Click here to listen to Hot Chip's remix of "Losing My Patience" by Shit Robot
Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor recently remixed Shit Robot’s track “Losing My Patience,” which also features Taylor’s vocals on the original album version – head over to Pitchfork’s Forkcast to check it out! The remix will be featured on the “Losing My Patience” single, which comes out April 18th via DFA Records. The single will include a remix and dub by Unabombers, on top of the original version.
Shit Robot also debuted his visual-heavy live performance, dubbed The Shit Robot Show, last week at SXSW. The tour continues on in the U.S. through the end of March, culminating with two performances supporting LCD Soundsystem during their farewell run at Terminal 5.
Shit Robot Tour Dates
3/25 – Miami, FL – The Vagabond
3/26 – Miami, FL – ULTRA Music Festival
3/30 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 (w/ LCD Soundsystem)
3/31 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 (w/ LCD Soundsystem)
This week Datarock has revealed a secret EP titled California. The tracks on the album are excerpts from the forthcoming opus, DATAROCK – the musical! Check out a stream of the full California EP exclusively on AOL Spinner.
And click here to go behind the scenes into the studio for the making of California with Fredrik Saroea.
California is now available digitally on iTunes. The earlier released single, “Catcher In the Rye,” is also available digitally on iTunes.
I’d like to introduce you to an up & coming female rapper from right here in Pittsburgh! Her name’s Kellee Maize, and without being signed, she’s managed to captivate a following with over 400,000 album downloads and a #1 spot on Amazon.com.
Check out this video and learn a bit about Kellee by reading her own words below:
My mom always said, I “was dancing and singing before she could walk and talk.” I began to rap and perform at a young age to entertain myself and escape reality. My childhood best friend helped me form my first rap group called Thunder and Lightning at age 9. We mostly just argued about who was Thunder and who was Lightning, but we did record a few cassettes and give them to our parents with our pictures on them.
Despite incredibly loving parents who I would die for, I always had a bit of an “alien” mentality as I was only one of two people I knew until age 18 that was adopted. To this day, I know very little about my biological family. This has always had a very deep effect on who I am and how I deal with life. However, I feel like it was part of the plan and feel blessed to be a Maize.
I moved to Pittsburgh in my teens with the dream of making an impact on the world. I just felt drawn to the city, like there was something waiting for me here. I learned more about the negative sides of our society through study at the University of Pittsburgh. At that time, Hip Hop was solidified as my passion and outlet for activism. I also experienced watching my mom go through a vicious near death bout with cancer and used writing as a means to cope. I began singing and rapping on stage in 2000 and have not stopped since.
However, a sense of not being able to make any real change, a lack of confidence, and a lack of financial stability pushed me into the workforce full-time and on a spiritual journey. This period of my life proved to be a unique opportunity to grow, become inspired and learn the industry. I worked at the Pittsburgh City Paper right after college where I helped a lot of local artists, planned events and learned all about being a promoter. I eventually became the Events and Promotions Director, but then the sudden death of my father during this time changed everything. After my dad passed and my birth mom was not responding to my attempts to connect with her, I again turned to music as a way to cope. I also turned to work and my interest in bringing women together as a way to deal with my father’s death.
I founded a female owned and operated, socially conscious company, Nakturnal. I founded Nakturnal in hopes of helping woman work together in pursuit of their dreams and because I learned through spiritual study that when women gather, the world will heal. It is a prophetic message almost every indigenous culture stands behind as well as many major religions. I also felt like it was time to secure a better income to be able to help my mom in the future. She is employed at a factory in my home town and it is my dream to be able to get her involved in some aspect of my business so she doesn’t have to work so hard.
For over two years now, Nakturnal has been considered a leading marketing and events organization in the the area. We work daily to inspire women, help independent artists and raise awareness for worthy causes. We have been expanding nationally. In the meantime, I found more time to record and perform, and released my first album, Age of Feminine with the help of DJ Huggy. I released my second album, Aligned Archetype, nationally on January 29th, 2010. This album highlights my mystical side and brings together my other musical passions including dubstep, house, reggae, Bmore club, R&B and of course Hip Hop. It is a concept album that is was inspired by a tarot card reading. I consider myself a spiritual person and now see activism on an energetic level that starts within so I work on my SELF daily. I study the power of intention, meditation, yoga, quantum physics,astrology, tarot and other forms of mysticism. I feel my outer purpose in life is to make music that sends out good energy that speaks to the soul of the listener. I believe massive global change is coming and that it starts with the individual. I feels Pittsburgh, my home, is a focal point in this planetary change and that women and female energy in men and women will help us enter a new stage.
