Good Weather For Airstrikes

As their MySpace headline won’t hesitate to inform you, Dead Disco have been “slaying dancefloors and breaking hearts” since August 2005. And you need only spin their songs a few times and take a glance at the picture above to know they’re not lying in either regard. Seriously though, for the first time ever I think I have a crush on every single member of a band. I’ve always had a soft spot for attractive girls with nice record collections (see: every girlfriend I’ve ever had), so imagine the state I’m in now that I’ve come across this dance rock trio that sounds like Bloc Party if they were fronted by three girls who look exactly like every girl I’ve ever wanted to date.

Getting on with it though, Dead Disco formed in Leeds in late ‘05 and released their debut single early this year on High Voltage Sounds, a hot young Manchester imprint that’s quickly becoming one of my favorite labels in the UK. The single “The Treatment”, was a limited-edition 7″-only affair produced by James Ford (of Simian Mobile Disco fame) and backed by one of the best remixes of 2006, Metronomy’s brilliant re-working of the title track. While Metronomy’s remix pulls off one of the greatest instances of B-side-versus-A-side thunder-stealing I’ve ever seen, “The Treatment” got the unsuspecting public hooked on the trio’s Blondie-meets-Bloc Party sound, featuring catchy riffs and poppy girl-group hooks, and the release sold out in under a week.

The stage was set then for total domination, and the girls didn’t disappoint with their follow-up single “Automatic”, a track which surpassed even the high expectations set by their astonishing debut. Put out on Fierce Panda, “Automatic” immediately hooks you in with an undeniable opening riff that eventually yields to that unbelievably catchy “You see me/it’s symptomatic/you touch me/it’s automatic” chorus that wouldn’t be out of place in a song by even the poppiest, most mainstream girl group imaginable. With “Automatic” filling dancefloors and getting impressive radio play on XFM and Virgin Radio already, and an equally-promising download-only single, “City Hall” (available here on Playlouderecordings) already out, Dead Disco seem to be destined for the top of the charts and as far as I’m concerned they can’t get there soon enough.

MP3s:
“The Treatment” - Dead Disco
“The Treatment” (Metronomy Remix) - Dead Disco ((highly recommended))
“Automatic” - Dead Disco ((highly recommended))

I don’t normally include press quotes in my write-ups, these publications nailed their descriptions of the band and should convince you to download the tracks above with utmost expedience if you haven’t already.

“Ladytron and The Long Blondes have a car crash, kick out the boys and get on with making electro-psychobilly jerk-pop” - NME (March 2006)

“A cross between a Phil Spector girl group and a Ladytron-style dancefloor filler” - XFM (April 2006)

“More cool than even the sweaty masses of a Black Wire gig could amass, and enough hook lines and handclap enducing moments of near genius you’d soon expect other bands to be complaining of someone hogging the quota set to burn down the indie discos without any need for a match.” - Fake DIY

“Dead Disco have recorded one of the best debut singles since The Strokes. A fun and addictive debut, full of excitement and promise. Expect great things to come.” - AngryApe.com (April 2006)

Can’t leave bloggin’ alone, the game needs me. We resume our regular programming today and I’ve got a post chock full of hotness for you today. Let’s start by getting back to what I do best: keeping you posted on all the latest Bloc Party news as it breaks. First, of all: Did I not tell y’all it was gonna be the best thing ever? I wasn’t kidding when I said it was going to be absolutely massive and it is, though I’m reserving final judgement as these leaked tracks are yet to be mastered (hence the volume issues and low bass portions on some of the tracks). Lead UK single, “The Prayer” has proven to be the early favorite of many, and I’ve been hotly anticipating news of the single release’s b-sides and remixes. Before I get into that, let me give people the opportunity to hear it first. Most of you have probably noticed VICE’s all-over-it-ness when it comes to shutting down posted tracks, so I’m obviously not able to post the download, but VICE has been kind enough to provide us with a stream of the official track, which you can listen to here. Furthermore, they found it in their hearts to hook us up with an mp3 of Kele discussing the track as well, which you can check out below.

MP3: Kele Okereke on “The Prayer”

In other Bloc Party news, BlocParty.net has put together a Bloc Party covers project, titled Blag Party, and is encouraging the musically inclined to submit their own covers of any Bloc Party song, the best of which will be picked for inclusion on the Blag Party compilation CD that will eventually be sent to the band themselves. If this sounds like your kind of thing, send all entries to blogparty@blocparty.net. Take your time though, there’s no deadline as of yet. The best news though, is that the first cover has trickled in and it’s absolutely fantastic. Slowbear The Great (née Joe O’Callaghan) gets the project off to a great start with his extremely impressive cover of “Banquet”. Taking a completely different approach from the orginal, Slowbear combines his acoustic fingerpicking and smokey, double-tracked vocals to reinvent the original in his own, chilled-out way.

MP3: “Banquet” - Slowbear The Great

But the big news of the day his the announcement of the details of “The Prayer” UK single release. “The Prayer” will see release on Wichita in the UK on January 29th and will come in three action-packed formats as well as a download bundled with exclusive remixes. Check out the details below, and be sure to view the recently-revealed album cover art (which I love) here. Thanks to James at Blog Party for the info.

CD-Single
1. “The Prayer” [stream]
2. “We Were Lovers”*
3. “The Prayer” (Phones Full Metal Jackin’ Mix)*

7″ One
A. “The Prayer”
B. “England”*

7″ Two
A. “The Prayer”
B. “The Prayer” (Version 2)

Download Bundle:
1. “The Prayer”
2. “The Prayer” (Para One Remix)
3. “The Prayer” (Break & Silent Witness Remix)
4. “The Prayer” (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix)

*FUCK YESSSS

Seriously, I couldn’t ask for better news as far as the b-sides are concerned. The live versions I have of both “England” and “We Were Lovers” (formerly titled “Blue Moon” and “Cells Shaped Like Stars”, respectively) were both incredibly promising, and I was gutted to hear that they didn’t make the final cut for the album. Thank god then for single release and b-sides; hear the live versions for yourself below. Keep an ear out for that awesome, “In our bodies! In our bodies!” chorus in “We Were Lovers”.

