Car's Mix

I recently had a quiet birthday, spent in part with Car, down in SF, but one of the more smashing successes of the weekend was a mix I got from her fantasticness.  The album contained a heady mix of new musics for me.  Some more well known groups made it on with new hits (the Firecracker Kids), there were a lot of rising stars (The Naked & Famous - I'm looking at you in particular), and of course, those artists that you're never sure if she heard from her newest hipster friend, or is just something that she pulled off her Pure Moods CD and subsequently dubbed: "Tunng."

Anyway, this mix has been getting me from place to place in the trusty RSX for the past month or so, and I thought, "Ya know, this mix is definitely good enough for a top 5..."  and here we are today.

I think I'll let the tracks speak for themselves, but what I will say, is that the distinction between contender and pretender is quite clear.  I knocked out the first 10 tracks quite easily - while they weren't BAD, they just weren't standouts for me.

The remaining 4 were considerably more difficult, but manageable, and we had to lose some great artists like Ra Ra Riot and The Streets, as well as one of my favorite Cudder songs.  And so, without further ado, I give you # 5 in the 4 spot.

1. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
2. Dom - Living in America
3. Washed Out - New Theory
4. The Very Best - Angonde (Johan Hugo Remix ft. Mo Lauci)
5. The Firecracker Kids - Half Light II (No Celebration)
6. Gobble Gobble - Lawn Knives
7. Active Child - When Your Love is Safe
8. KiD CuDi - Sountrack 2 My Life
9. Telephoned - O.N.E. (Yeasayer x Gyptian Cover)
10. ?
11. The Streets - Trust Me
12. Ra Ra Riot - Boy (RAC Mix)
13. ?
14. ?
15. Tunng - Hustle
16. Bloc Party - Letter to My Son
17. Sleigh Bells - Crown on the Ground
18. ?
19. Delorean - Simple Graces

Look for #s 4 and 3 over the coming week, then I'll wrap up the list with our winner sometime before Thanksgiving, when I plan to grace Car with her very own epic mix.

04 Angonde (Johan Hugo Remix Feat. M.mp3 by cooperativemusicuk

STARS

Sach, Weits, the future Doctor, Lunch, and I are going to the Stars show tonight. While this isn't out of the ordinary, our planning email string about meeting up before, paying people back for tickets, and general concert logistics, has turned into some fantastic comedy. My favorite so far: "Bitches in Tokyo --how much/who do I owe for my ticket? ... in other news, C, Your Ex-Lover is Dead. prepare your Celebration Guns." Now excuse me, I have to go respond to This Charming Man before Wasted Daylight.

Something I Can Dance To

As the wolf pack knows, I've been obsessing over some dance-tastic music lately. Really anything coming out of the Neon Gold label has been pure awesome. The Knocks was my World Series jam of choice, but if I had to choose my song for the rest of indian summer, it would have to be the Naked & Famous track Young Blood.

The Naked & Famous "Young Blood" by OnTheRecord

For our own Weezy F Baby...

I've got a ton of actual real work to do today, but wanted to get this out there ASAP as I've been on a spree recently, grabbing a bunch of new mixes off my fav blogs, which I've been delinquent in keeping up with over the past month or so.

This posting though is an GEM of a throwback that features Big L and Weezy's main man, Jay-Z.  Now this is no "I jumped on the Jiggaman bandwagon early in 1998 with Vol. 2 ish"....this is pre-Roc-A-Fella, straight up Adam and Eve style! We're going back to February of 1995, when a young Hova and the now deceased Lamont Coleman (Big L, RIP) appeared on the Stretch and Bobbito show (early/mid 90's, Thursday night NYC vinyl-only freestyle sessions for the freshest upcoming artists to get some airtime).  The show intros with Big L, then he and Jay-Z trade off a couple times.

In Jay-Z's second appearance at the mic, he notes how he's just gotten "Rap Pick of the Week" on BET, and how his new album has limited distribution, but should be available shortly, as soon as the deal gets signed...um, yeah....this is Jay-Z today.

Big L lays some nasty lines, but Jay-Z clearly steals the show and from 7:55 on, he's nothing less than amazing...

"I'm flowing the fattest, mmmm that is, mmmm, I'm the baddest
No need to explain my name, the only thing that matters
For suckers who bite me, they find I'm a bit much to swallow
You're thinking that's hollow, the rhythm is too rugged to follow
I hit you like bam, biggity bam, bam, biggity bam
Let me take a little breath…g damn
The kid is a wizard"

Enjoy

Big L & Jay-Z - Freestyle On Stretch and Bobbito Show (FULL) (02.23.95) by Peralta Project

Hot Beats = Baller Bets

Apparently, the word is out on Wiz Khalifa. I've been digging him for a couple years now, originally introduced to Wiz by another three letter 412 native, Woj. In fact, Wiz has been getting props from everyone recently, including King James earlier this fall on Twitter: "[Heard] Wiz Khalifa "Mezmorized" while getting a root canal on my tooth. Nice mellow track right there. Good new artist."

Although he's been getting more press recently, Wiz akshully hit the scene when he dropped his Pittsburgh Sound singlay in 2007, a tribute to the Iron City (and of course, himself...as rappers are wont to do).  The Pittsburgh theme is a recurring one for the 23 year old artist.  He recently put out his Black & Yellow single, which apparently, is catchy enough to inspire people to place bets on my hometown sports teams, which is just what Weezy's friend did after hearing this song ($20 on the Steelers to win the SuperBowl is not a horrible bet in and of itself, although perhaps you have qualms about backing Therapist Roethlisberger).  Anyway, I love this track and wish I was sippin' "cleeko" too...

Black & Yellow by Shuttersandsounds

the music video isn't bad either, for those interested...

Cudder 'n Black

Carls recently drug Weis and me to see Dan Black at ACL, where I was only somewhat shocked to see such a great show! The crazy brit tenor has quite the stage presence and following.

Annnnnyway, when I heard that Dan Black had done a collab with Kid Cudi on one of my favorite songs, I said gimme gimme symphonies! This newish version of the song is featured on NBA 2K11, which I guarantee to be a ballin' game, given this excellent addition to the soundtrack.

Dan Black (feat. Kid Cudi) - Symphonies by thevelvet

Oh Happy Days

I got my dream apartment yesterday. In a nice gesture from my favorite wierdos, the Giants made my incredibly fantastic Monday even better by winning the World Series and justifying Al and I's whiskey fueled bender. (Sidenote: Thanks random stranger at the bar who decided that it was good luck when we bought shots in the 7th inning, and continued to buy us whiskey until the Polk street riot happened) And thus, the only music that can match the soaring euphoria of the Best Day Ever(despite the pounding headache) is the dancetasticness of the Knocks. Enjoy the playlist!

The Knocks by The Knocks