E3 is confirming a lot of internet rumors this week, and the Rock Band 2 soundtrack has been one of them. Before I get to posting the sprawling list of nearly 100 songs, I want to say it has been announced that not only will the DLC Rock Band 1 tunes you bought separately be able to make the switch to RB2, but you’ll also be able to export most of the original on-disc songs from the first Rock Band for play in the sequel. Seriously, how dope is that? Good looking out, Harmonix. I still remember the pain in the ass of switching back and forth between Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 discs on PS2 depending on what song me and my buddies wanted to play. I really like the job they’ve done with turning Rock Band into a full-on jukebox, almost like a collection of tunes you can be proud of when comparing them to your buddy’s own unique Rock Band song collection. I dig how over the year my own library of Rock Band songs has become tailored to my own personal tastes, evolving with new tracks and weekly downloadable content to keep things fresh, instead of just bi-annual releases of themed expansion packs or whatever.
One last note: All the Rock Band 2 on-disc tracks are taken from the original masters, so thank god for that. Guess it helps to have MTV working with you on a game like this. Nice to know they’re still good for something. Anyway, enough commentary, here’s the goods.
Rock Band 2 On-Disc Track List:
Artist Song Title Decade
1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s
Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s
Yes, you read it right. Announced today at the Square-Enix conference, FFXIII will be released simultaneously on the PS3 and 360 in North America. I’m sure Howard Brown will be along with the official press release soon enough, but I had to jump on this news while it’s still fresh. Even when it means posting from my girlfriend’s laptop with a busted touchpad and wonky space bar that makes me type like the Sheep Man from Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance (”FinalFantasyXIIIgoesmultiplatformandtheworldrejoices,yeah??”), going back over every sentence adding spaces after the fact. Hey, this is big news, it’s worth a bit of frustration.
Anyway, little known fact about Dylan Garret — I used to write for a very large and important video game website back in the day before it turned into a crappy shill for the industry that started changing all their “I”s to “We”s in articles, and still mod over on their message boards. And let me tell you, those message boards are blowing up right now. Sony fanboys feel betrayed, 360 fanboys are rejoicing, and the rest of us folks with calm, cool heads are watching the riot with smirks on our faces, occasionally taking the time to post that GIF of Michael Jackson eating popcorn from the Thriller video.
Personally, I’m all for whatever gets a game into the most hands possible. I get why Sony fanboys might feel betrayed — a lot of big reasons to own a PS3 have jumped over to 360 already, and today, probably the biggest reason to shell out the big money for Sony’s box has also jumped ship. But hell, if you already own a PS3, nothing’s changed. If you don’t, now you too get to experience Final Fantasy XIII. It’s win-win, guys. Let’s not be spiteful here.
Truthfully, I haven’t been all that psyched about FFXIII — looks too much like a desperate return to the zippers-and-pleather era of Final Fantasy, still trying to ride the success of FFVII over a decade later. I actually thought FFXII was the best new Final Fantasy to come out in a long time. I dug that the main character wasn’t some moody bastard whining about how he has to save the world despite his own chronic depression, that it was just some kid who kind of had nothing to do with the epic events going on around him, almost like an objective, sort of naive outsider view on the whole twisted world of war and international politics. The combat and dungeons could have used a lot more love (breaking down why would be a whole ‘nother article altogether), but I really dug the direction they were going with it. Now it’s back to spiky hair, latex, and motorcycles named Shiva, and I’m just not feeling that as much anymore, personally. I want Final Fantasy, not The Matrix.
That said, of course I’m still gonna buy the thing the day it comes out. Hell yeah. It’s a good day to be a gamer.
UPDATE: Looks like Howard Brown totally did beat me to the punch on this bit of news, but without my colorful commentary, so I guess I’ll leave this up as well. After all, it’s news so big, it deserves two posts.
Alright before I get to my spiel, let me cut and paste the official line on this mix:
A new mix by Miami bred Brooklyn based selector/producer Prince Bam aka PQ. One half of the Cool&Deadly soundsystem, which throws a monthly in Brooklyn called the Soul Shakedown Party. The party features vintage roots, rocksteady, culture, and just about the funkiest reggae music these guys can dig up.