MP3s:
“England” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“We Were Lovers” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party

As far as the remixes go, HOW EXCITED ARE WE ABOUT PHONES?! First of all, the “Full Metal Jackin’” title is so bad ass I don’t even know what to do with myself. As if I didn’t already worship Paul Epworth enough already. Second of all, the remix itself is awesome. I actually stumbled upon it by complete luck two days ago as Phones quietly made it available on his MySpace site for streaming. I ripped the audio and actually have a pretty great MP3 of the track, but considering the way VICE and Wichita have been policing the tracks pertaining to this release I’ll have to forgo posting it here. Instead, get over to Phones’ MySpace as soon as possible and feel the hotness for yourself. When Epic Man first saw the light of day on Phones’ ‘Space at the end of last summer the header read “Phones is dead”. Now, with the recent posting of this new remix the header reads “Phones IS back”, and indeed he is, dropping his hottest mix of 2006 on the track. In my opinion, Phones’ masterwork is still his incredible “Wolves At The Door” mix for the Futureheads on “Hounds of Love”, with his remix of “Never Felt Like This Before” for Shaznay Lewis (of All Saints fame), coming in at a close second. Grab them both below, and if you haven’t already done it, get to Phones MySpace NOW and stream his new Bloc mix. Anyone feeling a bit of a Simian Mobile Disco influence in “The Prayer” remix, or is that just me?

MP3s: ((both highly recommended))
“Hounds of Love” (Phones Wolves At The Door Mix) - The Futureheads
“Never Felt Like This Before” (Phones Volt Version) - Shaznay Lewis

Concerning the other remixes, I’ve never heard of Breaks & Silent Witness or Does It Offend You, Yeah?, but I’m definitely psyched to find out what Para One can do with the track. Only thing is, if you’re going to get a hot Parisian DJ to remix “The Prayer”, WHY THE FUCK ISN’T IT JUSTICE. Pardon me if I’m overreacting, BUT THEY’RE ON THE SAME FUCKING LABEL [in the US] FOR CHRIST SAKE. Ever since I heard “The Prayer” I knew it was begging to be Justified by the French DJ’s, and I mean, shit - there was no reason it couldn’t happen. Don’t get me wrong, Para One is great (I mean just watch his music video for “Dudun Dun”), but I’d just had my fingers crossed about this whole Justice thing for a while now, and to find out they picked someone from Ed Banger [UPDATE: I’m wrong here, Para One’s on Institubes - minus fifteen scene points for me] that’s not Justice is just frustrating. But anyway, here are some Para One tracks for the uninitiated (I’m preferring the MSTRKRFT mix, though), and see you guys tomorrow with some more dancy goodness*.

MP3s:
“Dudun Dun” - Para One
“Dudun Dun” (MSTRKRFT Remix) - Para One

*If you haven’t already gathered, I’m into the more electronic side of things recently; I hope that’s cool with everyone. Worry not though, tomorrow’s update should appeal to everyone.

The last day of CMJ 2006 was all about one thing: JUSTICE. Sure, Syd and I hit up the packed BrooklynVegan day party to check out Tokyo Police Club for a bit (and they certainly didn’t disappoint), but at no point did my thoughts drift from the spectacle I would be witnessing that night at Studio B.

MP3: “Nature of the Experiment” - Tokyo Police Club ((highly recommended))

And now, onto the main event…

JUSTICE + DIGITALISM @ STUDIO B
Before CMJ I’d never seen a single electronic act live, a tragedy considering how much I love electronic music. By week’s end though, I’d seen two of the best in the game right now, and if it weren’t for the Knife’s mind-blowing opening night performance I’d probably be able to declare the Justice show as the most fun I’ve had since catching Bloc Party twice earlier this summer.

Digitalism opened on the side stage, two innocuous looking dudes pumping out massive beats to a crowd who was already into it. I wasn’t terribly familiar with Digitalism outside of their contributions to the Kitsune Maison compilation series (which, upon further inspection, appears to be the majority of their recorded material) and a few of their incredible remixes, but was psyched to see them nonetheless, as I’ve got nothing but undying respect for the Kitsune Records label to which they are signed. As a result of my unfamiliarity with most of their material, nothing really jumped out at me from their set except, though this didn’t prevent me from enjoying it immensely. If Digitalism’s set proved anything though, it’s that I really need to be hitting up electronic shows more often as much as possible, as I had an absolutely awesome time despite not recognizing almost everything I heard, which I can’t say for most shows I go to. Here’s Digitalism’s most recent single, “Idealistic”, as well as his two finest remixes to date. I’m especially fond of that “Nothing But Green Lights” ish they dropped for Tom Vek.

MP3s:
“Idealistic” (Original Mix) - Digitalism
“Nothing But Green Lights” (Digitalism Mix) - Tom Vek ((highly recommended))
“Atlantis To Interzone” (Digitalism’s Klix Klax Remix) - Klaxons

And then it was time for the two most bad ass dudes in NYC that night to do their thing. While the Knife at least attempted to give the illusion of being a real band, standing behind their “instruments” and beating them in time with the music, Justice didn’t fuck around with any pretense. They were just two cooler-than-cool dudes from Paris, and they were gonna bring the hot jams, drop the pressure, smoke cigarettes in the DJ booth, and make you hurt in all the best ways.

I’m assuming this is fairly standard among DJ sets of this nature, but the best part of the show was the way in which the duo used these incredible unreleased remixes to segue between their actual songs and official remix work. Gaspard and Xavier, or “The Mustache” and “The China” as their apparently called, opened to the set with an extended reworking of the siren noises of Klaxons’ “Atlantis To Interzone”, which appears to be the hot track to remix these days (seriously, how many incredible remixes of this song are floating around right now), before launching immediately into the massive, grimy electronic surges of their molten-hot debut single “Waters of Nazareth”. I won’t pretend like I can remember exactly how their set went from there, but I can assure you it consisted of nothing but pure, unadultered fucktronica hotness. Highlights included some incredible unofficial remixes, though it was their remix of the Scissor Sisters “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” and an awesome reworking of Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” that stand out.

But the track on everyone’s mind was Justice vs Simian’s “We Are Your Friends”; everyone knew it was coming at some point and the anticipation was tangible. Surely aware of this, Justice toyed with the audience, inserting the immediately-recognizable synth surges that open the track into random parts of their set, eliciting a brief cheer before they would immediately move onto their next track. Finally, a good hour or so in, Simian vocalist Simon Lord’s distinct yelps rang out over the audience as Justice dropped the needle on the hottest dance record of the millenium, and the place went fucking bonkers. Seriously, shit was out of control, with everyone screaming out the chorus at the top of their lungs and moving like there was no tomorrow. To be perfectly accurate, it looked a little something like this. Just look at that pandemonium. Justice did their part to get the crowd into it (as if they weren’t already) by muting the instrumentation at all the right moments in the chorus as the crowd shouted out the words instead, and after “We Are Your Friends” concluded it was pretty much game over. People were having the time of their lives - flailing limbs, smiles plastered across their faces, sweat everywhere; it was just a ridiculous time. The rest of the set continued the ridiculously high standard set by the first half, with their remix of Franz Ferdinand’s “The Fallen” standing out as a straight-up murderous highlight. “The Fallen” remix is easily the best of Justice’s remix work (obviously excluding their career-defining “We Are Your Friends” mix) and is without a doubt one of the year’s elite remixes, with the duo completely gutting the original and chopping up Alex Kaprano’s vocals until the original’s but a distant (and dare I say inferior?) memory.

