This is a rough edit of Coldplay's "Lost+" (featuring Jay-Z) with "Machine Gun Funk" by Biggie. I'm starting to realize that if I want this shit to be any more polished, I'll probably have to get more expensive equipment. However, that probably won't happen because I'm in college and I'm broke. I like the mix though, some of it is just me messing around.
If you feel that life has deceived you, Don't be sad or angry. In your day of pain, pause - Have faith that happiness will come. The human heart lives in what is yet to be; The present may be troubled, But it will all pass within a moment; And when it does, it will be beautiful.
As promised, here's a collection of my favorite live covers performed by Elliott Smith. They're made up mostly of Beatles and solo Beatles material, but there are some obscure nuggets in here as well. As a rule here, Smith ends up owning songs here that were, in most cases, written before he was even born, and I've personally been pledging allegiance to Elliott since the first time I heard Either/Or. That record got me through a broken heart.
Check out "Thirteen" and "Jealous Guy" especially.
Also, before I sign off, I have to give a shout out to my Grandmother, Judy. She's been really into Merriweather Post Pavillion since I first played it for her this winter, and I'm convinced she's the coolest grandmother on the planet. She took me to see The Matrix when I was twelve, made a beautiful quilt for me before I left for college, and I love her dearly.
Favorite Elliott Smith Live Covers
Thirteen (Big Star) [6.02.98]
Jealous Guy (John Lennon) [4.17.98]
These Days (Nico) [10.14.99]
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) [3.29.99]
Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks) [4.12.97]
For No One (The Beatles) [11.14.97]
Long Long Long (The Beatles) [10.01.02]
Isn't It A Pity (George Harrison) [8.12.98]
Yer Blues (The Beatles) [11.10.00]
UPDATE: New file host - Download Here (via MediaFire)
It was reported earlier this year that The Avalanches are expected to finally release a follow-up to 2001's Since I Left You, one of Middleclass Haunt's favorite albums of the past decade, at some point in the year 2009. The album was supposedly dropped off at Modular's front door on Christmas Day, but considering how long it's been since the band's official website has seen any updates or news about the album, I'm slightly skeptical. Perhaps I'm just afraid to get my hopes up, but eight years is a long time to go in between albums, especially in following up a debut record.
To celebrate the even-possibly-tentatively-awesome news of another Avalanches record, I've taken the liberty to compile my favorite Avalanches mixes, none of which have seen physical release, from across the web and distribute it to the masses. Some of this material, "Some People" and "Gimix" especially, are on par with the quality of Since I Left You, and contain some serious adrenaline rushes. Spread the music, my friends, and hopefully The Avs will hear the call and finally put out this motherfucking record.
Get a drink, have a good time, and welcome to paradise.
Ray of Zdarlight (4:42)
Some People (44:02)
A Different Feeling (Paperclip People Remix) [Avalanches Edit] (4:10)
Taken from last year's standout The Chemistry of Common Life, Fucked Up's "No Epiphany" is reworked here by noise-pop outcasts No Age. The song is stripped it of it's adherence to structure or pop song conformity, transforming it into a five minute rolling wave of cymbals, distorted screams, and uplifting punk guitar riffs. This is a track that lives up to how cool the mp3 tag is -- put it on your mixes to impress scenesters.
Until the day of his death, Elliott Smith had an uncanny ear for melody, no doubt a result of his heavy Beatles influence, and was honest and naked in almost all of his work. This edition of the Essential Live series is a show of his following the release of Figure 8, and has a top-notch setlist that covers almost every period in Smith's career to that point, including rare electric versions of "Needle in the Hay" and "Clementine." Later, I'll be uploading a compilation of Elliott's live Beatles covers and his last Basement Demo recordings before his death, so if you're into this, check back later for that.
Elliott Smith - At The Tabernacle (Atlanta, GA) Performance Date: October 21st, 2000
Although it barely stretches over three minutes and Mos Def rhymes over only one verse, this track manages to land a pretty powerful punch. It's the second remake of Jay-Z 's already classic "Brooklyn (Go Hard)," the first being Raekwon's successful stab at turning it into a Staten shout-out with "Staten (Go Hard)," and Mos Def stands in contrast with Jay and Raekwon in using a much looser, more playful flow. Perhaps the "Brooklyn" beat will just join "Hustlin'" and "Swagga Like Us" in being one that everyone freestyles over to sound bad-ass. I mean, I like Mos Def's version a lot, but I guess I'm supposed to.
