N.A.S.A.

North America South America. That's the magic behind the acronym of N.A.S.A., the dj collaborative effort of Squek E. Clean and DJ Zegon. Their 2009 release The Spirit Of Apollo is similar to Mark Ronson's Here Comes The Fuzz in that its a album of songs created by a dj (two in this case) with guest vocals on each track from a variety of stars. N.A.S.A.'s value proposition is the brining together of artists from both North America (US) and South America (Brazil).

Overall, the album comes off as more of a hip-hop album than anything else, and the North American influence seems to easily dominate the South American side, but there are rhythmic and stylistic flavors that give the album a fresh sound. On top of that there's a decent amount of good beats and song writing so that it stands on its musical merits as well. Taking a notorious page from North American hip hop, the album has a few dude tracks, and could easily be pared down from 17 tracks to about 12 or 13.

My favorite tracks are "Money", which has a great hip hop/latin beat and catchy chorus ("money is the root of all evil"). Also on the album is "Gifted" featuring Kanye West and Santigold. This track with an electronic touch has a beat that sounds like it was created from a Justice track (not sure how that fits in with the South America part but whatever its still a good song). Finally there's "There's A Party" featuring George Clinton and Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), a fun party song over a nice hip hop/funk beat.

Check out N.A.S.A. Its Carneval!

N.A.S.A. - Money

N.A.S.A. - Gifted

N.A.S.A. - There's A Party


-Alec

Voxhaul Broadcast

A quick music and internet related note to share before I begin here. Loyal friend and ocassional reader Katie showed me a nice site last week, www.justhearit.com, that lets you play just about any song you want. You know that time you really wanted to hear that one song, so you went to youtube and watched some terrible video of a fat guy lip-syncing to the song just so you hear it? Well those days are over and you can just pop over to justhearit, type in the name and it'll come up. I haven't really tested it too much to see how big of a library they have, but so far it's had everything I've looked for, leaving me fairly impressed.

In a nice flip from Kyle's electro-post from last week I'm going to write about Voxhaul Broadcast, a stripped-down rock group out of LA. Their debut EP "Rotten Apples" came out last April, although at 8 songs I think it's kind of a hybrid between an EP and an LP. They describe themselves as a rock/soul group, and I think that's somewhat accurate, although personally I find the soul aspects overshadowed by the rock ones most of the time. Regardless, the sound they come off with has a passionate edge and some great songwriting abilities behind it. While they credit lots of classic rock and soul groups as influences, I think in modern day you could hear touches of the Strokes and the Black Keys mixed into their sound.

What really struck me when I first listened to them was their raw sound. The songs are devoid of effects and over-production, just their instruments cranked up and recorded. I was pleasantly surprised to then learn that they recorded and produced the album in one day. This is pretty rare in the music industry today, where even the smallest unsigned bands spend weeks or months in the studio trying to perfect their sound. I think they got the effect they were looking for as the songs come off sounding fresh and real.

Voxhaul Broadcast - Why Not

Voxhaul Broadcast - Rotten Apples

Voxhaul Broadcast - Flickering Sparks


- Alec

VETO

I hope that things are going well, and you have had enough time to digest some of the top 10 albums that Alec and I put out there. I know that I've still been spinning most of them an amount that is probably unhealthy, but that makes me even more excited for what 2009 has in store for music.

My first offering for your guys is a band from Denmark called VETO. My buddy Niels just sent it across the ocean to me a few days ago and I've really started to take to it. Normally I am not a huge fan of "electro-" anything. The electro-pop always felt to childish, the electro-rock always felt too cheezy, and the electro-dance always felt too euro-trash. However, I think that VETO could change a little bit of that for me. They use the synth pretty tastefully in their tunes, and the overall tone of the music has hints of rock but keeps the tone nice and dark, like you are in some underground Danish club.

VETO - You Say Yes, I Say Yes
Check out a few of these tunes and see if you agree. The first tune I'm posting is called "You Say Yes, I Say Yes". It starts out with a driving bass line provided by the synth and then brings in a U2-esque guitar lick for a few seconds. As it continues to drive along, I feel like I'll turn around any second and see some sweaty Danes dancing in this black-lit club with a 7 foot ceiling.

