Which is a shame, because it’s really what I enjoy playing out these days. I also haven’t really been posting, but I assure you it’s been quite a summer. I’m home in Boston interning with the start-up Performable, and I’m working as their content/social media/writing/etc intern. It’s a great chance to do a lot of different kinds of work, and the marketing I’m learning relates directly to the online outreach that political campaigns and nonprofits do every day. Look at that, a way to tie my internship into what I want to do with my life!

On the DJing front, I’ve been busy adapting to my 1200s and lining up a number of gigs for the fall. I already have 3 shows set for my first week back in Rochester (including a Sockhop at Dubland, stay tuned for those announcements).

Oh yeah, I said something about disco. Here are some recent highlights.

Flight Facilities – Crave You (feat. Giselle) (Cassian Remix) [mp3]

Download audio file (Crave-You-feat.-Giselle-Cassian-remix.mp3)

This track is absolutely incredible. First and foremost, you really don’t get an appreciation for how punchy this snare drum is until you listen to it on a proper system. It’s thunderous. And the rest of this track is synthesized like butter – the whole thing flows so smoothly, there’s nothing to dislike. This is especially impressive considering how much I hate the other remixes. I thought it was the song, but then I heard this remix.

Capsule – I Wish You (Corporate Remix) [mp3]

Download audio file (I-Wish-You-Corporate-Remix.mp3)

This song is interesting – it’s got all the tenants of a disco track (wonderful piano, delightfully filtered vocals), but it’s got the tempo of a Yacht Rock track. It’s the perfect for the late summer afternoon, either for a long drive through the country or a relaxing session at a city pool. Hey producers – would a few more tracks at this tempo kill you?

Breakbot – Baby I’m Yours [mp3]

Download audio file (1-01-Baby-Im-Yours.mp3)

Another track a little slower than normal, though not quite to the extreme Corporate took it. I’ve been following Breakbot for a few years and he’s done some really great stuff, most notably his remix of Pnau’s “Baby” that’s to die for. Now he’s signed to Ed Banger Records, also the home of Justice and Uffie. Fortunately, Breakbot sounds nothing like them. This is funky, smooth, and would feel perfect sitting next to a Debby Gibson or Seidah Garrett track. The Aeroplane remix is ridiculous as well.

That’s all for this week, I’ll post up some more jams next week. Photo credit to my brother, the very talented Elias Mechaber.

Every once in a while there’s a really great indie rock track that I can’t stop listening to. Usually it’s a garage-rock kinda deal, some vaguely derivative Strokes-sounding thing.

The Cribs, Pigeon Detectives, Havana Guns, Arctic Monkeys, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Wombats, and Weakerthans.

This time around, it’s Two Door Cinema Club, who are responsible for the ever-so-catchy “Something Good Can Work.” Makes me think of London at night, though I don’t have much to support that claim. Either way, I have been playing this on repeat for the past 24 hours.

And it gets better: The Teenagers did a very capable remix, probably the best since they remixed Black Kids’ “Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance” a couple of years ago. Infectious.

And yeah, I’m a year late on this. I’m cool with that.

Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work

Download audio file (Something-Good-Can-Work.mp3)

Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work (Teenagers Remix)

Download audio file (Something-Good-Can-Work-The-Twelves-Remix.mp3)

First and foremost, I’m (basically) on Thanksgiving break and it is wonderful: I’m re-reading Strunk & White, I only have one Theories of Religion book left for the year, and I have the chance to finish up another mixtape.