As much as I hate to say it, it was around this point that I left. Yes, I left the bangin’-est show I’ve ever been to. But by that point Justice had been churning out hot fire for damn near two hours and the clock was creeping towards 4 AM, and with the knowledge that NYC cab drivers change shifts at 4 I knew I had to get out of there soon before I was stranded in Green Point for the night. As it was, I had to bribe an already-off-duty cab driver with $20 to take me over the bridge into Alphabet City after having already walked about 15 blocks, but suffice it to say, the opportunity to witness Justice absolutely destroying the crowd in their first-ever set on American soil (can I get confirmation of this?) was well worth it.

MP3s:
“Waters of Nazareth” - Justice ((HIGHLY recommended))
“We Are Your Friends” - Justice vs Simian ((HIGHLY recommended))
“Smack My Bitch Up” (Justice Mix) - The Prodigy
“The Fallen” (Ruined By Justice) - Justice ((highly recommended))

You’ll notice I’ve included the Justice treatment of “Smack My Bitch Up” in the downloadable mp3s above, but it’s not an official release, as I ripped it from their September 2005 DJ set at Trash in London. Keep in mind, this is from earlier in their brief career and doesn’t do, er, justice to their near-perfected current live show. Keep an ear out from two hot reworkings of Prodigy at around the 6- and 19-minute marks (the latter of which you can download individually above), the highlight of the set, “Waters of Nazareth”, at the 34-minute mark and Simian’s original edit of “Never Be Alone” (which went on to yield “We Are Your Friends”) squeezing itself in there in the final minute.

I recently came across an awesome remix of “Waters of Nazareth” courtesy of Philly’s John Redden that might actually surpass Erol Alkan’s remix of the track, an impressive feat considering that 2006 has essentially been considered the year of the Erol in most electronic music circles, so you should defs grab that below. And why not, I also threw in Justice’s touch-up of Mystery Jets’ “You Can’t Fool Me Dennis”, since I’ve been way into the ‘Jets as of late.

Bonus MP3s:
“Justice DJ Set @ Trash, 09.12.05″ - Justice
“Waters of Nazareth” (Jhn Rdn Remix) - Justice
“You Can’t Fool Me Dennis” (Justice Remix) - Mystery Jets

And that concludes my coverage of CMJ 2006, as exhaustive as it may have been. Things will resume tomorrow as per usual, with an especially hot first post back to reward you for your patience throughout the never-ending technical difficulties we’ve had around here.

Friday began as my most open and least-scheduled day, but actually turned into the busiest and most exhausting day of the entire week for me. I met up with Rya again that morning in Washington Square and we hit up Tower Records’ ridiculous going out of business sale, where I picked up some CD-singles and EPs I’d been looking to get my hands on for a ridiculously low grand total of $8.39. Before I get into the day’s concert activities, I’ll take you through a few of the gems I picked up at Tower. First up was Jeremy Warmsley’s debut single, “I Promise”, which I hadn’t been able to find anywhere to that point. I’m long overdue on my artist profile of Warmsley (or even that 9/10 single review I’ve been meaning to drop for “Dirty Blue Jeans”), considering he’s one of my favorite new artists of 2006, so here’s “I Promise” for those of you whose hunger was incited by “Dirty Blue Jeans”‘ inclusion on M3 Volume 11 and have been thirsting for more ever since.

MP3s:
“I Promise” - Jeremy Warmsley
“Dirty Blue Jeans” - Jeremy Warmsley ((highly recommended))

I’ve been on a serious Editors kick recently, so I was pumped to find their “All Sparks” EP-single at Tower, the b-side of which included a studio version of “The Diplomat”, the demo of which is possibly my favorite thing Editors have ever done. While I find the studio version to pale in comparison to the original demo, which was recorded back when Editors were called Snowfield and were still unsigned, it was still a worthwhile purchase as it yielded a bevy of other decent b-sides and the excellent Cicada remix of the title track. Download the original demo of “The Diplomat”, which I LOVE, along with the Cicada remix of “All Sparks”, below. I’ve got a couple of sweet Editors compilations I’m priming for release soon, so be sure to keep an eye out for those in the near-ass future.

MP3s:
“The Diplomat” (Snowfield Demo) - Editors ((highly recommended))
“All Sparks” (Cicada Remix) - Editors

Finally, I was also able to pick up Union of Knives’ I Decline EP, which I’d been after for a while. I absolutely love their album, Violence & Birdsong, so a chance to pick up their debut EP was too good to pass up, especially since it only set me back like two bucks. “I Decline” isn’t one of my favorite tracks on Violence & Birdsong, but it’s good nonetheless, and the EP features a non-album b-side as well as an exclusive remix of the title track by the band themselves. “I Decline” is available for download below, along with “Evil Has Never”, my favorite track on the album and one of the better electronic singles of 2006.

MP3s:
”I Decline” – Union of Knives
”Evil Has Never” – Union of Knives ((highly recommended))

After hitting up Tower we continued our trek through the city and passed Other Music, and after learning that I’d never been to Other Rya insisted we stop in for a bit. We got inside, only to find Annuals playing an acoustic set to a small audience, but unfortunately it was winding down as we arrived and we only got to hear one more song.

Annuals were brought to my attention last December by my roommate Andrew, who’d seen them multiple times in Raleigh, but I was fully immersed in Year-End Best Of List mode at that point and somehow allowed the band to slip off my radar. Then earlier this year the band blew up on the blogs, and now they’re one of the most sought after indie bands in America right now, having just released a brilliant debut album and enjoying their unsigned status, having fulfilled their one album contractual commitment to Ace Fu Records. Here’s the standout track from Be He Me, “Carry Around”, along with the apparent blogger consensus favorite, “Brother”.

MP3s:
“Carry Around” – Annuals
“Brother” – Annuals

After a brief coffee stop I parted ways with Rya and headed across town to meet up with Les Savy Fav bassist Syd Butler for lunch. Syd is the founder of Frenchkiss Records (home of the Fav, Thunderbirds Are Now! and the former label of the Hold Steady) and my dad happens to be dating his mom, so I had the honor of going around town with one of the nicest and most-connected dudes in the NYC indie rock scene and being introduced as “basically family”. Talk about scene points. During lunch Syd revealed to me some exclusive info regarding the recording of the new Les Savy Fav LP, which is due out next year, so keep an eye out for a post on that in the near future. For some insight into how the recording process is going on the new Fav album, here’s a humorous video of the band interviewing themselves during their recent recording stint at Gigantic Studios. As our lunch was winding down I checked the time and mentioned that the Shins would be starting their KEXP in-studio set in a few minutes at 4, and Syd declared that we should go, so we settled up our bill and took to the streets in the direction of Gigantic Studios, where the performance would be going down.

