Videos of the Week October 18th

Without a doubt the most eye opening video this week was the odd collaboration between James Blake and Chance the Rapper. The core of that statement has to do with the never-ending intrigue I have with cross-genre collaborations that mix two drastically different styles. It seems like Indie goes with everything these days, but the Life Round Here (Remix) struck me as somewhere beyond awesome and just short of epic.

It seems like I get a weekly reminder that I should have been in Philly for the Made in America Festival. This week's reminder came in the form of the trailer that successfully captured what I expect was the unbridled energy that the show created. Aside from those two big highlights, Bruno comes through with creative videos and Sleigh Bells has absolutely mastered the ability to rock a party. Because it was a slow week, I resurrected a favorite from the vault. If the final video doesn't somehow improve your day, you are way too left-brained and simply need to play more...#MorePlay

James Blake feat Chance the Rapper - Life Round Here (Remix) (Video)

Made in America Festival Trailer

Bruno Mars - Gorilla (Video)

Sleigh Bells Performs Bitter Rivals on Jimmy Kimmel

Ferrets Playing in Packing Peanuts

Photo Credit: Showtime via YouTube

araabMUZIK Takes On Sleigh Bells

I'm not sure how the @araabMUZIK and @sleighbells fall tour came about, but what I do know is we're all better off as a result of them touring together. I've seen Sleigh Bells open for LCD Soundsystem and I can confirm that they are one of the more raucous acts I've seen live. As far as araabMUZIK, his talent speaks for itself and I've tried multiple times to catch him putting on display his wizardry with the MPC.

Touring together is one thing, but araabMUZIK decided to take it a step further by mixing Sleigh Bell's latest single Never Say Die. Maybe it's because I'm a DJ or it could be because I've always had as much admiration for pure instrumentals as I do tracks with vocals. All I know is mixing loud dance-pop with a MPC driven Hip Hop beat is beautiful and something I never thought I'd hear. Genre-bending music is something I'll always be a fan of and this is the poster child for why.

If you're eager for some newness from araab, check out his latest track Runaway Bass. Oh and if you're in the area later this month, I'll see you at the show...#Bluebird

End of the Line For Sleigh Bells

To this day, I am kicking myself for not at least doing a little bit of background research on @sleighbells before I saw them open for LCD Soundsystem. At first, they seemed a little loud and crazy, but the heavy, high pitched guitar riffs exude so much energy it's hard not to get pumped listening to their music. I say that sort of tongue and cheek because below I'm posting their mellowest song to date.

The track is called End of the Line and a couples weeks ago they performed the track on @nbcsnl (below)...

Maybe it was a little awkward to hear see such a subdued performance, but to their credit they brought some serious intensity on their performance of Comeback Kid. Some would call a lot of their music complete electronic chaos, but I say they do a good job of mixing bubbly synths, with @ratatat quality guitar riffs and pop vocals. Really just a unique brand of noise that I can take in small doses, sort of like my 5 hour energy musically if you will...#YouHeardItHereFirst

Anyways, Sleigh Bells new album, Reign of Terror, recently hit iTunes if you're feeling like adding some electric flavored pop to your music collection.

Sleigh Bells - End of the Line
|iTunes

Videos of the Week Jan 27th

Sort of a slow week for videos, but that didn't stop me from venturing off the beaten path in search of a few gems to post. I've already posted about how re-cot-damn-diculously good @MikePosner's latest mixtape The Layover was and the video below for my favorite track off the mixtape only serves to solidify my feelings about the mixtape as a whole. Still, the Hip Hop game has it a little twisted when @rickyrozay's latest tape (for example) was downloaded over 849,000 times compared to Mike's latest tape's 66,000. I get that Ross is the bigger name (no pun intended...seriously), but c'mon y'all, you can't tell me it was anywhere close to as solid as Mikey's effort.

Anyways, I'm really looking forward to @wizardcud's new rock album from his group WZRD. Feel free to peruse the official tracklist below and check out his full performance of Teleport 2 Me in Australia (below). I'll admit too, I was more than a little mildly entertained by the Bon Joviver mashup by @wearemoms. I'll also concede that I did laugh at their twitter handle and especially appreciated their sarcastically real reason of "Miracles of Modern Science won't fit in Twitter's name box." Have a good weekend y'all!

Mike Posner - A Perfect Mess (Video)

Kid Cudi Performing Teleport to Me in Australia

Florence and the Machine - Lover to Lover (Video)

Sleigh Bells - Comeback Kid (Video)

Nappy Roots feat Khujo Goodie - Pete Rose (Video)

Bon Iver vs Bon Jovi = Miracles of Modern Science

Sleigh Bells Aren't Just Christmas Instruments

It's funny how things come full circle sometimes. When I say full circle, maybe I mean, it's cool how things evolve to a point where you can look back and realize something was cooler than it appeared to be when you first saw it. For example, years before I started getting into @drh3, I witnessed him play guitar for John Mayer (no twitter handle since he left his 3.7 million followers behind). At the time, he wasn't more of a background singer and guitar player, but as the years went by and I found some of his great solo tracks, I found myself looking back and wishing he had been a bigger part of the John Mayer show.

I saw all this to lay the ground work for how I was first introduced to @sleighbells. It was at the Philly Cruise Terminal watching them open for the legendary LCD Soundsystem. As an quick sidebar, easily one of the three best concerts I've ever been to. Their live act is so off the chain, it's disgusting and I'm still upset they retired prematurely. Aaaannnyways, long story short I got to see Sleigh Bells up close and personal for the first time and not knowing what to expect, I thought their music was a little too noisy and raucous to be enjoyed in concert...#NerdVoice

Looking back a little now, I feel pretty stupid because I now understand and have somewhat harnessed their kickassedness as time has gone on. I really took a liking to Riot Rhythm and even better, their new single sounds like @ratatatmusic chipped in some of their crazy electro guitar riffs in the background of Born to Lose. I even went back and copped their whole debut album Treats and gave it a spin after hearing their new single. Evidently their sophomore album Reign of Terror is due out in Feb and will feature even more in your face, loud as (F word) block rocking beats. I can't wait, let's crank it up, Christmas is less than a week y'all...#LetsRage

Sleigh Bells - Born to Lose