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Track Reviews

Walrus Ghost – Bent

walrus-ghost

New Brooklyn artist Walrus Ghost delivers the stunning ambient piece “Bent”. While your mind is held captive by symphonic layers of subtle acoustic guitar, sax, clarinet, trombone, and trumpet, all of your sonar senses will indulge. A track worthy of closing your eyes.

Walrus Ghost – Bent

Walrus Ghost newyork (Soundcloud)

Rating 8.7

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

E I R I – James

eiri

We don’t know who “James” is, but whoever he is… E I R I has taken very kindly. The dark electro artist out of NYC drops some nice horn sampling over a lush trip-hop bed. Press play. #B3SCIAFTERDARK

E I R I – James

E I R I newyork (Bandcamp)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Following

phenominal-hand-clap-band1

The trance inducing “Following” is new via NYC cult-lective The Phenomenal Handclap Band. But seriously how can you not get down to this? It’s Poptronic we tell you. Just try getting this one out of your head after a few spins. “Come and join us”!

The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Following

The Phenomenal Handclap Band newyork (Facebook)

Rating 8.1

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

Dirty Beaches – Stye Eye

dirtybeaches

Raw. It’s the best word we have to describe Dirty Beaches. We had the chance to catch Alex Zhang perform his abstract take on songwriting and rock and roll back in August poolside at the Mondrian in LA. We were awed by the soul and the delivery. A talent to keep an eye on.

Dirty Beaches – Stye Eye

Dirty Beaches canada (Bandcamp)

Rating 8.4

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Let The Lord Shine A Light On Me (UNKLE Remix)

noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-artwork

UNKLE goes to town on “Lord Let The Light Shine On Me” from Noel’s forthcoming solo debut. The UK outfit serve up a nice balance of Noel’rific writing (of the LP’s more Oasis-like tunes) and outside the box type elements that we can come to expect from High Flying Birds. Is that a gospel singer Noel? Get the album November 8th.

Noel Gallagher england (Official)

UNKLE england (Official)

Rating 8

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

Cocaine 80s & Common – Six ft Over

cocaine80-ghost-lady-common

Common, No I.D. and more equally awesome forces make up Cocaine 80s. “Six” is a testament to how good something like this should sound.

Cocaine 80s & Common – Six ft Over

Cocaine 80s illinois (Blog)

Rating 8.6

brown8

reviewed by
10-21-11

Drunk & Hungry – Bug a Boo (Destiny’s Child)

drunkhungry

“You make me wanna me wanna throw my pager out the window. Tell MCI to cut the phone cords. I’m gonna put your number on the call block. Have AOL make my email stop.” Love how DC always kept it current. ….And helllll naw, Kelly Rowland was NOT about to overpay for long distance, get your AT&T high price phone bill bullshit out of here. Our man Drunk & Hungry is dude out of Pittsburgh that also records indie pop under the name Good Sport. Get familiar. (AV)

Drunk & Hungry – Bug a Boo (Destiny’s Child)

Drunk & Hungry pennsylvania (Bandcamp) (Facebook)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
10-20-11

Emeli Sande – Daddy (Ifan Dafydd Remix)

ifandafydd2

Yes please. The enigmatic Welsh post-dubstepper takes a turn at Emeli Sande’s UK chart hit.

Emeli Sande – Daddy (Ifan Dafydd Remix)

Ifan Dafydd wales (Twitter) (Facebook)

Rating 8.6

brown8

reviewed by
10-20-11

Katalyst – Dreaming Of You

katalyst

Neatly tipped soul-sampling beats all the way from Australia. Katalyst’s Deep Impressions LP is available now.

Katalyst – Dreaming Of You

Katalyst australia (Official) (Facebook)

reviewed by
10-20-11

New Look – Everything

newlook

We love New Look. “Everything” is off the Canadian duo’s (finally) released s/t debut. In the same lane as artists/bands like Quadron, Kimbra, and The Peach Kings, New Look is that grown female-voiced neo-neo-soul. There are bits of current indie and electronic music there (which definitely help make this style more palatable/relevant to the “mainstream indie” bloggerazi) but the backbone of New Look’s sound and the other aforementioned bands is a real (and you can really feel it) emotional communication with the listener that you can only find in the best R&B. New Look’s LP is definitely something you will want to check out.

New Look – Everything

New Look canada (Facebook) (Myspace)

Rating 8.1

brown8

reviewed by
10-20-11

Drake – The Real Her (Feat. Lil’ Wayne)

drake

If you listen to hip hop radio pretty much anywhere right now, Drake is absolutely dominating. Eyebrows is everywhere. Listen to that 8-10 song Hot 10_ banger block and prob 4-5 of those songs are Drake tracks or have a Drake feature on them. “The Real Her” probably isn’t hip hop radio material but it’s still a smooth sample of that R&B Drizzy. Yo man, Drake’s got problems too.

Drake – The Real Her (Feat. Lil’ Wayne)

Drake canada (Official) (Twitter)

Rating 8.1

brown8

reviewed by
10-20-11

Fuck Art, Let’s Dance! – The Conqueror

fuck-art-lets-dance-conqueror

“The Conqueror” is the debut single by way of German three piece Fuck Art, Let’s Dance! Just check that chorus and watch dance floors everywhere celebrate!

Fuck Art, Let’s Dance! – The Conqueror

Fuck Art, Let’s Dance! germany (Facebook)

Rating 8.1

brown8

reviewed by
10-20-11