Mach 5

Oh. Hey. It's been a while, I know. You've grown out/shaved the beard, I've quit/taken up smoking, and neither of us has found the time/put in an adequate amount of effort to really keep this relationship going. But what say we put all that behind us, eh?

Now I know it's been an exciting week for music, what with The Weeknd finally dropping their long-awaited mixtape Echoes of Silence (review pending), the emergence of a new Skrillex EP (review here), and Nicki Minaj spewing her bubblegum-pink wrath all over some poor, unfortunate soul. But we're gonna ignore all that for now.

Let me introduce y'all to Ryan Chapin Mach. In addition to being both a gentleman and a scholar (as well as a classmate of mine at the nation's 5th-druggiest college), he also manages to hold his own rather well as a producer-songwriter. His Bandcamp is littered with a veritable bevy of tracks from this past year – mostly lo-fi, Casio-driven laptop-pop (fatwa pending for the amount of hyphens I just used) – but lest you lose your way in the waiting labyrinth of strange and exotic photographs, allow me to provide you with a guide of sorts, in the form of a few highlights and favorites.

Now be nice and shake hands.


The Hors D'Oeuvres: hopefully all the proof you'll need to agree that this kid crafts a hook like no other. Stuck in my head by the second listen.

The Main Course: after a seemingly disconnected stream of individual tracks, it seems the man saw fit to put together an EP, and man am I glad he did. A pleasantly diverse release, featuring everything from reverb-drenched surf pop a la Best Coast to more stripped-down, acoustic fare.

The Dessert: .............well, as far as culinary metaphors go, this would be like following steak and potatoes with a chocolate-covered hand grenade. But while this track might match that jarring combination in sheer dissonance and explosivity, I find its distorted, auto-tuned chaos to be quite delectable.

Seconds: turns out he does "dark" quite well, I couldn't help but come back for more. Really dig the beat on this one.

The Midnight Snack: a slower, muddier, more emotional cut for those lonely late-night jaunts to yr common area's fridge. Maybe those lax bros left some pizza in the–dammit, they ate all of it. Selfish bastards. See if I ever come to one of their stupid games again.

Godspeed, and a merry Festivus to you all.

Lobster out.

THINGS

Just decided to throw together a little post of where I've been at recently, vibe-wise. Gotta maintain some semblance of activity on this blog, right?

Enjoy!

Unison - Bjork

From 2001's Vespertine. Yeah, Bjork's weird as all hell, but she's also proven one of the most creative, imaginative artists of the 21st century and a pioneer of personal and emotional electronic music. Read up on this lady; her influence permeates everything you love, from Baths to Radiohead.

Beck - Get Real Paid

From an underrated 1999 LP called Midnite Vultures. I consistently rank Beck among my absolute favorite musicians of all time. He pretty much just does what he wants (like make an album of soul and R&B experiments right on the heels of a folky one, right on the heels of one produced by the Dust Brothers...), and IT'S ALWAYS GOOD. Like here, he somehow managed to turn Kraftwerk-y techno-pop into some weird funked-out gangsta shit. If that doesn't constitute an astronomical level of swag, I don't know what does.

Seasons (Purpp Cobain Lean House Edit) - Six Foe

Lean House is basically chopped and screwed house music. Real chilled out, slowed-down vibes for those winter nights spent sipping lean and zonin'. Check out a mix of the stuff HERE.

Keeping It Moving - A Tribe Called Quest

A jam from the masters. Tribe can do no wrong, especially when the man behind the decks is none other than the legendary J. Dilla. This beat breaks necks.

No Day Massacare - Mr. Oizo

A cut from Analog Worms Attack, another example of why 1999 was cooler than you. While this track is actually far from monophonic **pushes glasses up nose**, it still packs quite a dark, funky wallop. Patkins will like this. Copped from Apes With Barrels, who love Oizo with all their hearts.

g r n b a n a n a s - Zeroh

Our favorite MC tearing up some FlyamSam shit. Can't wait for this cat to put more shit out, he's got some serious lyrical talent.

Lobster out.

BONUS:
Zeroh - Natalie Portman

...and apparently he does shit like this now. I can dig it.

11/5/11 Wavelength of the Moment: K-swag

So James Brooks, one half of electronic pop outfit Elite Gymnastics, just wrote this awesome piece on "K-Wave," which is the kind of Korean pop music badassery that resulted in the above video. It features playboy bunnies (and playboy headphones!!!), two flamboyantly-clad Korean gentlemen rapping about bling & swag, and a fucking tank. Plus Diplo produced it. You actually have no reason not to hit play on this.

