Friday Music

Jeez, I have been slack in blogging recently. I blame the launch hullaballo surrounding ICONS.

Regardless, here is this week’s Friday Music — and it’s a big ‘un.

Trent Reznor has a new side project, How to Destroy Angels, which features his wife Mariqueen Maandig on vocals. Their EP launches next week — and you can have it sent to you in 320kbs mp3 format for FREE (or lossless for $2.00) by signing up here, which also will give you an instant download of the single “The Believers.” Here is another single that’s been making the rounds: How To Destroy Angels – “A Drowning.”

In other free-album downloads, the DJ team of Diplo and Switch, known together as Major Lazer, have teamed with La Roux and released a head-to-toe remix of La Roux’s debut album, available here as a FREE download. As a sample, here’s the remix of the hit La Roux single: Major Lazer & La Roux – “Bulletproof (Nacey Remix ft. Matt Hemerlein).”

And, if your free album download tastes lean towards unofficial remixes, like the Grey Album or The Beastles, check out Mos Dub— a brilliant free album of tracks mixing Mos Def vocals with classic roots reggae. As a sample, here’s one using Desmond Dekker’s seminal “OO7 (Shanty Town)”: Mos Dub – “History Town.”

I read an article on io9 this week about Christina Hendricks appearing in a forthcoming video for the Broken Bells (click to check out the pics — hommina hommina hommina!). The Broken Bells are a project featuring Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins. This is the track for which the divine Ms. H played a sci-fi android: The Broken Bells – “The Ghost Inside.”

Laura and I have been watching the Martin Scorsese-produced film series “The Blues” from a few years back (it relates to something she’s working on), and in the sixth installment, “Godfathers and Sons”, it featured this piece — a 2003 collaboration orchestrated by Marshall Chess (the son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess) which took Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy”, and updated it with members of the 60s-era Electric Mud band, Chuck D, Common, Rahzel and Kyle Jason. I tracked down an mp3 of the song: The ElectriK Mud Kats – “Mannish Boy.”

Sticking with blues — here’s a brilliant version of an old blues-spiritual, which was used in the penultimate episode of Season 5 of Supernatural, playing over the introduction of Death as he entered Chicago riding a pale horse (well, a bone-white 1960 Cadillac). Absolute chills. Jen Titus – “O Death.”

Taking a step back into the 80s. Everybody plays “Sister Christian”, but this is my favorite Night Ranger song — because my adolescent self thought that it RAWKED. Night Ranger – “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.”

Sticking with the 80s for a moment — the biggest splash made by a Kansas City band during the era: The Rainmakers – “Let My People Go-Go.”

Lastly, a new single from M.I.A.’s forthcoming album, Maya. This one is a bit more pop-friendly than her “Born Free” (especially with that song’s brilliant-yet-disturbing video — I like it: M.I.A. – “XXXO.”

There you go kids. Enjoy!

….and I’ll stop the blog-slacking next week. I promise.

Friday Music

I know, it’s been a while. Been busy. Good stuff this week, though:

First up, The Scissor Sisters have a new album coming out in June, and they’ve released the first single as a free download — which is why this entry looks a bit different. I figured if they’ve gone through the trouble to authorize a free download, I should reward that forward thinking by using the official Java widget. With this, you can choose to stream and listen, or click to download. I like this track — this time around, they appear to be flirting with an early-80s Duran Duran vibe a bit:

Next up: an absolutely blistering dancefloor remix of Disturb’s “Down With the Sickness.” (Not authorized or official, of course — just some brilliant chopping, mixing and knob-twiddling by an industrious DJ): Disturbed – “Down With The Sickness (Angie Remix).”

Chuck D of Public Enemy recorded a song that dealt with the ridiculousness of building a wall on the US-Mexico border in Arizona — and released it as a solo track (under the name Mistachuck) right after the “Papers, Please” law was passed. He even samples his own work — the classic PE track “By the Time I Get To Arizona” — Mistachuck – “Tear Down That Wall.”

Mark Ronson (currently working with Duran Duran on their next album) put together a side project specifically to record a track to accompany a shoe design from Gucci. Yes, a shoe. Now there is an artist who thinks outside the typical radio-play paradigm. His side project, with Sam Sparo and Theophilus London, is called Chauffeur (after Ronson’s favorite Duran Duran track). Here’s the track: Chauffeur – “Soles of Fire.”

Loved this track when it was released. Still love it now, and lament that the band never hit as big again: The Primitives – “Crash.”

Ah the last gasps of England’s 70s glam movement. This song, from the early 80s, will always remind me of moving to Kansas City (it was a fairly solid radio hit at the time we first came to look at houses). Slade – “Run Run Away.”

Here are both sides of the 12-inch version of my favorite track from Thomas Dolby:
Thomas Dolby – “Dissidents (The Search For Truth, Part 1 – Dub).”
and
Thomas Dolby – “Dissidents (The Search For Truth, Part 2 – Vocal).”

Dolby is currently recording a new album, in the form of three separate EPs: Amerikana, Urbanoia and Oceanea, which will later be compiled into one album, A Map of the Floating City. The sound is far from the synth work of his past — More steampunk, with jazz mixing with traditional world music instrumentation and more. If you’d like to get an advance glimpse, this link will take you to a TED talk video, where he performs one of the tracks from Amerikana: “Love is a Loaded Pistol.”

So there you go kids. Enjoy.