THE SHINS @ GIGANTIC STUDIOS (KEXP @ CMJ)

I wasn’t really planning on catching the Shins’ set, as it was at the misleadingly-small Gigantic Studios and I figured it would be nigh impossible to get in, but Syd knew some people there (seriously, dude knows everyone), so we had no problem getting in and I was able to catch the entire performance from about five feet away from James Mercer and the rest of the band. This put me in an excellent position to get some close-up pictures during the band’s performance, and while I didn’t have a camera I noticed E.J. Loudersoft behind me struggling to get a good vantage point, so I offered to take some pictures for him, most of which you can see here. It was a short but sweet set, as these in-studio deals usually are, with the band mostly sticking to their classics but treating us to two of the new songs, single “Phantom Limb” and new album highlight “Australia”. The Smudge of Ashen Fluff has the whole set available for download here, and I’ve made “Phantom Limb” as well as brand new b-side “Nothing At All” and the KEXP recording of “Australia”.

MP3s:
“Phantom Limb” – The Shins ((highly recommended))
“Nothing At All” – The Shins
“Australia” (Live on KEXP) – The Shins

After the set Syd talked to Marty and Dave for a little while as I lingered awkwardly in close proximity, but before too long we were on our way over to Piano’s where Syd was putting on the Frenchkiss showcase that night. The showcase didn’t actually start until 8 however, but upstairs I was pleasantly surprised to find the VICE-curated “Norway Støy” showcase well underway.

120 DAYS @ PIANO’S (UPSTAIRS)

I was unaware that the showcase was even going on, so I didn’t arrive in time to catch either of the opening acts, Don Juan Dracula and Low Frequency In Stereo, but I was able to catch most of 120 Days’ set. It’s well documented here that I love pretty much everything VICE does, but I really haven’t been terribly taken by 120 Days debut album despite my best efforts to get myself into it. However, the Norwegians put on an AWESOME fucking performance, climaxing in the synth-tacular glory of set-closer “Come Out”. The band piled massive synths on top of drum machines, live drums and driving basslines, creating an overwhelming barrage of synth infused intensity. What made the band’s set, however, was the performance of lead singer Ådne Meisfjord, whose frantic dancing and yelped vocals generated a ridiculous energy that the cramped crowd just ate up. For such a young band, Meisfjord possessed a remarkable stage presence and did a phenomenal job of working the crowd. The undeniable highlight of the show was oft-raved-about lead single “Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)”, which can be downloaded below direct from the kind people at VICE Recordings, along with two great remixes of the track.
MP3s:
“Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)” – 120 Days
“Come Out (Lansing-Dreiden Remix)” – 120 Days
“Come Out (The Field Remix)” – 120 Days

FRENCHKISS RECORDS SHOWCASE @ PIANO’S (DOWNSTAIRS)
After the Norway showcase it was back downstairs for some more free drinks and a bite to eat, before Call Me Lightning took to the stage and got the show underway. I’d never heard of the band before, but Syd had filled me in on their history (they released one album in 2004 on hardcore label Revelation Records but didn’t really fit in with the rest of the label’s sound, and Syd just signed them and will be putting out their next record in early ’07) and his obvious excitement about them got me pumped to hear them. In the end, they actually put on my favorite performance of the night. They’ve got this raw, jarring rock sound about them that fits in perfectly with the rest of the bands on Frenchkiss, but there’s something slightly more accessible about their material than that of their labelmates. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find any of their material to post, but you can head over to their MySpace where you can hear two of their new demos. According to Syd, they played nothing but new material from their upcoming sophomore LP, and the demos seem to fall in line with the rest of what I heard that night, so check them out here.

Next up was the Fatal Flying Guillotines followed by the Plastic Constellations, but by this point the free drinks we’re really starting to take their toll and nothing really stands out to me about either of their performances, aside from the fact that I definitely recall enjoying both. Furthermore, the Fatal Flying Guillotines deserve bonus points because a) they’ve got a undeniably bad-ass name, and b) at one point between songs their heavy-set lead singer addressed the audience saying “Thanks New York it’s great to be here, we’re called Interpol and this song’s called ‘I’m Modest But I’ve Got A Huge Fucking Dick’”, the latter of which I remember inspired me to get my chuckle on. That’s all though; by this point I was really just waiting with baited breath for The Big Sleep and Thunderbirds Are Now! to take the stage, which they did, after a brief and unremarkable set from Rakim.

My excitement for the Big Sleep was entirely rooted in hearsay, as I’d never heard them for myself, but had heard nothing but rave reviews from the kids at VICE, Syd (well, obviously) and the guitarist of My Best Fiend, who I met and had a nice little conversation with in the interminable wait for the bathroom before the Big Sleep went on. But when the band took the stage around midnight, I can’t say I was terribly blown away. It was an impressive performance, yes - three long-haired kids combining to create a monstrous barrage of grandiose, mostly-instrumental post-rock - but I found the monotony of lead singer Sonya Balchandani’s emotionless vocals and the often droning instrumentals to be a bit tiring. At no point was I moved to try to remember the lyric or riff of a song to identify it by later or to help me look it up, and all in all it was a performance that for me was nothing more than entertaining, if a bit unmoving. Pitchfork loved it though, so if you’re more inclined to go with their opinion you can check out the Big Sleep’s MySpace here or try this mp3 and it’s accompanying iPod-compatible video on for size below.

MP3: “Murder” - The Big Sleep [mp3 via MySpace - click link to download]
Video: “Murder” - The Big Sleep [iPod Compatible]

And then it was time for the main event, as Thunderbirds Are Now! took the stage to close out the night. I’d been way excited to see them, as I’d heard great things about their live show and loved a few song on their debut LP, Justamustache, though I haven’t taken time to familiarize myself with their latest release, Make History. Unfortunately though, I’d been there for nearly seven hours by the time they took the stage around 1:15 and I’d gotten drunk and sobered up nearly three times over in that over in that period alone, so suffice it to say I was burnt out as shit. This wasn’t exactly the best state in which to take in such a high-octane, high-energy performance as the one put on by TAN! that night, and six blistering songs and the errant foot of a stagediver to the temple later I was pretty much ready to go home and pass out. I gathered my things, yelled my goodbyes over the deafening volume, thanked Syd and set out into the cold New York City night. I was most upset about not getting to hear “To: Skulls” live, my favorite song by the band, but I was informed by Syd the next day that they didn’t end up playing it at all anyway. However, he also told me that they played an incredible Oasis cover (though he couldn’t recall which Oasis song it was), which I’m unbelievably bummed to have missed. Oh well though; you win some, you lose some.