Alright, now for the unofficial. Man, nothing makes me happier than when I get to host an original mix of this caliber. Mixing is compliments of our man PQ, another of the old Miami DJ crowd who, like yours truly, ended up migrating to Brooklyn a little while back to spread the Magic City’s love to our brothers up north. (Now we just need to get Mr. Brown to make the move… yeah, never going to happen.) A consummate crate-digger, General of the Gospel of Good Sounds, and all around eclectic motherfucker, PQ’s current monthly is the Soul Shakedown Party at Soda Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn (you’ve probably seen my prop other nights at the venue here occasionally too). Some of the best reggae, rocksteady, and old school roots jams you’re likely to hear in any of the 5 boroughs, you’ve got deejay Squintee doing his thing on the mic, occasionally some live instruments making an appearance, and a nice crowd always bringing the good vibes. If you’re in the New York area, you seriously owe it to yourself to check out the Soul Shakedown Party.
If aren’t able to check out the actual Soul Shakedown Party, you owe it to yourself to invite some nice friends over, put out a few drinks, drop this mix, and pretend.
The playlist, which I know you’ll be wanting after hearing this, is up on Bam’s own blog, Champion Sound, and hopefully you’ll take some time to check out whatever other musical goodness he’s been posting about lately.
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the state of the economy, and video games. The short of it is, while no industry is “recession proof”, most analysts (and the sale figures of game retailers) show little to worry about in the video game industry. Despite increased unemployment, a housing crisis, the weak American dollar, and increasing cost of necessities across the board, it seems people just can’t stop buying video games.
And I’m kind of one of them.
I’ve sort of lost my day job recently, you see, and not a week goes by that I’m not hurting for money in some way. But the night before last I found myself, again, leaning over the counter of VGNY (www.videogamesnewyork.com) in the East Village, trying to decide just what game to buy with the extra cash I somehow managed to scrape together this week. Man, it was a sad moment. I felt like a crack addict. Hell, video games are starting to reach crack prices. You’ve got to understand how long I stood there quizzing Dan and Jen of VGNY, on every new game, dozens of customers managing to come in, do their business, and leave the store again, in the time I spent grilling the back of every game box I could get my hands on. Did I mention my girlfriend was with me the whole time? Brilliant date-night – dinner, a walk around the city, and an hour of me complaining about not knowing which game to buy (with money I should be using to pay the electric bill). Thank god she’s a gamer herself, or I’m sure she’d have left me ages ago. I can only imaging how dealing with my vinyl addiction (records, not toys, although you better believe I sink some money into vinyl toys as well) already tests her patience, but throwing in video games too? There’s only so much geekery any woman can reasonable be expected to put up with.
Anyway, after spending the better part of an hour wallowing in indecisiveness in my favorite underground NYC game shop, I settled on Dark Sector. Dan, from VGNY, gave it his recommendation, and after so much Lost Odyssey last month, I guess my desire to kill monsters in brutal and increasingly inventive ways, was reignited. Maybe that’s why the video game industry weathers recessions so well – even when times are tough, or especially when they’re tough, people never loose the desire to vent their frustrations by, say, throwing a razor-blade boomerang through a renegade Soviet soldier’s head.
So I bought a full-priced game, a rarity for me (if any of you have seen my GamerTag – “Dylan Garret” – I’ll have you know any new games I’ve played have been generously donated by the aforementioned girlfriend). And it’s not bad, Dark Sector. It did the trick, giving me some shit to kill while not thinking about rent or how I really need new work.
Here’s where I tell you what Dark Sector plays like, although I’m going to keep it short, because I have the feeling you’ve heard this before. It’s an over-the-shoulder shooter, the kind where you hold the left trigger to zoom in and the right trigger to shoot, where you have to utilize cover to keep from getting killed, and develop some super-human powers to aid in your killing (and to differentiate the game from whatever other third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter you’ve been playing this month). Oh, and you can also buy and upgrade weapons at “black market” shops throughout the game to beef up your guns in addition to your naturally-developing sci-fi powers.
If you said, “Hey, that sounds like Gears Of War!” you’d probably be a bit right. If you thought it sounded a bit like Mass Effect’s battle system and biotic powers, minus the intense RPG elements and coherent storyline, you’d also be right. If you think it sounds like… you know what, whatever game you’re thinking of, I can tell you, you’re probably right. And if you already know the type of game, we can skip the boring exposition and get on to whether or not it’s worth spending any part of your upcoming governmental Economic Stimulus Check on.
