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Blu – Doinnothin’ ft. Ugod (Produced by Flying Lotus)

Cody — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:46:06 +0000

I’ve always been on the fence about pairing Flylo’s layered snares, shuffling percussion and heady madness with any MC, but I do love to be wrong. Blu’s monotone drive fits well up against the controlled chaos of both the track and kinetic clip.

Video is by RUFFMERCY, who did the animation for another equally interesting video to accompany the Blu/Flylo collab “BNG”. Check that out here.

Though we don’t know it, the world needs chiptune Frank Zappa

Cody — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:49:44 +0000

The most popular of all Frank Zappa songs has been given the chiptune treatment and well, it works. I don’t honestly know if I’d ever thought of an 8-bit cover of anything Zappa, but the bouncy melodies work perfectly. Credit is given to Super Zappa Brothers and bonus points for their resisting an easy Princess Peach pun.

RAC’s Remix Tokyo Police Club “Boots Of Danger” (Plus Lady GaGa vs. Sonic The Hedgehog!)

Cody — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:03:22 +0000

Remix Artist Collective have built a pretty excellent portfolio of high profile remixes of bands like U2 and Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well some great left field stuff like Anamanaguchi. They’ve got a particular polish to their sound that I love. A RAC remix often takes rock songs outside their genre into a slick, beat driven style. Recently they tackled ‘Wait Up (Boots of Danger)’, a track from Tokyo Police Club’s awesome release Champ, which has grown to be one of my favorites of the year.

TPC released video for the original version of the song, which focuses less on the band and more on a rather ragtag bunch of dogs charging about the neighborhood and sneaking into a backyard pool. What better than the marriage of dogs and indie rock? By purchasing the single through the band’s website for a price of either $1, $5 or $10 you get the video, remixes by RAC and DOM and 100% of your money goes to the ASPCA. Get a videos of dogs jumping into a pool, good music and help save future dogs. Win-win…er, win.

RAC have allowed you to stream their great remix, so check it out:

Gone are the guitars and live drums, replaced with some electro synths and a head-nodding beat. The new sun drenched, almost tropical feel is something I never could have possibly conceived of working, but like with most RAC remixes…they manage to make magic.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention their RAC’s Nintendo vs. Sega remixes. Their version of the Super Mario theme is amazing enough, slapped with a sick Justice style compressed beat and some squiggly synths.

Hell, I’m listening to all the tracks as I write and remembering how fucking fantastic they are. You can download the whole EP via the player above. Sonic’s level music was always far funkier than was probably appropriate for a hedgehog. A perfect example: this shockingly good Lady GaGa vs. Sonic mashup. (download link on the youtube page)

And that’s how you abstractly connect Tokyo Police Club to Lady GaGa.

Anamanaguchi’s Covers – Wavves ‘So Bored’ & Beach Boys – ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’

Cody — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:01:27 +0000

It’s said in the about page of this website that chiptunes is one of the genres to be talked about within these virtual pages. Sadly, I think it’s been about 2 years since any such mutterings have happened. To rectify that, I went poking around the recesses of my mp3 collection and found a lovely little fraction of a cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ by Anamanaguchi. Though only about 30 seconds, it’s a pitch perfect chiptune rendition of a radio staple. If you do a little research on the band, you’ll see that their love of Brian Wilson & Co. is much publicized.

ANAMANAGUCHI – WOULDN’T IT BE NICE (BEACH BOYS COVER)

Though barely a full cover, I think that’s how it got released ages ago. The band’s 8bit Collective page back in 2005, but the mp3 has been lost in the stratosphere. I’m pretty certain this is where I grabbed it from back in the day. More recently, they posted up a cover of a track by sunshine and bong-hits So Cal noise punks Wavves track ‘So Bored’. Their rendition keeps the forward propulsion and adds the chiptune sheen that is a trademark of all their songs. Definitely recommended.

ANAMANAGUCHI – SO BORED (WAVVES COVER)

Anamanaguchi is also in the habit of giving bits of their music away to the fans. You can find the above track and a bunch more over at their 8bit Collective page.

This summer, the band has also gotten together a free singles program. Every two weeks they’ve been releasing a new free A & B side download. They’re off recording their next album, but awesomely finding the time to release tidbits of interstellar chip-rock to brighten our summer. Each single comes with original art and the psychokinetic gif above (from the first week’s single Airbrushed) features the work of Paul Roberston.

