Boomsker

Apologies for the hiatus

drumgirl0 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:49:00 +0000

Boomsker is back. New music coming your way!

mixtape #6: 15 mp3s

drumgirl0 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:29:01 +0000

Download Mixtape #6 as individual mp3s or as a .zip file at the end of the post. Songs by the following artists:

Asher Roth featuring Keri Hilson, Kings of Leon, Bat For Lashes, Busta Rhymes featuring Estelle, U2, The Killers remixed by Ocelot, Black Kids, Maino featuring T-Pain, Ryan Gosling, Tegan & Sara, The White Stripes, Liam Finn, Frankmusik covering Amy Winehouse, and Art Brut.

Bat For Lashes – Use Somebody (Kings of Leon cover):

Though Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) just came out with the spectral and spacey Two Suns (which will see itself on many year-end Best Of 2009 lists come December), she makes what is surprisingly a fairly boring cover of Kings of Leon’s stellar “Use Somebody”. Where Kings of Leon play with dynamics and spatial qualities, the Bat For Lashes version is too straight-forward, adding nothing new to the original, and doesn’t express the aching yearning that made Kings of Leons’ song so alluring in its desperation. To Khan’s credit though, “Use Somebody” in its original form is impossible to beat, as is her own material on Two Suns. No one will cover Khan’s music and do it justice; nor does she to Kings of Leon’s unique, post-modern ballad. Still, two exciting artists in their own rights.

Asher Roth – She Don’t Want a Man (feat. Keri Hilson):

I’ve officially listened to all of Asleep In the Bread Aisle (for previously-leaked mp3s, click here), and while not all the songs are as tight as the first single, “I Love College”, “She Don’t Want a Man” is a hot one and features Keri Hilson, who sounds better here than on her own album that just came out. I’ve gotten more hits on Boomsker for Asher Roth searches than anything else, so I’ll just shut up now and let you listen to what you came here for.

U2 – Magnificent:

“Magnificent” kinda apes the riff from “Where the Streets Have No Name”, but what a song to recycle, right? The Edge’s guitar chimes superbly behind Bono intoning the lyric, “I was born to sing for you.” With lyrics often veering toward politics and religiosity, Bono has never sung truer words. Argued by many to be the best track from No Line On the Horizon. Based on the guitar solo alone, you’ll feel compelled to agree.

Busta Rhymes – World Go Round (feat. Estelle):

Some have argued that Busta Rhymes dropped his game and is out of touch with the current hip-hop world. If you argue want to argue that position, he did, afterall, get offered (and turn down) Bangladesh’s “A Milli” beat which Lil Wayne then made into a huge hit. But if Busta did indeed fall off, he’s at least got a song to help him back up. “World Go Round” is a good lead single (the synth bassline at the beginning almost recalls a less-sticky version of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams [Are Made of This]”) off Busta’s upcoming Back On My BS that will get play from the DJs at the club, but dude is reaching lyrically. But who cares; you’re going to be dancing so hard to this beat, it really doesn’t matter what Busta’s rhyming about. Album drops May 19.

Frankmusik – Rehab (Amy Winehouse cover):

There was a lot of hype surrounding this track, and I’m going to admit that upon first listen I totally disagreed with all the raving of Frankmusik’s, well, not-so-frank music. With that first listen, I was sorely disappointed after hearing how great this remake is of Amy Winehouse’s international hit. I think I was just so thrown off by how different it sounds from the Winehouse version, and so unlike what I expected from a song that was originally a gritty and soulful wrangling of lyrics written and wailed by a druggie (only Amy could make those lyrics of denial sound so poignant). This disco-y new-rave-pop cover is hard to take seriously. It’s just so…campy. It’s as though “Rehab” (the Winehouse song) said “no, no, no” to going to rehab, and instead took a bunch of ecstasy and turned into electroclash goo. But even though I really didn’t like it the first couple times, Frankmusik’s version of “Rehab” is a slight grower, I will confess. Not great, but better than I initially thought.

