Metal Lungies

On their upcoming album Raising the Bar, Cold Heat surround themselves with a mix of unknowns, up-and-comers, and legends. “Spanish Guitars” is a dose of old New York crack. It’s an indie rap thing.

Download: Cold Heat – Spanish Guitars (ft. Nico The Beast, SR, Neta, Meyhem Lauren) (produced by Johnny Walker)

via rockthedub

Sonnymoon took some liberties with their remix of Flying Lotus’ “Zodiac Shit.” They plunged the beat underwater, they added hallucinogenic singing, and they slyly put an ‘f’ in the title to make it PG. Still psychedelic. Still makes the brain feel good. Listen here and watch the video for the original below.

Swedish indie singer Lykke Li (one more reason for us to wish that we were Swedish, the list grows) released her first album in 2008 titled Youth Novels. You may recognize her song “Little Bit” which was sampled and remixed a ton over the last year or so. Her sophomore album, Wounded Rhymes, was released a few months ago and it’s a great step for her as an artist. On Youth Novels Lykke Li’s vocals are fragile, even innocent, but with Wounded Rhymes she really shows what she can do as a vocalist. Track two, “I Follow Rivers”, has more depth and substance than a lot of her other work and while listening it gives you chills.  There are a few tracks we don’t care for on the album that just can’t stand up next to the fan favorites like “Get Some” and “I Know Places” but it’s the favorites that make the album worth the time. To us, Wounded Rhymes seems like it’s an intermediate step between Youth Novels and whatever album is to come which is pretty exciting.

Check out “Little Bit” and “I Follow Rivers” here:

I’m afraid to like Tinie Tempah because I know I’ll start to hate him as he climbs the charts and his music becomes bland and homogenized. And I don’t mean that as a knee-jerk reaction to chart success. Tinie is especially prone to unfortunate placements as he makes his stateside crossover. His song with Wiz Khalifa couldn’t have been more predictable and the track list for his DJ Whoo Kid mixtape Foreign Object looks like he decided to rap over the American rap songs with the most YouTube hits in the past year.

I’ll enjoy this cut from Chase & Status’ No More Idols for now, but some day soon, I’ll mock anyone with a Tinie Tempah song on their iPod.

Los Angeles bred Foster the People has been gaining notoriety thanks to their energetic live performances and snowballing fame on Hype Machine. The band’s lead singer, Mark Foster, has a great voice that hits all ranges of notes without falling into the realm of Passion Pit’s high pitched off-key vocals. Their single Pumped Up Kicks reached #2 on Bilboard’s Alternative Songs chart but our real favorite is the first track on the album Helena Beat.

Listen! We know we’ll be blasting it on our morning commutes for a good long while:

Ever the rockstar, Yelawolf commandeers a SoCal princess’ father’s Lamborghini for a joyride in the hills. Few rappers are as entertaining as Yela right now.

Flying Lotus has posted some previously unreleased tracks on his soundcloud page and it is some seriously good stuff. Our new favorite track is his remix of Massive Attack which is ambient and sort of eerie. Check it here:

via Pitchfork

I saw DJ Quik perform “Nobody” on Thursday at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and even though there were only about 30 people in attendance, Quik had just as much fun as he does in the video. He let the beat ride out and started dancing to cheers of “Go Quik! Go Quik!” Music And Times has some footage of the legend in action.

“Second Place” has everything that Hell: The Sequel should have had: a dope beat and spectacular, often hilarious, rhymes. Royce can rap circles around most anyone, but he gets sidetracked with rageaholic Slaughterhouse tirades that are less impressive on every listen. DJ Premier’s low-profile beat keeps Royce in a zone where he can make Talladega Nights references amidst an amazing verse. Royce told Bootleg Kev that Premo is remixing the song “Writer’s Block” from the EP. If anyone can salvage some of that Bad Meets Evil bluster, it’s Premo.

NPR has offered the public a first listen to YACHT’s new album Shangri-La that’s due out later this month. If you’ve listened to YACHT before you’re probably more familiar with tracks like Psychic City or The Afterlife but their new album offers a good handful of songs that are filled with lyrics that leave you thinking in metaphysical terms. The album as a whole is less trance inducing and is filled with upbeat hooks that are irresistible to move along to. That, paired with more delicate vocals, makes the listening experience a little more whimsical, much like the nature of the album which revolves around utopia and dystopia.

You can listen to the title track here:

OR, if you’re feeling musically brave, you can dive in and listen to the whole album here:

NPR’s First Listen: YACHT- Shangri-La

via NPR