood flowing and lead to a great night out. Sebastian Leger and Chris Lake are two of the best out there, having been featured on Stereo/Paste many times before.

Sebastian Leger & Chris Lake - Word (Original Mix) (YSI)

Sebastian Leger & Chris Lake - Aqualight (YSI)

Little Joy

Little Joy is a Brazilian/American rock band formed in 2007 by Los Hermanos singer/guitarist Rodrigo Amarante and The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Amarante and Moretti met in 2006, at a festival in Lisbon where they decided to collaborate on a new project. In 2007,  Amarante travelled to Los Angeles to collaborate with Devendra Banhart on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon album. 

 The band then moved into a house in Echo Park  to write more original music and record some demos. The band named themselves after a cocktail lounge not far from their house. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with the help of producer Noah Georgeson. It was released by Rough Trade Records on November 4, 2008. I've had the album for a while but it wasn't until know that I really have gotten into it and Pitchfork calls the album a perfect barbecue album, so you know it has to be good.

Little Joy - Brand New Start (YSI)

Little Joy - Keep Me in Mind (YSI)

Little Joy - Evaporar (YSI)

The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack formerly known as the Muslims is a foursome from San Diego and have recently moved their home base to Los Angeles. Their sound is an awesome blend of the 1990's the Stone Roses, the Strokes, and even a bit of early Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Shortly after coming to life, the band was forced to change its name to The Soft Pack in an effort to avoid the intolerant jabs at live shows. Extinction has an awesome music video directed by Russ Finkelstein & Matt Lamkin:

Its whimsical nature brings reflections on their similarity to the Violent Femmes. Bright side and Right and Wrong are both solid tracks from their first post-self titled EP called "The Muslims" Definitely look for this band to be doing big things this year.

The Soft Pack - Extinction (YSI)

The Soft Pack - Bright Side (YSI)

The Soft Pack - Right and Wrong (YSI)

Electrooo

Bridging the gap between my love for indie and house music, I feel like I haven't been listening to enough Electro lately. Considering how highly I hold live acts such as MSTRKRFT and Justice, I figured it was about time for some new favorites. Enjoy.

CLASSIXX & Villains - I'm On It feat. o8o (YSI)

Scott Cooper & Andy George - Jump & Twist (Jokers of the Scene Remix) (YSI)

D' Secret Svc - Tight Jeans (Fukkk Offf Remix) (YSI)

Eriq Johnson - Silver Grace (Fukkk Offf Remix) (YSI)

Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now (Mixin Marc Mix) (YSI)

DatA - One in a Million (Club Mix) (YSI)

A Little Dre

While this single is in fact off of Eminem's new Relapse album, the true news here is the return of Dre on the mic. I really do not like Eminem's new songs, especially his voice he is using in his raps. The song is pretty good though, with a good beat to nod your head to. I'm getting a bit tired of Eminem's pop culture references. Every time I hear Dre's voice come on, though, the song just feels right.

Eminem - Old Time's Sake Feat. Dr. Dre (YSI)

The Field

Just in case you guys hadn't heard it, hear is the new the Field single. His last CD is one of my most consistently played, as it fits for almost any mood I'm in. This new single picks up where he left off, but adds some more live drum instrumentation. It is pretty standard - nothing special, but at least in the same style I have grown to appreciate.

The Field - The More That I Do (YSI)