Hell, download that shit. It found its way onto my ipod in a nanosecond.

This is a motherfucking double combo.

Lobster out.

~ B O N U S ~

10/14/11 Wavelength of the Moment: BORN GOLD X BRAIDS

So I really hate to do another one of those manic fanboy posts but one of our favorite bands just remixed one of our other favorite bands and it sounds fucking awesome.

Braids: "Native Speaker" (Born Gold Remix - Prefix Premiere) by prefixmag

The serene, dreamlike wonderland that was the centerpiece of Native Speaker just climbed on board a hyper-glitched noise-techno spaceship, captained by none other than Born Gold (who were no strangers to remixes when they called themselves Gobble Gobble) that takes Braids vocalist Raphaelle Standell-Preston's ethereal vocals and chops them up with a kaleidoscopic–but no less psychedelic–finesse. The overall style actually reminds me a lot of some of Asura's remixes on Unreleasables.

Go buy Native Speaker. It's an incredibly beautiful album.

Then go get Born Gold's album Bodysongs for FREE. It's some of the most forward-thinking and experimental music I've ever heard, and it's catchy-ass dance-pop to boot.

Lobster out.

VARIOUS AND SUNDRY THINGS PT. II

GUESS WHAT Y'ALL, IT'S ALL CAPS TIME AGAIN AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS: A BIG-ASS BATCH OF RANDOM/AWESOME MUSIC. ALL 4 U.

whole post:
~ VARIOUS & SUNDRY.ZIP ~


KING - JONWAYNE

THE WAYNIAC JUST DROPPED THIS EVIL-ASS SINGLE FROM HIS UPCOMING LP, THE DEATH OF ANDREW. WE'RE SUPER PSYCHED FOR OCTOBER 25th, YOU SHOULD BE TOO


POST98 - MNDSGN.

THIS DUDE IS ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BEAT PRODUCERS. GO GRAB DAYPASS, OR NOMAPS IF YOU WANT A LITTLE MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. BUT SERIOUSLY, PEEP THIS DUDE'S WARES


HORMONES - BIRD PETERSON

NEW ELECTRO HOUSE JAM FROM AN OLD STANDBY. BIRD PETERSON HAS GOT THAT HARD-N-QUIRKY SHIT ON LOCK


BABYFACE (JIMMY TAMBORELLO REMIX) - THE ELECTED

SOME SWEET ELECTRO-POP FROM ONE OF OUR IDOLS HERE AT CC


BACKWARDS, FASTER - RYAN CHAPIN MACH

THIS DUDE WRITES KILLER HOOKS OVER HAND-CRAFTED BEATS. LOTTA COOL SOUNDS GOING ON HERE, I REALLY LIKE WHERE HE'S TAKING HIS STYLE


LAMENT FOR MORNING - RALEIGH MONCRIEF

SOME REALLY NEAT EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONIC SHIT FROM THE DUDE WHO CO-PRODUCED THE DIRTY PROJECTORS' BITTE ORCA. REALLY DIGGIN HIS STUFF LATELY, GRAB THIS MIX HE DID FOR ALTERED ZONES IF YOU DIG


TRILLA (PROD. BY BEAUTIFUL LOU) - ASAP ROCKY FT. A$AP TWELVY & A$AP NAST

AND WE CLOSE IT OUT WITH SOME TRILL SHIT FROM ASAP ROCKY. YADIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG


whole post:
~ VARIOUS & SUNDRY.ZIP ~


AIGHT IM OUT

~

((( zip-only bonus track!! )))

Levert - Davis
Serengeti (left-field rap shit) dropped mad rhymes on some matthewdavid (experimental/ambient/beat shit) tracks, and you can get a whole album of this awesomeness for a mere $7. I suggest you do, if you consider yourself a connoisseur of the strange like ourselves...

D33J gets D33P: an Introduction

You need to get into D33J.

I'll confess, I've been sleepin on this dude. Or half-awake, rather: I've actually been listening to his music for a while now, as he's a member of L.A.'s WEDIDIT Collective (whom we follow pretty devotedly). But for whatever reason, most likely my distraction with various other sounds, I never really had that "a-ha!" moment.

Until the other day. I put on my headphones for the walk to my 9am class, played this jam, and boom:

She's Deep - D33J


The name's apt–this is a deep tune. But that swaggy little eighth-note figure is what really got me. And I'd never really noticed the vocals before: ghostly, reverb-washed melodies floating like clouds over an ocean of liquid obsidian.