Download: Frankmusik – Rehab (Amy Winehouse cover).mp3

Art Brut – Alcoholics Unanimous:

Ironic and self-aware, Art Brut are part of the UK “art wave” scene that includes such bands as Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. With jagged and angular guitars, “Alcoholics Unanimous” will be included on their April 20-released LP, Art Brut vs. Satan, produced by the Pixies’ Frank Black. For fans of: The Wombats, The Mekons, Maximo Park, Good Shoes.

Tegan & Sara – Walking With A Ghost:

This isn’t particularly new (appears on Tegan & Sara’s 2004 album So Jealous), but has one of the most infectious acoustic guitar lines of any alternative rock song of the 00’s, and is a Must Listen. The Canadian band of identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin has toured with everyone from Weezer and Ryan Adams to The Killers to Canadian legend in his own right, Neil Young. The White Stripes have even covered them with their electric version of the lingering mostly-acoustic “Walking With A Ghost”. The song was also a hit overseas, albeit in a remixed form, which is also provided below. The unique dual vocals of the Quin twins sound sweet until you examine their lyrics and listen in the context of their melodies. Though upbeat, “Walking With A Ghost” is near-haunting and gets under your skin; but with such a perfectly constructed chord progression, you’ll have a new indie acoustic-power-pop addiction. If you only download one of the following 3 mp3s, make it the original. These twins are boss.

Liam Finn – Better To Be:

Opening track from I’ll Be Lightning, New Zealander Liam Finn (son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn)’s beautiful 2007 debut album. Finn, a singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, has received only rave reviews for I’ll Be Lightning and I figured while we wait for him to get in the studio and record another great set of baroque indie pop, I’d post this harmonic Elliot Smith-meets-Beatles track. Finn is a skillful musician (playing nearly every instrument heard on I’ll Be Lightning) and was named an “Artist to watch” in Rolling Stone in November of 2007. For fans of: New Pornographers, Elliot Smith, The Shins.

Ryan Gosling – Put Me In the Car:

Yes, this is Ryan Gosling, the actor of The Notebook fame. I didn’t know he was planning a music career either. But it’s not as far-fetched an idea as you’d likely think it is. At least not to someone who grew up watching the 90’s Mickey Mouse Club (whose cast also starred Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, blah blah blah). I remember Ryan singing back then and even as an adolescent displayed the same chops of those of his future-popstar buddies. This track sounds, ironically, like another former Mouseketeer, but one whom fame has seemed to elude: Tony Lucca. Lucca makes acoustic folk-rock and is a singer-songwriter and master blues-guitarist (his talents were constantly displayed on the MMC). Gosling sounds very familiar to anyone who has actually kept up with Tony’s feint musical career. Surprisingly decent song. Nothing spectacular, but good for the dreaded category of “actor ‘slash’ musician”.

Download: Ryan Gosling – Put Me In the Car.mp3

Maino – All the Above (feat. T-Pain):

Just Blaze produced this track that surfs the same chords as “Live Your Life” by T.I. and Rihanna, but while “All the Above” is reminiscent of that recent radio hit, Maino brings something refreshing to a song that Boomsker predicts will be dominating radio play. I think production from Swizz Beatz would be a better match for Maino’s flow, to highlight the Street in his rhymes, but Just Blaze is at the top of his game on this fresh track.

Download: Maino – All the Above (feat. T-Pain).mp3

Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You:

After being named an “artist to watch” by Rolling Stone in 2007, Jacksonville’s Black Kids signed in May 2008 to Columbia Records. July of 2008, they released Partie Traumatic, produced by Suede’s Bernard Butler. The band’s debut single, the verbose “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You”, packs as many hooks as it does words in its title. Reggie Youngblood (singer/guitarist) twists his vowels with a distinctly Robert Smith-like approach, and seeming a student of Morrissey’s, includes some gender-bender lyrics, such as when he opens the song recalling “ever since I was a little girl”. The reverb-soaked guitar and horns that sound as though they’re being blown through a wet sock set the music for an indie party where everyone is dancing and singing along to how Youngblood “won’t teach him how to dance! Dance! Dance! Dance!” For fans of: The Cure, The Go! Team, Tokyo Police Club.

