These guys, The Cool Kids, opened MIAs show last night (who is definitely the coolest chick in the fucking land) and I was pleasantly surprised. They refer to themselves as the the new black version of the Beastie Boys - and the comparison is pretty apt. Old school beats with some new school tricks and the interlaced rhyming patterns - they gotta lotta kick. Check out the myspace - some good shit. Pump up the Volume and 88 are pretty hot.
There's this DJ who keeps popping up on my Pandora station - Andy Smith. So I dug a little deeper, and this guy is saweet. Lots of old school breakbeats and motown samples, but without the sped up, gross high-octave vocals, much more sugarhill gang than kanye - that said, he's still done some beats for Common. I don't have any of his stuff myself, but you can download some shows from his website. This guy takes some really great old 45 samples. I like the Document II album quite a bit.
Finally - I was in glorious StL over the holiday, and low and behold, what is the first article I stumble across in the RFT? See for yourselves...pictures and all.
because it's taken me way too long to get to posting, rather than just download everyone else's stuff, I figured I should probably throw in something extra to the collection. Continuing my tradition of trying to spice up the blog with something new and different, I figured i'd add a little funkadelajazzippidty hop to the mix.
Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth, Calexico, Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Iron & Wine, Karen O, Sufjan Stevens, Jack Johnson, The Hold Steady, Mason Jennings, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nelson, The Black Keys, and Antony & The Johnsons all do Dylan covers for this 2 CD soundtrack to the biopic, and they all do such a good job that you don't really have to be a Dylan fan to appreciate this album. It does help though, particularly for Sufjan's total reworking of "Ring Them Bells" and "Goin To Acapulco" with Jim James from My Morning Jacket.
So there is this guy, Gregg Gills, and he is involved in a little project called GirlTalk. Ever heard of him? Well he has just teamed up with Frank Musarra (Heart of Darkness) to form the duo known as Trey Told Em'. Trey Told 'Em's mix is as off-the-wall as you would expect from Gillis and Musarra as song samples include everything from R. Kelly to Van Halen. I was lucky enough to catch these guys on my friend Gavins XM Radio show "In-Deed" on channel 43 this past week (another shameless plug). They did a live set that totally blew me away. I was so impressed that I had to close the door to my office and put off work for the duration of the 30minute set. I only wish Gills would now drop the GirlTalk act and tour with Musarra full time. Until this happens you can catch their music at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=162902236. 
One thing that's always baffled me about electronic music is how 95% of it is dark, depressing shit. Sure, there's been like Fatboy Slim and similar big beat artists in the 90's that mixed that up a bit, but for the most part it seems like new artists refuse to leave the emotional space of their forebearers like DJ Shadow and Portishead. Has it made for some great songs? Sure, but who wants to brood all the fucking time? I listen to music mainly to lift my mood, not erase my will to live, as much of this stuff will do to you if you listen to it long enough.