Many of his tunes evoke a similar vibe: deep, calming, trippy, and chilled-out all at once. He's also a genre-bender, which is nice–his productions incorporate every imaginable influence from experimental Low End Theory beat shit to R&B to hip-hop to whatever the fuck Baths and Gold Panda are...there's even some motherfucking chillwave in there.

And yet, from these seemingly disparate genres, he manages to pull together the most gorgeous, ethereal, and serene sound.

So in case you didn't figure this out already, the general aim of this post is to get you into D33J. Here's some shit that might help:


That's his EP. It's free. You should get it.

Marvin's Room (D33J Remix) - Drake

Y'all know how much we loved that Shlohmo remix of the same tune, but D33J's take on Drake holds a special place in my heart as well.

Mooon - D33J

A gift for reaching 600 "likes" on Facebook. Awesome track, those guitars really get me.

Sleeping Out (Lotide Remix) - D33J

A remix of a remix, actually–San Diego's Lotide takes D33J's woozy, chilled-out flip of the Postal Service's "Sleeping In" and sends it into another dimension of experimental beat heaven.

Then there's this mix he did for Live For The Funk (one of my absolute favorite blogs nowadays), which may be one of the best artist mixes I've heard in quite some time. Seriously. Absolutely beautiful track selection, an incredibly deep/chill aesthetic vibe, and with killer transitions to boot! You need this mix.

D33J MIX FOR LFTF by LFTF

Read the accompanying interview with LFTF HERE to learn more about this dude.

Go "like" the man on Facebook to keep in touch.

And get everything in this post. I mean it.

Lobster out.

9/9/11 Wavelength of the Moment: NEW BORN GOLD (GOBBLE GOBBLE)

Cecil Frena's future-apocalypto-pop project Born Gold (until now known as Gobble Gobble) just released another track from their debut LP, Bodysongs, which comes out in little more than a week (Sept. 20) via Hovercraft (their collective with Purity Ring and Kuhrye-oo) and Crash Symbols. I preordered that shit on vinyl, so I'm lucky enough to be downloading the mp3's as we speak. That means a review is coming, so GET READY.

*ahem.*

For fans of "Lawn Knives," arguably their "hit" thus far, "Decimate Everything" is gonna sound pretty familiar. It's in a similar tonality, at a similar tempo, and even the wordless croon of the hook isn't all that different. But there's a hell of a lot more intricacy to the production on this one, and it incorporates some really neat switches between dancey techno and two-steppy half-time.

So you get the point. Get the track, go preorder the vinyl if you can't wait two weeks for the mp3's (you now get an instant download if you grab the wax) and accept Born Gold as your new deity. Or just "like" them on Facebook.

Born Gold - Decimate Everything


BONUS:

That Way - Born Gold

Love this one. Dark, deep, and driving, with more than a sprinkling of house influence. Who cares if "Decimate Everything" sounds like "Lawn Knives," they've never done ANYTHING like this track.

Alabaster Bodyworlds - Born Gold

Updated take on some classic Gbl.

(( also, you can now like Crustacean Cognition on Facebook! GO DO THAT SHIT!! ))

Dntel/The One AM Radio/Geotic - The Soft Alarm Tour EP

So there's this electronic music producer named Dntel. Also goes by Jimmy Tamborello. He's half of the legendary Postal Service. He's one of my idols. Read up on him.

Then there's the indie/synthpop outfit known as The One AM Radio. I have been listening to their most recent album, Heaven Is Attached By A Slender Thread, pretty damn obsessively. I'll be writing a review of it at some point, look out for that shit.

There's also this ambient-electronica act called Geotic. It's the ambient side-project of one Will Wiesenfeld, also known as Baths. He's probably my favorite producer of the past year, and he's released every one of his (many) Geotic ventures FOR FREE! So get those.

Anyways, you can imagine why I was bummed when they announced a tour together (The Soft Alarm Tour) and I was unable to attend any of the performances.

BUT my salvation has arrived. In the form of a free EP consisting of these three geniuses remixing and reworking each other's tracks.

As one might imagine, it's really frickin good.

Go get it for the excitingly slight price of an email address!

~ The Soft Alarm Tour EP ~

Tracklist (in no particular order, as the artists apparently intended):

Clear Light (The One AM Radio Remix) - Geotic
An Old Photo of Your New Lover (Dntel Remix) - The One AM Radio
Jitters (Geotic Remix) - Dntel
Rock My Boat (The One AM Radio Version) - Dntel
Sunlight (Geotic Remix) - The One AM Radio
Union (Dntel Remix) - Geotic

Lobster out.