The Killers – Human (Ocelot remix):

Trance for people who don’t like trance, this is a remix that actually keeps the integrity of the song and keeps it listenable instead of ambient, unexciting blips and bleeps. Ocelot takes the best parts of Brandon Flowers’ vocal parts from “Human” and makes a psytrance jam that’s menacingly portentous until the very last note, where it seems that after all the acro-robotics and automaton party music by the excellent Ocelot, The Killers are, indeed, human afterall.

Download: The Killers – Human (Ocelot remix).mp3

To download all the songs in Mixtape #6 as a .zip file:

Download: Mixtape #6.zip

Silversun Pickups – “Swoon”

drumgirl0 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:06:46 +0000

3 mp3 downloads from the Silversun Pickups’ new album, Swoon.

Silversun Pickups – Swoon:

Easily one of the best bands to emerge from Los Angeles in the 00′s, Silversun Pickups today (Arpril 14) released Swoon, the follow-up LP to the critically acclaimed Carnavas. Dave Cooley has returned from that first album as producer, helming the retro-modern rock of the Pickups, who seem to be most influenced by 90′s alternative rock and shoegaze bands like Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, respectively.

In a previous post, I provided a download/review of Swoon‘s first single, “Panic Switch”, which is meant to represent a nervous breakdown, a theme embodied throughout the new album, according to singer/guitarist Brian Aubert (whose vocals on Swoon sound decidedly less feminine than on Carnavas).

As for the rest of the songs on Swoon, they provide texture and space and, at various times, Pixies-ish loud/soft dynamics; but where these dense layers of distorted guitars would typically suffocate the vocals, the songs still have a pocket in which to breathe. Swoon is like a dark grey day where you wait for an inevitable thunderstorm to pour down on you, but alas to your relief, never arrives. But this is a good thing, as you’ll stay dry even in the damp atmospherics of the record. However, there are plenty of thunderclaps in songs like the strident “The Royal We” and the cavernous opening track, “There’s No Secrets This Year”. There’s plenty of darkness and melancholy, as the ominous weather analogy should suggest, but amid all the bleakness, a theme of hope glimmers between Aubert’s shimmering guitar that so dreamily intertwines with Joe Lester’s keyboards. Silversun Pickups have created a darkly ethereal atmosphere where you will find yourself mesmerized and, yes, swooning; but in such a dark dwelling, it’s not a bad place in which to lose yourself. For fans of: Smashing Pumpkins, Darker My Love, Sonic Youth, Earlimart.

The Bird and The Bee – Polite Dance Song

drumgirl0 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:19:27 +0000

The Bird and The Bee – Polite Dance Song:

The Bird and The Bee, made up of singer Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin (who has worked with everyone from Beck to Lily Allen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers), may be familiar for their single, “Fucking Boyfriend”, which has been remixed to oblivion and was featured in the movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Other songs by TB&TB have appeared in the Sex and the City movie and Grey’s Anatomy. “Polite Dance Song” is true to their usual indie electro-pop stance and, riding a linear, stalking keyboard line, exudes a cool 60′s hipster aura perfect for a bachelor in a smoking-jacket, even while TB&TB ever-so-nicely request you to “clap your hands” and “get up on your feet” (all with a “please”, she’s done her mother proud). Inara George says it best in the song herself: “this is such a crazy kickass beat.”