This track comes from Phoenix's soon to be released fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It's got a great laid back, 70's pop feel to it, and if you really dig it, you can visit the band's official site and download a multitrack version for your remixing pleasure. Plus, they're from France -- and they're not a dance act. They kick ass, they're French, and they're not a club act. I didn't know that was possible.
Explosions in the Sky have just announced a short set of summer concert dates celebrating their tenth anniversary together. Having seen them live once before on their tour supporting All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone back in 2007, I highly recommend finding a way to make it out to one of these shows -- the group sounds just as passionate and explosive live as they do on record. The March date is part of Austin's SXSW festival, not the 10th anniversary shows, and is apparently a free concert.
Explosions in the Sky Summer Tour Dates:
3/21/09: Auditorium Shore Stage (Austin, TX) (Free Show, w/ Beach House) 5/24/09: Sasquatch Festival (Gorge, WA) 6/27/09: Hollywood Palladium (Los Angeles, CA) 6/30/09: Central Park Summer Stage (New York, NY) 7/02/09: Congress Theater (Chicago, IL)
Tickets for the June and July concerts go on sale on March 14th, and are available here.
Jay-Z on DMB? Is there an artist with less street-credibility than Dave Matthews? Well, based on a few listens, Dave's melodies actually work pretty nicely here and lend themselves well to sampling. As for Jay, It's been pretty much established that Jay-Z will sound good in front of absolutely anything (see The Grey Album, Jaydiohead, & The Black & Blue Album), so that's an easy slam dunk for DJ Moondance, the brave soul who put this all together. To the man's credit, The Crash Album is well produced.
Seriously though, how many different versions of "99 Problems" will there be by the time we all pass away? And can we please use someone besides Jay to use in album mashups? Granted he's the best rapper of all time, but the card has been played numerous times now. How about -- "Birdman vs. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Grind." Now that would reign immortal.
DJ Moonstone - The Crash Album (Jay-Z vs. Dave Matthews Band)
Jimi Boys
Everyday Excuses
Wastin' Time Ain't A Thing
Typical Ruler
A Brooklyn Christmas
99 Crashes
Lay Down & Cry
American Party
Takeover Johannesburg
Never Change Spaces
UPDATE: New file host - Download Here (via MediaFire)
I don't know, what do you guys think? Does it work?
This is the first single from Mastodon's upcoming album, Crack The Skye, which will be released on March 24th, 2009. Considering how badass Leviathan and Blood Mountain were, and going on the strength of this song, hopes should be high. Check out the awesome cover art:
...Aaand we're back. Sorry about the hiatus everyone, but sometimes you don't realize how many things are too many things to do at once until you're actually doing all of them. To bring us back into rock consciousness, I've uploaded one of my favorite Dinosaur Jr bootlegs, made up of two shows -- the first being their 1997 set at the Water Festival in Stockholm, Sweden, and the second being performances from the Bizarre Festival in Cologne, Germany that same year. Don't be put off by how far removed these dates are from Dino Jr's late 80's prime, these sets contain some of the most energy and buzzsaw aggression I've heard from Dinosaur Jr live, and Mike Johnson and George Berz do a more than adequate job of backing up J Mascis' Hammer of Thor brilliance here.
Be especially on guard for facemelting guitar solos on "Alone" and "What Else Is New." Killer shit.
Dinosaur Jr - Out There [Europe '97] Tracks 1-9: Water Festival (Stockholm, Sweden) - August 13th, 1997 Tracks 10-12:Bizarre Festival (Cologne, Germany) - August 17, 1997
Normal transmissions will resume in a few days. I give my apologies, but shit's hectic. In the mean time, listen to Refused's The Shape of Punk To Come and buy cinnamon pop tarts.
As reported on Prefix today, it looks like Trent Reznor will be retiring the Nine Inch Nails brand in the very near future. Reznor posted a message on the NIN official webpage stating that he's "been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while [...] After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year."
The tour will be with the original members of Jane's Addiction, authors of the essential and controversial 80's classic Nothing's Shocking. The dates of the tour have not been set yet, but in the meantime you can catch Trent down undah and headlining Bonnaroo this June.
If this message really does mean the end of Nine Inch Nails, thanks are due to Trent Reznor. The man has done more for the empowerment of independent musicians in the post-Napster era than anyone else, releasing albumsforfree while creating a business strategy that keeps a steady stream of cash coming his way without the intervention of a record label.