If you haven’t seen the new stuff Clipse has been up to you’re missing out majorly. This song has been going so hard, and the video is equally phenomenal.
Popular Demand (Popeyes) (feat. Camron) [mp3]
Download audio file (Popular-Demand-Popeyes-feat.-Camron.mp3)

Also floating my boat is this new Sting project, If On A Winter’s Night (see the album art above). There’s something so pleasant about an album that fits perfectly with Rochester’s weather without even trying. Though I suspect Sting was thinking a little more about dark european winter nights, but he really nailed it for upstate NY. The last album that did it this well must have been Fleet Foxes.
Sting – Soul Cake [mp3]
Download audio file (02-Soul-Cake.mp3)

Lastly, has anyone else heard the new John Mayer album? It’s phenomenal, but upsetting that one of my favorite songs happens to feature Taylor Swift. That is so not good for my street-cred.

Time for track three, you readers (all 6 of you! just kidding). This is by far one of my least favorite joints on the tape, as almost every version I’ve heard of “Chillin’” inevitably seems to be. What the hell is with these remixes?

Okay, we need to face it: “Chillin” wasn’t amazing to begin with. It was a noble effort on Wale’s part to find a chart-plausible single, but my guess is it may have been shoved down his throat by his label. Lady GaGa was a wise choice for that kind of move, the beat sounds like it should, and the lyrics are smart. But the whole joint feels empty. Even with Lady GaGa gettin’ her MIA on in the background, it fails to impress – it sounds like the token chart-friendly-single.

Calling this joint empty is harsh (and honest), so lets admit there are some great lines: “Let’s talk about the cars ya’ll got/You say you got a lotta whips? Well I’ve got a LOT.” This line is genius in it’s own way, if only because most people will never get it. He means a LOT, as in a car-lot of cars. It’s not obvious, but it is. Which makes it annoying and pseudo-clever. I like it. Whatever, shut up.

Now let’s talk about this remix. The intro sucks – it repeats the same orchestral hit WAY too many times in the same pitch before it leads into a totally disappointing beat. It isn’t a bad remix, but it certainly isn’t what I would expect from Nick Catchdubs regardless, but it certainly isn’t what I would put on a mixtape. The beat just doesn’t ever manage to make up for that truly awful intro, and every other time I hear the orchestral beat (every bar or so), I cringe.

Why did this make the cut? Honestly, I don’t get it. It’s a remix, Catchdubs did it, maybe that was enough – they certainly couldn’t include the lead-off single of Wale’s unreleased album on a mixtape as it was. Whatever, it’s hard to polish shit.

But IS “Chillin” shit? I’ll never really figure it out – it’s not TERRIBLE, but Wale is so much more. The music can be so much deeper, so much more raw in terms of energy – this beat is just totally over-produced, and GaGa’s presence (love her though I do) doesn’t help things.

Remixes of “Chillin’” worth listening to as alternatives? DJ Benzi and Skratch Bastid (via the fantastic Mixtape Maestro!) both have different takes on the track, and both are interesting in their own right. Benzi takes the acapella, speeds the crap out of it, and laces it over a Nightcrawler-The Feeling type house beat (with a video totally worth watching), while Skratch Bastid’s is more off the walls in an old-school hip hop and funk sort of a way. Just listen, you’ll understand what I mean – and enjoy the MIA/Arab Money samples at just the right parts.

…NEXT!

Wale – Chillin’ (Catchdubs v 9th) [mp3]

Download audio file (03-chillin-feat-lady-gaga-catch-vs-9th.mp3)

Wale – Chillin’ (DJ Benzi remix) [mp3]

Download audio file (chillin-feat-lady-gaga-benzi-willy-joy-remix.mp3)

Wale – Chillin’ (Skratch Bastid remix) [mp3]

Track two off of Back to the Feature.

The beat is go-go, for sure, minus the congas perhaps. It’s the got the bubbly bassline and horn section. That said, I’m really not in love with it – it’s essentially the same two bars endlessly repeated. But the horns are sick, I will concede that.

The track features two members of rap group State Property (Beanie Siegel was famous for releasing that solo album whilst incarcerated, and Freeway is a badass) and Young Chris.