Download: The Bird & The Bee – Polite Dance Song.mp3

The View (3 mp3s)

drumgirl0 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:14:34 +0000

A band that has been endearingly nicknamed (for their sound, as well as their druggy antics) as the “Scottish Libertines”, The View have released their follow-up to their much-successful (in the UK, at least) debut, Hats Off To The Buskers. Their second album, Which Bitch?, brings back the production skills of Owen Morris (whose knob-twiddling has also helmed albums for Ash and Oasis), and though theoretically following in the first album’s footsteps, Which Bitch? has proved much less successful than its predecessor. Where their debut single, “Wasted Little DJs” reached #1 on the UK charts the very day after it was released, Which Bitch? was in the UK Top 40 for only two weeks. But the recent album, released in February, is not Part 2 of Hats Off… The View have improved their observational and cynical songwriting to include songs such as its first single “5 Rebeccas”, a brief glimpse into the lives of their junkie pals (told you they had Libertine similarities); “Gem of a Bird”, a sweet and lilting acoustic ballad with a fast tempo; and “Covers”, which features Paolo Nutini (who sounds like he has no teeth whose pronunciation is more difficult to understand than The View frontman Kyle Falconer’s own brogue) and sounds like fellow-Scots The Fratellis if their studio electricity went out and the lads had to make do with a piano, acoustic guitar, and trumpet that were laying around. For fans of: The Libertines, Little Man Tate, The Rifles.

Asher Roth (5 mp3s)

drumgirl0 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:49:46 +0000

5 Asher Roth mp3s to download…after the jump.

Asher Roth:

Steve Rifkind, the veteran rap entrepreneur, has called Asher Roth “the best lyricist he has heard in the last 10 years.” Before Roth signed to Rifkind’s SRC/Universal Records, he was courted by many labels, including Atlantic, Def Jam, and Warner Bros. Records. Before even dropping his first album, Asher Roth has gathered a lot of hype around him and repeatedly has been compared to Eminem. His first single, the bro-anthem, “I Love College” (which samples Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”), is quickly becoming the drinking jam of 2009. “I Love College” isn’t a club-banger that you’ll likely hear while drinking vodka-Redbulls under fluorescent black lights; but a house party with the fratty staples of a keg and a beer-pong championship that’s not soundtracked by “I Love College” just does not exist in 2009. Whether you’re a current student, graduate, or gave up on academia long ago, Asher Roth is a college campus unto himself (minus the classes/studying that ruin the authentic college experience). His debut album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle, drops on the 20th of this month (4/20, unironically), and features cameos by Cee-Lo, Keri Hilson, Busta Rhymes, Chester French, Beanie Sigel, and Jazze Pha. And if you think Asher Roth is just an Eminem knock-off, he’s got words for you in his address of the comparison in “As I Em”.

In more than one way, Asher Roth is smokin. His songs frequently mention marijuana and alcohol, and in “I Love College” he chants, “Keg stand!” and the oft-typical, “Chug!” repeatedly. Since you’ll be too baked on the release date (4/20 is the annual pot-smokers’ holiady, fyi) to pick up the album, here’s an early preview of Asleep In The Bread Aisle to put in your pipe and smoke.

Kid Cudi – The Prayer (+ Band Of Horses – The Funeral)

drumgirl0 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:17:41 +0000

Kid Cudi – The Prayer (sample: Band of Horses – The Funeral):

Wow, Kid Cudi’s career has taken off faster than I anticipated; back when I heard “Day N Nite”, his debut single, last year when it was leaked from the A Kid Named Cudi mixtape I didn’t know if Cudi’s talents would be heard. It’s not that I didn’t think he was good enough; it’s just that too often even the some of best in the game slip below the radar and fail to register in the mainstream. If he didn’t have talent to bring to his officially-released debut album, Man on the Moon: The Guardians, projected to be released this summer, Kid’s definitely got taste. On “The Prayer”, Cudi raps a prayer about his own mortality over a sample of Band of Horses’ achingly gorgeous “The Funeral”. The lyrics Cudi implores fit perfectly with the Band of Horses heart-wrenching and moving elegy to a person’s last day above ground. We’ll all get there in the end. But Kid Cudi and Band of Horses are two artists who help make the journey to the end a little more worthwhile.