I feel that our inner world is a mirror of our outer reality. We have the power to help positively affect the world by “being the change we wish to see,” as Ghandi puts it. While this can be incredibly challenging given our human tendencies and emotions, I believe we are entering a new stage of evolution in human consciousness and hope that in the same way I am affected daily by artists and musicians that my music inspires change and awareness in the listener. I feel all people have special gift that will be a piece in the puzzle and that we are all made of the same energy and therefore are really all one. I know deep down that music and art will usher in the peaceful revolution we need from our current fear stricken society. I feel we can enjoy this time/space reality while opening hearts and minds and creating lasting change.
Click here to listen/download: Kellee Maize’s “Hasta Abajo”
Electra is proud to release the new video for their frenetic ska-rock ’n’ roll stomp “Coming to Get You!” The dark, left-field video catches one of the band’s performances as a series of freaks, geeks, and psychos sabotage the video.
Electra is currently signed to Anova Music – Tel Aviv’s leading record company – and their first two singles “Coming to Get You” and “Dawn of Summer” were instant radio hits. Their songs combine gritty, catchy melodies and garage rock swagger. They channel influences from Rockabilly grooves and ’60s soul to ’80s The Cars type music in the vane of The Clash and Buzzcocks. They’re quickly becoming one of the most provocative acts in the country and around the world.
The band’s also done a cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” that I’m in love with.
Electra Tour Dates:
03/19: Austin, TX @ Spiderhouse (1:00 pm)
03/19: Austin, TX @ The East Village (8:00pm)
03/21: Brooklyn, NY @ Braur Falls (9:00pm)
03/23: New York, NY @ Pianos (9:00pm)
03/24: Brooklyn, NY @ Bar Matchless (11:00pm)
03/26 Washington, DC @ Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage (6:00pm)
Last year I encouraged you to check out Glasnost. They did a remix of La Roux‘s “Bulletproof” that was pretty sick. Seemingly, most people have gotten to know the group for their recently released remixes. Yet, aside from producing killer dance floor remixes, Glasnost is also a live, four piece, electro pop band and DJ crew. Now they’ve released their newest original track, “Corridor.”
Their influences include Cut Copy, New Order, MSTRKRFT and Midnight Juggernauts. Glasnost remixes have been exciting blogs and dance floors worldwide. While releasing other “Glastnostized” renditions of tracks like Tiga’s “What you Need” and most recently Metric’s “Hands,” the band’s been busy producing their next collection of original tracks for their forthcoming album, Decade, due to release in late April. (AND right now they are at SXSW!)
Check out the video for Mackintosh Braun’s “Could It Be” which was recently on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
Mackintosh Braun is playing a show with OMD at The Music Box in Hollywood on March 29th. You gotta listen to MB’s remix of OMD’s “Save Me.” (Click here to listen.)
On the heels of an extremely successful trip to the UK which landed Luke Rathborne love from NME and the BBC, Luke returns to the US just in time for the release of his debut album, the split EP I Can Be One E.P. / Dog Years E.P., which is out now via Dilettante Recordings.
People have been asking – why the split EP? Rather than muddling his music’s disparate take on the world around him, attempting to intertwine songs written under different circumstances and in different frames of mind, Rathborne decided to offer audiences his ideal window into his headscape – two EPs, each unique in their own right, as one album.
Dog Years EP (stream in its entirety on Soundcloud) embraces Rathborne’s more pop aesthetic – not shiny, happy pop, but effervescent, melancholic pop. The title track offers a cynical poke to not letting the “dog years” pass you by. The material from the I Can Be One EP was penned following Rathborne’s move to New York City after high school and completed with members of Antony and the Johnsons contributing to the arrangements. The material on this EP takes on a somber, darker hue.
