[WHO DAT?] J. Cole

I don't know if I have ever dedicated a post to the illest rapper out of North Carolina, J. Cole. He is consistent and has a lot of talent. Every single song of his is great and features only the most dope lyrics. He has the swag of a veteran and hasn't put out an official album yet. He doesn't rap about money, drugs, and women in the stuck-up way that most rappers do. He relates everything to socially relevant topics and problems with society that you don't expect from rap game these days. He toured with Jay-Z recently and was featured on Jay's 2009 album The Blueprint 3 on "A Star Is Born." He is slated to release Cole World in November or December this year, we'll see if that actually happens because a date hasn't been set yet. If there was a rapper that could still do well under Kanye's shadow right now, Cole would be that rapper. I'll go ahead and includes a few songs below for you to enjoy. He also made an appearance on my Glen Beck Swag Mixtape.

J. Cole - Villematic
J. Cole - I'm Coming Home

The Decemberists Announce New Album Out 1/11/11

The Decemberists have announced a new album, The King Is Dead, to be released on January 11th, 2011. The whole date and just one's things is definitely a something you'd expect from the Decemberists.  The album will be released on Capitol Records. The album is said to be inspired by R.E.M. and feature R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on 3 of the 10 songs. I have a feeling that Colin Meloy may have been at work on this masterpiece while 3 of the bands five members were working on and touring with Black Prairie, so without building up the album too much I want to set the bar a little higher than 2009's The Hazards of Love. This is just around the corner, man am I already looking forward to next year, new Decemberists and Drive-By Truckers already announced and I'm sure that's just the beginning.




Tracklist for The King Is Dead:
1. Don't Carry It All
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise to Me
4. Rox in the Box
5. January Hymn
6. Down By the Water
7. All Arise!
8. June Hymn
9. This Is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery

Below is a video of Colin Meloy singing "Down By The Water" live from a KEXP set at CMJ festival earlier this month. I am definitely digging the harmonica and sound, it has their dark, creepy sound but an earlier sounding Decemberists catchy flow.

[VID] Drive-By Truckers | "Used To Be A Cop"

Here's a new song from the Truckers. It's going to be on their new record Go-Go Boots, out February 15th, 2011. But they are giving this one an advanced release on Black Friday along with "The Thanksgiving Filter" on a 10". The 10" will be limited to 2500 copies and will feature a sleeve designed by Wes Freed, the artist that does all their AWESOME covers. I didn't know that the Drive-By Truckers had a new album coming out so this some sweet news, since their 2010 album The Big To-Do was a classic album with character and quality. Go-Go Boots is a collection of songs that were largely recorded at the same time as The Big To-Do, so you know this record is going to be something special.

[VID] The Love Language | "Heart To Tell"

One of the best songs of the year gets some visual representation. Here's a little -happy-go-lucky taping of one of their shows. It looks to be The Pour House over in Durham, NC. A Love Language concert is highly recommended, if you haven't seen them before. They really bring it live and get the crowd dancing. I'd have to say this song conjures up feelings of joy and summer parties on the beach, but hey, it's a great song and fun video. Grab the awesome mp3 while you're watching the video. [if you don't already have it yet]

The Love Language - Heart To Tell [via AD]

Lonnie Walker | "Love Turn"

Here's a new tune from NC natives Lonnie Walker. I saw them at Local 506 in Chapel Hill a few weeks ago [read more] and they played a great set. On November 4th, 2010 they will be releasing "Love Turn" as a 7" split with Future Islands. It's going to be pressed on a peach vinyl, that is oh so sexy. [check out the picture below] They have been playing to song live for a while, I know they played it when I saw them open for Harlem and the Love Language back in April. There is a great little guitar riff when the beat picks up. The song features a monologue-like part that all of Lonnie Walker's best songs do. Not that Lonnie Walker's songs are painfully long, but this one is shorter than most [3:15] and leaves me wanting more. I think this 7" is the start of a road to a new album, hopefully we'll know more about it soon. PRE-ORDER HERE

Lonnie Walker - Love Turn

[VID] Eternal Summers | "Dye"

Here's a visual by Weekly Tape Deck to one of the better tracks off their 2010 album Silver.