Robertson is an amazing animator and illustrator who specializes in the 16-bit retro style. Some of his amazing early shorts include Kings of Power 4billion% and my favorite Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. Go watch the shit out of those before even finishing this post. Most recently, Robertson was lead animator on theon the PSN/XBOX Live game adaptation of the (should have been a hit) film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He was even nice enough to release some sprites from the game on his blog.

In possibly one of the best pairings since peanut butter and bacon, the game was scored by Anamanaguchi. Though they’re tossing about the word ‘flop’ in regards to the movie, reception of the game has been exceptionally positive and the score is a big part of that.

The Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World video game soundtrack was released on August 24, 2010 via ABKCO Records. You can purchase it digitally from iTunes.

Junk In My Trunk 02 – Even Moar Junk! (Good Junk, I Swear)

Cody — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:45:17 +0000

My brain is still pretty blown from a 16 hour solo drive, so all the plans I had for posts last week just kinda fell by the wayside. Much of my listening lately has consisted of Anthony Bourdain’s new audiobook Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, so the musical selections have taken a backseat. I can definitely recommend Medium Raw as it’s probably his best. For a man who was one thing in the past attempting to co-exist with an older, dare I say it mellower current self; it’s a smartly self-aware narrative, still bristling with the rage that is a staple of all eras of his persona. Enough about audiobooks, here’s some music:

ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI – REMINISCENCES

I was terribly skeptical of this album with all the press that proceeded http://arielpinkshauntedgraffiti.com/">Ariel Pink’s newest release, but it’s a twisted charmer. ‘Reminiscences’ will most likely be what you will listen to on the not-yet-built space elevator up to the Frank Zappa memorial that will orbit the moon. Or, maybe…during the local forecasts on the Weather Channel in 20XX.

A man can dream, can’t he?

BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN – FUTURE GUNNZ (MAY LING REMIX)

I already gave him a write-up just over a month ago, but this one track seems to just stick out the more I revisit Hooooded Plus*. A multitude of cascading synths, headnodding electro beatsand cooing, halfway there vocals…what more do you need?

He gives his album away for free. You’ve got few excuses as to why it’s not on your HD already.

DAEDELUS – MAKE IT SO

While not new by any standards, Daedelus’s ‘Make It So’ is still a fantastic song by an equally good performer. The track is is a perfect example of the casual, beat heavy beauty that he seems to produce so consistently. I had the chance to catch him ages ago at LA’s best weekly event Low End Theory and he performed, as per usual, in a charmingly odd suit with his Monome pointed out toward the crowd for an extended mix of beat stylings from the last 3 decades. His live sets are always worth the price of admission.

Also worth checking out is the XXXChange remix of ‘Make It So’ hosted over at RCRDLBL:

CANDY CLAWS – SUN ARROW

The syrupy thick layers of sound in any given Candy Claws song seems to leave them dumped with a ton of bands buried under the banner of the new and quickly reviled genre de jour that is Chillwave. There’s something more in their work in their music though; the lush vocal pairings of couple Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf flow perfectly with an shockingly well mixed array of sounds. While I think much of the Chillwave genre arrives at the muddy and distant sound out of organized chaos, everything on ‘Sun Arrows’ seems to be aligned perfectly…as Candy Claws most likely wants it.

A highly recommended song and album. Do check out the just released album Hidden Lands:

Junk in my trunk – A backlog of MP3s (Wild Nothing, Dom, Scissor Sisters & more)

Cody — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:00:04 +0000

I’ve had a ton of shit floating around on my HD that just hasn’t made it up to the site…tracks just nabbed from random websites that I mostly swooped off the shelf blind and have been digesting for a while now. Here’s a few from that batch:

WILD NOTHING – CHINATOWN

Given that it’s so soaked in a summery warm haze of reverb, it’s a pretty easy sell for me. Wild Nothing dips into a fair number of influences to make something contentedly charming that feels like a second cousin to the Cocteau Twins. The subdued cavernous vocals and plucked strings nestled into a clatter of backbeat create something discordantly beautiful.

DOM – JESUS

Even if for some reason the dude’s squeaky pangender vocals alway make me think of Silversun Pickups and the opening bass line feels nicked from ‘My Sherona’, I still enjoy the hell out of this track. It’s a simple, lo-fi jam poured out with a kind of fresh effortlessness that charms. Clocking in at 2 minutes, it’s the kind of tune that is over before you’re bothered by any single element.