There are some truly great lines in here:

“You niggas is John Q/You don’t have the heart for it” – Wale

“Me too, I’m sayin, bringin the banger right here/I be hip-hop gamin’ dropin’ bangers all year/Freezer’ll bang that thing and end your singin’ career” – Freeway. The way the words fit around the beat here speaks way more than the lyrics themselves.

Honestly I’m not even sure how I feel about half of the other lyrics but they mold to the beat SO well. That goes for Freeway and Wale’s lines especially. Beanie Siegel’s verse is really a little awkward, not sure why, both in content and delivery. Honestly, this isn’t a track I’d really listen to more than twice, though the lines from Freeway and the “st-st-stutter” from Wale definitely make it worth that second time around.

Wale (feat. Young Chris, Freeway, & Beanie Siegel) – Cyphr [mp3]

Download audio file (02-cyphr-feat-young-chris-freeway-beanie-sigel.mp3)

There is no doubt that flamenco is sexy. But flamenco is sexy with a hard edge – it’s beautiful with a bite. Hip hop is, like flamenco, kind of a dance – there’s posturing, posing, and raw energy.

The genius boys from Cookin’ Soul took note of this and promptly set Camron’s fierce posturing to an even fiercer beat, a castanet-laden work of incredible beauty.

There is, as there tends to be with Cookin’ Soul’s music, a sort of wordplay in the mashup: the backing track is a set of samples by Camaron de la Isla, one of Spain’s greatest flamenco exports of all time. Mixed with Camron’s vocals, we’re left with the title “Camron of the Island.” Clever? Not exactly, but this track is so raw and excellent. I would love to see a mixtape of this kind of music: hard flamenco-inspired beats mixed with rap acappellas.

Camron vs Camaron – Camron of the Island (cookin soul mashup) [mp3 link]

Download audio file (camron-of-the-island-camaron-vs-camron-mashup-prod-by-cookin-soul.mp3)

It’s odd, really. This is a Busta Rhymes track, but it’s not Busta I remember when I think of the song, it’s that laid-back piano beat (almost certainly John Legend, who is featured on this track) and Legend’s cool voice singing the hook (even though Mary J Blige AND Jamie Foxx sing before him).

But then I listen to it, and I realize how good his verses are. He’s a beastly MC, even if I don’t like most of his work, and it’s an interesting change to hear him rapping low-key. I mean, even in other tracks with slow-ya-roll beats, there’s a certain aggressiveness to the way Busta approaches it. But not here, here you can really here the way Busta accents each and every word and there isn’t any snarl to it (don’t get me wrong, Busta’s snarl is one of Hip Hop’s best, right up there with Ludacris and a few other choice MCs). Some of the change in tone may be the actual volume of the vocals: they’re a little quieter in “Decision” than some of his other tracks.

This realization led me to another, a ‘decision,’ if you will: this track isn’t his. Sure, this is his track in the literal sense, perhaps most of it was even done under his direction, but this track no longer belongs to him. Why? Because there are so many voices here that this track ceases to be about any one of them.

Normally, I hate these sorts of tracks (with two exceptions: “Yes We Can” that featured Hollywood as a whole, and rap tracks that have more than 5 rappers – any less and it’s just someone trying to capitalize on big names). That this track no longer belongs to him is only an issue until you really understand what this track is all about, and the chorus is pretty clear about it: 

“I made a decision, despite all the things that we go through, 
I’m going to take more time with you, and be a friend indeed 
I made a decision, that everything will be alright 
Going to stay strong and keep it tight, I’ll be there indeed.”

I’m not going to go into the deeper meaning of this track, because I’m not really sure it has one and I don’t want to take a pompous misstep. I don’t often keep up with Hip Hop’s beef, much less it’s close friendships, so it’s hard to tell if Busta really feels this way about all the people he brought in on the track. My guess is that he does about some but not all. 

Honestly, from a production standpoint, I would take both Blige and Foxx off the track. To me it would feel much more authentic with just Busta, Common, and Legend on the track. Blige and Foxx have the unfortunate side-effect of somehow making this song sound a little less sincere. Maybe I’m wrong; maybe they’re all great friends, in which case this preponderance of voices is understandable.