Erol Alkan remixes MGMT's "Congratulations"

This is no Justice Remix of "Electric Feel" but it does go along with MGMT's whole idea of progressivism in their sound. It's weird, it's different, and it works. Erol Alkan takes a bland song and spices it up with some guitar chords and electronic blips. Take a gander and see what you think. This will be the B-side of a "Congratulations" 7" coming out Nov. 23.

[VID/MP3] Deerhunter x. Diplo

Deerhunter - Helicopter [Diplo & Lunice Remix]

Not only is this from one of the best albums of the year, Halcyon Digest, but it is Diplo AND Deerhunter on one song. This song amplifies the feelings that Deerhunter is trying to project and is one of my favorite remixes of the year. Now the remix has an eclectic video and its pretty awesome.

[VID] Baraka Flocka Flames | "Head of the State"

Awesome video of Barack and Michelle Obama look-a-likes who remix Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in the Paint." The rapping sounds like Barack and the video shows him sippin' and smokin' -typical day in life of the Head of State.

A-Trak feat. CyHi Da Prynce | "Ray Ban Vision"

A-Trak feat. CyHi Da Prynce - Ray Ban Vision

Midtown Dickens

Here's a Durham, NC band that I recently got in to after a whimsical purchase of their LP/CD/MP3 package, Laterns, at CD Alley a few weeks back. Immediately after I placed needle to vinyl happiness engrossed my ears. The cute vocals of the lead singer tell beautiful stories and create heartfelt metaphors to love and loneliness. The vocals are very Kimya Dawson, a little out of tune but cute, scratchy, and easy to love. I'll have to say that Lanterns is a solid album and one of my best purchases in a long time, especially since I bought it blind to their raw talent. "Springs," mp3 below, is my favorite off Lanters, it has a tried and true beauty that is hard to capture and relatively achieved or admired. The beginning of this song is absolutely touching, just listen to the words. Check out their website or myspace.

Midtown Dickens - Springs
[download]

4 New Songs From Cymbals Eat Guitars

*That is not me with the overgrown curly hair, however you'd do a double take if you saw me on the street if you just saw this picture*

Not only did I see Lonnie Walker and Futurebirds last week, I saw Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Thermals @ Kings in Raleigh Saturday the 16th. It was another impressive show. Me and some friends caught 2/3 of the Cymbals Eat Guitars set which was sounded great and featured some new material. The two bands are currently on tour through the end of the month. After Cymbals Eat Guitars get off the grid they plan to start work on a new album! Hell yeah! I slept on their 2009 album Why There Are Mountains, an unfortunate error on my part, which surely would have altered my top 25 albums list. The group recorded four new tracks for BBC radio a while back and have them for download on their website. Whether or not, they'll be on the upcoming album is yet to be seen but they are a good set of tracks that have the band's hazy-distorted side and their indie-rocking side. Have a listen below.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wavelengths
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Plainclothes
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Tunguska
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Definite Darkness

[THROWBACK VID] "Mistdabalina"

I've been listening to Del Tha Funkee Homosapien lately and this is one that I keep going back to. When I wanted to post it on here I went straight to YouTube and surprisingly there is a video for the song. Thought Del would be better than videos, but its an unexpected find that has made my day. It definitely looks and sounds 19 years old, but what a song.