VETO - Built to Fail
"Built to Fail" starts off pretty minimalistic with an off kilter bass beat and some very tight singing. It quickly breaks into a synth solo that's made for the glowsticks and blacklight tattoos. My personal favorite part is the harmonies at about 2:00 in, where they end up crescendo-ing into another rave-style synth lick.

VETO - Digits
"Digits" is sort-of the title track off the CD, and it brings the heat of the synth right away and then mellows out and lets the dancers breathe for a bit until it goes into a euro-trance-ish break and then back for another breather. This would be sick in a Danish club...

I hope you enjoy the tunes....something a little different... But I think Niels came through pretty big on this one.

Alec's Top Ten of 2008

This was a tough year to make a top ten list. I really had a tough time falling in love with many albums this year, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think overall it was kind of a down year for music, and I've read that elsewhere so maybe I'm not entirely crazy. I wrote that our discovery of the year was my least favorite so far, and I think this has been the toughest year for my top ten as well, including picking a number one album. To be honest I had trouble with this, and really felt that I didn't like any of the albums enough to be number one. But I don't half-ass things (or maybe I do, I forget sometimes) so I mushed together some sort of list for '08.

*Since the "man" is doing a better job of policing blogs and some of these acts are signed to major labels I'm just including myspace links for all of them as Kyle did. I will list my favorite song though, and hopefully it will be on there.

10. Estelle - Shine

A pretty solid release from Estelle that mixes neo-soul, hip hop, reggae and R&B among other things. Nothing here is too revolutionary, but there aren't any real duds here and the arrangements are well done so Estelle cracks the list. My favorite track is kind of random but the do-wop esque track "No Substitute Love" came away as the top. I think it would be a great track for a college a cappella to do, I hear those types of groups are quite popular.


http://www.myspace.com/estelleonline





9. We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mastery

I fell in love with the track "Let's Do It" and from there the rest of the album just started to grow on me. They're not really the sound I normally listen to, but their new age with a modern twist actually comes off novel to me and gives the album a nice sound. Good dynamics throughout the album as they keep the listener interested and involved with well written songs that can be downright catchy at times. Favorite track, as stated is "Lets Do It", hands down the best on the album.



http://www.myspace.com/wearescientists




8. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Kyle really got me pulled into soul, both new and old. Unfortunately not many of the old timers are putting out albums this year, yet we are saved with Saadiq's release. Its pretty classic, and except for some better production and a couple other nuances you would've thought it was released in 1967. I'm willing to grant that the inclusion here is probably more of a reflection of what I've been listening to lately than a statement of the true greatness of the album, but nonetheless I listened to this one quite a bit this year. While I really enjoy the upbeat "100 Yard Dash", I think my favorite album is actually the ballad "Calling" which features vocals from a girl who Saadiq met at a local restaurant while recording the album.


http://www.myspace.com/raphaelsaadiq



7. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Those sad little indie rockers come back with another strong album in 2008. The album generally seems along the same lines as their previous releases and whether you consider that a good or a bad thing, I found the result to be an intriguing and very listenable album. I don't think there are really any stand out tracks on the album, but rather a nice grouping of songs that all stand strong and come together to make a good album. I think my personal favorite would be "Grapevine Fire", but that might just be a guess.


http://www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie



6. Matt Pryor - Confidence Man

The man is a song writing machine. Whether part of The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams, or now just as a solo act he continues to put out albums full of sad songs belted out in his throaty croon. As Kyle said this really could have been a New Amsterdams release, but whatever the name it was a pretty solid album. He has a knack for putting together simple songs involving the same rehashed chord progressions yet somehow manages to make each one feel new and compelling.
My favorite track is "Confidence Man", a nice little harmonica line really helps make it the top one.

http://www.myspace.com/mattpryorsongs




5. Q-Tip - The Renaissance

The beats are laid back and his flow is old school, but the songs are addicting and have a unique sound in today's music world. Some of the tracks, including my favorite "We Fight/We Love", are grade A material, but I thought some of them lacked definition from others which is why I didn't rank it as high as Kyle did. It's a jazzy, funky and smooth hip-hop album that's great to just sit back and nod your head to.