MP3: “To: Skulls” - Thunderbirds Are Now! ((highly recommended)) 

In my delirium I had completely neglected to realize that VICE late night was about to get underway with performances from Chromeo, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus next door at Cakeshop. I’d been pumped to see Chromeo after witnessing the duo’s incredibly fun performance at Intonation last summer, but not even the free drinks and familiar faces at the party could change the fact that I was still FUCKING EXHAUSTED. So I grabbed one last free Sparks, said goodbye to the people I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to see at Justice the next night and went on my way. Apparently it was the best of the three nights of VICE parties at Cakeshop and saw some of the bangin’-est performances of the week; here’s the awesome shit I missed:

MP3s:
“Needy Girl” - Chromeo
“Rage!” - Chromeo
“Needy Girl” (Bloc Party’s High School Prom Remix) - Chromeo

And finally, I have no idea if Flosstradamous included this in their DJ set that night, but this mash up they created is absolutely ridiculous. Twista’s “Celebrity Overnight” + Sigur Ros’ “Staralfur” = fucking brilliant.

MP3: “Overnight Star” (Sigur Ros vs Twista) - Flosstradamus

My coverage of CMJ 2006 will conclude later today or tomorrow with my review of Justice’s un-fucking-believable set at Studio B, and when I say “later today or tomorrow” I’m not actually lying this time. Seriously, we will resume our regularly-scheduled programming (daily updates, downloadable hotness, etc.) tomorrow at the latest, and you better believe I’m coming back with some serious fire to drop for you guys to make up for the glaring lack of activity around here as of late. I promise.

Day four of CMJ yielded some significant disappointments, but some immensely pleasant surprises as well. Two of the week’s biggest shows took place on Thursday night, but I ws unfortunately shut out of both (see: “significant disappointments”). Sub Pop put on the biggest showcase of the week, bringing together the Thermals, CSS, The Elected and the Album Leaf in support of the Shins at the Bowery Ballroom. Considering that even without that stellar supporting cast the Shins alone could pack a venue of that size ten times over, I wasn’t holding my breath about getting a ticket, so I focused all my energy on gaining admittance to Hot Chip’s show at Webster Hall, also that night. Rya already had a ticket (jealous), but even my best efforts proved fruitless in this endeavor.

I’ve been on a serious Hot Chip kick lately, brought about by my realization that “Boy from School” just might be one of the ten best songs of this year. With the continued evolution of dance music and the HUGE year minimalist electronica is having (see: Thom Yorlee, Junior Boys, Trentemoller, The Knife, et. al), I’m more and more tempted to call “Boy From School” the most year-defining track of 2006 to this point. With that in mind, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across this incredible acoustic version of the song, available below. What’s so impressive about it is that it actually feels more natural than the original version, not unlike Jose Gonzalez’s reinterpretation of the Knife’s “Heartbeats.” That’s not to say it’s better than the original, rather it’s simply a brilliant song for a more low-key occasion. Grab it below if you’re smart, along with another excellent Hot Chip b-side, the band’s cooler-than-cool (ice cold!) cover of “Sexual Healing.” I’ve also got this great Hot Chip remix of “Take Me Out” just chillin’ on my hard drive, and though I don’t know where exactly it came from (whether it was ever formally released or not), I figured I might throw that up here as well.

MP3s:
“And I Was A Boy From School” (Acoustic) - Hot Chip ((highly recommended))
“Sexual Healing” - Hot Chip
“Take Me Out” (Hot Chip Remix) - Franz Ferdinand

With my early evening left completely open, I hit up the Virgin Megastore for their vast selection of imports and CD/7” singles. I picked up a couple great 45’s and moved onto the imports where I stumbled across an assortment of import-only Guillemots releases (score one for “pleasant surprises”). Despite its status as my favorite album of 2006, import prices had prevented me from owning Through The Windowpane on CD (though I regularly spin the beautiful 12” vinyl edition on my record player), but I finally bit the bullet and coughed up the cash for it. Additionally, I grabbed the “Made Up Love Song” and “We’re Here” CD-singles, but best of all I discovered the Japanese import edition of the band’s early ’06 mini-LP From The Cliffs, which features two bonus tracks I didn’t even know existed, “Moonlight” and “Pa Moila”. I was really excited to post them here for you guys and everything, along with some other Guillemots hotness, but I’m home for Thanksgiving now and, er, left the CD back at UVA. My bad. Please except my penance in the form of these somewhat lesser-known gems, and I’ll be sure to get those two import tracks up as soon as I am reunited with my copy of the CD after break. “Never Went To Church” is a brilliant cover commissioned by the Streets himself for inclusion on the UK release of the Never Went To Church CD-single last summer (why they didn’t gun for Christmas #1 in the UK with that track I’ll never know), and “Who Left The Lights Off” is just one of my favorite Guillemots tracks period, even though it inexplicably did not make the cut for inclusion on Through The Windowpane.

MP3s:
“Who Left The Lights Off, Baby” - Guillemots ((highly recommended))
“Never Went To Church” - Guillemots

Upon leaving Virgin I received a text message from my former VICE boss, Chris, letting me know that Fucked Up, who were set to rock VICE Late Night in the 1 AM timeslot that night, were stuck in Canada and had been replaced at the last minute by none other than the fucking Cold War Kids. While it’s frustrating to hear that yet another VICE band were denied entrance to the country because of visa issues at the border (see: 120 Days I met up with Carrie and killed some time (er, watched The OC), before heading over to Cakeshop, where we arrived just as CWK were taking the stage.

COLD WAR KIDS @ CAKESHOP

Carrie and I saw the Kids last spring, opening for Figurines and Tapes ‘n Tapes at Bowery Ballroom and to put it bluntly, they blew me the fuck away. In their thirty minute opening set that night they outperformed every rock act I’d ever seen, and yes, I have seen the Arcade Fire live. Thus, you can imagine my excitement when I found out they’d replaced Fucked Up at Cakeshop that night. I managed to grab the best spot ever (sitting on the P.A. - which meant a) I was sitting and comfortable and b) My 6-foot-whatever frame wasn’t pissing anyone off by obstructing their view) directly in front of the band, and minutes later the band launched into the pounding opening notes of “We Used to Vacation.” “Vacation” was definitely the highlight, along with “St. John” and the ever-immaculate “Hospital Beds”, and the band put on a hell of a show, banging on bottles, wood crates, and anything they could get their hands on to add to their beautiful, beautiful cacophony. The set-up and sound wasn’t nearly as good as it was at Bowery and the show paled in comparison as a result, but the Kids are always amazing and it was great to see them in a small environment, considering that probably won’t be possible in about six months’ time.

