Good Weather For Airstrikes

You guys are awesome. Over $100 dollars in donations in barely two weeks, more than enough to get us back on our feet and even begin to help me make back the some $300 Dreamhost scored for free when they shut our shit down without so much as the slightest hint of a warning (or a refund) two weeks go. So yeah, thanks. A lot. You guys are the best.

We back, y’alls. And what better way to make a triumphant return than with another piping hot exclusive? The Remix Artist Collective hooks us up once again with another exclusive remix, this time for CSS’s “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above”. I wouldn’t count myself as a CSS fan in the least, but shit, I like this. The original does absolutely nothing for me, but hey, add some massive synth stabs and a huge beat and all of a sudden I’m fully down. The RAC’s most experimental remix to date, it’s as heavy as Justice and as frenzied as SebastiAn, wearing a tangible heavy metal influence on its sleeve the whole way. Throw in some poppy synth progressions for good measure and we’re absolutely golden. Definitely outshines the Simian Mobile Disco remix of the track, and actually makes me able to tolerate the source material, so yeah - high fives all around.

MP3: “Let’s Make Love” (RAC Mix) - CSS [exclusive]

In other CSS news - and possibly the last time you’ll ever hear CSS come up on this site - the band just remixed Lily Allen’s latest single, “Alfie”, and what do you know - they did a pretty great job. Again, all violent synth stabs and whatnot, but who knew “Alfie” could be re-worked into a legitimate dancefloor banger?

MP3: “Alfie” (CSS Remix) - Lily Allen

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, WHERE YOU AT? /// PART DEUX
My inbox is full of emails from people wanting me to check out (typically) shitty music on a daily basis. Every once in a while, however, something completely unexpected arrives to make my day and remind why I keep sifting through miles upon miles of e-correspondence everyday in the first place. Ladies and gentlemen, meet “Sleep Deprivation”, a new track off Simian Mobile Disco’s up coming full-length debut, Attack Decay Sustain Release. Basically a crash course in dropping the motherfucking pressure, the track is 100% instrumental and 1000% bad-ass. This album cannot possibly drop soon enough.

MP3: “Sleep Deprivation” - Simian Mobile Disco

So now that Stereogum’s had their fun with the RAC’s (that’s the Remix Artist Collective, for those of you not in the know) excellent mix of “Hunting For Witches”, we’re here to drop a little exclusive of our own. As with the “Hunting For Witches” remix, the RAC’s take on “Song For Clay” keeps the original lyrical template completely intact, but dresses it up in violent synth stabs, more synthesized strings and, most of all, just makes everything BIGGER. Both mixes are excellent productions completely worthy of official release by the band, no small statement considering the damn near flawless consistency maintained across the remixes A Weekend In The City has yielded to date.

MP3: “Song For Clay” (RAC Mix) - Bloc Party [xxxclusive]

It’s hard to keep track of whether the hipsters are hating or loving Pitchfork at any given time, and the latest I’d heard is that the blogs were displeased with the indie media juggernaut (oxymoron?) for becoming too “blog-like”, because apparently people don’t like blogs, not even the people who write them. Regardless, one positive thing that has occurred since the blogification (new term!) of Pitchfork is the creation of their Infinite Mixtape project. Basically, it’s a glorified way for them to get away with posting random mp3s that they like a lot, and though I can’t say I always agree with their choices, I’ve definitely found some great songs thanks to the project. One such song is “Notorious”, by Jamaican dancehall rapper Turbulence (né Sheldon Campbell). I’m confident I wouldn’t have discovered this song if not for the Infinite Mixtape, and my life would definitely be slightly worse for it. The track was originally released two years ago, but has been rereleased as the leadoff song on an XL Records-curated compilation entitled Serious Times, and is basically just really freaking awesome. It’s got a well sung hook (Turbulence has a surprisingly good voice) and infinity-steps-better-than-Sean Paul verses, and it definitely has the potential to fill dance floors around the United States, just as it’s been doing for years in Jamaica.

