Music Updates - Free Music Related News

Thanks to Fat Planet, I have pretty much listened to Teenagers In Tokyo’s “End It Tonight” like fifty five times in the past few days. Produced by Jono Ma from the Valentinos, Teenagers In Tokyo is another Australian band that should be destined for international love. Face it. Australia never stops.

Maybe a totally surface comparison, but Teenagers In Tokyo look like they could be CSS’s Australian cousins. BUT judging from their three demo tracks: they sound closer to the Go-Go’s or Romeo Void or even a DFA band at times.

Their website has had a disappointing message for the past couple months that they are taking a short break. But their Myspace looks rather active. I dunno.

Teenagers In Tokyo - “Ended It Tonight” (mp3)

And speaking of Teenagers… The (other) Teenagers have a mix of my favorite underrated song of 2006 on their Myspace remix site: The Scanners’ “Lowlife” (The Teenz mix). Even at 96 kbps it is like… amazing.

Explosions in the Sky - Welcome, Ghosts

The west-Texas foursome Explosions in the Sky aren't exactly a household name, but they are definitely a well known band in indie rock circles, and most of you probably know, or know of, them. Their name usually appears in sentences with things like "powerful" and "explosive" in front of the requisite "instrumental rock", and are referenced along side bands like Sigur Ros and Mogwai. Their first official album, 2001's Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever is simply awesome, as is the follow-up, 2003's The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place.

They are dedicated to the "indie" part of indie rock, staying with Brooklyn indie label Temporary Residence, avoiding Clear Channel and LiveNation venues for their concerts (and they are known for putting on some fierce live shows), and none of their songs are likely to end up on the radio, not only because there are no words in them (when is the last time you heard a non-classical or jazz instrumental song on the radio?), but because they can be super-long. Their music often gets called "cinematic" by critics, so it was quite a coup when they were asked to score the critically acclaimed Peter Berg film Friday Night Lights in 2004. Throughout this time, they've maintained quite a following, which will be all the more rabid when their newest full-length album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, is released in February.

Like the first album, it is just six songs, but I will tell you it is a wonderful six songs. Just beautiful stuff, even when the band is roaring at full blast, making your hair stand on end (I cannot wait to see them play this stuff live, jesus!). The opening song is a real killer, and this song is track-2, followed by a thirteen-minute-plus epic, so you can imagine where things go (hint: skyward). All of a Sudden... doesn't come out for a while, so you'll have to satiate yourself with this tease of a song until then. When the album does drop, it will also be available as a limited-edition double-disc version that will include an entire album of remixes by Jesu, Adem, The Paper Chase, Mountains, Four Tet and Eluvium, and the first pressing of the vinyl version features an etching on the fourth side, and will be on colored vinyl (light yellow and navy blue to match the artwork), and will also include the bonus CD of remixes.

Wow. Sounds dreamy right? Visit their webpage for dates of the upcoming tour and more information on the band and their albums (their stories about the albums are all good, and the one about scoring FNL is worth reading for sure). Stay tuned - it will be worth the wait.

Just a quick reminder — if you haven’t yet voted in the 2006 Readers’ Poll then you have until Tuesday, December 12th: Go Vote!

I threw together an iTunes iMix of the nominated tracks…. iTunes had 30/50 songs so not too bad.

Woah… okay I have to first say thank you. The response to our site survey was overwhelming. I excepted like twenty responses… serious. Instead we had hundreds and hundreds. So thank you all!

And to be totally honest the past month or so I’ve felt a tad burnt out, but all your kind words are enough to keep BIGSTEREO going another two years. Damn. It weird because this site is often very one directional… like we rarely get the chance to hear what you guys think. It was awesome…. even the people who were like, “I hate you.”

So the winners! Congrats to Raquel who won the Grand Prize of 100+ cds and a bandana. Rogier and Pinksunglasses won BIGSTEREO bandanas. How do you spell bandana? Is it bandanna or bandana? Oh bananas. If your name is Raquel, Rogier or Pinksunglasses and didn’t get an email from me then I’m sorry but you didn’t win.

For all you big fat losers… BIGSTEREO bandan(n)as will be going on sale this weekend. As soon as I get my ass in gear. I promise to let ya’ll know.

As far as survey results go:

When asked who is hotter 55% picked Salt N Pepa, 25% L’Trimm and 20% JJ Fad.

When asked who is hotter the second time 88% picked Van She, 9% NSync and 8% of you picked Ricky Martin. I admit, it was a stupid question.

Okay and the serious business… who will be the biggest and best artist of 2007? The award was pretty much tied between The Teenagers and Klaxons. Van She, Justice, New Young Pony Club and Young Love were close to follow.

Favorite (and funniest) comments

Thank you for introducing me to Van She, they have given me faith in the music industry again. True story, my friend got scarlet fever (not a joke) and I had him listen to “Kelly.” He purchased the EP, listened to nothing but Van She, and got better very quick. I’m not sure if Van She cured him, but who knows, stranger things have happened…

i am very cool. emm i got in trouble at school for goin on my dear biggie (you you) on the comp in the library. ehh but i’m a good kid. also i’m still a little tot, seriously i’m a kid. that makes me 50 times cooler, as i see it. also i’m rully feelin myself this week i’m filled wit self-love.