SCISSOR SISTERS – INVISIBLE LIGHT

Off their forthcoming release Night Work…it’s not in line with what I usually listen to, but this is the perfect example of how a great hook can change something from generic to worth of repeat. Bonus points for getting Ian McKellen in to do contribute some spoken word. I hope to be guesting on tracks when I’m 71.

TOKYO POLICE CLUB – BREAKNECK SPEED

I’ve posted before about these guys, so I don’t feel the need to on about them too much. That said, this single is something I can contentedly leave on repeat for a while. As with earlier TPC, the core elements are simple which for them is less a detriment and more part of their charm. The layers gel quite wonderfully and are accompanied with the usual lyrics that deal with old friends and lost memories. The whole album is solid, but this is a standout track.

UNICORN KID – DREAM CATCHER

A killer, midtempo chiptune stomper grabbed from the Ministry of Sound blog. They released the song in honor of his signing to the label a few months ago. Unicorn Kid seems to have snagged a lot of high profile slots in recent years – opening for Pet Shop Boys, Owl City & remixing The Gorillaz – something especially awesome considering he’s a chiptune artist. (The previous sentence is in no way an endorsement of Owl City)

EMANCIPATOR – SIGUR ROS VS MOBB DEEP (EMANCIPATOR MASH UP)

I’m not even sure where this one came from, but as mash-ups go, it’s a pretty bizarre pairing that works like magic. Chopped up vocals from Jonsi and a chill minimal beat paired with some Mobb Deep verses come together in an unexpectedly satisfying way. Emancipator is a clever clever man.

Two from Post*Records – Attachedhands & 1991

Cody — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:00:18 +0000

Attachedhands have \this awesome video for ‘shape/mode’ their contribution to the Post*Records compilation Fucking Friends Forever. The filtered wash of disconnected video clips created by Discovery of Magnetic North sits perfectly along side the pulsating, shimmering track. I’ve also got an mp3 of the track for download here at TTM:

ATTACHEDHANDS – SHAPE/MODE

1991, another Post*Records roster member, has just released an interesting cassette on the label. The Florida guitar and drums duo mash out a blisteringly odd mix of raw thrash, rock and noise. Check out Side A of the tape, which features the songs: ‘Winter Olympics’, ‘Total Fucking Freedom’, ‘Fireblood’, ‘With Wings’ and ‘Bobby Whitehouse’.

1991 – SIDE A

Pick up the cassette with a full digital download for four bucks at the website.

Alan Wilkis’s remix of Phantogram’s ‘Mouthful of Diamonds’

Cody — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:25:13 +0000

Ever listened to Phantogram and just said, "Well, I like this...but it's just too darn sad?" Alan Wilkis has the cure for you with this remix, giving you a window into a parallel universe where singer keyboardist Sarah Barthel became the lead singer for CSS instead of Lovefoxx. The crystalline tone of the original is tossed in favor of party synths and a 80's electro breaks. As much as I love Phantogram's take on things, I'd probably be down with them just as much if the whole album was like Wilkis's remix.
PHANTOGRAM - MOUTHFUL OF DIAMONDS (ALAN WILKIS REMIX) Check out Alan's soundcloud for a whole lot more quality remixes and originals. For good measure, here's a live version of the original 'Mouthful of Diamonds' live on KEXP Continue reading →

Why you should love Cee-lo…

Cody — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:26:52 +0000

He can, on one track, reunite Goodie Mob and sample Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand". Elsewhere on the free mixtape, he uses a clip of The B-52s. Download Stray Bullets HERE I remember reading an interview with Goodie Mob back in the day where someone from the group talked about how they wanted to just do an album that sounded like Portishead. That made me love them. Also worth checking out, the leaked single "Georgia" off his forthcoming album The Lady Killer. I was discussing the track with a friend and he wondered if it was a cover, but it's not. The song has a particular soul authenticity that makes it nearly perfect. Produced by Tommy Brenneck of the Dap-Kings, it features his side project Menahan Street Band. They've been sampled by both Jay-Z ("Roc Boys", from American Gangster) and Kid Cudi ("Solo Dolo", from Man on the Moon: The End of Day). Ultimately, a stellar track.
CEE-LO - GEORGIA

The Lady Killer doesn't yet have a release date. Continue reading →

Casiokids – “Finn Bikkjen”

Cody — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:55:42 +0000

Some songs are just born singles, perfect little gems that set up house without asking and don’t leave when asked, no matter how kindly you insist. Norway’s Casiokids’s recent release “Finn Bikkjen” is exactly one of those songs: a prefect mixture of melody, beat, and, my own personal audio aphrodisiac, a fat analog synth lead. The ice cream on top is a reverbed, vocal line with a soft melody and sung in a language I can’t understand, which for some reason only makes me love it more. The song undulates from spacier bridges to the uptempo synth-laden chorus that never fails to have induce some sort of contented nodding along. Quite simply, electropop at its finest.