MP3: “Notorious” - Turbulence ((highly recommended))

I don’t know a whole lot about Los Angeles-based electro-rock foursome Shiny Toy Guns, but this is what I do know: They released an album in 2005 called We Are Pilots, signed to Universal Motown a few months ago, and the major label remastered re-release is coming out today (October 17). You may have heard their track “Le Disko” that was going around the blogosphere a bit a while back, a track that showcases female vocalist Carah Faye and is intended to be the first single from the We Are Pilots re-release. This track, “Starts With One”, features male vocalist Chad Petree in the spotlight, and I definitely prefer it to “Le Disko”. Either Petree has a great voice or the band has great software to run it through, but whichever is the case the track sounds fantastic. It may not be life-changing, but it’s certainly a lot of fun.

MP3: “Starts With One” - Shiny Toy Guns

I’ve definitely gone through a few Damien Rice phases over the years, and while his brand of hyper-sparse folk is less and less my thing these days, Rice’s long-awaited and breathlessly-anticipated sophomore album, 9, out November 6th in the UK and a week later in the US, is shaping up to be something truly amazing. I’m sure many of you have come across lead single “9 Crimes” by now (if not, I’ve got a single review with an excellent exclusive bonus coming over the weekend), but it’s the incredible b-side, “Rat Within The Grain” I’m posting here tonight. Perkier and of a more upbeat tempo than anything found on O while retaining the distinct vibe found on all of Rice’s material, “Rat Within The Grain” has an undeniably timeless quality about it, lending it a classic feel despite it’s relegation to b-side status. Beautiful.

MP3: “Rat Within The Grain” - Damien Rice ((highly recommended))

I’m gonna hold off on the full-fledged single review until I get a chance to hear the three Erol Alkan-produced b-sides that will be backing the single release of “Once And Never Again” (officially out on October 23rd, preorder here), but for now here’s your chance to hear the song, produced by Steve Mackey and previously only available in demo form (here). First impressions indicate it to be every bit as good as “Separated By Motorways” and “Appropriation”, but it doesn’t quite match the extremely high standard of excellence set by the “Weekend Without Make Up”/”Fulwood Babylon” single release, but then again, few songs have this year.

MP3: “Once And Never Again” - The Long Blondes

Oooooh. Check it out: there are five songs written, fully-produced and supposedly ready for release that were cut from The Crane Wife, and the search is now on to find those songs. Fortunately, I’ve got one of them right here for you because I’m awesome (or just because I’m iTunes-savvy, you decide). “After The Bombs”, possibly a follow-up to the “here all the bombs fade away” refrain that closes out “Sons & Daughters”, is a tender piano ballad, the likes of which aren’t seen on any other song on The Crane Wife. Straightforward and fairly introspective, “After The Bombs” lacks the bombast and epic qualities of the album tracks, but makes nicely for an enjoyable b-side, which is exactly the purpose it’s destined to serve. Below is the download link for “After The Bombs”, as well as a list of the other four songs known to exist, though only one of them’s been found to this point.

MP3: “After The Bombs” - The Decemberists

• “The Culling Of The Fold” (available here courtesy of Bon Ton)
• “The Day I Knew You’d Not Come Back”
• “Hurdles Even Here”
• “The Perfect Crime #1″

“After The Bombs” is the bonus track received when one purchases the album at the US iTunes store, while “The Culling Of The Fold” is apparently the bonus download received when The Crane Wife is purchased at Tower Records. Thus, it’s reasonable to believe that the rest of the tracks will be bonus incentives on other releases of the album, though I think it’s most likely that they’ll serve as b-side fodder (though the “O Valencia” single is listed without any b-sides on the iTunes store and elsewhere) or as a bonus record in the album’s vinyl release a la Picaresqueties. If you have or know where I can find any of these other tracks, by all means point me in the right direction so I can share it with the rest of the masses. As for the rest of you, be sure to keep an eye on this post for updates as the search continues.