http://www.myspace.com/qtip




4. Dear And The Headlights - Drunk Like Bible Times

If this list was for top album titles these guys would definitely be at number one. Their sophomore release wasn't as immediately love-able and catchy as their first, but when I started getting more into it I realized that once again they have come out with a solid album. The sound is more mature, slightly darker and not quite as upbeat, but their song writing abilities and talent for crafting beautiful rifts and catchy choruses hasn't faded. Favorite track is probably "Willetta", I love the bass and drums during the verses.



http://www.myspace.com/dearandtheheadlights



3. The Envy Corps - Dwell

Ok I know this probably some homerism, and if they weren't from Des Moines I probably wouldn't be listening to them. But I started anyways, and came away with one of my favorite albums of the year. I think of them kind of as a more upbeat Radiohead, and whether catchy toe tappers or crooning ballads, most of the songs are good ones. There's good balance and nice dynamics that keep the album fresh all the way through and brings the listener back again when its done. I think my favorite favorite is the off-to-war ballad "Before The Gold Rush".



http://www.myspace.com/theenvycorps



2. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

In my opinion the best rap album of the year, and I never really heard anything that came too close. A lot of people are quick to dismiss him cause of "Lollipop", but in reality he's very intelligent and can create amazing songs. I think he might be slightly insane, but I guess that's what usually makes great artists. The songs are all over the place, and there are definitely some bad ones, but the man is very creative lyrically and marches to the beat of his own drum, sorry for the cliche. I like the customary chest thumper "Mr. Carter" featuring Jay Z a lot, but I think the socio-political anthem "Tie My Hands" about Hurrican Katrina is the best of the album. He does an amazing job of expressing anger and frustration over the event in such a reserved and composed manner.

http://www.myspace.com/lilwayne


1. Sunfold - Toy Tugboats

This goes back to where I started the post. Do I really think this was the best album of the year? Not really, but in the end this was an album I kept coming back to over the year. The album has a nice mix of pop, indie, jazz and touches of other styles that really appealed to me. Despite being catchy and poppy at times, it has plenty of originality and style that keeps it fresh and enjoyable. These guys are clearly talented musicians and adept song writers, and it comes together nicely here into a strong release. Like DATH for Kyle last year, these guys took my top spot as well as the discovery of the year "award". My favorite track is "Shrinking The Sphere", a syncopated yet catchy track that's easy to get stuck in your head.


http://www.myspace.com/sunfold




Holy Shit it's already 2009!

- Alec

Kyle's Top 10 Albums of 2008

Ah, the end of another year in music. I will have to admit that this year more than any other I was listening to a lot of older stuff be it soul, hip-hop, rock or whatever. I was really into a lot of the classics (at least in my mind), which left my listening time for new stuff a little limited. However, there were a bunch of albums that got a lot of replay value from me while driving all over the southeast or staring at my ceiling in my room. Here are my top ten favorite albums that were released in 2008.

10. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinology

It's definitely not my favorite Ryan Adams album, but there is always something about him that makes his music incredibly listenable. If you ever get the urge to listen to songs that aren't going to surprise you, and just give you a solid melody, a full sound, and an easy flow this is the album for you. Nothing shocking here, just another solid disc from an amazing performer. Check out some tunes from Cardinology on Ryan Adams's myspace page.

Ryan Adams myspace



9. Matt Pryor - Confidence Man

One of my other favorite songwriters, who I have written about a few times released his first solo album this year. It has the feel of a New Amsterdams cd, but the lyrics really seem to be what made him release it under his own name. Most of the songs detail experiences that he may have had personally or advice that wants to give to others. It's a solid cd, but again nothing too out of the ordinary for this singer-songwriter either. Check out the title track below which adds a nice harmonica to his acoustic strumming.


Matt Pryor - Confidence Man


8. Estelle - Shine

Now I mentioned that I was into older soul for a lot of the year, but Estelle grabbed me a bit with this neo-soul offering. She dabbles into a little reggae, a little hip-hop, and a lot of soul which keeps the album interesting the whole way through. There are also great guest spots by John Legend and Cee-Lo in two of the most memorable tracks. Go check out Estelle's myspace page and listen to my personal favorite 'No Substitue Love'.


