Ladytron - Ghosts

Ghosts

I've been on a scary movie kick with Insidious 2 being the highlight last night. My favorite scary flicks are of course ghost stories, but some of them can be real crap - including the one I just watched ... which I won't name. The only good part was during the closing credits when they played Ladytron - Ghosts. Now that's some ghostiness I can really get behind.



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BREAK BAD :: Junip - Line Of Fire

Line of Fire

I caught this incredible song while watching the Finale preview of Breaking Bad. As we've written about before, the show is well known for using music to set the tone for the most dramatic of its scenes and this is no exception.

Junip is a Swedish duo made up of José González (vocals, guitars) and Tobias Winterkorn (organ, Moog synthesizer).



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Keys N Krates - I Just Cant Deny

I Just Cant Deny

Keys N Krates are making some bad-ass trap music these days. It all started with Treat Me Right earlier this year and now they've dropped - I Just Cant Deny. Always melodic, upbeat and catchy ... that seems to be the formula they've got going and it's working.



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Booka Shade - Love Inc

Love Inc

I'll be honest ... I could use a lot of love right now, we all could. I had a dear friend pass a week ago today and his wife, another dear friend and her kids are dealing with the fallout. I could use some Love Inc. Thankfully Booka Shade has provided ... with one of their newest tracks "Love Inc". This one is just beautiful ... let's share this and pass love around to one another all over the planet ... 4 REALZ!



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New Order - Love Vigilantes (extended)

Love Vigilantes

Love Vigilantes might be the best New Order track or even one of the best songs ever. Drummer Stephen Morris claimed slyly— because of the harmonica intro— “Love Vigilantes” was the first “proper” song New Order had ever written. Bernard Sumner discussed with GQ “the country tinged tragedy” behind “Love Vigilantes” when he explained—

“I decided to write a redneck song. It was quite tongue-in-cheek. It was about Vietnam. It was about a soldier that came back and his wife was sent a telegram to say that he was dead. You can take the ending one way or another. He’s either dead and he’s come back as a ghost and he sees her or he’s not dead and the telegram was a mistake. But his wife’s got it and killed herself—which is a very country tragedy.”



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Nas - Illmatic (Full Album)

illmatic

One day before 4/20/1994, a new album and hip hop artist hit the scene. His name was Nas, and with the help of Q-Tip, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Large Professor and L.E.S. he dropped his debut album Illmatic to the masses. It was not immediately hitting sales expectations, but after some time and rave reviews on January 17, 1996, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and in 2001, it earned platinum certification after shipments of one million copies in the United States.



01. Nas - The Genesis - 0:00
02. Nas - N.Y. State Of Mind - 01:47
03. Nas - Life's A Bitch - 06:42
04. Nas - The World Is Yours - 10:13
05. Nas - Halftime - 15:05
06. Nas - Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park) - 19:27
07. Nas - One Love - 23:36
08. Nas - One Time For Your Mind - 29:03
09. Nas - Represent - 32:22

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JUNGLE CLASSIX :: Remarc - Sound Murderer (Loafin In Brockley Mix)

Sound Murderer

The aptly named Sound Murderer is a track I've been seeking out for at least 10 years ... pretty much since I broke an old jungle mixtape I had - Lary Breaks: Substrata. Today, I was listening to some old disco tracks and I came across the original from which the sample in this song comes from. This is what I live for ... truly! Shit makes me want to make an old school jungle mix soon.



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20 Years of Ravin'

20 Years of Ravin'

When I was young, I listened to a lot of electronic based music - New Order, Depeche Mode, etc. But it wasn't until the early 90's and in particular 1993 that I got into DJ led dance and rave music. You see, I was stationed in Germany in the military at the time and the rave clubs and parties over there were burgeoning. I got an earful of that repetitive, driving sound and the vibe from all the other participants and I couldn't stop. I wanted to share a few of the anthems that I still listen to after all these years - the ones that were formative in my music education, whether they be techno, house, trance, breakbeat, drum 'n bass, dubstep, trap or downtempo, from that time until the present day.































































And back to where it began-


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INCREDIBLE :: Obadiah Parker - Hey Ya Cover

Hey Ya

OK, I'm obsessed with this Hey Ya cover by Obadiah Parker. Of course, I love the original by Outkast (Andre 3000), which was voted best song of the millennium at Grantland.com ... but Obadiah's version is much better in my opinion. Obadiah a.k.a. Mat Weddle is a singer/songwriter from Scottsdale, Arizona.