The band will be making their UK debut next week, releasing “We Used To Vacation” as a four song EP-single, backed by new versions of previously-released EP tracks “Expensive Tastes”, “In Harmony In Silver” and “Quiet, Please!”. “Vacation” is one of the best tracks of the year and is available below with the best of the b-sides, “In Harmony In Silver,” which the band included in their Cakeshop set despite its relegation to b-side status.

MP3s:
“We Used To Vacation” - Cold War Kids ((highly recommended))
“In Harmony In Silver” - Cold War Kids

In other CWK news, Nate (vox, guitar) and Johnny (percussion) recently put on a six-song acoustic performance at Orange, California’s District Lounge as part of an annual benefit for breast cancer. The guys forwent their usual live staples for a six-song setlist comprised exclusively of covers, and it’s a great listen though the quality may be less than ideal. My favorite of the bunch is Nate’s take on Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can”, available for download below, and you can grab the whole set here.

UPDATE: Links are correct now. Sorry for those who were directed to a discussion of the cross-marketing of Blossom and The Fresh Prince upon clicking the link; it was a page I stumbled upon in my research to back up my theory that the success of Will Smith’s movies is built solely around the frequecy of emphatic statements within them, specifically the phrase “Oh helllll nooo” (for those keeping score at home - his least succesful movie = The Legend of Bagger Vance, which had a dearth of emphatic statements and a definite lack of “oh hellll nos”).

Acoustic At The District:
1. “Indoor Fireworks” (Elvis Costello)
2. “Fast As You Can” (Fiona Apple)
3. “Die Die Die” (Dr. Dog)
4. “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” (Tom Waits)
5. “Tonight, You Belong To Me” (Lawrence Welk)
6. “The Littlest Birds” (The Be Good Tanyas)

Friday was by far my busiest day at CMJ, so check back later for the full rundown, which promises to be replete with fiery-hot mp3 goodness.

PREFACE: Computer issues be damned, I’m back and ready to get things back on track around here. I’ve got a shit ton of new goodness to bestow upon you all, but lest it get lost in the shuffle, the next three or four days will be spent revisiting my incredible CMJ experience from earlier this month.

While CMJ began on Monday, the quality of shows was heavily back-loaded, with the first huge event of the week going down on Wednesday night at Webster Hall. It was there that the Knife took the stage for the first time ever on American soil, playing back to back shows at 6 and 10 PM at the optimally-equipped (perfect sound system set-up) Webster Music Hall. Due to school obligations (pfft) the Knife show was also my first taste of CMJ, and it was an incredible start to what would prove to be an unforgettable four days of concert-going and debauchery.

THE KNIFE @ WEBSTER MUSIC HALL

My last class ended in Charlottesville at 1:50, and two hours by car, three hours by train and a joint-and-a-half later, I was outside of Webster with fellow former VICE intern Rya, my elevated consciousness providing the perfect climate within which to take in such a seismic event. And fuck if my mind wasn’t blown at least a thousand times over. We settled at our spot in the sold-out crowd just as the steel drums of “Pass This On” were helping people to realize just how life-changing the performance they’d be witnessing for the next 90 minutes would be. Any blogger worth their shit in the NYC metropolitan area was in attendance (and make a point to read James‘ review of their L.A. show a few days later here), so I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but a quick word on the ridiculous stage set up, courtesy of Stereogum who described it as accurately and concisely as possible:

“…A scrim pulled before a spare stage, with the oh-so-mysterious siblings rocking a deep shade of Blue Man Group face paint and two instrument stations with jags and crosses of blacklight-reactive tape. The stage had four huge puppet heads lined up left-to-right at rear stage, which had everything from blinking, three-eyed ghouls to normal human faces singing along to select songs… With The Wall-at-your-local-planetarium type laser images projected on the scrim, and modern art styled animation clips racing across the back screen, the duo did their thing…”

And do their thing they did. “Pass This On” opened the enigmatic duo’s set, one of only three non-Silent Shout tracks performed, along with automatic crowd-pleaser “Heartbeats” and an incredible updated version of “Kino”. “Heartbeats” and “Pass This On” were the stand out tracks on the duo’s 2003 release, Deep Cuts, while “Kino” was the best track on their 2001 self-titled debut, and for those interested in exploring more off of the Knife’s history, Green Pea-ness has another great track from the Knife’s debut here. All three of the older songs were completely Silent Shout-ified in their live versions, being reworked into darker, more intense versions that fit better with the tone of the rest of their newer material. “Pass This On” sounded as if it’d been remixed with the title track off Silent Shout, with that incredible synth progression permeating the song flawlessly and the awesome steel drums the only part of the original instrumentation that survived the reworking.

The undeniable highlight of the evening was the single “We Share Our Mother’s Health,” which stunned with its visual accompaniment and the suffocating gravity of its alternately bouncing-and-pounding beat. It was game over for the easily-overwhelmed when Olaf’s massive “Do You Like It? Say You Want It!” verse rained down upon the crowd, but from our viewpoint it almost seemed as if Karin was singing both her own and her brother’s vocal parts (no confirmation of this, though). One thing is known however, that the elaborate movements accompanying Olaf’s “drumming,” were largely the product of pomp and circumstance, as all of the instrumentation had been pre-recorded to maintain synchronization with the visuals. Karin’s vocals, however, were performed live and sounded as brilliant as ever, mesmerizing those in attendance with its power and striking unconventional beauty.

Other highlights included “Silent Shout,” main set-closer “From Off to On” and one-track encore “Like a Pen,” as the audiovisual spectacle continued to delight and overwhelm in equal parts. The show was made by the remarkable light and video show and production budget, which was conceived by the Knife and composed and executed by frequent collaborator and oft-time music video director for the Knife, Swedish director-producer Andreas Nilsson. In the end, what is most remarkable is that a year ago the duo claimed that they didn’t “believe” in live music and now here we are 12 months later and they’re redefining it.

The Knife initially planned to only perform five shows before returning to the laboratory in which they were surely conceived, though their NYC shows marked their 12th and 13th performances and the following week saw them playing 4 more shows before their US mini-tour came to a close. Regardless of whether or not these dates marked the end of the Knife’s touring days, the experience has been captured on DVD for the thousands of you who will may never get the chance to see the duo astonish live. Silent Shout: An Audio-Visual Spectacular saw release last week in Sweden, while Amazon shows a 11/21 release date for the US, and though I’ve not seen the DVD, the audience-filmed YouTube videos are awesome enough in themselves to get me incredibly excited to have the opportunity to relive my Knife live experience over again and again in the near future. Below is the setlist from the show, with mp3 links leading to the flawlessly-recorded live audio from the CD portion of the Silent Shout: An Audio-Visual Spectacular DVD. Be sure to download the new, Silent Shout-ified live versions of “Pass This On”, “Heartbeats” and “Kino”, as well as three awesome remixes from the recent US release of Deep Cuts.