There’s something I used to say in music reviews, about what I was looking for in a new album. I’d say that I think a musician should either try to do something original, or try to do something better than it’s been done before. I suppose the same could be said about video games. Dark Sector definitely falls into the latter category. There’s nothing strikingly original about its gameplay, but it does have the balls to think it’s doing the over-the-shoulder shooter genre better than its competitors.
Whether or not it does is up to you. Personally, I think it tries hard enough to count. After finishing the game tonight, I’m not sure if I’m dying to start up another play-through in “Brutal” mode, but I’ve certainly enjoyed the past 10 hours of slicing shit up nice. And let me say, while I’m sure the main comparison made to Dark Sector will be Gears Of War, the holy grail of 360 third-person shooters, I really preferred Dark Sector more.
I’ll give you a moment to collect your hate.
Hey, I’m not going to bullshit you. Gears was okay fun, but maybe because I didn’t pick it up myself until after Halo 3 and a price drop came out, it didn’t revolutionize my world or anything. To tell you the truth, I still haven’t beaten it. Not a bad game, but I just got kind of bored during it and decided to play Dead Rising again. So when I say I liked Dark Sector more than Gears, you’ve got to understand it’s coming from someone who was never that devoted to Gears in the first place.
I guess I just like the pacing in Dark Sector more. The story itself isn’t anything special. The short of it is, there’s some kind of terrible infection going around some fictional former Soviet state, and your bad-ass CIA operative character with a shady past gets infected in the first mission. Unlike the other poor saps who become completely infected and turn into crazed, boil-covered monsters, you were lucky enough to only be wounded in your right arm, granting one of your limbs crazy super powers and a razor-sharp boomerang, while saving your mind from indoctrination (though still leaving you with what appears to be a really bad hangover).
And that’s the gimmick. The infection develops over time, hardening the skin, and granting powers to the infected. This leads to some cool pacing, where early stages of the game feature your arm, boil-covered and fairly useless, battling against fleshy zombies that can be killed in one hit, and are much less of a liability than the renegade Soviet hazmat soldiers chasing you. As the game progresses, the skin on your arm hardens into something sleek and superhero-like in its power and visual appeal, while the infected enemies also develop from weak zombies into walking tanks with powers equal to your own. It keeps you playing. The game will start to get tough, then an evolution of your own powers gives you some skill that enables you to decimate a room full of enemies without so much as messing up a single strand of your indie-chic hair-do, then slowly gets harder again until reaching a point where you don’t know how you’re going to keep playing, when another power-up hits you and you’re back to badass. The timing is just right.
And the powers are nice too. They’re fun, simply put. The glaive, your razor-boomerang, is fairly useless to start, hard to aim, and weaker than two pistol shots to the head. You’re likely (no pun intended) to stick to your guns early on. Once you develop the ability to use After Touch (slowing down Matrix-like after throwing the glaive, and being able to control its flight with the right analog stick to navigate around corners and enemy cover for the picture-perfect decapitation), the glaive becomes more and more handy. Other powers include shields, invisibility, energy bursts, and increased damage. Soon you might fight entire levels without a bullet fired, preferring you take down your enemies with a little more style using only the glaive. There’s even an Achievement for it.
And yes, I’m well aware that it’s a gimmick. All these games have to have one. You know, something cool to put on the back of the box and make the game seem different from all the other games like it (and believe me, I looked at the backs of many boxes in that game store the other night). But this one works really well. I mean, it worked well enough to keep me playing, and finishing the game in a couple of days, while Marcus Fenix is still sitting in suspended animation somewhere on a middle-chapter save-file in Gears Of War.
I guess the final verdict is, if you’re as poor as me, you aren’t missing out on any new revelations in gaming by holding off until a price drop or some more expendable income. Dark Sector is one of those games where you’ll play through its 10 hour story, maybe rock a few online matches with your friends, then probably shelve for a while (until, one random day, you remember how fun it is to navigate the glaive through a tight hole in a fence and cut a bad guy standing beyond in half, and decide to put the game back in for another run). If you’re not like me, and don’t need to agonize over which game to pick-up for fear of how long it’ll be until you can afford a new one, definitely give Dark Sector a shot.
