Stream: Midlake, The Courage of Others

Whenever NPR premieres an album, our first thought is: Is this NPR music? We’re working on changing our outlook, we swear. In any case, Midlake’s The Courage of Others has been getting plenty of burn around this office as well. Like, it’s the dead of winter, how could we not listen to an album that has copious amounts of flutes and songs about trees dying and growing old, and, like, a creek freezing and thawing and what that means to our mortality. If that’s your thing, and unless you are the most cynical person on Earth, it probably will be, stream the album from the link below.

Stream: Midlake, The Courage of Others

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Video: Gucci Mane, “Yelp”

We have no idea when Gucci is finding time to shoot all these videos, but this one is everything you expect: Gucci in hoarse-voiced minimalist form, Drumma Boi turning in another stoically ominous beat. It probably took them as long to shoot as it did for us to watch.

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Yuck, “Automatic” MP3

When we first clicked play on this song and all that came in was that single, lonely piano plunk, we have to admit we were surprised. Hearing that a band is called Yuck, you expect lo-fi power chords, maybe a shouted chorus, some dark, blurry pictures of the band playing in a warehouse or something. But no, instead we get Justin Vernon-esque intimate and stark vocals and a creepy/awkward/awesome line about keeping semen to yourself. The fact that this is labeled as a demo over at Pinglewood could mean a couple things: either it’s going to stay as minimal as we’re hearing it now (good idea), or the real version will come replete with a full string section, rapid fire drum rolls an an entire men’s choir (bad idea).



Download: Yuck, “Automatic” (via Pinglewood)

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Tjutjuna, “Collider” MP3

Denver, Colorado’s Woodsman, who released a heavy, blissed out LP on Mexican Summer recently, also have their own label called Fire Talk. It’s on the smaller side of things—just tapes, CD-Rs and limited release singles—and will probably succeed because, despite their size, they release solid jams with some regularity. One such jam isTjutjuna’s “Collider,” which is from a split 7-inch with fellow Denverites Fissure Mystic and is a completely immersive guitar whirlwind bad trip nightmare. In a good way.



Download: Tjutjuna, “Collider”

Trendwatch 2010: Soft Pencils

Tough Knuckles, meet Parenthetical Girls.

High Places, “On Giving Up” MP3

When High Places relocated to the West Coast, the last thing we would have expected them to do would be clean up their sound—do away with the constant percussion rattle, the assortment of wood blocks and distinct lack of guitar. But now we have “On Giving Up,” which embraces Hollywood sleaze and then dubs it out. Most noticeable though, is Mary Pearson’s now husky vocals at the forefront of the track. In short, they moved to LA and got real confident.



Download: High Places, “On Giving Up” (via P4K)

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Flight, “Feels So Good” MP3

You gotta wonder these days how far this whole lo-fi thing can go. In a couple years will we be recording bands on a Talkboy from 40 miles away and just hoping for some sort of discernible musical sound? Of course, this is not to discount some of the work of more recent lo-fi luminaries like Flight, whose 10-inch has been in constant rotation because, underneath the fuzz, the blown out mics and the voice that sounds like it’s singing into the breather part of a scuba mask if it was entirely submerged in water, there are ridiculously undeniable pop hooks. “Feels So Good” is from HoZac Records‘ Hookup Klub, is probably really difficult to find an actual copy of and makes us think of swimming in a lake filled with cigarette butts in the middle of the night. So there you have it, now that we’re done with beach music the new thing is gross-lake-at-night music.



Download: Flight, “Feels So Good” (via Raven Sings the Blues)

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Alley Boy f. Princess and Waka Flocka, “Rappin and Robbin” MP3

Rap fans complaining that shit got too soft need look no further than Alley Boy, who regularly releases songs that would probably make our grandmas cringe. His upcoming mixtape is even called The Definition of Fuck Shit. But talking about Alley Boy’s controversial subject matter makes us sound like Nancy Reagan in ‘92. It’s more important to note that all of Alley Boy’s material thus far has been completely solid. It’s not going to get him on whatever channel they’re playing videos on these days (MTV2 from like 5:06am to 5:23am), but it is interesting to note the way he effortlessly traverses various sub-scenes. Hopping on snap-lite tracks with Pill or releasing something like the over the top “Rappin and Robbin,” with Waka Flocka and Princess, who has not been rapping nearly enough since Crime Mob effectively seemed to disband.



Download: Alley Boy f. Princess and Waka Flocka, “Rappin and Robbin” (via Dirty Glove Bastard)

8Ball and MJG f. Young Dro, “Bring it Back” MP3

Three of rap’s most interesting voices unite so that MJG can rap I look, I smell, I taste like money/ It’s a big, big mistake to try to take some from me/ This morning I shitted out 55 hundred, then flushed it down the toilet/ Damnit I done it. Worth it? (Yes).



Download: 8Ball and MJG f. Young Dro, “Bring it Back”

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Fabo, Gik Tales Mixtape

It kinda sucks that a lot of people are not as familiar with Fabo as they should be. For a second there, post “Laffy Taffy” mega blowup it seemed like he was going to step on a spaceship made out of argyle socks and blast off into a hit-filled career. Instead we got a lot of silence, a couple good to great guest spots and, um, this. Now he’s back with a new mixtape that we almost missed. It’s mostly awesome but filled with middling beats. Turns out that’s fine, because Fabo excels when he’s allowed to just go off over anything that has drums in it, to start singing mid-verse for no reason. There are actually like 100 different ideas per song on this tape. It’s pretty scary to think of what this dude could do with an actual recording budget and a couple hundred pounds of psychedelics.

Download: Fabo, Gik Tales Mixtape (via Dirty Glove Bastard)

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