mixtape #5 (13 mp3s)

drumgirl0 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:10:12 +0000

Mixtape #5 contains mp3s by:

Rihanna featuring The-Dream, Ingrid Michaelson, Bloc Party, The Ting Tings, Eric Hutchinson, Katy Perry remixed by LMFAO, Montt Mardie, Spoon, The Magnetic Fields, The Rapture produced by Timbaland, Neimo, Fat Joe featuring Akon, and Mute Math. Read ahead to download.

So my brother’s girlfriend (who is the straight-up shit, y’all!) told me her BFF has been checking out (and apparently diggin!) Boomsker. (Wait, does that mean someone actually reads this?…Sweet!) I’ve never met her (the BFF), but since she’s my almost-sister-in-law’s almost-sister, she’s basically family. Basically. Plus, her mom’s got the hots for my brother. So whether El Hermano ditches his ball-and-chain (I kid, I kid) or goes for the cougar mom, either way I’m stuck with Co-Co and Lo-Lo. And if Lo-Lo is even a tenth as cool as Co-Co is, all is swell in my world. So this one goes out to the sister I never had (love you, Grudey!) and L-to-the-ogan. Hope I can provide you sexy betches with some good music while you’re at your jobs! And on that note…what’s a job?…

Eric Hutchinson – Rock & Roll:

Bad day? This song (one of the catchiest of 2009) is a cure-all for anyone feeling even the slightest bit sick or depressed. With a just-upbeat-enough tempo; uplifting chord progression; guitar for a beachdeck party with your fave friends; and a chorus of joyful organ, energizing handclaps, and “na-na-na”s, listening to “Rock & Roll” is the sure start to what will be a great weekend. You’re welcome. For fans of: Jason Mraz, Josh Kelley, Matt Nathanson.

Montt Mardie – New York:

Swedish songwriter/singer/multi-instrumentalist Montt Mardie’s records have never had an official US release, and that trend will continue with his third album (the “Best Of” compilation of his previous two albums released in Sweden), which will at least see itself a proper UK release this May. Mardie (pronounced “mar-dee-yay”) makes throwback music to most eras of popular music of their times. Lyrically and melodically cinematic, “New York” is a love song to the city of its title, and anyone not in the Northeast United States will feel nostalgic for their little piece of Noo Yawk, and those who are up there will feel compelled to take a bite out of the Big Apple.

Fat Joe – One (feat. Akon):

“One” is the first single off Fat Joe’s new album (it’ll be his ninth) and features Akon being less annoying than usual and actually bringing a bangin’ hook to a surprisingly hot song! Granted, all Akon really sings is “one”, “one”, “ooh”, and “ooh yeah”, but trust me, it’s an improvement and it works.

Download: Fat Joe – One (feat. Akon).mp3

Neimo – Johnny Five:

Bringing sly, hooky guitar riffs and new-wave hooks, this Parisian four-piece band are currently touring Europe. With Bruno Alexandre’s disaffected but pulsing vocals sung (in English) over raucous post-punk guitars, “Johnny 5″ is the itch in your ears scratched to great effect. For fans of: David Bowie, New Order, The Bishops.

Rihanna – Hatin’ On the Club (feat. The-Dream):

If my abusive former CURRENT boyfriend (break up with that douchebag already, Ri-Ri!) was out cheating on me, I’d be not only hating on the club, but probably setting fire to it! So you can call it curmudgeon-&-b if you’d like, but I think I’m gonna side with Rihanna on this one and hate on the club too. The-Dream brought us a hot one with “Hatin On the Club”. And even if he didn’t, those brassy 60′s girl-group “why-eye-eye”s are too sticky to pass up.

