Discover Music: Chris Aytes - The Best Deal on Myspace

Our ears perked up when we heard that Chris Aytes was giving away not one but two of his 7+ song EP's free of charge and we went searching for the strings that must surely be attached. To our surprise there weren't any! I asked Chris about this uneven exchange of goods and what I got was a surprisingly honest and well thought out response on his blog. To us, artists like Chris Aytes represent the best of what's possible when music is directed from artist to listener without filter.

His two EP's, I'm Doin' Fine and Complete Abandon have an intimate homemade quality that works well and feels right for the material. Though occasionally joined by other instruments and vocals, his primary instrument is an acoustic guitar. This naturally lends itself to a folky type of sound that at times hints of a hidden Velvet Underground record collection. Our favorite of the two is I'm Doin' Fine but you can visit Chris's MySpace page to download both EP's and decide for yourself.

New Music Tuesday: February 26, 2008

What do we have this week? First up is Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree. It's not the sound you'd expect to follow up the glamorous disco of Supernature. Read our review here to see what we think of the new turn. Dolly Parton and her inflatable chest are back with Backwoods Barbie - her most appropriately titled album yet.

The rest:

Discipline - Janet Jackson
New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) - Erykah Badu
Killing Season - Death Angel
Robotique Majestique - Ghostland Observatory
Dirty Mind - Sara Melson

Aries Spear's Rap Medley

This video has been floating around the net for awhile and remains one of my personal favorites. Comedian Aries Spears is being interviewed on the radio, and gets a request to bust out his impressions of some famous rappers. Aries kills and the DJ's comments at the end of the video echo my sentiments exactly.

Album Review: Goldfrapp

Our to-the-point review of Goldfrapp's newest album, Seventh Tree, is up and can be reached for questions and comments here.

As of this post, you can preview Seventh Tree in its entirety on Goldfrapp's MySpace page. The album proper comes out this Tuesday. Don't hesitate to pick yourself up a copy and enjoy the sweetness.

Drum Video

The drummin' love continues...

The White Stripes now in Espanol

Recent Grammy winners* The White Stripes have a new B-side to their latest single Conquest. For those keeping count at home, that's despite having delivered a terrific 5 song EP for the song already. Conquista is sung entirely in Spanish with surprisingly good results, and Jack sounding like he's having more fun than ever before. Now why can't other bands put out singles that are as wild and inventive as The White Stripe's recent EP's? Conquista is available on iTunes.

*Best Alternative Album (vocal or instrumental)

Photo From HARP

Drum Video

Travis Barker served his time as the drummer for Blink 182 (ah, adolescent memories flood my mind). Now between his sideprojects (+44, Box Car Racer, Transplants) and guest drumming in the studio (Avril Lavigne, T.I., Paul Wall) he's become the go to guy for remixes. Although having remixed in the past, Travis entered my radar with his remix of Soulja Boy's Crank That. Now while the critic in me hates Soulja Boy and the ridiculous song, the drumming fool within loves this video. You can search YouTube to find other remixes from Travis like Rihanna's Umbrella.

New Music Tuesday: February 19, 2007

There really wasn't a major release this week. Just a bunch of albums on the down low (for now).

Lust Lust Lust - The Raveonettes
A Twist In My Story - Secondhand Serenade
Day&Nightdriving - Seven Mary Three (Wha?)
My Life's Been A Country Song - Chris Cagle
Gea - Mia Doi Todd
Flock - Bell X1
I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling - Kelley Polar (electronic)

Jarvis Cocker Music Video

One of our favorite albums from 2007 was Jarvis Cocker's solo debut. The ex-frontman for the British band Pulp titled his album simply Jarvis. It was full of the biting outsider looking in thoughts that he was known for with Pulp. Here's a great video for the equally great song and his first single Don't Let Him Waste Your Time.

Drum Video

As internet sensations go i'm a bit lackadaisy. I've never seen Chocolate Rain, only saw Dick In A Box when it premiered on SNL, and didn't know about the crazy guy defending Britney Spears until Jimmy Kimmel talked about him on his talk show. However, there's one exception to the phenom. Drumming videos. I'm a sucker for watching someone add their own rhythm section to different tunes. So it is with great nerdy joy that I present the first video in our series. Enjoy!