Estelle's myspace page



7. Dear and the Headlights - Drunk Like Bible Times


The boys from Phoenix, AZ have landed in my top 10 for the second year in a row with their sophmore release. They lose a little bit of the catchiness and replace it with a touch of darkness and maturity that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It took me a few listens to really get into this album, but after a while I really started to like the direction they are headed. It's not going to replace Small Steps... anytime soon, but it's a great second release. Enjoy one of the crowd favorites below.


Dear and the Headlights - Talk About


6. Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold


First of all, if you have never seen Atmosphere in concert...go! I just saw them for the first time here in Atlanta, and I might credit that show to vaulting this album up to #6 on my list. I was pretty lukewarm on the disc until I saw exactly what Ant and Slug had in mind when they were making it. There is so much pain in this album, but if you can get past that you can really see the innovation in their beats and the flow that just seems to wrap around your head and not let go. Check out my favorite track "Puppets" on their myspace.

Atmosphere's myspace


5. Rhymefest - Man in the Mirror

I like Michael Jackson and I like Rhymefest, so this should have been a no-brainer. I wrote about this album earlier (the post was deleted apparently), and just consistently listened to this album all year. Rhymefest and Mark Ronson do a great job of taking some lesser known MJ tunes and sampling them in between some heavy beats and Rhymefest's forceful style of hip-hop. Enjoy the tunes if you can find em...because it's a great disc!



4. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

I'll be honest and say that I never really listened to Lil' Wayne until this album. I never really cared for his style of hip-hop, but after this disc I'm tempted to go back and listen to some of his older stuff. Tha Carter III blends a bunch of catchy and unique songs together. "Let the Beat Build" just keeps you waiting for that explosion of the full beat, and "Mrs. Officer" has you whistling like a cop car. There are a few duds on the CD, but they are far outweighed by the rest of the hits. Check out his myspace for a few tunes.


Lil' Wayne's myspace


3. Sunfold - Toy Tugboats

As previously posted about a few times, Sunfold put out a great debut album. Great enough in fact, to be Alec and my discovery of the year for 2009. Check out my post here for a real description of the band. But in short...if you like jazzy pop and some good guitar noodling in acoustic/electric style songs check out Sunfold. They bring together some American Football, some Annuals, and some straight up pop. Listen to some songs on my previous post!


2. Sleepercar - West Texas

Sleepercar's CD West Texas was absolutely one of the CDs I listened to the most this year. I really liked the mix of alt-country and straight up rock. They carry an edgy twang that is normally not found in the more mainstream alt-country acts (Ryan Adams, Wilco, etc.). It's a band that would fit great in a dirty bar serving High Life, a road trip across the farmland of the Midwest, or even when rocking out alone in your room. Check out some tunes on their myspace.

Sleepercar's myspace


1. Q-tip - The Renaissance

This CD just became my #1 this week. When I drafted this post, I had it in the #2 slot, but after driving all around Florida I realized that front to back this was my favorite CD of the year. Q-Tip has risen from the dead. He successfully combines the style and element of his old-school Tribe days with new, heavy beats and modern sampling techniques. He also has some great guests such as D'Angelo, Raphael Saddiq, and surprisingly Norah Jones in a great track. All of this combined makes for an extremely enjoyable album. Check this one out....you won't be disappointed.

Q-tip's myspace

Alec and Kyle's 2008 Discovery of the Year

Once again it's time to present the band Kyle and I have chosen as our discovery of the year, this time for 2008. As always, the discovery represents a band that neither of us new about before the beginning of the year, but over the course of which has become a favorite of ours and usually one we predict big things for. The winner for 2008 is the band Sunfold, a very musically-inclined group from North Carolina. Kyle wrote about them recently here, so be sure to go back and re-read that post for a nice description of them.

Personally I felt this year was somewhat difficult to choose, and as I told Kyle, this is probably the least excited about the discovery of the year since we've been doing it. Most of our picks have gone on to greater successes and more publicity, and while I see a nice future for Sunfold among indie music lovers and audiophiles, I'm doubt they will achieve the commercial success of previous winners.

