There could not have been a more apt ID3 than that of Freelance Hellraiser’s “Stroke Of Genius,” the MP3 that launched this decade’s most fitting musical legacy. Parts of two or three or thirty tracks mixed into one supersong? What better than mashups to soundtrack a generation of smartphone-wielding Adderall chompers coming of age in a world where all music is free. In the years since Freelance Hellraiser (and 2 Many DJs, Go Home Productions, DJ Earworm, Party Ben, et al) raised the bar for bastard pop, we’ve seen bootlegging go mainstream in the hands of Girl Talk and Danger Mouse, not to mention 2004′s chart-topping Collision Course and the dozen questionable Jigga x [rock band] torrents in its wake. This year, bands like Passion Pit and Phoenix distributed stems of their hits as blogbaiting publicity stunts. (It worked!) Still, when it comes to remixes, few are more thrilling than hearing the vocals of one song over the instrumental of another and have it absolutely work. Which is why we’ve again collaborated with our favorite mashup artist, Australian producer Neil Mason aka team9, to mix our favorite tracks of 2009 with familiar oldies, creating something more than the sum of their parts. The process — Stereogum acquiring exclusive audio and making playlists, Neil working his ACID Pro magic (i.e., the hard part) — started months ago, with an eye on this holiday deadline. It’s our fourth annual Christmas present to you, and we think it’s the best MySplice yet. Enjoy…
One of my favorite things about Last.FM is that you can pretty much put in any adjective (”tag”) into the radio search bar and it’ll randomly play songs that users have tagged with that word. The more often people have tagged a song, the more likely it is that it’ll be played on that radio [...]
“i guess this time of year is a time for serious reflection and i have been doing a lot of that since coming back from copenhagen. you know what has stunned me coming back is the anger you can taste in the air…” More at DeadAirSpace.
Our yuletide ’09 playlist keeps expanding. Yesterday we premiered Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls’ holiday jam. Now we’ve added Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings’ “Ain’t No Chimneys” and Magnetic Fields’ “Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree” (from Realism). Download ‘em here.
Susan Boyle has topped the Billboard charts for the 4th consecutive week and her sales actually went up this week from the week before. She’s already sold well over two million copies of her album (I Dreamed A Dream.)
She looks to have a very good shot at reaching three million sales for the year [...]
Enigmatic Swedish crew jj has signed with SC (in conjunction with Scandinavian home Sincerely Yours) for its followup to the acclaimedjj nº 2. nº 3‘s out 3/9 stateside, two weeks before jj’s first US tour (with the xx, because duh) starts. SXSW warm-up gigs look likely.
JC traverses time and space in his first video from Phrazes For The Young, your 27th favorite album of 2009. Which means stormy pagodas, b&w tricorns, street gangs, and an ’80s club scene with obligatory keytar. It’s a fun ride, and, in the grand tradition of Dire Straits and Daft Punk, Julian’s wardrobe is lined with neon. Sorry no dice roll here, but you will see him juggle mallets when he’s not scrawling profound (also neon) graffiti like “ANGER IS WEAKNESS. PATIENCE IS STRENGTH.” Think I once read that in a Ludlow Street bathroom.
Seems like Animal Collective couldn’t keep themselves from topping most every list that came out this Listmas, even that of the Norwegian singer-songwriting Brooklyn transplant Sondre Lerche. Instead of conforming to the consensus pick of “My Girls,” though, Lerche told us his “favorite song of the year” was the swirling Merriweather gem “Bluish.” (See the full list here.) And in honor of it touching him so, Sondre’s memorialized his love for the Collective’s love song by bunkering in a Brooklyn basement — armed with just a guitar, a voice, and an honorary late-breaking splash of weirdo effects — to tape a cover for all to enjoy. It’s going out as a Christmas Eve gift to his mailing list tomorrow, but Mr. Lerche’s kindly sharing it with us now, to help all of us get through this last shopping day. Enjoy.