Recent Hip Hop Videos

Mickey Factz - Skyscaper

CyHi The Prynce - Sidewayz

Wiz Khalifa - Black & Yellow

Cover Artwork for MOTM2: The Legend of Mr. Rager

FUTUREBIRDS

Last night I made my way to Local 506 in Chapel Hill to catch Futurebirds and Lonnie Walker. There may not have been less than 50 people there but the show was awesome. The energy the two bands brought was impressive and it was definitely worth more than the $8 I paid to get in. I got there album about half way through the summer after seeing them on some of my favorite blogs. I gave it a few listens and it ended with thorough 3 and 4 stars consistently. The band is from Athens, Georgia and formed back in 2008 [well they created their Myspace page in Nov. of 2008] and it's clear that they have something good going for them. They incorporate their southern roots into their folk rock with a banjo, a pedal steel, and a singer [drummer] with a backwoods accent. When you can gain a greater appreciation for a band by seeing them live then they have done their job as musicians and I was blown away last night. The fact that they still brought the heat and the crowd was small is very respectable, because I have seen bands be pissed w/ small crowds. I am definitely going to have their 2010 release Hampton's Lullaby on spin for the next few weeks, it's definitely one of the best of the year. Hands Down.

Download a 2009 EP for free from their Bandcamp, it has a song or two from the album.

Check out their website for a free download and support these dudes.
Follow them on Twitter.

[new MP3] Freelance Whales | "Enzymes"

Check out the latest single from the Freelance Whales courtesy of Green Label Sound.

I Just Don't Get It [Sufjan &Tare]

       Music these days is all over the place. From Diplo to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings to Kings of Leon to Kid Cudi. It's hard to say these artists are good but much more; it's harder to say that you actually like their music. When it comes to Avey Tare (of Animal Collective) and Sufjan Stevens I have a hard time grasping the overall impact and concepts they are trying to get across with their latest releases. I respect both of these artists for the work they have done and where they have been able to take music in regards to crossing boundaries and opening doors where they haven't existed before. 

    

         
       Age of Adz, Sufjan Steven's latest release and his first full length album since 2005s Illinois, is more avant-garde than John Coltrane and Charlie Parker in the 1950s. The album is electronically based but has classical strings sewn through its technological pinging. I'll have to say that I have never really been much of a Sufjan fan. I will say that "All Things Go" is one of the best songs of the last decade and is brilliant, but I can't give him solid praise throughout his catalog. The absolutely ridiculous ending track is 25 minutes long, a polar-swinger, with tinges of Illinois and the electro-classical he used on the rest of an album. He is ahead of his time with this album. The world isn't ready for the multiple-layered music that creates a musical schizophrenia on every track. Maybe five or six years down the road half of albums released will be based on the musical foundation of Age of Adz, regardless this album is too hard to take in right now.
Sufjan Stevens - Vesuvius

    
       Animal Collective is one of the best groups out there today. It's comprised of Panda Bear, Avey Tare, Geologist, and Deacon. I don't know if the band is trying to have a competition with solo careers right now, with Panda Bear working on a 2011 release and two 7" singles already released, Tare's Down There, and Deakin working his name into the mix as well. Whatever the case they need to reconvene and produce a follow up to 2009s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tare, a founding member of the band, experiments with noise and silence through inflections of odd electronic sounds but leaves the listener feeling empty-handed. He takes the weirdness of Animal Collective to a new level on Down There. Some songs sound like a jumbled mess of dead sound and others have a hint of flow and predictability but outside of these sparse occurrences the album is a lame duck. It may spark philosophical debate on the legitimacy of the noise genre as a legitimate category to place music or just a name given to sounds thought to be music. I'll be interested to see what the Best New Music review of Down There will receive from Pitchfork; you know it's going to happen because it's new, just like Age of Adz recently received.
Avey Tare - Lucky 1

       Partiality and bias comes into play when listening to music but I have been listening to Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest and digging it thoroughly. It's a brilliant combination of noise rock and harmonious indie glory. It is one of the best album's that has been put out this year and deserves to be compared to these other two albums in regards to its experimentalist approach and majestic conquer of a diverse album. It has droning songs and techno-esque indie songs and I get it. The light bulb turns on when I spin this on my iPod. When it comes to the experimentation on Age of Adz and Down There, I don't get it; they just don't speak volumes for their respective artists.