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VICE PRESENTS :: Lil Bub & Friendz (documentary)

Lil Bub

Just in case you've been living under a rock somewhere, Lil Bub is a special needs cat and an internet celebrity. Forever cursed to look like a kitty, Lil Bub has one over the hearts of internet cat lovers, one person at a time. She was born, in 2011 - the runt of the litter to a feral mother but according to her owner, she comes from another planet. From Wikipedia -

When her owner Mike Bridavsky first met her, he picked her up and said "Hey, Bub!" Lil Bub is a "perma-kitten," a dwarf and a polydactyl cat. Her tongue always hangs out because of her short lower jaw and toothlessness but her appetite is unaffected. Lil Bub also suffers from a rare bone disorder called osteopetrosis for which she takes medication. During the filming of Lil Bub & Friendz she had a serious health episode but recovered. Bridavsky has studied reiki to care for her. Lil Bub's short legs and osteopetrosis restricts her movement "but she is a fantastic waddler." Contracts are negotiated with an out for Lil Bub's health issues. Lil Bub has been doing much better thanks to therapy with the Assisi Loop.
Bridavsky sells a variety of merchandise and donates much of the profits to animal rescue groups. Lil Bub helped him through a rough patch and he paid off six months of back rent on his recording studio. Bridavsky has a policy to not "approach anybody for anything." Lil Bub’s Lil Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet was released September 3 2013.










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Ylvis - The Fox

See N Say

My entry for most original non-original lyrics in a music track go to Ylvis - The Fox. Bård Ylvisåker and Vegard Ylvisåker created the song for their Norwegian TV show called TVNorge. Some people say Swedes do it better, but I beg to differ.




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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT :: Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

At age 78, Canadian musician, novelist and poet - Leonard Cohen is going strong. Even after 40+ years and still touring, Cohen's audiences are multi-generational. He was gifted with such a distinctive voice which resonates in his lyrics covering religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. This guy is definitely in my top 5 of people I'd like to sit down and have a great conversation with.

I'm sharing two of my favorite Cohen tracks here. First Hallelujah, which is such a popular and enduring song it even has a book written about it. From Wikipedia:

"Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984. While the song initially had limited success it found greater popular acclaim through a cover by John Cale in 1991, which later formed the basis for a cover by Jeff Buckley. In recent years "Hallelujah" has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages.[83] Statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the Canadian Recording Industry Association; the Australian Recording Industry Association; and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show that, prior to late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in compact-disc format. It has been the subject of a BBC Radio documentary and been featured in the soundtracks of numerous films and television programs.[84] The song is the subject of the full-length book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of 'Hallelujah' (2012) by Alan Light. In a New York Times review of the book, Janet Maslin praises the book and the song, noting that "Cohen spent years struggling with his song 'Hallelujah.' . . . He wrote perhaps as many as 80 verses before paring the song down and recording it on the 1984 album Various Positions. Then his label, CBS Records, refused to release Various Positions, not realizing that 'Hallelujah' would become one of the most haunting, mutable and oft-performed songs in American musical history.



Finally, a great track - Everybody Knows which has been covered by at least 20 artists, including Concrete Blonde and Don Henley.



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Mic Mills - Moretti

Untzz Records

Mic Mills is a new name on the scene from Adelaide, Australia. His new single Moretti is a throwback to simple percussive beats and layering ... and it works. This is a perfect track for getting some movement going on the dance floor. Look for more great stuff on his Untzz label.



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fuckmylife (deadmau5) - petspetspetspetspetspetspetspetsPETSpets

The artist formerly known as Deadmau5 - fuckmylife a.k.a. Joel Zimmerman has been making magic lately. Within the last two days, he's released 4 new tracks on his Soundcloud page which are all very similar and could easily be mixed together. In Nyquist Redeux and Nyquist Redeux2, I can almost hear the Barber's Adagio for Strings melody in the background - although chopped up a bit. stepstepstepstepstepstepstep and petspetspetspetspetspetspetspetsPETSpets are identical, except the latter is longer.

Will Joel continue under the fuckmylife moniker? Shouldn't I then be able to edit his Wikipedia page? Enquiring minds want to know!









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