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Once again, SXSW is rolling up on us and they've released a massive torrent of mp3s from nearly all the bands involved. So, like last year, I decided to go through the whole thing (over 800 songs if you include the ones that are on the web site but not in the torrent), listen to every single track, and pick out the ones I like to provide you, gentle reader, with a slightly less intimidating list.

This year it was a harder task than last year. I'd really hoped to get it down to below a hundred, but there's just too much good stuff. Without further ado, here's my list of SXSW 2007 mp3s that I really like (in alphabetical order):

• About - Think Niles Drink
• Pierre Aderne - Cristalina
• Alabama Thunderpussy - Words of the Dyig Man
• Arbouretum - Pale Rider Blues
• Che Arthur - Dead Trajectories
• Asobi Seksu - Thursday
• Attack Formation - Football
• Au Revoir Simone - Fallen Snow
• The Awkward Stage - Heaven Is For Easy Girls
• Balkan Beat Box - Bulgarian Chicks
• Ceci Bastida - Que No Te Digan
• Bisc1 - HeavyMetal
• Blackhearted Force - drop low
• Blackholicus - Filthy Cur
• Blacklist - Language Of The Living Dead
• Black Moth Super Rainbow - Forever Heavy
• BlöödHag - Ann McCaffrey
• BM LINX - Understanding Orange
• Bonde do Role - gasolina
• Bone Box - Dragging Wires
• Bon Savants - Between the Moon and the Ocean
• Bosque Brown - Tell Her
• Brother Ali - Truth Is
• Findlay Brown - Come Home
• Ane Brun - To Let Myself Go
• Busdriver - Kill Your Employer
• Calla - Swagger
• Callisto - Wormwood
• Call Me Poupee - Singapore Slang
• Adam Carroll - Alright
• Champion - No Heaven
• Charanga Cakewalk - El Ballad de Jose Campos
• Child Abuse - Emptrive Preapism
• Cities - Capitol
• the Comas - Red Microphones
• Cruiserweight - Burst the Bubble
• Daylights For The Birds - Worlds Away
• Dead Child - Angel Of The Odd
• Delicious Food - will to doubt
• Alela Diane - The Rifle
• Dirty on Purpose - No Radio
• Dislike - Alone
• Don Caballero - And and and He Lowered the Twin Down
• Drumcorps - Botch Up and Die
• Ana Egge - Straight To My Head
• Erase Errata - Tax Dollar
• Errors - Mr. Milk
• Exit Clov - MK Ultra
• The Faceless Werewolves - My Weakness
• Dana Falconberry - Sadie
• Jessica Fichot - Le Velours et la Soie
• The Finches - House Under the Hill
• Fish Karma - Fifty Caliber Christ
• Genghis Tron - White Walls
• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager Part One
• Giant Squid - Neonate
• Gitogito Hustler - Maybe Love
• Golem - Warsaw is Khelm
• Gore Gore Girls - Fox In a Box
• Hank IV - Hole in My Eye
• Harris Tweed - Beautiful Mystery
• Elias Haslanger - Street Beat
• Headlights - TV
• The Hedrons - Heatseeker
• Helene - 01 This Is All We Have To Know.mp3
• Hello Stranger - Take It To The Maxx
• Eric Hofbauer - Dukes of Hazzard
• Holy Fuck - Lovley Allen
• Frida Hyvönen - You Never Got Me Right
• I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House - Westboro Baptist Church
• iLiKETRAiNS - Terra Nova
• Indian Jewelry - Lesser Snake
• Essie Jain - Glory
• The Jellydots - Bicycle
• Eilen Jewell - Back To Dallas
• Kaki King - Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers
• Kinski - The Wives of Artie Shaw
• KTU (Pohjonen, Gunn, Mastelotto) - Absinth
• Ana Laan - Paradise
• La Gusana Ciega - Angeles Educados
• Dawn Landes - Bodyguard
• Land Of Talk - Speak To Me Bones
• Jon Langford - Living a Lie
• Lesbian - Black Forest Hamm
• Tita Lima - A Conta Do Samba
• Los Abandoned - a la mode
• Los Burbanks - Snake
• Ludicra - Dead City
• Cara Luft - Black Water Side
• Lymbyc Systym - Truth Skull
• Macromantics - Scorch
• Mammút - Midnaeturmetall
• Jo Mango - My Lung
• Carolyn Mark - Firworks
• Melissa McClelland - Passenger 24
• Nellie McKay - Food
• Walter Meego - Through a Keyhole
• Midnight Movies - Patient Eye Edit
• MINSK - White Wings
• Monotonix - Summers and Autumns
• Monsters Are Waiting - Last Goodbye
• Nathan - The Wind
• Ocelot - Lo Sforzo The Stress
• Oxbow - Skin
• Palomar - Our Haunt
• Perseph1 - plain james pt 1
• Adrienne Pierce - Laundry And Dishes
• Rusted Shut - SHOT IN THE HEAD
• Sasquatch - The Judge
• Scouts Honor - Canvas
• Shout Out Out Out Out - Dude You Feel Electrical
• 65daysofstatic - Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here
• Marnie Stern - Every Single Line Means Something
• Sunny Sweeney - Ten Years Pass
• Telephone Jim Jesus - Blue In The Face
• Tiny Vipers - Shipwreck
• TURZI - AMADEUS
• Two Ton Boa - Cash Machine
• Ume - Hurricane
• Under Byen - Af samme stof som stof
• White Ghost Shivers - Mama Said

That should keep you busy for a couple hours.