But while the tones change, the inspiration is largely the same. “All of the songs – on both EPs – are about being afraid of connecting, because connections open up the possibility of being harmed…It’s interesting that they intersect here, because I’d been playing with the idea of putting them together and seeing how they mix, but this seems a lot more pure – this is my music, this is what I want to say, and this is how I want to say it,” Luke explains.
If you’re headed to SXSW, don’t miss Luke Rathborne when he opens for The Stokes.
Miami’s avant-dance duo Afrobeta have been tearing up dancefloors in their hometown since 2006, with the Miami New Times even naming them Best Band in 2010. After the success of their debut EP, Do You Party?, which came out last July, the band is ready to announce the details of their full-length debut- Under The Streetswill see a release in Summer 2011 via Do IT Music Group!
Download “Nighttime” the first free track for a taste of what Under The Streets has in store for the world!
Cuci Amador and Smurphio formed Afrobeta in 2006 as a means to attain an ultimate form of artistic self-expression. Their mutual love of classic songwriting, Cuban pastries and dancing till 5AM inspired them to make music together. The thirteen tracks that make up their debut album will undoubtedly ignite dance-floors around the world. Afrobeta’s unique (and diverse) sound transcends genre classifications. Cuci’s rapid-fire delivery, combined with Smurphio’s funky synths and head-bopping basslines, will keep you moving from start to finish on Under The Streets.
Afrobeta is taking their joyous beats and dazzling live shows across the nation and abroad! 2010 included high profile performances at the 40th Anniversary Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, the 12th annual Ultra Music Festival, Burning Man, Ultra Brazil and Space Ibiza.
Under The Streets Tracklisting
Two Different Worlds
Do You Party?
Nighttime
As Long As You Like It
Play House
That Thing
Touch
Land Of Lost Lovers
Pistol Whip
Love Fur Life
Jealousy
The End
Love Is Magic
Adeline Records has just announced an April 26th release date for the vinyl version of Green Day’s new live album, Awesome As Fuck. The set features explosive performances captured during the multi-platinum rock band’s 2009-2010 World Tour in support of their Grammy® Award-winning album 21st Century Breakdown.
Green Day recorded every show on the 21st Century Breakdown tour. When it concluded, the band members, singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, sifted through the audio to deliver the best performances from their shows around the world. An iTunes Exclusive edition of the audio portion will feature two bonus tracks. The footage on the bonus DVD was shot at the band’s show in Tokyo, Japan. The package includes Green Day’s biggest hits and fan favorites, including “21 Guns,” “American Idiot,” “When I Come Around,” and “Good Riddance.” See below for full track-listing.
The track-listing for the vinyl version of Awesome As Fuck is as follows:
01. 21st Century Breakdown – (London, England)
02. Know Your Enemy – (Manchester, England)
03. East Jesus Nowhere – (Glasgow, Scotland)
04. Holiday – (Dublin, Ireland)
05. Viva La Gloria! – (Dallas, Texas)
06. Cigarettes And Valentines – (Phoenix, Arizona)
07. Burnout – (Irvine, California)
08. Going to Pasalacqua – (Chula Vista, California )
09. JAR – (Detroit, Michigan)
10. Who Wrote Holden Caulfield? – (New York, New York)
11. Geek Stink Breath – (Saitama-shi, Japan)
12. When I Come Around – (Berlin, Germany)
13. She – (Brisbane, Australia)
14. 21 Guns – (Mountain View, California)
15. American Idiot – (Montreal, QUE)
16. Wake Me Up When September Ends – (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
17. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
British band on the rise, Clock Opera will release their beautiful new single “Belongings” on May 9th via UK label Moshi Moshi (known for the early championship of acts like Florence and the Machine), as well as making their way across the pond to Austin’s SXSW to showcase their dynamic live show which is garnering them praise and fans in leaps and bounds.
Produced by front man Guy Connelly, “Belongings” is already a highlight of their live set; an incredibly beautiful and emotive song, while the b-side is the understated brooding and delicate “Let Go The Lifeboats.”
They have supported the likes of Yeasayer and Au Revoir Simone on their UK tours and have also delivered inspired remixes for the aforementioned artists as well as reinterpretations of The Drums and The Golden Filter. Clock Opera will be performing at this year’s SXSW festival for the first time, and wrapping up recording their debut album slated to see release later this year.
Musically Amusing 