On a wintry Saturday night here in NYC, I was lucky enough to catch the latest version of Garage a Trois at the Bowery Ballroom. The group – which in the past has featured Stanton Moore, Skerik, Mike Dillon and Charlie Hunter – is currently touring with Marco Benevento in place of Hunter, making for a killer combo. Although I thought I’d miss Hunter’s patented 8-string guitar work, Marco was certainly a suitable alternative for handling his normal duties.
Unfortunately, the winter storms over the weekend caused some travel issues for Mike Dillon (who couldn’t make it to NYC at all) and also for Stanton Moore (who barely made it in for a second set). As a result, before Stanton headed over from JFK for set two, Skerik and Benevento were joined by local drummer Adam Deitch, for a first set of pure improvisation. The overall set-up really provided an interesting contrast in drum styles, as it was basically the same band with a different drummer for each set.
Adam Deitch
I had forgotten how much I liked Adam Deitch’s drum work (I saw him tear it up with John Scofield’s band back in ‘01/02). I really like his super-intricate and dance-oriented style. For this set, he provided the perfect “loose yet tight” rhythmic backdrop for Marco and Skerik’s unique brand of improvisation.
Although you might expect an all-improv set to be a bit too loose and wandering, their improvisations were not at all a mindless, meandering jazz/funk. Sure, there were some killer solos, but it was much more about an on-the-spot songwriting kind of improv, mainly being led by Benevento (who controlled the low-end duties as well as melodies/harmonies). I was able grab a few decent videos and I feel like this one nicely captures what I mean:
Marc Benevento
As I’ve been lucky enough to hear Marco on a few occasions lately, I almost feel like I’m catching him during a creative zenith of sorts. Both of these last two times I’ve seen him, he has continued to blow me away with his creativity. With his array of keyboards, pedals and toys, he’s really creating some of the richest sonic backdrops and melodic progressions for the digital jazz age. He really makes this shit look easy, but it’s not.
Skerik
Of course, this wasn’t a Marco solo show, and Skerik’s playing and presence make a huge difference in the overall sound as well as the vibe. His stage antics are total silliness, very similar to Les Claypool (who, as it happens, included Skerik in his “Frog Brigade” for quite some time). Skerik makes you laugh when he’s not playing, and then he chimes in on the sax and reminds you that he’s been studying the Greats for years. He knows his Coltrane and Parker, but he’s also updated the classic jazz saxophone with a few effects pedals for distortion and a bigger overall sax sound.
Stanton Moore
After his bout with winter weather travel issues, Stanton Moore made a triumphant entrance into the Bowery and allowed the band to dig into some of the material off of their new album Power Patriot (which I’ve definitely been diggin’ over the last few days). Compared to Deitch’s more intricate/tight drum work, hearing Stanton on the skins reminded me how powerful and groove-centric his playing is. He provides the stronger rock drive that makes Garage a Trois much more than a standard jazz/funk band.
While I’m not yet familiar enough with GaT’s latest record to put together a full setlist, I did recognize this tune, called “Rescue Spreaders,” which was intro’d by Skerik with a nice little stretch break:
Other highlights included some great cuts off of Marco’s solo disc, Me Not Me, a fun holiday tease of “Little Drummer Boy,” and an absolutely rockin’ cover of Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” to finish off the night strong. I thought this last song choice was a nice little pre-cursor to Marco’s next gig with instrumental Led Zeppelin cover band “Bustle in Your Hedgerow,” who are playing tonight at Brooklyn Bowl.
Overall, Garage a Trois really impressed me, despite lacking one of their key members and having to throw together a last-minute first set. If they’re coming your way, I highly recommend checking them out.
Here are a few more videos and photos I captured from this show:
Maybe it was these tough economic times — the sinking music industry, everyone downloading shit for free, rising unemployment. Or perhaps folks just are getting stir crazy from lack of fresh air, sitting in front of their laptops/4-tracks while their bodies slowly give way. Whatever the case, bands were super bitchy this year. Some fights went no further than name calling; in at least one case, though, punches were thrown. The messiest? Band-on-band urination. In honor of a contentious 12 months, we’ve cataloged over a dozen of the year’s most compelling static. And we’re not even gonna mention this guy.