How embarrassing to admit you’ve been quite the inspiration for new music guys, thanks very much for that. To be honest, i nearly thought the internet was dead for a minute there! (well, besides the porn of course)

If Jesus could use the internet and took the time to update a blog of all the latest funky indie stylings happening round the known world I’m pretty sure his blog would look something like bigstereo. Bigstereo is rather rad…I like it more than milk in my tea.

my brother met michelle kwan.

i count on this website to make me happy everyday.

If you can get Fibes, Oh Fibes to come play in Chicago I will let them all sleep in my bed with me. xo Veronica

you guys keep it put bare bones, just music and i like that. but sometimes i wonder, who is bigstereo? know what i mean?

I like how you guys keep your blog pretty diverse musically. I mean, I like floukids and all but how many times can one listen to reinterpretions of a song that Justice got right the first time?

Yeah, I love the mixes by TheBangGang DJ’s…can’t get enough of ‘em! I officially named my iPod “Fuck Top 40″ and have been educating the locals about better music, oh, and I like to sleep naked. Cheers! (name and phone number not printed)

I like music, and sometimes guitars for the sake of guitars make me sad. As opposed to guitars for the sake of rocking, that is always a good use of guitars.

I frequently wear bandanas, especially free ones.

You suck.

Ok, there are like fifty other great comments but I am totally tired of cutting and pasting. We read them all though. And we’ll be emailing some of yau when we get to it.

TigerCity - Are You Sensation (remix).

Let me introduce you to your new favorite band. It's been a long time since I made a bold statement like that around here, so believe me when I say it.

I have two words for you: David Byrne's Disco Years Fronting the Time. This is your art rock Ice Cream Castles. This is everything that we've been talking about for years in one shoe-shuffling sharkskin sensation. Just listen. The production, the beat, the lyrics smooth like a marshmallow on a river of buttered honey. It's all there. This is Hall 'n Oates for the non-ironic set.

So - even though it's winter - get in your car, right now. Roll down the window, open the sunroof (you know you got one), hang your cabbie-arm out the side and get driving. The destination is not important, because TigerCity is navigating. You will get there on time. It's their promise to you. Feel better? I knew you would. I'm not about to let you down.

Listen. This is by no means their only good song. This is not some one-hit-wonder blog money lap dance. Go to their myspace and check out the other jams. I sat and thought for ages deciding whether to post this one or Solitary Man--- which starts out with some nasty Morris Day keyboards before ending up with a coda that makes the Killers look like...well...the Killers. But speaking of codas, the quiet synth rollout that closes this song is mesmerizing. They've thought of everything.

You can currently buy their EP, direct from the band for only six bucks. The more we spend the sooner they can get in the studio again and cut a new record, which I'm told with contain roughly 10 new songs. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Highly recommended.

Oh how I wish Gwen Stefani’s The Sweet Escape had been worth writing about. Sure, it is charming at moments, but overall The Sweet Escape was totally uneven and really seemed nothing more than a way to cash in on the success of Love Angel Music Baby… just in time for Christmas. Hell Gwen, when Fergie is copping on your sound it’s time to switch it up hard.

That said — Bedtime For Toys’ newest track, “Say BOOM”, makes up for any pop disappointments of The Sweet Escape. The first time I heard Bedtime For Toys I immediately thought of an indie Gwen Stefani… but this time around Stefani should take a hint from the Toys.

Boom, here’s the latest party track from Bedtime For Toys. If “Say BOOM” is any hint of Bedtime For Toys’ album then we are in for a special treat.

Bedtime For Toys - “Say BOOM” (mp3)

Sideshow - Philly Soundworks

Just a quickie today, featuring a tasteful tech-house tune courtesy of Sideshow, a production alter ego of musician, remixer and producer Fin Greenall, aka Fink. Fink has been releasing music on Ninja Tune and associated labels since the mid-90s. He started his Sideshow project in 2003 as an opposing force, musically, to his Ninja leanings - an outlet to make more straight-up techno flavored dance music, as opposed to the turntable-DJ and scratch/beat heavy output of Fink. Fin has since released a handful of singles under that name on Simple Records and its young sister label, AUS (started by Fink and Will Saul), with a number of high-profile producers stepping in to handle remix duties, including Lee Jones, John Tejada, Mathew Jonson and Jesse Rose.

This song has all the makings of a funky disco-tech jam: sweet, swirling keys, a driving live feeling bassline, and just the right amount of cowbell. It originally appeared as a single, but will appear on the soon-to-be-released album's worth of Sideshow songs, simply called Sideshow - the album collects a few of his previous 12"-only releases, and makes them be available as a download-only album, as well as a limited-edition CD. The album includes a few techno tracks, but also shows some of versatility by including some crazy dubstep-style tracks, and includes the remixes I mentioned above (especially great is the Jesse Rose remix of this track).