Reznor's independent release approach has been praised as the future of the music industry and the most viable and intelligent way to get music out to the fans:
If Trent's path is followed, not only will the music industry survive -- it will flourish. It just makes record labels useless and enables artists to have something close to complete artistic control, which all sounds like a just paradise to me. I pressed the question of this brave new future to Middleclass Haunt favorites Mogwai and heard a similar opinion:
Middleclass Haunt: Do you guys think with the new ways people are independently getting music out to the fans and seeing all of the profit for it (i.e. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails) that you'll change the way you put your music out? I've read your rant on In Rainbows, Stuart, and you seemed to be supportive of that kind of distribution method, and given the fact that you guys pretty much run your own affairs with Rock Action, you have the luxury of being a little more executive in that kind of decision.
Mogwai (Stuart Braithwaite): I am a big fan of what Trent and to a lesser extent Radiohead have done (Radiohead having utilized a traditional label to distribute the physical release) as i think it really empowers musicians. It is a complex issue though as i still think that there is a role for labels to help artists get their music heard when they're starting out as this generally requires the type of investment that bands cannot afford. Most bands can barely afford crisps on their first tours. As far as we are concerned we are not in the same position as either of the bands you mentioned as we are up to the release of The Hawk Is Howling under contract to PIAS and how our records are released is not up to us as PIAS own the recordings. In the future however i'm sure we will consider alternative methods of releasing our records. We'll probably "do a Radiohead" in 2011. Always a wee bit behind the zeitgeist, i only just got into The Might Boosh for goodness sakes!
This is the first installment of a continuing series of high quality, live bootlegs that I will be uploading for Middleclass Haunt. Today's entry is Mogwai's set at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in 2000 -- it's a direct rip from an FM radio broadcast, so the audio quality is stellar, while the performance of "Mogwai Fear Satan" given here is, in my opinion, the best Mogwai's ever done.
Mogwai All Tomorrow's Parties (Camber Sands at Kent, UK) April 10th, 2000
Alright, so I had hope that the Grammys were finally getting their act together by nominating Radiohead, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A. for awards like Album of the Year and Record of the Year. I should have known better, I really shouldn't have gotten excited because a boring-ass choice like Robert Plant & Alison Krauss walked away with everything again.
However, Blink-182 got back together (OMGZ!1!one!) and there were some fantastic performances. Kanye West, T.I., Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, and an extremely pregnant M.I.A. all performed "Swagga Like Us." The energy it was delivered with made it even better than the studio version, but more importantly, just how classy are those suits?
Radiohead also performed "15 Step" with the USC Marching Band:
For the past year or so, I've been making mixes compiling my favorite mashups that I've been able to find around the net. The ones presented here defy the standard laws of mashup physics by holding up on repeated listenings and staying fun. "Sexual High" has to be the MVP of those that I've found though -- a remix pairing Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" with Radiohead's melancholy anthem, "High & Dry." It's sexy, laid back, and epic - if you can't feel good about your life while blasting that track, there's no hope for you anywhere.
For anyone who already has these mixes, Vol. 2 is expanded slightly in the version I've posted here because I decided I had to include AyPerskAy's "Luda La Vida Remix". Other than that, you guys already know what's in here.