Ah, Quantic… my old standby when other new releases aren’t doing it for me. A while ago I wrote in a review that Stereolab has always been one of those bands where I can usually expect any new release to meet some invisible standard of quality. It’s like playing any new Final Fantasy game; it might not be the best release you’ve heard throughout the year, but it’ll never feel like a disappointment. And likewise, you can usually take on faith that any new Quantic joints are going to be solid.
And then there’s Quantic Soul Orchestra, Quantic’s (aka. Will Holland’s) side project/live band, always bringing the classic sounds of deep funk, afrobeat, and latin rhythms. And the newest album, Tropidelico, is about as solid as anything else Holland touches. I’m told by my good friend Mr. Brown that Quantic actually recorded this album while living in Columbia, and it shows with heavy emphasis on the Latin sounds and less of the straight funk. And it’s still lovely. Lovely enough that I don’t really feel like I need to chat it up any more here, and can just go straight to the tunes.
My roommate has been blasting this throughout the apartment for… weeks straight now. And, I gotta say… I don’t really mind. I mean, it’s Snoop, which frankly makes the talkbox not bad in any sort of way, and I can’t help but feel a little Frankie Knuckles love on the whistles (you know all know how I dig my house music), and as for that main synth line… well, I have to admit that really just reminds me of the background music to Tokyo Xtreme Racer for the Dreamcast, a completely underrated video game which I totally played the shit out of back in the day. So yeah, high marks on all counts.
I like that there’s no guest appearances on the new album. From an interview:
“I’mma do the whole record, me by myself. I don’t want no guest rappers, no singer, nothing. Just Snoop Dogg. I want you to feel me. When I think of all the greats before me … I bought Rakim’s album the other day for the hundredth time, no guest rappers. I bought one of KRS-One’s albums the other day for the hundredth time, no guest rappers.
“You lose focus after awhile when you’re doing an album,” Snoop continued. ” ‘Snoop, you got a new album coming out. Who’s on it?’ I’ll be like, ‘I got him on it, him on it, them on it.’ When it’s time to do the video, they’ll do the video with me, but when it’s time to do a show with them, ‘Oh, I got a show in Germany,’ or, ‘I got to be in Paris.’ You’re left one-legged. Now it’s time to show artists.”
“But when you listen to James Brown, he did it by himself. Curtis Mayfield, by himself. Of course they did collaborations, but the [songs] that matter they did by themselves. I don’t think people have got all of me yet. Doggystyle was about 95 percent of me. But I wanted Tha Dogg Pound on my album. This record, even if this record don’t sell, that might be a blessing. It needs to get back to [letting people know] who you are. I don’t know whose record I’m buying right now because it’s so many people on it. Is it a compilation? What is it?”
Sometimes I watch homemade scratching and juggling videos on YouTube, you know, just looking to get ideas, or inspiration for combinations or whatever — it’s not biting per se, it’s to watch, learn, and build on, you know? Foundations.
Anyway, sometimes you come across shit like this and it’s completely useless to you. I mean, I can’t learn shit from this DJ Kentaro vid. He’s just too fast, too beyond me. I mean, there’s certain segments where I can almost sort-of figure out what he’s doing, but that “Holy shit/What the fuck” factor just keeps pulling me back out of it. Brown and I stumbled on this one the other day (don’t know if I mentioned but he was staying at my place up in NYC last week, digging for records and helping his girl move to the 212 — only a matter of time before we get his ass up here too), and we both just kind of sat there for a minute when it was done until his girlfriend’s said, “That’s not… real, right? It’s sped up or something, right?” We just shook our heads.
I guess the main draw for me over other juggling/scratching routines is Kentaro… I mean, dude obviously works in hip-hop, but doesn’t get stuck into the solely hip-hop vibe during his routines. Instead he gets open on some DnB, breaks, jungle, and whatever the hell else sounds good, and just puts together sets that sound way more original than the average scratch superstar to me. (I’m not going to hate on anyone with the technical skills to scratch nice, but I also know there’s not a damned person reading this who hasn’t heard some turntablism sets before that sound like pure DJ masturbation — endless rapid-fired scratches over the same hip-hop beat). Here you get an eclectic mash of shit that comes off sounding like Jet Set Radio on speed after downing a few shots and noticing the girl of his dream winking at him from across the club. I mean… it’s hot.