SETLIST
01. “Pass This On” [[Live MP3]]
02. “The Captain”
03. “We Share Our Mother’s Health” [[Live MP3]]
04. “You Make Me Like Charity”
05. “Marble House”
06. “Forest Families”
07. “Kino” [[Live MP3]]
08. “Heartbeats” [[Live MP3]]
09. “Silent Shout”
10. “From Off To On”
——————-
11. “Like A Pen”

Bonus Remix MP3s:
“Pass This On” (Dahlback & Dahlback Remix) - The Knife
“You Take My Breath Away” (Mylo Remix) - The Knife ((highly recommended))
“Heartbeats” (Rex The Dog Remix) - The Knife

VICE LATE NIGHT: 120 Days w/ The Virgins @ Cakeshop

After the final notes of “Like a Pen” finished resonating out over the largely speechless audience at Webster, we did our best to gather our wits about us and cruised over to Cakeshop on the lower east side. It was there that the first of three VICE “Late Night” parties was getting underway where 120 Days were set to play with support from the Virgins. The combination of bangin’ live performances and free dranx (Sparks and Budweiser Select, awh yeah) had the entrance packed with the hipster folk trying to get in, but VICE was nice enough to take care of us on the guest list despite our former-intern bitch status.

Inside was a more manageable scene, and I grabbed a free Sparks with ease. But with the clock creeping towards 2 with no sign of the Virgins (who were supposed to go on at 1), I decided to get back to Columbia (where I was crashing) at a reasonable hour. The knowledge that I’d be able to catch Days at any of their 120 other performances that week (seriously, Annuals and 120 Days alone combined to produce as many live performances in one week as some bands play in an entire year). Besides, having aleady witnessed the most awe-inspiring live performance of my life (sorry, Sigur Ros) I felt it unfair to judge two bands whose live shows could only disappoint in comparison to the Knife. So back to Columbia it was, and a $21 wallet-raping at the hands of a pricey cab ride later, I was back at Columbia to get some rest* before taking on the second day of my CMJ experience.

*In this case “rest” is used to describe the act of forgoing sleep to play 3 hours of beer pong and eventually falling asleep on the bare plastic of an inflatable aerobed in all of my clothes, but that’s beside the point. More tomorrow on the second day of my CMJ experience; it’s good to be back.

Good god, it has leaked. And fuck if it’s not every bit as amazing as I thought it would be, even if the leak is farrrrrrr from CD-quality (which it is). It’s so hard to process an album when every single song on it is simultaneously overwhelming you with its brilliance all at once.

UPDATE: Who the hell would have thought that my most anticipated albums of 2006 and 2007 would both leak within 24 hours of each other. Monday, November 13, 2006: A day that will live in infamy.

Another day, another letdown courtesy of your friends at Good Weather For Airstrikes. I got over ezarchive. I got over my computer crashing (or at least I thought I did) and I salvaged my hard drive. I got my hosting sorted out. I got the payment for said hosting sorted out. I wrote an ungodly amount of words summing up my CMJ experience. And just as I’m ready to get things back on track around here, I come to the realization that trying to blog without my own computer just isn’t going to work. I don’t have my programs (Photoshop, CuteFTP, iTunes), I don’t have my fonts, I don’t have my mp3s in a place where they can be conveniently accessed, and while yes, I could technically perservere, it’s a ridiculous hassle. This is most evident in the fact that I’ve spent the last 5 hours trying to pry my roommates away from their computers, walking to the library when I couldn’t, typing up the post, realizing the library computers didn’t have any of the programs I needed to get the post into actual posting-shape, getting all upset, letting out a primal roar of frustration, smashing some buildings, stomping on innocent, poorly-dubbed Japanese onlookers and finally being taken down by air force fighter jets before I could do any more damage. All over one fucking single review.

So here’s what’s going to happen. Bad news first: The updates are going to stop around here until I get my laptop back. The good news: I’m supposed to get my laptop back sometime around Tuesday or Wednesday, so the wait won’t be long. The better news: While the full single review will have to wait until I get my laptop back (though it’s already written, along with about 15 other backlogged posts), I’m hooking y’all up with Placebo’s awesome cover of “Running Up That Hill”, originally by Kate Bush. If you saw season premier of The OC last week then you’ll recognize it as the recurring musical theme of the episode, as it was played throughout the entire episode. And yes, I do still watch The OC. It’s the best cover I’ve heard in a long time, so hopefully it will make the wait a little more bearable for you all. Sorry to keep building you up just to let you down, but this seemingly-neverending parade of inconveniences is really hindering our ability to get things back on track around here. Enjoy the song and I’ll see you some time next week.

MP3: “Running Up That Hill” - Placebo ((highly recommended))

UPDATE: The mp3 links are now working, so you can now download the songs individually. Please “right click > save target as” to directly download the files rather than streaming, as I’ve got a new host and now have to monitor my bandwith. Thanks for your cooperation and for bearing with us during our brief period of downtime last week. Regular updating will resume today with a complete day-by-day review of CMJ.

Good news, denizens of Good Weather For Airstrikes; my hard drive has been salvaged! My laptop itself is in shambles, but from its icy clutches I was able to pry M3 Volume 11 (hooray) and the rest of my schoolwork and mp3s, so feel free to commence rejoicing in the streets if you’re so inclined. And on that note, onto the big show:

[cover art adapted from photograph by Darien Lives]

Our hosting is almost all sorted out - I’ve uploaded M3 Volume 11 to my server using my FTP client but now I have the small issue of figuring out where those files are actually located (what the direct download links for the files are). However, rather than leaving you hanging yet another day, I’ve uploaded the entire thing to MediaFire so you can download it as a .zip file there while you wait for the individual song links to get posted. I’m working on the individual links now and they should be up by tomorrow at the latest, contact me on AIM (screen name = DerekDavies) if you’re experienced in the realm of FTP and think you might be able to help me out.

The prominent attributes of the songs on M3 V11 are their penchant for piano rock, the anthemic, and, um, Britishness. The first half of the mix is heavily piano-centric, with an anthemic streak characterizing tracks 2, 3 and 4, with 10 of the 14 artists on the mix calling the United Kingdom home. Spoon, Ben Folds and Jon Brion hold it down for the U, S and A, and the Stills represent for our Canadian neighbors to the North, but all three are the vast geographic minority on this one.