Casiokids – Finn Bikkjen

This, in combination with their last single “Fot I Hose”, another bouncy, synthy tune leads me to feel nothing but anticipation for whatever they choose to record next. Beyond their odd inclusion in the Fifa 2010 soundtrack, I guarantee more exposure for them this year as they’re supporting Hot Chip on tour this February:

12 – Glasgow – O2 Academy
13 – Edinburgh – Picture House
15 – Nottingham – Rock City
16 – Leeds – O2 Academy
19 – Manchester – Academy
20 – Birmingham – O2 Academy
21 – Southampton – Joiners
22 –  Bournemouth – O2 Academy
23 – Bristol – O2 Academy
24 – Norwich – O2 Academy
25 – London – Camden Barfly (Headline Show)
26 – London – Brixton Academy

In the US, you can’t purchase their singles through iTunes, but you can grab the Moshi Moshi label compilation. It features “Fot I Hose” and the b-side “Verdens Største Land” along with tracks by Au Revoir Simone, Samuel & the Dragon, and The Very Best. To download the compilation through iTunes click the cover to the right.

The 7″ singles for both “Finn Bikkjen” and “Verdens Største Land” are available direct from Moshi Moshi Records.

Grizzly Bear x Hot Chip – “Boy From School” Cover

Cody — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:26:56 +0000

Today, for some reason, Grizzly Bear was on my mind. While driving around some back roads, I was listening to my favorites off Veckatimest, mulling over the evolution in songwriting from Yellow House to today. The album is certainly one of my favorites from last year and "Two Weeks" still stands as both a killer single and video. Sitting in my inbox almost summoned by my daylong binge I found this newly minted live Grizzly Bear track. Recorded for Austrailia's Triple J Radio, the band covers "Boy From School", one of the finer tracks off Hot Chip's 2006 album The Warning. The song is given the standard, but wonderful Grizzly Bear-ification: the tempo is slowed, everything is doused in a healthy amount of reverb and the vocal harmonies snake around each other like bacon wrapped around a steak. (In general, this blog is short on vegan friendly metaphors) It's a lovely interpretation of an already good song, and even if it's just some under the radar promotion for Hot Chip's upcoming One Life Stand, I'm ok with that.

Grizzly Bear - Boy From School (Hot Chip Cover)

Please check out Triple J's website to hear more of the interesting stuff they have to offer. Continue reading →

Hudson Mohawke’s ‘ZOo00OOm’

Cody — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:16:56 +0000

The Warp debut by Glaswegian Ross Birchard is certainly one of the most interesting albums that 2009 has dropped in our collective laps. Butter is a beautifully chaotic swirl of influences: L.A. glitch-hop, smears of Warp’s spacier back catalog, and at its weirdest there’s charmed allusions to 1970′s prog/experimental masters The Mahavishnu Orchestra. It’s a wonderfully experimental affair, something far more worthy of the Warp branding than the label’s current top seller Veckatimest.

Trying to pick a song to feature here was a bit of a challenge. On the whole, Butter is a long and twisted affair, a bit exhausting to listen to from front to back. It’s strangely uneven too, with some songs congealing more than others, though that is often the byproduct anything so experimental. Still, it’s still one of the best this year has brought forth.

When I first took a pass at the album, the track that kicked my ass the hardest was ZOo00OOm, because…well, I’m a sucker for a killer synth lead. Amidst the hard stomping ghost of an electrified Dilla beat and the fluttering Casio bleep accompaniment is a hard synth that creeps out an almost cheesy sci-fi sounding melody. It’s one of the more linear and charmed tracks on the album; equal parts head-nodding wonky goodness as well something to put on at high volumes to scare the piss out of your cat.

Hudson Mohawke – ZOo00OOm

Seriously though, I’ll throw $20 bucks on the table for whoever can get Outkast back in the studio and have Hudson Mohawke produce the album. Fuck, that would be epic.