RELEVANT BONUS:

An Old Photo of Your New Lover (Baths Remix) by The One AM Radio

R.I.P. GOBBLE GOBBLE...LONG LIVE BORN GOLD!!

We regret to inform you that GOBBLE GOBBLE, one of our favorite bands here at Crustacean Cognition, is no more. Kind of.

To quote Gbl hivemind Cecil Frena: "We have been slowly coaxing this caterpillar into a butterfly with our fists. Check it out, girl-- a new face to fit both our past to date and the futuresex we are slowly growing into. Stand before a mirror, hold your palm over your right eye, and repeat Born Gold six times."

So we are now quite pleased to inform you that GOBBLE GOBBLE have been ressurected as BORN GOLD! You can get all the old Gbl releases (for FREE, mind you!) over at their old tumblr, you can get TOUR DATES (!!) at their website, and you can check out this revamp of an old Gbl favorite of mine right here:

Alabaster Bodyworlds - Born Gold

The original is from their first (and only) proper album, Neon Graveyard. While I love the original's melancholy murk and distortion, this version glitters with a bit more hi-fi. It seems to draw primarily from their live performance of the song, or so I gleaned from the last few times I've seen them.

Anyways, go "Like" or "Follow" or "Bookmark" all of the relevant pages at their website, and if you're as die-hard a fan as us, you'll pre-order their debut LP, Bodysongs, on Hovercraft/Crash Symbols. It's looking like 50% classic Gbl and 50% new shit, so I'm super excited (and wondering if the old tracks will come similarly revamped...). Comes out officially on 9/20, though if you pre-order you get the mp3s on 9/9! They're currently out-selling Bon Iver, Washed Out, and Panda Bear, which is pretty fkn boss. Tracklist and Album Art below:

01. Lawn Knives
02. End of Days
03. Decimate Everything
04. Morning Bath
05. Boring Horror
06. Wombstone
07. Wrinklecarver
08. Eat Sun, Son
09. Alabaster Bodyworlds
10. Early Birthday

Pre-order Bodysongs from Insound!!

~

BONUS TRAXX:

That Way - Born Gold

Non-album track! Total jam. Incorporates a lot of house elements, interestingly, and of course it manages to be both creepy and catchy at the same time.

Alabaster Bodyworlds - Gobble Gobble

The original version of the above track, if you're interested.

Keep it weird, yo.

Lobster out.

Pop Massacre 2

It looks like Friends of Friends have come up with a follow-up to their very successful Pop Massacre compilation - Pop Massacre 2. Pop Massacre is essentially a bunch of freeform pop remixes from the friends of Friends of Friends, many of whom happen to be our favorite artists and producers. Look for tracks from Mexicans With Guns, Shlohmo, Jonwayne, Salva, eLan and many more (some i don't even know yet!) for just the price of an email.

Pop Massacre 2

Tracklist:

Devonwho - AwNaw (Nappy Roots)
DZA - Girl Afraid (The Smiths) 
Teleseen - Love is Stronger then Pride (Sade)
eLan - Foolish (Ashanti) 
Chico Mann - Close to Me (The Cure)
LOL Boys - Genie in a Bottle (Christina Aguilera)
Radius - Dust Bite Marks (Queen)
Salva - That Girl (Pharrell ft. Snoop Dogg) 
a.d.l.r. - Pony (Ginuwine) 
Supachip - Wooha (Busta Rhymes)
Antonionian - Rude Boy (Rihanna)
Mexicans with Guns - Thong Song (Sisqo) 
Lapalux - One Shot (JLS)

Shlohmo - Hard in da Paint (Waka Flaka Flame)

Jonwayne - Maxwell's Silver Hammer (The Beatles)

///patkins///

about

I'M BACK

alright sorry i had such a long hiatus. finals, promotionals, flying, moving, whatever. it all happened, and it all got in the way of me being a productive blogger and allowed that chitinous crustacean curmudgeon take over the blog (which is originally his but).  SO, i'm going to make it up to you. 

 a seasonal harvest-sized, peasants-dancing-in-the-barn post of dubstep, house, a couple beat tracks and other electronic goodness (including MOOMBAHTON). Links aren't posted here, but rather if you follow THIS LINK you'll find a text file of this post with links attached.