I generally write a sentence or two about each song on the mix, but I’ve found that those generally turn out just to be a bit of a redundancy-fest with me recycling the words “catchy”, “awesome”, “ethereal”, and “excellent” in equal parts. Thus, I’m just going to summarize the mix in general, pointing out a few of the highlights along the way. You’ve got your fair share of indie classics here, with Ben Folds and Spoon leading the way with “Army” and “The Way We Get By”, respectively. “The Day We Caught The Train” continues the anthemic streak with that “oh-whoa-la-dee-da” refrain and is actually my favorite song to come out of the entire mid-90’s Britpop explosion, though it didn’t see the same success in the US that Ocean Colour Scene contemporaries Blur and Oasis did. Seriously though, that refrain alone is enough to make Francis Scott Key jealous, and “Caught The Train” just might be the best song here. Elsewhere, Snowfight In The City Centre and Air Traffic hold it down just like you knew they would, and Jeremy Warmsley’s “Dirty Blue Jeans” is one of the absolute best tracks of the year. You should know that if you asked me in 2004 what the best song of that year was, I probably would have said Razorlight’s “Golden Touch” deserved the honor, and while my opinion’s not quite the same today, it’s still a phenomenal track and fits into the mix perfectly. Finally, you’ve got your obligatory Bloc Party appearance with “This Modern Love” and fellow VICErs the Stills close things out in flawless fashion with “Yesterday Never Tomorrows”.

This might be my favorite M3 yet, so get on it and download this hotness like your life depended on it. Or something.

NOTE: We’ve added some minor upgrades to the M3 system with M3 Volume 11. First of all, the album artwork is now 600 x 600 dpi and is available for download immediately below. Secondly, whereas all songs on the M3s were previously 160 kbps-quality, they’re now all at least 192 kbps or above, enhancing the listening experience for those of you audiophiles out there.

High Resolution Artwork: [Front Cover] [Back Cover]

Download: M3 Volume 11 [follow link]

M3 Volume 11:
01. “Just Abuse Me” - Air Traffic
02. “What We Did Wrong” - Duels
03. “The Day We Caught The Train” - Ocean Colour Scene
04. “The Way We Get By” - Spoon
05. “Never Even Told Me Her Name” - Air Traffic
06. “Army” - Ben Folds Five
07. “I Believe She’s Lying” - Jon Brion
08. “Dirty Blue Jeans” - Jeremy Warmsley
09. “Naive” - The Kooks
10. “Golden Touch” - Razorlight
11. “No Light Left” - Snowfight In The City Centre
12. “Chocolate” - Snow Patrol
13. “This Modern Love” - Bloc Party
14. “You Could Have Both” - The Long Blondes
15. “Yesterday Never Tomorrows” - The Stills

Since we haven’t had enough bad luck already, apparently the powers that be decided that I needed to have more shit on my plate to deal with, so my computer is now completely unresponsive when I attempt to turn it on. Thus, M3 Volume 11 will not be posted today as previously promised; instead you just get an apologetic notice and a promise of things to come. I’ve written up all of my CMJ reviews and while they’re certainly a bit lengthy at times, they’re also chock-full of downloadable MP3 hotness and should be received pretty well once I’m able to post them, but that all rests on the fate of my hard drive. I’m currently waiting with baited breath to find out if said hard drive is salvageable, otherwise you may have to talk a pretty distraught Derek Davies down from the ledge of a high building in the not-too-distant future. All my mp3s are safely secured on my iPod (and yes, by saying that I do realize that I am blatantly inviting the powers that be to wreak havoc on my ‘Pod as well), but all of my artwork - seriously everything I’ve ever made - including three of the six projects that I have already completed that are to be included in my final portfolio for my digital art course, rest precariously in the balance as I wait for the word from Ivy Computers.

We’re setting up our Dreamhost account today so at the very least that will be taken care of once I determine the fate of my hard drive, and hopefully things can be back up and running around here within a day or two. As I said, all the write-ups are done, so upon getting back my hard drive (*knock on wood*) things will be back to normal in no time. Thanks again for bearing with us through this period of difficulty.
Instead of leaving you guys completely hanging with no mp3s with which to satiate your new music hunger, I’m directing you to some other blogs to grab some of the best tracks I’ve heard over the last week, and I’ve even thrown in a GWFAS-approved gem of my own from my ever-growing backlog of Mp3s I Really Should Have Posted By Now.

• Green Pea-ness introduced me to the Tacticians via email a little while ago, and he’s finally posted the band’s absolutely wonderful debut single, “London’s Alright”, which you can and should grab here. While the track is certainly fantastic, I’ve actually found myself more drawn to its b-side, “Hardcore Porn”, which contrary to what its name might suggest, is one of the most delightfully nostalgic tracks I’ve heard all year. Thankfully, the band has made the song available for direct linking and download from their website, so be sure to download it below. Before you leave GP make sure to get on that Harlem Shakes track, “Carpetbaggers”, as it’s really (really) good and provided the official soundtrack to the second half of my CMJ excursion. God knows Derek Davies wouldn’t let anything less than a truly incredible song soundtrack any significant moment, let alone one of the best weeks of his life, so grab that here or be much worse off without it. Here’s “Hardcore Porn” though, before I forget.

• MP3: “Hardcore Porn” - The Tacticians
  

• The Smudge of Ashen Fluff has ripped mp3s from the Shins live KEXP performance recorded at Gigantic Studios in NYC last Thursday, which I was actually in attendance for. I managed to get a spot five feet from James Mercer at the very front of the studio and witnessed the entire performance up close and personal, which was truly awesome. They stuck with their older material for the most part, but we were treated to two of the new ones, single “Phantom Limb” and “Australia” (titled “[New Song]” in the Smudge of Ashen Fluff post), both of which sounded excellent. Essentially, this is a chance for the six or seven of you who don’t already have the leaked album to hear the Shins’ new material for the first time, so enjoy it and be sure to thank the Ashen Fluff kids while you’re there.

• Holy fuck; Adrian has five new Brand New tracks… and they’re awesome! Something tells me it’s a really really bad idea posting that many leaked songs off such a hotly-anticipated major label release as The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me, especially with Interscope’s tendency to shut down these type of things with utmost expedience, so get over there NOW while you still can.

• Most of you probably remember my freak-out over the first released Epic Man track and for all intents and purposes I’m still calling it my favorite hip-hop track of the year; that beat is just MASSIVE. Anyway, Fluokids has got the Sinden remix (here), which ups the tempo and, um, says “gash!” a lot (those Brits with their crazy vernacular!). But it’s good, and you need it.

Hopefully that’ll tide you over for now, I’ll have an update on my computer/hard drive situation for you later today and if my hard drive has indeed been salvaged, you’ll be dancing to M3 Volume 11 all night long as early as this evening.