Visit the Simple and AUS websites for more information on Sideshow, and to get links to the US + UK download outlets (Beatport and DJ Download), and check the AUS myspace page to hear more. Enjoy.

/////\//////////\/////\/\////\/////\//////\////\///
PS: Tonight, head to Fontana's in NYC for some sweet dance-party action, courtesy of We Are Your Friends. Friday I'd hit the DFA Holiday party at Studio B. Saturday, the Modular monthly at the White Room (for which I'm still looking for a winner to give a pair of tickets to - contest is here). Get your dancing shoes on. Now.

Secret Mommy - Kool Aid River.

Canada is just full of surprises, eh? I had never heard of Ache records before this disc slid across my desk. Now I see that they've released DFA1979, Hella and Four Tet. So that makes sense. They've also put out a few Secret Mommy releases, which now I'm going to have to track down.

This album, Plays, is nothing short of amazing. Kool Aid River gives you a nice taste of what to expect. The title track is also spectacular, with sampled clarinet and early Mercury Rev "wooooohs." Actually, now that I think about it, this album does kind of remind me of BOCES. So there's that. Much more subdued though. Same sense of controlled chaos though. Our boy here screams like teenage emo heart throb, and somehow it comes off sounding awesome instead of contrived.

Secret Mommy works in the same territory as Matmos, mining samples from acoustic objects. He stresses that nothing electronic was played on the album at all, which is novel. The result is absolutely amazing. I don't know what he used to get the bass tones, but they're downright nasty. The chopped-up acoustic guitar is a nice treble-heavy backdrop for his low-bitrate vocal samples.

The album will be out in February. In the meantime, you can pick up his older stuff through the Ache store. I'll recommend the Wisdom EP - recorded using only the sounds of his wisdom teeth removal. Highly recommended.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Also:

If anyone knows of any decent apartment openings in Los Angeles (preferably los feliz, silverlake, atwater, etc) for one or two people, please let me know. I need something ASAP.

Client - “Lights Go Out” (YouTube)

Client’s schtick hasn’t changed that much in the past five years… although I guess we get to see the Client’s faces now. Their new single and video has a certain Goldfrapp-ish Glam Disco influence to it. A step in a good direction.

Purchase: eMusic | Out Of Line

DJ Mehdi - Lucky Boy feat. Fafi

Those of you who have been reading MFR for a while know that we've been doing our best to follow along with the booming dance-music scene overseas in Europe, specifically with the rise of the new-Parisian scene that includes the folks at the Kitsuné label, the Institubes label, and the Ed Banger label.

If you're familiar with the Ed Banger visual aesthetic, you may even recognize the artwork of their in-house designer, So_Me, without my having to tell you that this Lucky Boy is a new EB release (and is actually first full-length artist-album) by veteran Parisian producer, Mehdi Faveris Essadi, aka DJ Mehdi. Mehdi has been involved with music for a decade: in the mid-90s, he was working as a producer of French hip-hop, and in the late-90s as a dance remixer (I've got his dope remix of Cassius' "Feeling For You"), and has been releasing his own work since the early 00s, including his first full-length (The Story Of) Espion (which is another of his aliases, and also just so happens to appear as the B-side to the original Justice vs Simian 12").

Anyway, the point being that DJ Mehdi knows what he is doing when it comes to booty- and party-rocking beats, and his new album is full of jams. When I first heard it, I was literally compelled to listen to the whole thing twice in a row because there is so much going on. Mehdi swings between electro, hip-hop, pop and disco-tech-house styles so effortlessly, it seems everyone else in the game must be missing something. The album features appearances by Feadz - a solid producer and DJ in his own right, who's been linked, production (and otherwise) with Ed Bangers' Lucky Girl, Uffie - Parisian MC Xanax, the NYC-Toronto duo Chromeo, and Fafi, Mehdi's wife, whom he thanks profusely (and, from the romantic in me, I will say very touchingly) in the amazing liner-notes.

Speaking of the liner-notes, Mehdi makes it clear that the album's title, Lucky Boy, refers to him - he is clearly thankful to be able to make music, and to be surrounded by the Ed Banger crew and their associated friends, musicians, artists, and producers. I am really glad to know that he has been hard at work for this long, pushing things forward and keeping a love of music and dancing at the forefront. When he DJ-ed with the Ed Banger crew here in NYC earlier this year, I got to talk to him for a minute, and thanked him for coming to rock the party - he seemed genuinely grateful to be in the city and get to do what he loves, so I wish him, and the Ed Banger crew, well.

Lucky Boy is available from our friends at Turntable Lab and anywhere fine dance music is sold - very highly recommended. Also be sure to check his myspace page for more music and information, as well as info on this amazing upcoming party on December 16th Ed Banger and Institubes are putting on, featuring Busy P, Das Glow, Justice, Orgasmic, Para One, Sebastian, Surkin, Tacteel, Uffie & Feadz, DJ Mehdi and surprise guests... anyone want to get me a plane ticket to Paris? Oh, also be sure to check out the new issue of XLR8R, with Justice on the cover as their pick for best of 2006 - heyo!