luv yall
///patkins///



Electro/Electro House/Fidget House/House ~ ZIP
Enter Sandman - Herve vs Metallica | why the fuck not
Pussy of Glass - Kolt13 | See above
Banger (Torro Torro Remix) - AC Slater | a banger remix of Banger.. bangin
Gold (Mord Fustang Remix) - Fussy Boy | SPEAKING OF BANGERS
Mlevator Eusic - Back Jeats | STILL SPEAKING OF BANGERS
Nll Aight (Original Mix) - Back Jeats
Lick The Rainbow (Original Mix) - Mord Fustang
Milky Way (Original Mix) - Mord Fustang
Super Meat Freeze (Original Mix) - Mord Fustang | You WILL like MORD FUSTANG
Rainbow Road - Pance Party | From their free EP!!
Space Junk (Overwerk Remix) - Wolfgang Gartner | I didn’t think this song, or any gartner song for that matter, could be remixed. I was SO wrong.
One Kid (Feat. Nicki Minaj, Sleigh Bells, SHM) - Diplo | DO IT
Aqui Para Voce (DJ Manaia Remix) - Buraka Som Sistema | FIDGET HOUSE!!
Mega (Schizofonics Remix) - Schizofonics | SUPER FIDGET HOUSE
John Thursday (Ricorb’s Big Wednesday Edit) - Squires of Gothos | weird as FUCK but so jammin

Dubstep/DnB/Drumstep ~ ZIP

Gold Dust VIP - DJ Fresh | Everyone needs to have this in their library.

Retarded Shit (Original Mix) - Figure | GIMME SOME OF THAT RETARDED SHIT

Might Like You Better (Rusko Remix) - Amanda Blank

Everyday Hustle (AC Slater Remix) - B. Rich

Money (Cyberoptix Remix) - Borgore | kind awkward rapping, but SO worth it

Kontact Me (Siriusmo Remix) - Boys Noize | The man Siriusmo delivering a dubsteppy remix

Teach Me How To Dougie (Terravita Remix) - Cali Swag District | You ain’t fucking with Terravita’s dougie. SWAG.

Pink Elephants VIP - Daladubz

Gangster (Trolley Snatcha Remix) - Dreadzone | From UKF’s 2010 Compilation..

Zombies (VIP Edit) - Figure | Fucking cuts to the chase

Voscillate (Roksonix Remix) - Flux Pavilion

Paule - George Lenton | Hard to find stuff from this guy

Sexy Party (Terravita Remix) - Tremourz, J. Rabbit | to rip off of AwB, GOLDEN LOBSTER CLAW

Whip My Hair (Calvertron and Attic Kings Remix) - Willow Smith | another one

Hip-Hop/Moombahton/Pop ~ ZIP

FYC x Gruzen - Earl Sweatshirt

Molliwopped (prod. Weird Eye) - Earl Sweatshirt | Deep earl cuts

In The Beginning (Acapella) - Hool Bruckheimer | another one

Riverside (Moombahton Edit) - Dave Nada | Moombah. Where do YOU shake your ass?

Brazzers Theme (Munchi’s Fuck That It’s Bangbros Remix) - Dave Nada, Dillon Francis | you need to have this if you like moombahton

Just Fall (Dillon Francis Remix) - Heavyfeet, Hannah T | Dillon Francis is godly [moombahton]

Broken Hearts (Dillon Francis Remix) Kito, Reija Lee | DILLON FRANCIS REALLY IS GODLY [Moombahton]

Alors On Danse (feat. Kanye West) - Stromae | If you like dancing. Even if you don’t like Kanye.

Lemme Smang It (Feat. Flynt Flossy) - Yung Humma | FUCK YEAH I’M SERIOUS

Beats/Club Music ~ ZIP

Angel In Disguise (Fantastic Mr Fox Remix) - Brandy | nothing but bass. and vocals. and sexxx

The Offbeat - FLYamSAM | classy, classic

Disco Balls - Flying Lotus | FlyLo sawtooth synth jam

Paper Crane Gang - Flying Lotus | more jamming flylo

Home (Lorca Remix) - Zero 7

Underpurpled - Swede:art | really chill IDM shit

Turn it Up (Canblaster Remix) - Lorenzo Viktor

Line of Light (Canblaster Remix MEDLEY) - T&K | Canblaster is a boss.

Fruit (Baths Remix) - Rafter | Did anyone already have this one?


patkins

Stepdad - Ordinaire EP

This is pt. 7304857 in a series of posts entitled, "Patkins is a lazy fuck and El Langosta feels obligated to keep up appearances." (he's actually been out of town at some awesome music festival, so I really can't blame him. it's just really fun)

Stepdad are an awesome synthpop group from Michigan. Their lead singer is known only as "Ultramark." Their song "My Leather, My Fur, My Nails" has been stuck in my head for a month now, and my eyes are continually dazzled and delighted by the accompanying video, which you may watch below.



