January 6 2009
Photo: Keith McArthur
It's hard to talk about Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk without talking about Chomp Womp. BBDDM are three dudes from Lawrence, Kansas who make dreamy swirls of indie pop muted glory who have four categories of releases: Out Now, Featured On, Sold Out/Out of Print and Upcoming Releases. I don't even know which category "Fort Pork Chop" fits into, but it's real pretty. "Dry Depths" was featured on Chomp Womp Comp Vol. Tew, a free compilation from the folks at Chomp Womp, a Lawrence, Kansas based collective/label/family of kids who apparently love pop, shoegaze, beautiful tunes and good times. Listening to the comp and BBDDM's catalogue you get the feeling that in about 10 years these songs will be compiled on a Yellow Pills-like release and people will wish they "knew about them when..."
Sounds Like: Boo and Boo Too, Black Tambourine, Moon High, My Best Fiend
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The always-killing-it dudes at Institubes have dropped their first heater of the year upon us, a "Lay Low" remix of Orgasmic and Tekitek's "The Sixpack Anthem" featuring Tallahassee "pop-hop" dude E.Mackey. Originally written as a tribute to the Sixpack clothing brand, Orgasmic's new mix basically sounds like Flo-Rida's "Low" if it'd been done by some Miami Bass dudes with a Franco-synth jones. We could try and explain how and why the song came together, but the Institubes guys (as usual) have done a much better job of that over at their RCRD LBL Blog, so head over there for the truth and some incredible gravity-defying promo snaps.
Sounds like: Flo Rida, DJ Craze, Michna
Orgasmic - The Sixpack Anthem (Orgasmic Lay Low Remix feat. E.Mackey)
Orgasmic's RCRD LBL Page
Apparently, when asked to turn in a debut album to their label, Bucks County, PA band Illinois (yes, the second band-not-from-the-locale-they're-named-after in two days) handed over a hard drive crammed with 114 home recordings. Impressed by the productivity, the band's label +1 Music decided to do something special and announced a six-month-long release schedule for a series of EPs and films that would, as a whole, serve as the band's full-length debut. That project is called The Adventures Of Kid Catastrophe, a tale based around a pseudo-alter-ego of frontman Chris Archibald. We've been given an exclusive track from the third chapter of the series (watch it on YouTube here, the music will hit iTunes next week,) a tightly-arranged Americana jam called "Are You Coming With Me?". There's piano, three or so chords, and Archibald's lyrics about getting someone out of a bad situation, so make sure grab the tune and find out more about Kid Catastrophe at the band's website.
Sounds like: The Low Anthem, Motel Motel, Deer Tick
Illinois - Are You Coming With Me?
Illinois' RCRD LBL Page
Back in November we premiered "Get Money Kids," Pase Rock's new single for Dim Mak that re-asserted his stake amongst the club-rap cognoscenti. Little did we know that up in Toronto, Fool's Gold signees Nacho Lovers were splicing together their own dub of the tune, forgoing the vocal and cutting up Eli Escobar's production into something that drifts between fidget house and electro over its six-minute length. The propellant timbale phrases are really what make this thing pop, so stick around till they get all crazy at the end and make sure to turn up the bass if you can, we're assured that this one is "mixed for the club."
Sounds like: Jesse Rose, Switch, Spank Rock
Pase Rock - Get Money Kids (Nacho Lovers Walk Remix)
Previously:
Pase Rock - Get Money Kids
Pase Rock's RCRD LBL Page
Nacho Lovers' RCRD LBL Page
Roy Davis Jr. is one of Chicago's most well-known and respected house music Dons. Soul-inflected uptempo tunes have remained his forte, carrying that flag through impeccably curated and mixed DJ sets the world over (hear a recent one from this past summer over at the Sunday Best website) and a discography that has spanned more than a few decades and sub-genres. Now the people at Scion A/V have turned a piece of Davis's music over to a more contemporary set of producers, soliciting versions of his tune "I Have A Vision (feat. Erin Martin)" for the next installment in their stellar ongoing remix series. We've been given an exclusive preview of our man The Juan MacLean's version, which is, in a nutshell, epic space war acid house; Larry Heard caught in Titan A.E. or something like that. Grab the track below, and look out for the official release of "I Have A Vision" on January 27th, featuring additional reworkings from legends-in-their-own-right Fred Falke and Todd Edwards.
Sounds like: Kerri Chandler, The Juan MacLean, Broker/Dealer
Roy Davis Jr. - I Have A Vision [feat. Erin Martin] (The Juan MacLean Remix)
Roy Davis Jr.'s RCRD LBL Page
Previously:
The Twelves - Be My Crush [The Juan MacLean's B-LIVE Rio Mix]
The Juan MacLean - Happy House (Original)
The Juan MacLean - Happy House (Lee Douglas Remix)
The Juan MacLean - Happy House (Prince Language Dub Mix)
The Juan MacLean - Find A Way
The Juan MacLean's RCRD LBL Page
Before the break for the new year, TheFADER.com posted a new remix of Little Boots' "Meddle" by blogger/dj/remixer Baron Von Luxxury, who made like he did with Glass Candy's "I Always Say Yes" earlier this year and added some syrupy disco bass and conga breaks to an already stellar tune. It's a pretty great version, so head over to The FADER to cop that, and grab a couple of other jams from Luxxury, including the Glass Candy remix, right below.