Download: Rihanna – Hatin On the Club (feat. The-Dream).mp3

Katy Perry – Hot N Cold (LMFAO remix):

Katy Perry’s THE most annoying song is made actually listenable by the electro-crunk masterminds of LMFAO. I posted LMFAO’s song “I’m In Miami, Bitch” in an earlier post, and they bring all the bling of platinum grills to “Hot N Cold”, a song at which I shudder whenever it’s played where I am. But LMFAO bring something serious to this sickening tween-pop song, and the result is something that is mixed to perfection. LMFAO brought some hot remix skills with them, but their originals are nothing to scoff at either. I credit them with giving me “Hot N Cold” in its only listenable format.

Download: Katy Perry – Hot N Cold (LMFAO remix).mp3

The Magnetic Fields – California Girls:

There are so many genres of alternative music that if Boomsker were to just create a new one, no one would notice probably because no one reads this. How about…lo-fi ironic indie. Alright, we know how to label the music to market it, now we just need a band. I think The Magnetic Fields will do just fine. Led by the uber-prolific Stephin Merritt, the band is Cambridge-born, NY-based, and created their epic, yet still with pop sensibilities, the 1999 three-volume 69 Love Songs. “California Girls”, however, is not on their opus of 68+1 songs, but on their most recent (and critically acclaimed) Distortion, which features lots of what it’s named after. Fuzzy indie-pop songs in the same vein as Jesus & Mary Chain, The Magnetic Fields will make you either dance or cry, but probably both at the same time. For fans of: The Gothic Archies, any Stephin Merritt band, (a more lo-fi) The Apples In Stereo.

Mute Math – Typical:

Off their 2006 self-titled debut album, “Typical” is alternative-rock band Mute Math’s stinging first single. It may not be new in the just-released sense, but it still sounds fresh in 2009 and is worth a listen. If there’s a band that is The Police for the BlackBerry generation, it’s Mute Math. For fans of: Jonezetta, Copeland, Acceptance, Mae.

The Rapture – No Sex For Ben (produced by Timbaland):

Produced by Timbaland, “No Sex For Ben” appears on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. Ewan Pearson of The Rapture has said the song is about DJ Ben Rymer (uh, ya think?) from Gucci Soundsystem, and the song is meant to “take the piss out” of Rymer. Is taking the piss out of someone a good thing?… For fans of: LCD Soundsystem, Midnight Juggernauts, Radio 4, Hot Chip.

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On:

I could (and likely will) post so many good songs by Spoon, and right now you get what is the first of probably many future mp3s on Boomsker by the Austin, Texas indie-rock band led by the brilliant Britt Daniel. This song is not their best, but has plenty of greatness, nonetheless; it’s been picked up by several sitcoms, movies, commercials, yadda yadda yadda. Great band you need to hear more of. Spoon have made art-pop masterpieces; “I Turn My Camera On” is not one of them, but I still love it and think you will too. For fans of: Tapes ‘n Tapes, The Walkmen, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Shins.

Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK:

Her acoustically-framed songs are infectious, but just because Ingrid Michaelson has made two albums full of Grey’s Anatomy-ready songs, don’t write the singer-songwriter off just yet. “Be OK” is gleeful and inspirational in a way I’d describe as the indie version of Diet India.Arie. But musically, she’s Sara Bareilles with a guitar. For fans of: Tristan Prettyman, Priscilla Ahn, Lenka, The Weepies.

Bloc Party – Flux:

Produced by Jacknife Lee, “Flux” is a dance-y indietronica gem that’s been remixed for just about every dance compilation album, especially for those DJing in the UK. Off the A Weekend In The City album (and the North American version of their third album, Intimacy), Kele Okereke’s vocals are channeled through autotune while the rest of the British band is giving its best to keep up with the breakneck tempo. “Flux” marks a new direction for Bloc Party who seem to be venturing more and more into electronica territory with each release.