Wake Up Scott Mescudi

Yo Mr. Cudi,

       Having listened to your stuff for close to two years now, I can safely say that you don't give fuck about what I am going to say, b/c this is just another blog, but you're transforming into a lame beast. Case and Point: "Erase Me." This song is not hip/hop, it's not rock, it's maybe a Weezy-inspired fusion of the two. It's not what I have come to expect from arguably one of my favorite rappers. When I go back through your catalog and dig up songs like "T.G.I.F." and "Switchin' Lanes", songs that sparked our relationship, then listen to/watch this, I have to say you've changed up your game for the worst. Now I know evolution is a natural occurrence that affects 99% of musicians, but I believe you've overstepped your boundaries. I haven't been too impressed with most of the leaks ("Mojo So Dope," "Did You Get It" and "Manic") from Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, though I don't know the set tracklist I have a feeling a good majority of those songs will be included. Please, don't get me wrong I'm digging what you're doing with G.O.O.D. Music and their Friday releases, that stuff is dope, as well as the leaks "Mr. Rager" "Wylin' Cause I'm Young," and "Dangerous." And I plan on buying The Legend of Mr. Rager, on vinyl hopefully if that is an option, because I know that once it's together it will make since (I have faith) or it'll be a reality check for you. I know you've been having some personal addiction problems but you're the indie-sampling and emotive lyricist that got me off Lil Wayne's nuts (for which I am eternally grateful) and  searching out for real hip-hop. I have mad respect Scott, but I think you're taking your 808s and Heartbreak tangent too early in your career.

Endearing Fan On The Moon,
Joe

(Please Don't Erase Me, lets make this a REVOFEV towards you're next masterpiece, not just All Talk)

Mumford & Sons | "The Cave"

I listened to Mumford & Sons album again after push from my buddies. I found a brilliant little gem that was a diamond in the rough, or rather a diamond in "The Cave." Led by guitar plucking, "The Cave" is slowly layered with banjo, drums, piano and eventually the full ensemble until it crescendos at the end. Then the deeply majestic lyrics that accompany the majestic instrumentals are moving. Whether it is a Plato reference of becoming enlightened as you leave the cave or a story of finding strength in god it's absolutely awe-inducing. Please grace your iTunes with this song.

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

Cee Lo Singing That Song You Love, LIVE

Live on Jools Holland 10/6.

[YTE MIXTAPE] Glenn Beck Swag

     I decided that I need to make a mixtape that is straight thug. What comes to your mind when you think of thug? Denzel in American Gangster? Well for me, it so happens to be Glenn Beck, the Tea Partyin, Palin-bootycallin', white haired man-among-boys, Fox News political correspondent. He doesn't have pretty boy swag, but his swag is turned on. He'd agree that in all his prudishness that the next song about swag should be about him and just like that, he gets a mixtape. These are a few tunes that this Real OG might play in his stretch-hummer limo on the way Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity, to get him pumped up to have some great counter arguments and say something controversial. I give you Glenn Beck Swag.

     Well I just thought that would be a fun name for a mixtape. I'm not a big fan of the guy but he's put himself out there and in doing so, I'll name a mixtape after him. This one is strictly Hip-Hop based. From Kanye to K.R.I.T. to Khalifa, this rap-tastic collection of songs is sure to give any sub a run for it's money. Hopefully you haven't heard all of these rappers before and you're getting a fresh slice of this RAPple Pie. So sag those jeans/khakis/sweatpants and put on that old Charlotte Hornets jersey stashed in the attic because Glenn Beck Swag is just that OG.

Tracklist and Download Link After The Jump

Disappointment

I don't know what I was expecting but the latest release from Kings of Leon, but they don't impress on Come Around Sundown. There may be a few not as dark spots in "Back Down South" & "Radioactive," but they are nowhere near the high-quality Southern rock exerted on Youth, Young, and Manhood. Here more ranting on the Kings on an earlier post.