Little Boots - Meddle (Baron Von Luxxury Remix) At TheFADER.com
Previously:
Glass Candy - I Always Say Yes (Baron Von Luxxury Remix Pts. II & III)
Baron Von Luxxury - Sweet And Vicious (Exxpensive Edit)
Baron Von Luxxury's RCRD LBL Page
January 5 2009
My friend Mikey from GIRLS (nyc) sent me the Still Out record a little while back, I put it in my car stereo and it didn't leave for over a week. There has been a rumbling for a couple of years now coming from (mostly) Brooklyn of bands that get the magic equation of the Jesus & Mary Chain. Combining fuzz, distortion, sexy weary vocals and (the tricky part) catchy hooks, pop shoegazer gold is snaking it's way across the East River. The Still Out is Josh Stoddard and Arjun Agerwala and since the recording of their first record, they've added Matt Sumrow and Nicole Gehweiler (both formerly of the Comas who opened for the J&MC) and Mikey Jones (who plays in GIRLS (nyc) with Matt) to their live show. Crystallized will be re-released this spring on Hi-Speed Soul, grab "Where We Go" for a taste and keep an eye out for these 'gazers.
Sounds Like: My Best Fiend, GIRLS (nyc), the Comas, the Jesus & Mary Chain
To answer a question they'll soon tire of hearing, Harlem are not from Harlem. They're from Austin, Texas (by way of Los Angeles), a place full of cheap beer and cheap rent and lots of sun; basically a perfect spot for a trio of dudes to play music that sounds like The Move sped up to +8 and not really have to do much else. Their self-released debut album Free Drugs;) dropped last year (get it at their MySpace), a dizzying sprint through lo-fi garage tropes that we thought was pretty awesome, and by awesome we mean it sounds like sociopathic doo-wop with guitars. We asked them for some tracks and they were cool enough to send over two songs from the album--one with a simple title, the other not so much--so save these for when you leave work and unwind accordingly.
Sounds like: The Move, Black Lips, Howlies
Harlem - Caroline
Harlem - Psychedelic Tits
Harlem's RCRD LBL Page
If you're band is rocking--count 'em--three different MySpaces, then things are either going pretty well or you're being copped by hella nerds and even that kind of internet fandom isn't so bad for your profile. Such is life for The Twelves, the Rio-based production duo that's been blog-killing lately with tasteful, Euro-glancing electro refixes for groups like Black Kids (who they actually made sound good), M.I.A., New Young Pony Club, and Thieves Like Us. The people at Bacardi's B-Live program--responsible for those Chromeo remixes awhile back--caught wind and solicited an unreleased track from the two, "Be My Crush," which was in turn sent over to The Juan MacLean for some remix work and then gifted to us exclusively here at RCRD LBL. While Juan's remix game isn't all that frequent, it is time and again off the charts, and his usual rub-a-dub basslines and haunting disco synth washes are all over this track like they are on "Happy House." For more info on The Twelves you can watch a few clips the Bacardi people made for them down in Rio right here, and come back tomorrow for another exclusive remix from the bald-headed dance man.
Sounds like: Jaques Renault, Thieves Like Us, Holy Ghost!
The Twelves - Be My Crush [The Juan MacLean's B-LIVE Rio Mix]
The Twelves' RCRD LBL Page
Previously:
The Juan MacLean - Find A Way
The Juan MacLean - Happy House
The Juan MacLean - Happy House (Prince Language Dub Mix)
The Juan MacLean - Happy House (Lee Douglas Remix)
The Juan MacLean's RCRD LBL Page
FreQ Nasty, aka Fiji-born, New Zealand-raised Darin McFayden, was the producer behind "Creator," Santogold's supersonic swingbomb single that detonated many a dancefloor in '08 and just might be the best track on one of the year's most extremely well-received albums. While that beat was arguably his big break, Nasty has been making moves in the drum and bass and breaks scenes for over a decade, producing and deejaying an impressive amount of diverse, subsonic material that not only informed his work on "Creator" but also the labyrinthine, genre-hopping mix he made for Fabric this year, Fabriclive.42. "Peacemaker" appears in its original form in the early minutes of that mix, but this dub version--a grinding amalgam of dancehall, breaks, fidget-house, and high-energy dubstep--is tipped to appear on his pending new artist album, due sometime this year but still lacking an unconfirmed tracklisting, release date, or label. If "Creator" and his Fabric mix are anything to go by, he'll be shattering enough basebins and year-end lists to make us forget those gnarly white dude dreads.
Sounds like: Santogold, Diplo, Switch
FreQ Nasty - Peacemaker (DUB) (feat. Propa Tingz)
FreQ Nasty's RCRD LBL Page
![The Twelves - Be My Crush [The Juan MacLean's B-LIVE Rio Mix]](/cms/rcrdlbl/albums/99c370a6215e50a7c6104999e04a6b1f_tiny.jpg)