Want some solid guitars and drums? A good, concise rock song to get your day started? Look no further, friend.

The Debut - Hey!

Sometimes this is just what you need, right? The Debut hails from Minneapolis, and they've got that hearty midwest thing going on. In fact, this is what their bio says: "The Debut practices their music in a freezing cold basement so they light cigarettes to stay warm." But it also says they found their instruments in a magic box, so who knows?

This is from the band's disc This Record Is About Cars, which, as far as I can tell, isn't. Instead, it's good old rock 'n' roll, the kind you don't take home to meet your parents. The record isn't quite out yet, but hit up the band on MySpace to get yourself a copy.

Doors: 12

Architecture in Helsinki: 4:45 - 5:15

Dear Readers,

Come on along and say hi. There will be free juice (among other things). We're very excited about this, as are our friends at Devil in the Woods. There's no list, no rsvp, no badges necessary. Completely open to the public. Stop by for a pint, and stay for the music.

Google would like you to believe that ‘Model Citizens’ is a cover band made up of 40-somethings, or a trio of ‘Crunk’ producing white boys. But google doesn’t know shit. Model Citizens was an no wave/art rock sextet which surfaced in New York around 1979, made a mini splash then disappeared back into the murky depths of the underground.

Model Citizens energetic & spastic time signatures make them seem like a more experimental B-52’s. Their 1979 release ‘Shift The Blame’ was produced by John Cale of Velvet Underground & released on his short lived Spy Records label.

Google doesn’t know anything about these New York new wavers, but YouTube does. Here’s a clip of ‘Shift The Blame’ performed at Max’s:

Model Citizens - Shift The Blame (mp3)

Model Citizens - “Animal Instincts� (mp3)

Gemm has two Model Citizens records on Vinyl & one on 8 Track! Don’t buy the one that says ‘1996′ punk because it is not the same Model Citizens & you will be sad.

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Just a friendly reminder to come out to Friction - put on by Crackers United - at the Delancey tonight. Come get your dance on.

So this Friday I will be DJing at a really cool lezzie night here in the city, called Hot Pants. Come check it out and support your boy.

Also here’s a preview for a fantastic band called Trippple Nippples from Japan. They’ll be up soon!! They are nothing but out of this world, like Evie Garland.

Trippple Nippples- PPP (mp3)

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Wilco - What Light.

I am in love with this record. I have a stupid, high-school style crush. Completely smitten. The record is infallible because I am infatuated with it. I am going to snuggle with it, and whisper to it how it makes me safe, feels like home.

Yesterday after work I went to my apartment, opened the windows, stretched out on my bed, and listened to the new Wilco record. It's hard to describe the mood,* but it was pretty damn easy going. I can't tell you the last time I just sat and listened to a record like that - all the way through. And after a long-ass day, it was exactly what I needed. Sometimes I forget to be a fan, ya know? And wilco's new album made me instantly remember that feeling.

All of this is helped by the fact that the album is incredible. This record sounds amazing. The way it's recorded pretty much blows me away. Tweedy's voice is so close to the mic, the guitar is smooth like a marshmallow on a river of buttered honey. Everything about it is relaxed and seasoned. After spending so much time with young bands, it's refreshing to hear a band of adults, making adult music. Don't get me wrong, this is not adult contemporary by any stretch. It's just a little older. More weathered. Seen a few more winters than some of the wet-behind-the-ears bands of the day.

At any rate, this song falls in the latter half of the album. It's a great song, and the lead single. The album, Sky Blue Sky, comes out in May on nonesuch, and it comes with my absolute highest recommendation.

*My mood is best exemplified by this emoticon: ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Lewiston, Maine, this robot is putting you on notice...

Mike Relm feat. Gift of Gab, Myron Glasper & Michael Belfer - Body Rock

Some people just make you want to be their friend. Mike Relm is one of them.

If you did the right thing and saw Scratch back in 2K1, you might remember a little scribble jam at Q-Bert's house with DJ Shadow, Q Bert, one other fella of note whose name I forget (Flare maybe?), and a young lad I hadn't seen before by the name of Mike Relm.

He's one of those guys with insane, multidisciplinary talent, and really nice glasses (speaking as a four-eyed compatriot). A sizable chunk of his work has moved beyond simple (well, hopelessly technically complex, but simple in the sense of breaks + scratches, juggles, etc) scratch sets to encompass new takes on classic themes of all types as well as bringing in the DVD-Turntables to explore video scratching to an extent that sets him well apart from the mob:

In addition to his amazing live sets, Mike is also hard at work in the studio, and is planning to release a full-length comprised of original material sometime this fall. To avoid being accused of idleness, he's also opening for Blue Man Group on their tour, playing at Coachella, and doing remixes for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie soundtrack. Zounds. Here's a sneak peak featuring one of my favorite emcees/resident bodyrocker, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious, Quannum Crew).

You can watch more videos, read more, and download additional tracks over on his website, and keep your eyes out (two or four) for his CD come fall!

Here is another incredible Bang Gang mix back from Christmas 2006 that the did for Japanese record store Loveless. They never disappoint. It’ll be up on their next podcast but for now snag it here…

Bang Gang 4 Loveless (mp3)

Bang Gang recently worked on Modular’s Leave Them All Behind Volume Two — mixing up the collection as part of the two disc set. AND on Bang Gang Records they have releases coming out from KIM, Muscles and Bag Raiders.

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