Classic: Otis Redding "That's How Strong My Love Is"

If you haven’t listened to The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads you probably should. Otis represents the purest form of the purest instrument. This song is just over two minutes long and it’s better than most albums.

Four Tet/Burial/Thom Yorke Just Made a Song Together

Yes, you read right. Both electronic legends in their own right, Burial and Four Tet decided to collaborate with this guy, maybe you’ve heard of him…

There’s a LOT of melody going on here. Though it’s interesting that the track delivers its aesthetics in a manner similar to a lot of The King of Limbs. There’s a slickness to the production totally typical of Four Tet, a kind, creeping ghostliness totally typical of Burial, and there’s the vibe of a Radiohead song, typical of Radiohead. In other words, this is a melding of three styles that conform to each other perfectly.

Here’s the A side, “Ego”, also very cool. More dancey.

Flying Lotus Decides He'll Put You on a Spaceship for about Four Minutes

FlyLo‘s back, and he sounds, well, a lot like FlyLo. This nifty little track, aptly titled “Caravan of Delight” is like being ferried across a blinking universe in the gentlest of ways. There’s a lot going on, but the song never feels overcrowded or heavy.  It sounds a lot like something that would have been on Cosmogramma, which is a good thing. Check it out below.

From the HOLY CRAP files, New TV Commercial from Adidas featuring a CHOICE new Single from Justice

First off, this commercial is incredible. Crazy flashing screaming psycho awesomeness.

And behind it is the new single from Justice, which, though cut up for the purposes of the ad, sounds even more incredible. I’ll try to post a full version of that song when I can find one.

Wiz Khalifa Wants to Show You What Production Means

Wiz Khalifa, of “Black and Yellow” fame,  is young, stoned, and talented. This is a new track from his forthcoming LP Rolling Papers. Kid’s got nice flow and what especially impresses me is his production.

“The Race” slides along a synth line smooth as water and vibes out the floated, bloodshot persona of Wiz. Check it out below.

Stream the New Strokes Album, Right MEOW!

Angles, the new album from The Stokes drops next week, but right now you can stream the whole ding dang thing over at their website.

Check it out.

Can We Just Talk about "Heartbeats" for a Minute?

Last night I danced to the original The Knife version of this song for the first time on big booming speakers. It got me thinking more about how great both versions of the song are.

The Knife’s version thumps with the uneasy likelihood of something beneath the surface even more wrong than it appears, disguising the death of beautiful moments in the flash of dance floor strobes. It’s trying to recollect and retell “10 days of perfect tunes” so hard its voice is cracking.

The José González cover brings the emotion latent in the original to the forefront. Now it’s the day after the party and you’re beginning to remember everything you said last night. It’s spare and vivid and warm; nothing extraneous just the truth of the situation.

So which version is better? I’ll leave it to you, I really can’t decide.

The Knife – “Heartbeats” from the album Deep Cuts (2003)

José González – “Heartbeats” (The Knife Cover) from the album Veneer (2005)

Frank Ocean Covers Coldplay and it's Better Than Coldplay

I like Coldplay. I REALLY liked Coldplay for a while in high school. I didn’t like Viva la Vida that much, but this is a cover of the first track from that album by the aforementioned Frank Ocean, and damn, does this ever outshine the original…

The track is about the world coming to an end, as it so often is for all of us all the time. Except this time, the sky is actually on fire and nostalgia for childhood gets real real fast.