Gatsby’s Crazy In Love

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

Another day, another cover from The Great Gatsby. Following yesterday’s Beyonce + Andre 3000 “Back to Black” cover comes Emeli Sandé and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra covering Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love.”

And OMG it’s like we’re in 1927 and some ragtime band is jamming out at a speakeasy. We can see this fitting into the story a bit better than Bey’s Amy Winehouse cover–but does make it a good cover, or just a good movie soundtrack prop? Listen to the track and then weigh in in the comments section below! –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS

Music Video Premiere: Cillie Barnes

Monday, April 29th, 2013

 

Some music is like spicy food–First you can’t handle it. Then you slowly build up a tolerance. And before you know it, you find yourself desperately craving it.

Then there’s Cillie Barnes, the LA-based artist whose sound is equally infectious as it is inviting, and requires no time to get used to. In other words, she’s your insta-best friend, and she’s about to bypass all of your other acquaintances and likely make it to your Top 25 Most Played by the end of the week.

Don’t believe me? Just press play and see for yourself. –ALI HOFFMAN

OMG: Neutral Milk Hotel are Back!

Monday, April 29th, 2013

 

Neutral Milk Hotel are like the Kevin Bacon of the indie music word: If the 1998 album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea didn’t change your life, it definitely changed someone’s within six-degrees of you. (While it didn’t necessarily change mine, I’ll admit that it’s shown up on more than one “I kinda really like you” mixtapes from boys over the years, and I’ve got a good friend with the album cover tattooed on his forearm.)

But the funny thing is that for such an influential band, not that many people have actually seen the Jeff Mangum-formed band. After all, they went on an indefinite hiatus in 1999, not long after the album came out.

So prepare for some major news: Neutral Milk Hotel is back–and going on tour. As reported by Pitchfork, the band currently has just five dates announced–two in Georgia, one in North Carolina, Taipei, and Tokyo, spanning from October through December. No word yet on whether there will be more shows added, so you might want to book a flight down South (or east, if you’d rather see them in Asia). And for old time’s sake, here’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” because it’s just that good. –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS

Beyonce + Andre 3000 Cover Amy Winehouse

Monday, April 29th, 2013

amy

Last week, we freaked out over the XX’s new track on The Great Gatsby soundtrack.

This morning, East Village Radio dropped Beyonce and Andre 3000′s brand new cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” also part of the soundtrack for the upcoming Mulligan and DiCaprio flick.

Aside from the supper-annoying promo overlay throughout, the song definitely sparks some questions.

Does it feel too soon to cover Winehouse? Does even Beyonce fail to do justice to such a masterpiece? We’re still mulling it over. In the mean time, we’d love to hear your take on it.

Listen to the track above and then let us know your thoughts in the comments below! -ALI HOFFMAN

Song Premiere: Kisses

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

 

The New York weather has been in major limbo–one day it’ll be sunny and in the high 60s, the next it will be rainy and cold.

Yet somehow we’re not as bummed out as we should be, and I think this Jensen Sportag remix of the Kisses song “The Hardest Part” has played a large part in that.

The song from LA synth-happy gets sun-toasted with the help of the ’80s R&B tinged Nashville duo (both on Cascine). Suddenly “The Hardest Part” becomes a tropical drink that’s not too sweet–and definitely won’t give you a headache the morning after. And if it doesn’t get you quite in a laid-back summer mindset, this should: Kisses just collaborated on a handmade Hawaiian shirt with Arrowhead. Each of the unisex tops comes with a free download to four B-side tracks, which is pretty awesome if you ask us. Grab your tee here–but not before listening to our exclusive premiere of the remix below! –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS

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New Music: The Postelles

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

postelles

The Postelles just dropped a brand new album and they’re streaming the WHOLE thing–for free! Dubbed …And It Shook Me, the four NYC-based boys’ sophomore album showcases a more grownup (almost tougher?) sound.

But don’t worry–they’re only a little cynical now (we’ll call it a syndrome of living in New York too long). One listen to “Caught By Suprise,” and you’ll see those familiar big-eyed boys, evoking late Beach Boys glory, and singing about love, broken hearts, and everything in between.

A couple standout moments: Check out “Pretend It’s Love,” which features vocals from Alex Winton (of “Sister Wife” fame). And “Sweet Water” is a pretty rad track too (especially if like The Cure as much as we do).

Stream ..And It Shook Me here!  -ALI HOFFMAN

Mixtape: Polly Scattergood

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

 

You’ll have to wait until summer to get new music from Polly Scattergood–the British electro-pop singer-songwriter has a new album, Arrows, out June 18 on Mute (lead single “Wanderlust” has already been remixed by the likes of Charli XCX). But if you want to get a taste of what she’s been listening to, look no further:

She put together a playlist, exclusive for us, called the Femme Fatales Mixtape. Why? Because it features some of her favorite lady-fronted bands and bad-ass musicians. Think Ultraista, Fever Ray, Purity Ring, and more (including that aforementioned remix). It should more than tide you over until that new Polly Scattergood drops. Keep reading to start streaming!

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I Was Framed!

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

We’re longtime fans of Those Darlins, but we had no idea that Jessi Darlin could do more than just rock out–she’s also a super-talented artist as well.

The Nashville-based musician (who works under the name Jessi Zazu) has been working on a hand-drawn portrait series dubbed Hunting For Heroes. The first round was called “Gunslingers,” and her latest collection, “Gangsters,” just launched on Etsy. The two sets feature 4″ by 4″ silkscreened posters of some famous bad boys in history; think Machine Gun Jack McGurn, Scarface Al Capone, George Bugs Morgan, and more.

Only 50 were made of each set, so get yours right now (here and here!), but if you miss out you can check out the artwork on the cover of the new Denney and the Jets 7″ (out on Infinity Cat Recordings). At $20 a set, you could say that these drawings are a real steal. Right, fellas? –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS

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Beat On: The XX on The Great Gatsby Soundtrack

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

The buzz over Baz continues! Since you so enjoyed Baz Lurhmann’s Gatsby trailer, we’ll “beat on” wasting no time releasing a full song by The xx off the movie’s soundtrack. It’s called “Together,” so picture Leo embracing Carey Mulligan while you listen. If it doesn’t make you too jealous, that is.—RAY SIEGEL

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Song Premiere: Tempers

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

 

New York City duo Tempers are all dark-but-bouncy electro pop–at least, that’s what we thought. Since forming in 2011, Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper have been evolving their post-punk synth sound, pulling together singles and working on a debut album (which they promise will come out later this year). Their second single, “Strange Harvest,” comes out next week, but it’s what’s on the B-side that’s proof that, yes, there’s a heart beating inside.

Tempers’ acoustic version of the track is less eerie but just as unsettling (in a good way), with Golestaneh’s vocals front and center. “The title comes from a phrase in the lyrics: ‘My strange harvest / will taste sweet again.’ The song is about having compassion for the experience of depression, how it can skew your perception of reality into terrible contortions, but you can always draw hope from the transient nature of things–knowing that once clouds have passed and the darkness has shifted, things will be bright again,” she explains.

To turn the goth-gaze track into an acoustic version of itself, Cooper notes that they “experimented with stripping away a lot of those associations and expressing the song’s core through more basic elements.” And it just might be a sign of things to come; as he puts it, “Although Tempers has been so heavily electronic to this point, we both have deep connections to acoustic music, and we felt that kind of rendition shows another facet of the song’s character.”

Hear what he means right here–we’ve got the exclusive premiere before Pendu Sound Recordings releases the single on April 24. Like what you hear? They’re playing tomorrow night in Brooklyn (details here)! –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS

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