December 24, 2009

Stereogum & team9 Present... MySplice 4: 2009 Mashed Up

There could not have been a more apt ID3 than that of Freelance Hellraiser's "Stroke Of Genius," the MP3 that launched this decade's most fitting musical legacy. Parts of two or three or thirty tracks mixed into one supersong? What better than mashups to soundtrack a generation of smartphone-wielding Adderall chompers coming of age in a world where all music is free. In the years since Freelance Hellraiser (and 2 Many DJs, Go Home Productions, DJ Earworm, Party Ben, et al) raised the bar for bastard pop, we've seen bootlegging go mainstream in the hands of Girl Talk and Danger Mouse, not to mention 2004's chart-topping Collision Course and the dozen questionable Jigga x [rock band] torrents in its wake. This year, bands like Passion Pit and Phoenix distributed stems of their hits as blogbaiting publicity stunts. (It worked!) Still, when it comes to remixes, few are more thrilling than hearing the vocals of one song over the instrumental of another and have it absolutely work. Which is why we've again collaborated with our favorite mashup artist, Australian producer Neil Mason aka team9, to mix our favorite tracks of 2009 with familiar oldies, creating something more than the sum of their parts. The process -- Stereogum acquiring exclusive audio and making playlists, Neil working his ACID Pro magic (i.e., the hard part) -- started months ago, with an eye on this holiday deadline. It's our fourth annual Christmas present to you, and we think it's the best MySplice yet. Enjoy...

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Comments (14) latest by fluffhead

Merry Christmas From Thom Yorke • "i guess this time of year is a time for serious reflection and i have been doing a lot of that since coming back from copenhagen. you know what has stunned me coming back is the anger you can taste in the air..." More at DeadAirSpace.

Comments (2) latest by walking_disaster

December 23, 2009

U CAN HAZ MOAR INDIE XMAS • Our yuletide '09 playlist keeps expanding. Yesterday we premiered Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls' holiday jam. Now we've added Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' "Ain't No Chimneys" and Magnetic Fields' "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree" (from Realism). Download 'em here.

jj nº 3 Out In March On Secretly Canadian • Enigmatic Swedish crew jj has signed with SC (in conjunction with Scandinavian home Sincerely Yours) for its followup to the acclaimed jj nº 2. nº 3's out 3/9 stateside, two weeks before jj's first US tour (with the xx, because duh) starts. SXSW warm-up gigs look likely.

Comments (5) latest by TrkyLym

New Julian Casablancas Video - "11th Dimension"

JC traverses time and space in his first video from Phrazes For The Young, your 27th favorite album of 2009. Which means stormy pagodas, b&w tricorns, street gangs, and an '80s club scene with obligatory keytar. It's a fun ride, and, in the grand tradition of Dire Straits and Daft Punk, Julian's wardrobe is lined with neon. Sorry no dice roll here, but you will see him juggle mallets when he's not scrawling profound (also neon) graffiti like "ANGER IS WEAKNESS. PATIENCE IS STRENGTH." Think I once read that in a Ludlow Street bathroom.

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Posted at 3:16 PM by Scott in Tour Dates, Video
Tags: Julian Casablancas | The Strokes

Comments (20) latest by RedBullock

Sondre Lerche Covers Animal Collective

Seems like Animal Collective couldn't keep themselves from topping most every list that came out this Listmas, even that of the Norwegian singer-songwriting Brooklyn transplant Sondre Lerche. Instead of conforming to the consensus pick of "My Girls," though, Lerche told us his "favorite song of the year" was the swirling Merriweather gem "Bluish." (See the full list here.) And in honor of it touching him so, Sondre's memorialized his love for the Collective's love song by bunkering in a Brooklyn basement -- armed with just a guitar, a voice, and an honorary late-breaking splash of weirdo effects -- to tape a cover for all to enjoy. It's going out as a Christmas Eve gift to his mailing list tomorrow, but Mr. Lerche's kindly sharing it with us now, to help all of us get through this last shopping day. Enjoy.

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Posted at 10:01 AM by amrit in MP3
Tags: Animal Collective | Sondre Lerche

Comments (21) latest by NOVAK GROZNI

December 22, 2009

The 14 Best Band Beefs Of 2009

It's the most wonderful time of the year -- i.e., the time to rank and categorize the best and worst music-related content we spent the last 12 months blogging about. Welcome to Listomania.

Maybe it was these tough economic times -- the sinking music industry, everyone downloading shit for free, rising unemployment. Or perhaps
folks just are getting stir crazy from lack of fresh air, sitting in front of their laptops/4-tracks while their bodies slowly give way. Whatever the case, bands were super bitchy this year. Some fights went no further than name calling; in at least one case, though, punches were thrown. The messiest? Band-on-band urination. In honor of a contentious 12 months, we've cataloged over a dozen of the year's most compelling static. And we're not even gonna mention this guy.

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Comments (44) latest by Scott

New Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls - "Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don't Die)" • Here's your late-breaking contender for Indie XMas Jam Of '09. Dee Dee (Dum Dum Girls) and Crocodiles finished recording this catchy, gothy yuletide original for us just hours ago. Prep your mistletoe and grab the MP3 here.