funny the stupid pressure i feel to make the first new track of 2011 somehow meaningful. or, worse, globally indicative of what the rest of the year will hold. nevertheless, i feel it. and in reacting to it — i felt both the need to respect the feeling and completely ignore it — i compounded the problem and made the job even more difficult. however, after a day full of music, i think i’ve found the perfect track. well, the perfect artist anyway. it is music that is both totally awesome and totally meaningless. i mean, it sounds like Justice, Air, The 5th Dimension, the 24K girls and your high school band got together to record an album of jock jams for Quentin Tarantino. it is both entirely enjoyable and entirely nuts. may 2011 be precisely that. -d

screw it, i’m posting two. this stuff is crazy. -d

5 years ago, if you’d told me that justin vernon would be collaborating with kanye west on his new album, well, actually i guess i probably would have believed it, given the success of kanye’s work w/ jon brion back in 05. whatever, it still would have surprised me. but if i’d had to pick the track that kanye would most likely sample, well, actually i guess ‘woods’ would have been pretty close to the top, what with the autotune and all. whatever, shut up, them working together is still totally crazy. and the results? so insanely good. -d

*full disclosure: this track is actually just a placeholder for ‘monster’, the other track they worked together on. it by far my favorite from the new album, but it’s also incredibly coarse, and not a good fit for a blog my grandma reads. (i was going to post the clean version, but it’s completely ridiculous.)

a little digitalism to get you going on a monday morning. i don’t really know what “dance punk” is, but i like it. -

i was listening to the new jamiroquai album today. it’s, um, okay. i really used to love these guys back in the ‘traveling without moving’ days. there was even some good stuff off albums as late as 2005 (as evidenced here). but all the new album really accomplished was to make me nostalgic for the older stuff. probably not what they were going for. oh well. -d

saw these guys at the troubadour w/ coach last night, and i gotta say, they have to be the happiest, grooviest gang of crazy basque separatists i’ve ever seen. seriously tho, it was the most, fun, carefree and upbeat [natch] show i’ve seen in ages. the crowd was incredible. totally flush with awesome spanish hipsters. (the encore chant quickly gave way to ‘otra! otra!’) basically a huge iberian dance party. i felt like i was back at kapital. -d

*and thanks to kcrw for the free tix. w00t!

i realize this track is gonna feel pretty jarring smashed up next to yesterday’s. and honestly, for a second i hesitated to even post it at all, worrying that it was maybe a bit heavy, that maybe it didn’t ‘fit’ with the rest of the blog. but in a conversation last night, i was given a sound bit of sound (doublezing), which was, to loosely paraphrase: ‘shut up, and also, and screw everyone. it’s your blog, and you like it. so post it, and if ‘they’ hate it, ‘they’ can suck it.’ and i do like it. it’s loud, it hits hard, it’s fully instrumental, it’s kind of repetitive, and i love it. and while i hope you do too, i also don’t care that much. -d

*in other news, this is from the first volume of a spectacular box set released by the ninja tune label that is so crazypacked with electrohotness i can’t think of enough awesomefake compound words to describe it.

*new to ninjatune? never fear. your best friends at moosico (fine, amazon) have a FREE label sampler for you to download. you’re welcome.

another keeper from garth and kcrw. and no better way to say ‘feliz cumple KS’ than with a sweet spanish dance track. happy 30th majete. -d

there just aren’t enough hip-hop tracks about riding bikes. but leave it up to mark ronson to fill the gap. this is his new project, The Business Intl, and once again he’s found a pretty unique sound. he’s left behind much of the neo-motown groove that made him famous. in its place, a tight, interesting hip-hop album chock full of guests like theophilus london, q-tip and ghostface killah. definitely worth a download. -d

a little get up and go monday morning music from the chemical bros latest. honestly, i can’t believe these guys are still making music. electronic acts tend to come and go so quickly, but these guys were pioneers back in the early 90s, and if the new album is any indication, they may have their best years ahead of them. -d

*apparently 8 short form films were made to accompany each track. i can’t seem to find them so if anybody knows where they are, let me know.

this one is just for you, coach. sorry that took so long. -d

*and whaddayaknow, they’re from portland…

just watched slumdog millionaire again. holy crap that is a blazing soundtrack. it was one of those where i saw the movie, loved the music, bought the music, and listened to it endlessly without ever seeing the film again. consequently, the music took on a life of its own, entirely independent of the film. it wasn’t until i watched it again that i was reminded of why the music grabbed me in the first place. and as much as i enjoy running to this track myself, until i’m getting chased by cops through the slums of mumbai, it will always be better in the movie. -d

the gooniest awesome song of last summer made an unexpected but welcome reappearance this past weekend as the backing track for a ridiculous music video me and my cousins shot in downtown gilbert, AZ (go hawks!). video to come. maybe. but probably not. nobody should ever wear corduroys that tight. least of all me. -d

we’ve heard the story a thousand times. swedish electro producer quits music scene. goes back to design school. comes back with a shiny new logo, a portfolio full of attractive, moderately-priced furniture and an EP full of ridiculously catchy techno tunes. yes, i have a soft spot in my soul for electronic musics. but as much as i love a good 6 minute intro, even i have been known to get bored and skip ahead to something less [forgive me, LS] repetitive. but not here friends. i dare you to turn this one off before it’s over. mark my words. dude’s gonna be big. -d