EDIT: For posterity, here’s the vid of his famous (infamous?) performance at the 2002 DMC Finals.
Nothing like some dope new records to get you off your ass and posting again. After being lucky enough to get hit with paychecks from all three of my jobs on the same day this weekend, it was time for some long-overdue record digging. Got a bunch of shit, old and new, but two new releases are doing it for me tonight.
Flying Lotus’s Reset EP has already been kicking my ass digitally since its release a few weeks ago, but I finally grabbed it on wax last night. Only real regret is that I couldn’t afford to snap it up in time for last weekends gig at Soda – “Tea Leaf Dancers” and “Spicy Sammich” would have been perfect in a couple of spots. Ah well, more shit to play next time. Flylo’s first release for Warp, the songs are a bit tighter, a bit more accessible, than what you heard on 1983, but lord knows that’s nothing to whine about (though I’m sure some will). It’s not like we’re talking candy-pop production here, this is still Flying Lotus, just any DJs out there who were spinning tracks off 1983 might notice Reset’s tracks are a little easier to mix, little more of a solid beat to feel in places, bit clearer sound less likely to overwhelm a shitty club PA. And whatever the intricacies of the sound itself, the songs are just fucking outstanding. Pick it up, ya got to.
The other big surprise was the new Daedelus EP I picked up, Fair Weather Friends. Shouldn’t have been a surprise — twice I saw Daedelus play in NYC last year, and twice I chatted up with him about how his new record was going to be more of house and garage inspired dance tracks – but what the hell can you really expect? Daedelus always has some kind of way of fucking shit up (fucking shit up nice) that turns me on my head. It was nice to hear “At night I think of you” “My Boo” sample that’s been popping up in Daedelus’s live sets for the past year, always setting the floor off in some nice dance action, popping up on this record as “My Beau”. And “Fair Weather Friends” has a nice video to go with it, which I’m definitely going to post… now.
Got a couple of YouTube clips too. First is that video I mentioned for “Fair Weather Friends”, the title track to the EP. Really nice video for a really nice song. The second clip is required viewing, of Daedelus rocking the spot in Tokyo with tracks off the new record, taped professionally so the sound quality is quite nice. The second song of the set kills it, though you just can’t go wrong with “Samba Legrand” (the track the clip ends on). Some day when I’m feeling less self-conscious (and in front of my own computer at home) I might post the booty hip-hop remix I did of “Samba Legrand” a while back. Some day.
Anyway, a couple of real interesting records you should definitely keep an ear out for if you don’t have them (or hate them) already. Hope you dig.
It looks like fall is finally here in New York City, just a few months later than some of us had been hoping. Still, breaking out of the lethargy of yet another prolonged (and exceptionally humid) New York summer, the cool air settling over the city this past week feels damn good. Therapeutic, even. It makes you wake up with a little extra spring in your step and a little more love in your heart.
And that’s how I was feeling this weekend when, for the first time don’t-ask-my-co-workers-how-long, I actually woke up early for work. So, looking to savor the fresh fall air for a few extra hours before my shift started, I decided to walk to work, across the Williamsburg Bridge and crosstown to my job at a small bookstore in the West Village, on foot. Takes about an hour, nice walk. But for me, any walk is only as good as the soundtrack you bring with you.
So I woke up, started a pot of coffee, kicked on my turntables, and went about putting down an hour’s worth of good tunes to take with me on a stroll to work on a cool fall morning. There’s no real theme, no real technical skill or mixing (unless you count the tape delay on a couple of those reggae joints) involved, just a long set of nice tracks, mostly soul cuts, but with a few new joints, some reggae, some afrobeat, and other strangeness peppered in. It made the walk nice, and the workday slide by like butter. And so this set has been dubbed, A Stroll Through the City on a Cool Fall Morning.
Taking a cue from newest PCS music contributor minusbaby and his Cover Letters post, I’m making up for a lack of original album art (though one should show up in your iTunes if you import this set into there) by putting up album covers for most of the records I spun into this set. So let’s get to it.