Also epic – the Butter album cover:

Butter was released by Warp Records on October 27th 2009

Schneider TM – Sublimely Swirling German Electro-pop

Cody — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:43:51 +0000

Germans have an interesting concept of pop music, especially when electronics play in to the mix. I’ll credit them with always having a strangely coherent grasp of melding the organic and the inorganic into something that felt more natural than when other nationalities took a stab at the same thing.

Schneider TM, the recording name of Dirk Dresselhaus, is a guy who has a masterful grasp of a solid songcraft, threading “Slide” with a warm comforting melody that intermingles violin, vocoder, and dissonant guitar ambiance with a thin semblance of looped percussion. As much as the song has a somber overtone, there’s something genuinely uplifting about the song as a whole.

Schneider Tm – Slide

Buy it on Buy it on

2006′s album Skoda Mluvit is a much more realized album when put in context with his earlier work. While his earlier stuff is certainly good…(you can’t really go wrong with 2000′s “Reality Check” there’s something more evolved about the production this time around. It’s cleaner and much more confident, and the whole album is far more cohesive as a result.

As a bonus, here’s the charmingly nonsensical video from the lead single off Skoda Mluvit, “Pac Man/Shopping Cart”:
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Low End Theory has a Podcast!

Cody — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:01:15 +0000

Quite possibly one of the most fun things I did while in LA was to attend Low End Theory, a gathering of local and visiting electro-glitch-hop performers that was worth every penny.

Given the schedule, I held down while in LA I rarely did much of anything, but managed to hit up Low End Theory a few times…which says a lot. I got to see Daedelus do an amazing and varied set on his magical Monome, as well I got to see Jel (a member of both Subtle and Themselves) destroy on the MPC. It’s a chill atmosphere, with the wide back porch stage and additional upstairs DJ space. Plus, the outside sound system is one of the heaviest I’ve ever had the joy to experience. During Jel’s set, I was standing at the center of the stage and the bass dug in deep…every article of clothing I had on was buzzing. One of the friends I was at the show with got quite sick from the vibrations. Serious business.

Just today, they’ve released the first of what will hopefully be many podcasts. They’re waiting for approval from Apple to get the thing listed up on iTunes, but for now you can grab it directly from their site:

Low End Theory Podcast Vol. 1

This month, resident DJ Daddy Kev and the always excellent SAMIYAM split the 50 minute set. The whole thing is a fantastic blur of patented LA glitch and spacey post-Dilla hip-hop.

Since you just missed the awesomeness of Daedelus & already TTM.com loved Nosaj Thing on the 25th, here’s two upcoming at Low End Theory nights noting:

3/11: DJ NOBODY BIRTHDAY DRINKING CONTEST – with Free The Robots

4/23: LAZER SWORD

I enjoyed both of them alot last year. Santa Ana’s Free The Robots is probably one of the best beat smiths to hit my ears in a long while. He’s got the same brilliant ability to craft real songs, the same that pulled me in when I first heard DJ Shadow all those years ago. His Free The Robots EP (iTunes link) is a fantastic piece of work that easily outshines a lot of his contemporaries. He’ll be hitting Portland on May 1st at the Crown Room

Free The Robots – Diary

Finally, grab this free download of Lazer Sword’s Blap to the Future mix:

Free downloadable mixtapes are my favorite things lately. What mixtape do you love the best?

Twitter Recap! – Tokyo Police Club, Wale, Black Dice, Thermals & More!

Cody — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:13:45 +0000

In an effort to diversify content between the actual site and the Taking Tiger Mountain Twitter, I tend post links to whatever random free music links I find while trolling the web. This helps keeping the twitter from being just the occational rant and “OH HAI BLOG UPDATE LINK.”

For those who aren’t yet subscribed (wink, wink) enjoy a recap of the past week’s free mp3′s and videos links!

[MP3]

Black Dice – ‘Glazin’

Motel Motel – ‘Coffee’

Tokyo Police Club – ‘Juno’

Tokyo Police Club – ‘Juno (Ra Ra Riot Remix)’

Wale – ‘Nightlife (feat. Tre and Young Chris)’

Thermals – ‘Now We Can See’

Mountains – ‘Choir’

Mimas – ‘Cats on Fire’

Kanye West – ‘Love Lockdown (Lunice remix)’

A full live Andrew Bird set from 2002