Today, I found that my craving for more Stepdad had boiled over, so I caved and dropped the $1 (!!!) necessary to procure their Ordinaire EP. And man, am I impressed. This was just what I wanted: a cornucopia of fun, catchy, and colorful pop tunes, with a few splashes of 8-bit and a healthy dose of the 80's. They've got a great sound and they do a lot with it. But Stepdad are no one-trick ponies: every song comes with its own feel and a unique set of sounds; sometimes I hear the spectre of Gobble Gobble's ecstatic dance-pop melodies, at other times I hear shades of fellow Michiganers Tally Hall in the vocal production...basically, this EP impresses the hell out of me.

My Leather, My Fur, My Nails - Stepdad

Grab this if nothing else. Maybe after a month you'll wind up doing the same thing I did and getting the EP out of sheer craving for more of this badassery.

They're working on an LP, Wildlife Pop, which is being produced by none other than Chris Zane. If that doesn't mean anything to you, let's just say that Patkins and I have an unhealthy obsession with Passion Pit, whose INCREDIBLE first album, Manners, was produced by Chris Zane. So you can imagine how excited this makes me.

So you should really go grab the EP. It's essentially 8 slices of epically good pop music, and you only have to pay $1 for it, though you're allowed to pay more. You will not regret it.

It's over at their Bandcamp.

Stay sparkly, folks.

Lobster out.

Second Summer Mix

Sup, y'all.

A wise man once said, "free your mind and your ass will follow."

So I concocted a little mix of funky, booty-liberating electro-pop jams foy y'all.

Really proud of the transitions in this one.

Sorry for putting in so much Javelin, especially that one HEALTH remix that was in the last mix.

But I'm not sorry about the Depeche Mode.

The 80's rule, deal with it.

Dance, sucka.

~ The "Free Your Ass" Mix ~

1) The Girls - Calvin Harris
2) Hurricane Jane (The Twelves Remix) - Black Kids
3) Fancy Footwork (KOLT13 Murdaphunk Remix) - Chromeo
4) Rich Girls (Hemingway Remix) - The Virgins
5) Still Sound - Toro y Moi
6) Play A Slow Jam - Javelin
7) Cottonmouth - Sam Sparro
8) Leonard pt. 6 - Javelin
9) Bad Day (Javelin Remix) - Darwin Deez
10) In Heat (Javelin Remix) - HEALTH
11) Let Me Go - Heaven 17
12) Policy of Truth - Depeche Mode

(( and you can grab my first summer mix here if you missed it ))

Lobster out.

MOAR JAMZ

Shit on my recent listening list. I'm just going to keep doing these until patkins gets off his ass and posts. Enjoy!

Radar Detector - Darwin Deez

I have been getting into Darwin Deez in a BIG way lately. Just got his self-titled album, and regardless of the mixed reviews, I can't help but love it. He makes lo-fi indie pop that's right up my alley: original but catchy melodies, poppy chord progressions but with regular detours into epic harmonic territory...check his shit out, dude!

Freaks and Geeks - Childish Gambino

Yeah, I now this is "in" right now, don't kill me. But the beat is fuckin great, and Donald Glover is a damn good rapper even if he's being more clever than anything else (Drake comparisons abound). But such gems as "I'm runnin this bitch/you are just a dog walker?" and "Took the 'g' out your waffle/all you got left is your ego?" certainly deserve props. Download Childish Gambino's EP for free HERE.

Radicals - Tyler, the Creator

...yeah, this is pt. 2 of a series entitled, "Our Blog Posts EXACTLY What You Expect It To." Say what you will about OFWGKTA and Tyler (musically or ethically) but they're blowing up in a big way...a kid at my school suggested they might be "the Sex Pistols of our generation," and this song sort of hits that particular nail on the head. Plus, it's got all the upper-middle-class white kids (myself included) chanting "KILL PEOPLE, BURN SHIT, FUCK SCHOOL," a sight I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

Forever (feat. Will.I.Am) - Wolfgang Gartner

This track was pretty divisive when it came out. All the EDM purists started calling Wolfgang a sell-out, which is kind of understandable, because fuck Will.I.Am. But then you listen to the track in question: it's accessible but well-made, it's still got that signature Gartner sound (obviously scaled down a bit for pop purposes), and Will.I.Am actually doesn't ruin it! But if you're just not into pop/electro house crossovers, feel free to ignore this one. I just think it deserves mention that someone cooler than David Guetta is getting big names on his shit.