Also, did I mention we have a few new music contributors making their way to these staff blog pages these days? I don’t want to ruin any surprises, but I will say to keep your eyes and ears open, because things is happening. Hope you enjoy A Stroll Through the City on a Cool Fall Morning.
Time to freshen up the PCS soundtrack a bit. Mentioned in the last post, aside of the “3 job hustle” stuff, that my old roommate, B&C contributor (you know, spiritually, given how he doesn’t actually post much himself but tosses me a lot of tracks), and Scandinavian DJ superstar Sami Suova, aka “Schmami”, put together a nice little mix before leaving his native Finland to come back to New York City on a 2 week long record digging tour. He be ended his stay yesterday, Sunday, and flew back to Finland with enough 12″s to bring up some serious discussion about weight limits for luggage on international flights. He even tossed me an Avalanches 12″ I’ve been looking for for a bit (specifically, the Stereolab remix of “Since I Left You”, better than the original in most every possibly way).
Anyway, today I bring “Tracks Ahoy!”, Sami’s latest solo mix of shit-hot cosmic disco and old school house tracks. Think of a Beats In Space set on more of a Euro tip, I suppose. At one point we had a track listing for this mix, which I can’t actually find as I write up this post from an internet cafe on 6th St and 3rd Ave, but I’ll put it up in the Playlists section of the B&C site once we can put together a new list. It’s a funky mix, definitely deserves a good listen through (especially given that, in my opinion, the first track with the “big beat” breaks isn’t really indicative of the rest of the mix — make sure to listen past the first track for a better idea of what this mix is about). Pretty eclectic for the genre, and definitely some real gems in there, with a lot of other extremely dope tunes to keep the ride smooth.
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the state of the economy, and video games. The short of it is, while no industry is “recession proof”, most analysts (and the sale figures of game retailers) show little to worry about in the video game industry. Despite increased unemployment, a housing crisis, the weak American dollar, and increasing cost of necessities across the board, it seems people just can’t stop buying video games.
Flying Lotus’s Reset EP has already been kicking my ass digitally since its release a few weeks ago, but I finally grabbed it on wax last night. Only real regret is that I couldn’t afford to snap it up in time for last weekends gig at Soda – “Tea Leaf Dancers” and “Spicy Sammich” would have been perfect in a couple of spots. Ah well, more shit to play next time. Flylo’s first release for Warp, the songs are a bit tighter, a bit more accessible, than what you heard on 1983, but lord knows that’s nothing to whine about (though I’m sure some will). It’s not like we’re talking candy-pop production here, this is still Flying Lotus, just any DJs out there who were spinning tracks off 1983 might notice Reset’s tracks are a little easier to mix, little more of a solid beat to feel in places, bit clearer sound less likely to overwhelm a shitty club PA. And whatever the intricacies of the sound itself, the songs are just fucking outstanding. Pick it up, ya got to.
The other big surprise was the new Daedelus EP I picked up, Fair Weather Friends. Shouldn’t have been a surprise — twice I saw Daedelus play in NYC last year, and twice I chatted up with him about how his new record was going to be more of house and garage inspired dance tracks – but what the hell can you really expect? Daedelus always has some kind of way of fucking shit up (fucking shit up nice) that turns me on my head. It was nice to hear “At night I think of you” “My Boo” sample that’s been popping up in Daedelus’s live sets for the past year, always setting the floor off in some nice dance action, popping up on this record as “My Beau”. And “Fair Weather Friends” has a nice video to go with it, which I’m definitely going to post… now.
Time to freshen up the PCS soundtrack a bit. Mentioned in the last post, aside of the “3 job hustle” stuff, that my old roommate, B&C contributor (you know, spiritually, given how he doesn’t actually post much himself but tosses me a lot of tracks), and Scandinavian DJ superstar Sami Suova, aka “Schmami”, put together a nice little mix before leaving his native Finland to come back to New York City on a 2 week long record digging tour. He be ended his stay yesterday, Sunday, and flew back to Finland with enough 12″s to bring up some serious discussion about weight limits for luggage on international flights. He even tossed me an Avalanches 12″ I’ve been looking for for a bit (specifically, the Stereolab remix of “Since I Left You”, better than the original in most every possibly way).