I'll Be Movin' On....

It took 2 months but after:
-Getting fed up with Blogger's decision to delete posts
-Searching for a new job
-Moving from Detroit to Atlanta, GA
-Starting a new job
-Settling into apartment
...I finally made the switch to a Wordpress blog.

Please visit JayeL Audio (http://jayelaudio.com/) for the latest.

Oh Boy: Phonotropic Friday, 10/24

Yup, so this is going on. Hopefully, its the start of something big....

Check out Phonotropic, The Crofoot, Robin Parrent & the Revenents, Gigi Allyn and Jennica for other goodness. Thanks Phreddy.

New Music: Coming Soon

Soooo Blogger deleted my Nark & Norah's Infinite Playlist post and a few others over the past week by the request of a label or 2. I haven't had this happen to me before. I mean, I've had people delete the sendspace links, but maybe this is the RIAA's new tactic.

Just another example of how backwards the industry is these days and they have no clue how to use the internets. Does Atlantic actually think they are going to lose millions because of some love from the blogs? If so, why did they selling Paper Trail for $3.99 on Amazon last Tuesday? Some artists (Mickey Factz, Kid Cudi, XV, Crooked I to name a few) actually know how to use blogs and the free publicity to their advantage and actually embrace it. Kanye leaked "Love Lockdown" himself for God sakes! I was lucky enough to get this comment before the post got axed:

"wow! thanks for adding city on fire to this mix! theres some really dope stuff on here.
if you need any more songs feel free to hit me up."

How cool is that? I added "City on Fire" by Che Grand to my latest mixtape, he noticed and actually thanked me for it. The game needs more artists like that. Hopefully, you'll be hearing more Che Grand in this spot in the future.

If you need Nark & Norah's Infinite Playlist in your life, e-mail me. Keep checking back for my next move. I'm contemplating switching to Wordpress, but we'll see.

Che Grand - City On Fire

Matt & Kim: "Nightmare" Drum Kick

Brooklyn's own Matt and Kim caught my eye and ear last fall, when I saw a video of them performing an acoustic version of "Yeah Yeah" on You Tube. Their bare bones approach, with Matt on an outdated keyboard and Kim drumming on a cardboard box accompanied by a bell, and what looks like Tupperware, blew me away. They are known for Matt's bad, but good vocals, basic melodies and simplified hooks (see "Yeah Yeah" and "Its A Fact"), but you don't need to be complicated to make good indie pop. I immediately snatched up their self-titled debut and the remixes that followed. For some reason, their accessible approach to music makes it that much easier to remix.

Matt and Kim's next album, Grand, can't come soon enough. Their simplicity is backed by the usual bouncy synth on their newest single, "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare", but Kim's big band drums steal the show. The track is their most jolly and well-rounded to date, and proves you don't always need Auto-Tune if you sing off-key. Besides, they look like their having a blast doing it.

Matt and Kim - Good Ol Fashion Nightmare

Matt and Kim - No More Long Years

Matt and Kim - Its A Fact (Million $ Mano ft Hollywood Holt)

Cover Me Badd: Alphabeat, The Kooks

Since I've gotten more and more into the indie/underground rock realm, I've noticed the impact of covers. Mark Ronson made a solid album full of them with Version. While I was hesitant at first, talented musicians can certainly make someone else's song, their own work.

Its not exactly new any more, but Alphabeat continued Daft Punk's recent resurgence earlier this year with a cover of "Digital Love". With all of the beeps, synth and electro on the original, I was pretty skeptical before I gave it a listen. Surprisingly, Alphabeat re-imagined the track as an acoustic, choral sing-along, rather than Daft Punk's Spring Break heater. Needless to say, I pretty much played this any time I could this summer.

Alphabeat - Digital Love (Daft Punk cover)

More recently, one of my favorite bands of last summer, The Kooks, covered one of my favorites of this summer, MGMT. Similar to Alphabeat, The Kooks opted to turn MGMT's electro-funk sound into a guitar laden foot tapper on "Kids". By exchanging futuristic keys and vocal distortion for the English accent of Luke Pritchard, The Kooks edition will line up to the original on my future playlists.

The Kooks - Kids (MGMT cover)

Passion Pit: Wake Up, "Sleepyhead"

If you haven't been exposed to Passion Pit yet, be prepared, they are about to erupt. After being discovered by now defunct blog, Good Weather For Airstrikes, Passion Pit has been mentioned in more places than I can count. The Good Weather For Airstrikes folks even made them their first signing on Neon Gold Records.

Passion Pit's style is almost schizophrenic. Somewhere between pop and electro. Think MGMT but more upbeat and less psychedelic. "Sleepyhead" had me immediately hooked with its hypnotic bounce, off the wall vocals and eerie sample. The Cambridge-based band opened for Death Cab for Cutie and Girl Talk in the past year, and will hopefully make a stop in your neighborhood soon. Their re-issued EP Chunk of Change drops on 9/16.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

Sidenote: Quitting a blog to either open a record label and/or music venue is tops on my list. So if anyone has any ideas on how to do that, let me know. Now....

Narkworthy 8/21: Nark-N-Rolla

The name certainly doesn't work as well as the last one, but it will do. Plenty of heavy hitters made the cut (Nas, Kanye, The Game, T-Pain) this go round, but look out for the newcomers (especially LMFAO) and legends (Large Professor). Of course, "Jockin' Jay-Z" had to be included. Kid Cudi continues his run of appearances and Young Jeezy put together 2 bangers (with a little help from Nas). I've been the biggest Jeezy hater around, but his new work on The Recession might persuade me otherwise. He always had solid production, but his word play never matched the beats. Finally, I can't believe it took so long for someone to jump on Coldplay's "Lost". It is the most hip-hop/Timbo-esque beat on one of the biggest rock albums of the year.

Nark-N-Rolla
1. Page - Still Fly ft Drake
2. Now On - Write Back ft Shawn Jackson
3. Young Jeezy - Crazy World
4. Jay-Z - Jockin' Jay-Z (prod by Kanye West)
5. MURS - Can It Be
6. The Game - Angel ft Common (prod by Kanye West)
7. The Clipse - Celebrate ft Joss Stone
8. Attitude - Man Right Here (prod by Danja)
9. Large Professor - Hardcore
10. LMFAO - Yes
11. Novel - Lost (Coldplay Remix)
12. Trey-C - Showboatin' ft Ya Boy, Glasses Malone & Matt Blaque
13. Slim Thug - Bitch I'm Back ft Devin the Dude (prod by Dr. Dre)
14. Nas - What It Is (Esco Let's Go)
15. Lil' Scrappy - Stand Up ft Lil' Wayne
16. The Game - My Life ft Lil' Wayne
17. Young Jeezy - My President Is Black ft Nas
18. DJ Khaled - Go Hard ft Kanye West & T-Pain
19. Asher Roth - I Love College
20. Kid CuDi - Man On The Moon (The Anthem)