Apple pretty much blew up my last “exclusive” when that TV On The Radio remix of “Dark Star” showed up on the iTunes Music Store only hours after I posted it, so here’s another Beck track you won’t find anywhere else. I’d bother with writing something constructive or insightful about “O Menina” if I wasn’t going through the greatest crisis of my life to this point right now (seriously, who the fuck stole my iPod? i’m actually dying right now), but the circumstances of my life right now are far to tramatic to even attempt such a task. It’s a new Beck song. B-side from The Information. Produced by Nigel Godrich. It’s a new Beck song. You want it. Go.

MP3: “O Menina” - Beck

In a beautiful turn of events, Shots Ring Out have conveniently compiled all of those lazy low-budget Beck videos that have been put out over the last month leading up to the release of The Information for your viewing and downloading pleasure. All of the clips were directed by Beck, Autumn de Wilde, and producer Nigel Godrich themselves and can (and should) be downloaded here.

UPDATE: No longer an exclusive, it came out on iTunes after I posted it so everyone’s got this up now.

In a shocking turn of events, Good Weather For Airstrikes officially got its 750,000th hit today, getting us that much closer to the unfathomable 1,000,000th hit milestone. Granted, a good 100,000 of those hits came in the week after my Top 65 Music Videos of 2005 post somehow set the internet on fire, but it’s an accomplishment we’re proud of nonetheless. Why not celebrate then, and what better way to do so than with some more xxxclusive hotness, this time in the form of TV On The Radio remixing Beck’s “Dark Star”, the original of which is taken from Beck’s just-released tenth album, The Information. TVOTR takes the already brooding tone of the original and transplant onto it twinkly, rattling effects and their own signature atmospheric and bluesy brass sound, making for on interesting reinterpretation of the album version. Dig it below.

MP3: “Dark Star” (TV On The Radio Remix) - Beck

The track’s good but it doesn’t come close to touching my favorite Beck remix and one of the best remixes of last year, Air’s “Heaven Hammer” reinterpretation of “Missing”, taken from Beck’s 2005 Guerolito remix album. Here’sThe French electronica-lounge duo slow down the track and showcase Beck’s voice rising above a mellow backdrop of strings and lightly pounding percussion. The strength of Beck’s voice on the track is astonishing; it’s power was lost in the jangling Guero original. Basically, “Heaven Hammer” is a remix of the best kind, one that takes a mediocre original tune and reworks it into something beautiful.

MP3: “Heaven Hammer” (Missing) - Beck ((highly recommended))

In a beautiful turn of events, Shots Ring Out have conveniently compiled all of those lazy low-budget Beck videos that have been put out over the last month leading up to the release of The Information for your viewing and downloading pleasure. All of the clips were directed by Beck, Autumn de Wilde, and producer Nigel Godrich themselves and can (and should) be downloaded here.

So my good friend (and Zack’s #1 gal pal) Clair’s uncle is actually Mac McCaughan, Portastatic frontman and the founder of Merge, which - suffice it to say - is awesome. We actually both spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, but while I have people like my grandparents and relatives visiting and staying at my house, she’s got Sonic Youth and J Mascis. But whatever, can Thurston Moore more make a to-die-for strawberry vinegarette dressing like Grandma can? I think not.

ANYWAYS, Portastatic’s got a new LP, Be Still Please, out next week which, according to the Merge site, “continues the full-on rock band sound of 2005’s Bright Ideas but with more of an emphasis on the orchestration featured in McCaughan’s recent soundtrack work”. However, as Pitchfork reported today, they’ve put out a digital-only EP for album-opener “Sour Shores” to tide us over in the meantime, which you can pick up here. In an awesome turn of events, the EP contains a cover of Hot Chip’s “And I Was A Boy From School”, the original version of which is shaping up to be one of the defining tracks of 2006. Forgoing the funky electro-soul of the original for a more stripped down, guitar-based approach, McCaughan’s version doesn’t come close to topping the original but certainly makes for an excellent listen nonetheless.

MP3: “And I Was A Boy From School” - Portastatic