Also, I’ve incldued below one of the many remixes of “Flux”, re-named “That’s Not My Flux” by DJ Sunderland who mashed-up the Bloc Party song with The Ting Tings’ name/identity-crisis, “That’s Not My Name”. Katie White (The Ting Tings)’s rapped vocals are layered over the production of “Flux”, and Sunderland adds some of the percussive accentuations of “That’s Not My Name” to the rhythm, as well. I love hearing Katie White over the guitar line toward the middle of the song, and her bandmate Jules De Martino’s drum inflections throughout buttress “Flux” with slight padding of The Ting Tings’ dance-punk/new-rave incentive.

Chester French (3 mp3s)

drumgirl0 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:55:45 +0000

Making neo-sixties indie-pop embraced by the hip-hop community, Chester French is made up of two Harvard buddies who Pharrell Williams calls “two geniuses”. But it’s their music, not their education, that has them labeled with such brilliance; think of it as instinct over aptitude. Featured as an “Artist To Watch” in the March 2008 issue of Rolling Stone, after releasing only a demo tape, Chester French initiated a bidding war between the aforementioned Williams, Jimmy Iovine, Jermaine Dupri, and Kanye West over who would sign the band to a record label. Pharrell won: the band is now signed to his Star Trak label, an imprint of Interscope. Even though they still have yet to release their debut album, they’ve garnered some attention with the single “She Loves Everybody”, an old to safe-sex that sounds as dangerous and addictive as the sex-obsessed girl about whom they’re singing. The song was featured in an episode of Entourage, and Chester French have been remixed by such high-profile producers as The Neptunes, DJ Steve Aoki, and El-P. Not only that, they’ve also opened up on tour for Matisyahu, three tours with N.E.R.D., and currently are on tour with Lady GaGa. …All without an official album on their resume! But that’s set to change this year with Love The Future, tentatively titled for a Spring ’09 release date (we’re impatiently waiting!). But they did, however, just recently put out a great official mixtape presented by Clinton Sparks titled Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance, a selection of modern pop songs for non-pop fans.

If songs could be chemically liquidated and put into a syringe, I’d inject Chester French right into my vein and let them mingle with the white blood cells in my bloodstream like free radicals; but since I’m not into all that druggy stuff (gross), I’ll settle for some steamy and stimulating aural sex from the duo instead (seriously, my ear-holes have been musically penetrated almost as much as that whore in “She Loves Everybody”). But Chester French is no musical one-nighter. Chester’s a lover on whom you can depend and with whom you can think about a future. As Pharrell says about the band: “You’re going to watch history unfold with these guys. I feel it in my gut.” I feel it in mine too. Or at least in my slutty ear-holes.

Melanie Fiona – Give It To Me Right (original + remix)

drumgirl0 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:10:57 +0000

Melanie Fiona – Give It To Me Right:

Melanie Fiona is a Toronto singer whose songwriting has appeared on several artists’ record, most notably Rihanna’s sophomore LP, A Girl Like Me. However, like The-Dream and Katy Perry before her, Melanie Fiona is using her writing skills to put out her own album, The Bridge, projected to be released in May. Signed to Steve Rifkind’s SRC label, an offshoot of Universal, she is the protegee of Rifkind, who also brought the Wu-Tang Clan and Akon into the industry. The Bridge’s first single, “Give It To Me Right”, samples the classic bassline and whispered “chk-hah” percussive strokes from “Time of the Season” by The Zombies, updating it into a contemporary soul-pop song that can (and should) do well on both the r&b charts, as well as on the pop charts. Melanie Fiona offers distinct and stylish r&b, almost-Motown, vocals which she displayed on tour with Kanye West as the opening act on the European leg of his Glow In The Dark tour. The remix of “Give It To Me Right” stays pretty true to the original, but includes verses from rapper Talib Kweli. For fans of: Jazmine Sullivan, Estelle, Duffy.