Since we're now on year six of this I thought it would be cool to go back and look at what has happened to the previous winners in the years since -

2003: Armor For Sleep - Their debut album, Dream To Make Believe, was a space rocker and emo kid's dream (pun intended), that gained them some national attention. Since then they have released two more albums which have taken on more of an edge and pushed towards the post-hardcore side of their sound, but they have been solid albums and made some slight rumblings on the Billboard lists, not too shabby for the Jersey rockers.

2004: The Format - Once again a band with an amazing debut which catipulted them into the music world, that being Interventions & Lullabies. This was probably the easiest discovery to sell people on, because as soon as you heard the album for a second time, you were automatically hooked. They followed it up with 2006's Dog Problems, which saw some success, but struggled to live up to the legend that was I&L. Unfortunately 2008 witnessed the end of The Format, as the members have decided to go their separate ways. Lead singer Nate Ruess comes back in 2009 with his newest band Fun.

2005: Say Anything - These guys started an underground movement that grew rapidly as people began flocking to lead singer Max Bemis' addictive style of brash and punky lyrics coated with a healthy dose of Bi-polar disorder. The result was a emo punk rock band that snowballed into a high school and college kid favorite. They followed this up with 2007's In Defense Of The Genre, which followed many of the similar ideas and styles of their debut and was met with mostly positive reviews. Plans call for another album due out sometime in 2009.

2006: The Band Of Annuals/ Westbound Train - We went a different way this year, picking bands operating in smaller genres instead of our usual alternative/emo/punk/indie spheres of music. While Band Of Annuals (alt country) and Westbound Train (reggae/ska) make beautiful music and continue to tour and perform for crowds that are smaller than they should be, I think the ceiling is unfortunately pretty low for both of these groups due to their relatively obscure genres.

2007: Dear and The Headlights - After The Format, these guys are the secondest easiest discovery we have had to get other people to like. Their debut album Small Steps, Heavy Hooves became an underground hit and garnered them a lot of fans through grassroots promotion and touring. They came back again in 2008 with Drunk Like Bible Times, an album that while lacking some of catchyness and addicting characteristics was a solid album and well received by many critics. These guys still have a bright future, and as they continue to tour and write great music they could see their legions of fans grow into a base that can sustain them on headlining tours.

Where Sunfold will be in 5 years who knows, but I think they'd be happy to have a similar level of success compared to some of the previous discoveries. The one difference I think exists between them and most of the previous groups is that while most of them had completely amazing debut albums that were almost impossible to top, I think Sunfold has left more room for improvement and could see are more polished sophomore release.


- Alec

Some cuts of 2008

I hope that everybody had an incredible Christmas and New Years over the past couple of weeks. I had a great time up in the midwest visiting some old stomping grounds and finding some cool new places to eat/hang out. As I generally do each year, I'm going to put a little list of songs together that were released in 2008. These are all songs that I really loved throughout the year, but their albums just didn't quite make the cut for my top 10 albums of 2008. Enjoy!

Solange - Ode to Marvin
This tune has a real silky-smoothness which shows how adept Solange is at channeling her inner Marvin Gaye. Her album had a few great songs, including the incredibly catchy 'I Decided' but left me a little bit overwhelmed by the production that ruins a lot of her sister Beyonce's tunes as well.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Glue Girls
Horrible name, yet a pretty solid indie band. The voices can get a little airy and bubble-gummy at times, but that doesn't stop them from crafting some good pop hooks. This is the opener off of their album Pershing, which is a great tune for cruising through Wisconsin farmland and having an enormous blue sky ahead of you.

Blitzen Trapper - Furr
The title track off of Blitzen Trapper's 2008 release is a great tune that grabs you right away with the strong vocals and bouncy acoustic strumming. A little harmonica and bass drum give the tune some depth later on, and I guarantee that it'll make you curious about the rest of the album. I'll admit that I didn't listen to it enough to give it a fair shake, and I could be kicking myself for not including Furr in my top 10 in about 4 months.

Girl Talk - Set It Off
As much as I like Girl Talk, I don't think I can put their album in a top 10. It almost always feels to me like a novelty. It's like something that should be a total mess, but in actuality is complete genius. I'm sure you all know about this guy from Pittsburgh, but here is my favorite track off of his 2008 release Feed the Animals.