The Best of Internet Mashups & Remixes Vol. 1 The Summer Mashup Mix
1. Overnight Star - Twista vs. Sigur Ros 2. Untitled - TLC, Ludacris & Terror Squad vs. Blink-182 3. When The Last Time I Left You - Clipse vs. The Avalanches 4. Collide You A Drank - T-Pain vs. Cloud Cult 5. My Love (Diplo Mix) - Justin Timberlake vs. LCD Soundsystem 6. Bros Before Whoas - Black Rob vs. Panda Bear 7. Yoshimi Battles Snoop Dogg - Snoop Dogg vs. The Flaming Lips 8. Jack & Diane (Pressure Mix) - John Mellencamp vs. Leftfield 9. Sexual High - Marvin Gaye vs. Radiohead 10. Bittersweet Dirt - Jay-Z vs. The Verve 11. Stuntin' Like Black Rock - Birdman & Lil Wayne vs. Black Rock 12. The Next P.I.M.P. - 50 Cent vs. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg 13. Tambourine Reckoning - Eve vs. Radiohead 14. Smack My Bitch Up Orinoco Flow - Prodigy vs. Enya 15. Clipse Your Hands Say Wamp Wamp - Clipse vs. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 16. I'm A Flirt (Shoreline) - R. Kelly vs. Broken Social Scene 17. No More Pressure - Annie Lennox vs. Queen & David Bowie 18. Sentimental Mouths - Ludacris vs. She & Him
The Best of Internet Mashups & Remixes Vol. 2 - Winter 2008
1. Beautiful Girls In Magic Positions - Sean Kingston vs. Patrick Wolf 2. No Karma - Jaydiohead 3. Act A Fool (Ravestradamus Remix) - Lil' Jon & Three 6 Mafia 4. Flashing Lights (DJ Benzi Refix) - Clipse 5. Boyz (Remix) [feat. Jay-Z] - M.I.A. 6. Stayin' Alive In Da Club - 50 Cent vs. The Bee Gees 7. Lean Back (DVDJ Unique Remix) [feat. The Notorious B.I.G.] - Terror Squad 8. I Get Money (Remix) [feat. P. Diddy & Jay-Z] - 50 Cent 9. What A Night For A Gangsta Party! - 2Pac & Snoop Dogg vs. Frankie Valli 10. The Year This Club Broke (My Heart) - Usher vs. Los Campesinos! 11. Mr. Me Too (Z.A.K. Remix) - Clipse 12. We Are From Venice (Lil' Weezy Ana) - Lil Wayne vs. The Bloody Beetroots 13. Alright (Ratatat Remix) - Memphis Bleek 14. Luda La Vida Remix - AyPerskAy 15. Single Foxes (Put A Wood On It) - Beyonce vs. Fleet Foxes Download Here (via FileFactory)
There have been a lot of things about Bill O'Reilly that have ticked everyone off. His smug sense of superiority, his manipulative right-wing opinions, bonkers news spins and his offensive stubbornness could be named as a few of them. This clip, however, raises the bar. Following the inauguration of Barack Obama, Young Jeezy and Jay-Z had some enthusiastic comments to make about the occasion and it's importance to black culture, as well as some negative things to say about George W. Bush. Who could be upset at George W. Bush? Right?
Observe Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller's reaction - am I not the only one who thinks their diatribes are a litte racist? I mean, just listen to the way O'Reilly says "Young Jeezy". Ouch.
But it's okay because you get to listen to Jeezy and Hova whip O'Reilly in the monstrous "My President Is Black" Remix.
It looks like the divide between singles artistsand album artists continues to widen. To me, the top crop of the best songs of the year were put out on inconsistent and altogether weak albums, but the pattern makes sense. The alternative crowd pledges allegiance to the album format and the world digests music in three and a half minute increments. Lil Wayne, as usual, seems to be the anomoly who's been able to win over both the masses and the indie kids, delivering globe conquering singles in addition to well-received albums and mixtapes.
The competition for the top spot was a two horse race between "Love In This Club" and "Single Ladies," but I had to give the edge to Usher because "Love" succeeds as an R&B slow burner and a club banger at the same time, effortlessly and completely. The beat was apparently created on GarageBand as well, so bonus points have to be awarded there.Off we go. The Top 10 Songs of 2008
There was a lot of grumbling all around that this was one of the worst years of the decade, but I don't see that. There were gems released this past year -- they just came from slightly more obscure places than we're all used to seeing. Radiohead, Arcade Fire & M.I.A. all had the year off, so it was up to the young and the hungry to make an impression in 2008. I believe that they did.
I've searched around the net for a lot of remixes, and the universal law I've been able to come up with is that Jay-Z and Ludacris will sound epic on top of nearly anything. It's extremely difficult to screw up when you have Hova spitting out a tincture of autobiographies and street metaphors, and Ludacris has so much confidence in his southern drawl -- he could inspire ghettos to start uprisings. So when I was exploring the myspace page of Chicago DJ and mashup artist Ayperskay and found an entry entitled "Luda La Vida Remix", I raced to it. It's prime Luda layered over Coldplay's grammy nominated "Viva La Vida" single and sugary techno pop sample goodness. This is primo.
So this is going to be my home base on the internet from now on. I'll be updating here (almost) daily with music and video, young and old, and some write-ups to try and keep myself on point on a consistent basis. For everybody that's given me a leg up in any area of my life so far, thank you, and I hope that this will be jumping off point to bigger and better things.