New Release Tuesday: February 12, 2008

This year (or was it last year?) marks the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's career defining album Thriller and because selling 104 millions copies just wasn't enough, a special edtion re-release is in order. In an overly complex move, Thriller 25 is being released on CD, Vinyl, DVD and MP3 with at least three different versions available. I guess it's a good thing they don't release records on cassette or 8 track any more!

The rest:

Do You Like Rock Music? - British Sea Power
Simple Plan - Simple Plan
The Heavy Circles - The Heavy Circles
Unclear Sky EP - Joshua Radin
11i - Supreme Beings of Leisure
Bring Me Your Love - City and Colour
Free Somehow - Widespread Panic

Album Review: Amanda Droste

We love sharing worthwhile new music with others. There's nothing quite as exciting as discovering an artist that few people know about and being there before they get big. Today we have Amanda Droste. Her brand of snappy pop-punk songs are better than most of the music out right now on your radio. Her debut album Unfazed is due out on Valentines Day, Feb 14th. So check her out and revitalize your record collection. You can read our review of Unfazed here.

Discover Music: Clutchy Hopkins

The man, the myth, the legend, the hairy man known as Clutchy Hopkins has released a full length album titled Walking Backwards. Falling somewhere between Herbie Hancock in his more experimental years and Thievery Corporation, his hybrid of jazzy world music with flourishes of ambient electronic funk make for an entrancing listen. I'm not up on the missing person motif but the music speaks for itself. You can catch a listen on his myspace page or buy his album on iTunes and Amazon.com.

Review: Jack Johnson

Our review of Jack Johnson's new album, Sleep Through The Static, is up and ready for hate mail. Although we may have been a little hard on the album in our review, we know it's still going to sell well thanks to his many loyal fans (soccer moms & stoners).

(photo from JenLAND)

Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' Podcast Shows In Studio Performance

For over a month now Radiohead have been releasing video podcasts on iTunes showcasing the band performing some of the songs on their latest record, In Rainbows. If you're a Radiohead fan these can not be missed. If you're not a Radiohead fan then you should be and your life is a little grayer without them.

According to iTunes: "Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' released on 01.01.08 Thumbs_Down Webcast - Filmed in November of 2007 in the band's studio in Oxford. Scotch Mist - Recorded in Oxford as a "wee celebration of the physical manifestation of 'In Rainbows'"


As of this posting there are 12 videos available in the "In Rainbows Podcast."

(picture from 8 Notes)

New Release Tuesday: February 5th 2008

A few major albums were released this Tuesday. Among them are mellow surf-rocker Jack Johnson's fourth album, Sleep Through The Static and Nada Surf's fifth, Lucky. Lenny Kravitz keeps plugging away with It's Time For a Love Revolution and Sheryl Crow does the same with Detours . Finally we have Britain's own indie electronic wizzards Hot Chip. After their surprising breakthrough success with 2006's The Warning, they quickly regrouped and made Made In The Dark. It's a more mature effort in every sense of the overused expression and along with Vampire Weekend is one of the years first must haves.

Some of the other releases were:

Here's To Being Here - Jason Collett
Satisfied - Taylor Dayne
District - Bob Mould
Fractured - Air Traffic
Neptune - The Duke Spirit

Album Review: Vampire Weekend

Photo Courtesy of Rolling Stone

Despite it being flu season, our review for Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut is finally out and can be read here or by visiting our Reviews Section. Read it within the next 20 minutes and we'll even throw in a handy pair of oven mitts all at one amazingly low price*.



*as it turns out, I was hitting the cough syrup a bit heavy when I wrote the above and briefly believed I was the announcer for a late night infomercial

Vampire Weekend music video

A few days ago we mentioned that the self-titled debut from Vampire Weekend was soon to be released. That album is out now and it's quite good. We're currently working up a review for it and should have that up in a couple of days. In the meantime, check out their video for A-Punk. It's like an Old Navy commercial on cocaine.