Despite it, “Decision” is a track that feels better and better with every listen. Take special note of Common’s verse.

Busta Rhymes – Decision [mp3]

Download audio file (decision-feat-jamie-foxx-mary-j-blige-john-legend-common.mp3)

I meant to write this one up a few weeks ago when it leaked because I’m not sure too many people outside the blog-world knew about it and it’s really worth listening to. It’s almost a moot point now that Eminem’s album is out today, but you should listen to “Beautiful” now.

Like right now. Like, scroll down and hit play, and then scroll back up and start reading again. Em suffered from a few weird singles: “Crack A Bottle” was supposed to be a club anthem but was a little goofy (that said, the Discotech remix hits quite correct); “We Made You” was hilarious in video form, but not exactly something I would put on repeat; “3Am”? Not really worth talking about – if you want a track that’s actually creepy, check out Bishop Lamont’s Toe Tag (attached at the bottom).

Oh right, we’re supposed to talk about Eminem’s “Beautiful.” If you haven’t already started playing it, do it now. The rock sample draws the easy comparison to the delectable “Sing for the Moment” production, and he (like in  ”Moment”) drops the goofy white-boy accent. More importantly, this song is raw. As raw as “Moment,” or “Lose Yourself”? Probably not, but this is a step in the right direction for New Em. There are a number of reasons it doesn’t quite touch “Sing for the Moment”/”Lose Yourself” – he’s been out of the game for a while and he’s dealing with different struggles. He’s fighting the idea of being washed up, now, trying to convince everyone that he’s still relevant, and my guess is that struggle isn’t quite on the same level as proving yourself the first time around. He’s dealt with a lot of his demons by now and I think the angst is different. This, though? This is good anyway.

There are some parts that delve into the old part of Eminem I didn’t like anyways (the whole line about the clown and comedian is just goofy), but it’s worth a listen. Certainly more than any other single of his so far.

Eminem – Beautiful [mp3 link]

Download audio file (beautiful-1.mp3)

Bishop Lamont – Toe Tag [mp3 link]

Download audio file (06-toe-tag.mp3)

Chiddy Bang, a group made up of college freshmen, sounds fantastic. Think Gym Class Heroes with more electronic influences. They were first featured a month or two ago on PrettyMuchAmazing! and I was hooked. There are two tracks I want to share today, these guys might wind up going somewhere.

Chiddy Bang – On Our Way [mp3 download, right click]

Download audio file (on-our-way-remastered.mp3)

^Laid-back top-down jam.

Chiddy Bang – Kids [mp3 download, right click]

Download audio file (kids-feat-mgmt.mp3)

Ah, that new-school sampling. Anyone else notice the paradigm shift in the last 5 or 10 years towards sampling contemporary songs? From sampling MIA and Santogold (“Swagga like us;”  ”Brooklyn”), to sampling the early 00′s electronic club anthems, it’s a growing trend and often not done very well. Anyone else shocked and disappointed that T.I. sampled “Dragnosta Din Tei” – you know, that Maya Hi song?

I like this one. This one samples MGMT’s “Kids,” and it’s fantastic.

So Kevin Rudolf is surprisingly cool considering how much I hated his first single “Let It Rock.”

Why did I hate “Let It Rock,” you ask? Because the lyrics made no sense, Weezy’s verse was pretty lame, and the beat just didn’t hit hard enough. Moreover, the entire thing was way over-produced. You probably haven’t heard the better track from that album, “NYC.” It’s a fantastic track featuring Nas and the sickest of jams.

Cheggit out. Oh, and I know I haven’t posted in a while, and I know this track is a little old. Sorry guys, I have a life.

Kevin Rudolf feat. Nas – NYC [mp3 download]

Download audio file (nyc-feat-nas.mp3)