Generation - Skanek

For those of you who hated the above track, this is for you: a healthy serving of some straight up, un-poppy, nasty-ass electro for all the heads out there. Got this from Daftwho?, who post heavy shit like this (plus lots of dirty dubstep jams if that's also yo thang) on the regular. ((WARNING: play this in your car IF AND ONLY IF you are driving in a zone where going 60+ mph is LEGAL))

Louder (Doctor P & Flux Pavilion Remix)

And this one should please both crowds, except for that particular brand of EDM purists who just refuse to enjoy anything that sounds too much like "brostep." But fuck those guys. Genre aside, good music is good music. Also, it's influencing the mainstream in ways you can't even imagine... Anyways, this is actually one of my favorite Flux Pavilion productions: he and the Doctor just OWN that (crucial) balance between awesome, catchy chords and fucked-up, bassy noise. Pop dubstep/brostep at its best.

Hope y'all enjoy! Sorry for the long descriptions, obviously the tracks come first in case you don't want to read my wordvomit. I just like writin and shit.

Lobster out!

BONUS JELLY:
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima - Krzysztof Penderecki



Penderecki can sound-paint catastrophe, fear, and horror like no other. Tonality's overrated anyways. This one's for the classical heads (I took a Musical Style/History course this past semester, deal), though you might recognize this from "The Shining" and "Children of Men."

Hide yo young money...

...cuz there be some Young Crooks on the loose.

Hailing from the same isolated central Ohio college town as yours truly, The Young Crooks are three of the chillest dudes I've had the pleasure of meeting, and they make some badass pop music to boot. Their sound on the recently-released Phone EP could be described as a cocktail of Sublime's rap/reggae fusion, the Strokes' melodic sensibilities, and Darwin Deez's overall (lo-fi) aesthetic, but they're hardly just the sum of their influences. They have quite an original voice in their own right, thanks in no small part to Win Dunham's songwriting, which covers such themes as youth, ennui, loneliness, and lots and lots of hedonism (by way of alcohol, weed, ritalin, and acid, though the list certainly doesn't end there) with an impressively nimble sense of wit and lyricism.

But for all their immature content, Dunham tells these stories with a sort of resigned nostalgia and self-consciousness that manages to steer clear of one-dimensional irony. His writing stays mature and honest throughout, but not without a keen sense of humor: the EP opens with the words, "I used to give a fuck, but/lately I've been givin up/and I gotta say I feel fine/molly and red wine," and you're not quite sure whether he's being entirely sincere when he slyly croons, "we're just dumb kids anyway" in (my personal favorite) "Today."



You can grab the whole EP for free at their Bandcamp, and I would highly suggest you do so. It's fun, catchy, and smart, and you know you love the feeling of downloading free music without that feeling of corrosive guilt eating away at your sense of self-respect.



~ GO GET IT! ~

Lobster out.

MOAR MIXEZ

come party with these folks. it'll be totally legit.

Because patkins obviously hasn't unpacked after getting home from college, I present to you:

~ THE "POST-APOCALYPTIC RAVE" MIX ~

A lovingly curated compilation of laptop-crafted 21st-century jams, leaning towards the electronic/colorful/poppy side of things, this mix should serve as the ideal soundtrack to the neo-pagan post-rave bacchanalia of the future, after the bombs have stopped falling and the human race has re-emerged from hiding to rebuild...and party. Also reflects the ecstatic mood of early summer break. The focus here was more on track selection than super-impressive translations (and at the end I sort of just gave up, as you'll see), but I did my best.

Check our archives/artist labels (on the right side of the page) if you hear something you like and want more. I can safely say I've been listening to every one of these artists WAY too much recently. :D

1) The Upside - LandLord
2) All This Evil - Newman Wolf
3) End of Days - Gobble Gobble
4) Wherever We Are - Human Life
5) Folds In Your Hands - Passion Pit
6) Talamak - Toro y Moi
7) In Heat (Javelin Remix) - HEALTH
8) Cathode Drama - Exeter
9) My Leather, My Fur, My Nails - Stepdad
10) Lawn Knives - Gobble Gobble
11) Over (jonwayne's analog world) - Drake
12) Pillz (jonwayne's drum circle) - Gucci Mane
13) Post Atmosphere (Baths Remix) - Shlohmo
14) Eat Sun, Son - Gobble Gobble

Lobster out.

The Future Is Technicolor (Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon, Stepdad)

So this past weekend included what might be the pinnacle of all Fridays, ever (hence Rebecca^). Namely because my little, middle-of-nowhere Ohio college town was blessed by the presence of three giants: Rich Aucoin, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, and Gobble Gobble. If you've ever seen even one of these bands live, you'll know that all three of them playing on the same night wasn't just cathartic, it was borderline orgasmic.

If you read this blog, you already should know who Gobble Gobble is, and if you don't then would you kindly go and get all of their music for free? Oh yeah. They put it all on mediafire JUST FOR YOU. They are, in fact, that awesome.

On to the other folks:


Rich Aucoin is an electro-pop artist from Canada, and he's got a hell of a live show. It's interactive, energetic, and millennial-friendly: almost every song starts with a remixed or otherwise chopped-and-screwed viral YouTube video (Bed Intruder, Goat Talks Like A Man, etc.). It doesn't hurt that the man utterly SHREDS on that microkorg (and the vocoder!!!). I'm always impressed by live electronica acts that manage to achieve that perfect balance between energetic stage presence, singing, and actual technical skill. Seriously. He can do this vocoder melody, LIVE, fucking PERFECTLY:

PUSH - Rich Aucoin


Next up was The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, who absolutely killed. If Aucoin's set was interactive, theirs was borderline communal: frontman Neil Fridd invited everyone to put on a costume, and the singalongs were beautifully effortless. I didn't see him step out of the crowd once, he was so perfectly engaged the whole time. Left me singing the chorus to this song over and over again for the next three days...

[ride friendship.] by theterrorpigeon

Grab their album on David Byrne's (!!!!) label, Luaka Bop. Costs money but meh. So does food. And you can't live without that shit.

Then Gobble Gobble played, and fucking murdered as usual. But (for the aforementioned reason of posting too much about them on this blog) in their place I'm going to introduce a group that actually played with them on this tour, though at another show:

Stepdad is, to follow the theme we've got going here, a colorful, talented, and EPIC synthpop group with a taste for epilepsy-inducing myspace pages (see Gbl's for comparison, or Terror Pigeon's). They have an EP out called Ordinaire, and it only costs $1, though you can pay more if you like! Their debut album, Wildlife Pop (due out this May), is being produced by Chris Zane (Passion Pit, Les Savy Fav), which gains them automatic awesome points in my book. This is a video for the single "My Leather, My Fur, My Nails:"



Not only is this an incredibly epic video, the song itself is infectiously catchy. Grab it for free, courtesy of the band:

My Leather, My Fur, My Nails - Stepdad

This shit will get stuck in your head. Go get their EP, $1 is fuckin nothing for 8 awesome songs!!

Again: if you get ANY chance to see just ONE of these bands live, DO IT. Most life-changing, incredible live shows I've ever been to (Stepdad excepted, since I've never seen them. but they're probably awesome!)

Lobster out.

RANDOM BATCH 1

derp.

Just some tracks that were sitting in the "Recently Added" section of my iTunes about a month ago. Would have uploaded this sooner but [LAZY]. w/e.

Somersault (Danger Mouse Remix) - Zero 7 feat. MF Doom

If you don't know DangerDoom, you need to. This isn't officially them, but for all intents and purposes it is. In my opinion, everything Danger Mouse touches (2nd Gorillaz album, The Good The Bad And The Queen, Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, and of course the infamous Beatles/Jay-Z mashup, The Grey Album <--- click that one) turns to gold. One of my favorite producers of all time. And MF Doom is one of my favorite rappers. So basically this track is awesome.

Last Night At The Jetty - Panda Bear

Of Animal Collective fame. Great solo stuff, from his record Tomboy, which came out recently and has since been in wide circulation (HINT). Psychedelic indie pop goodness.

French (Toro y Moi Remix) - Tyler, The Creator

Holy shit. Toro y Moi remixing Odd Future. Did NOT see that coming. Still, awesome track, good to see that Chaz Bundwick still uses a computer. Though this is (unsurprisingly) WAY darker than his earlier stuff. Check out Toro y Moi's new, slightly-more-acoustic album, Underneath The Pine. And check out Tyler's new video and single HERE. Original track and video HERE.

Never Say Never - Romeo Void

Old school. It's kinda like post-punk-pop.......ah, fuck it. It's 80's, it rocks, and the refrain is "I might like you better if we slept together." It's awesome.

The City - Darwin Deez

This is my jam. Really neat lo-fi indie-pop, with some epic fuckin syncopations. I intend to seek out more Darwin Deez, as should you. He has a self-titled album, which I will procure when I have the mean$ to do so, but for now grab this free live session he did for Daytrotter.

BONUS MUSIC VIDEO: Erykah Badu - Gone Baby Don't Be Long

Shit's been stuck in my head for like a month. :D Awesome video by Flying Lotus and Bleeple, who fucking rocks. Check him out.

Lobster out.