3 tracks: dragonette gets around

Dragonette has really been 'getting around' in the last year. Not only have they released a full-length album (Fixin To Thrill) in October of 2009, but they also released an EP in July called Our Summer Volcano. In the interim, they have collaborated with Martin Solveig twice (well, mostly that was just Martina Sorbera, lead vocalist) on two stellar tracks: Boys & Girls and Hello (which was released in France on Sept 6).

Boys & Girls - Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette

They also joined forces with Kaskade to produce one of the hottest euro-club hits of the summer (which is weird considering Kaskade is American and Dragonette is Canadian) in Fire In Your New Shoes.

Fire In Your New Shoes - Kaskade ft. Dragonette

Now, I know I have put Hello on here before, but that was a cut from the video promotion of the song...THIS is the actual album cut (the first release off Solveig's new album!). Hooray!

Hello - Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette (album cut)

fresh: Jimmy Eat World returns

Jimmy Eat World used to be a great band. They have a fleet of songs from Clarity, Bleed American, and Futures that are worthy of a great deal of acclaim... but that talent seems to have gone the way of the buffalo. Such is the rockstar life, as sometimes your fame outlives your talent.

Their newest LP, Invented, was greatly anticipated by yours truly... but I do feel a bit underwhelmed by the product. There are three tracks worth having on an album that lacks punch, beauty, and the type of transcendent energy that they had come to perfect on previous albums. In other words, it's a big smelly turd. Here are the three tracks worth keeping (granted there are a couple more I can stomach... I just don't care to inundate you with mediocre pop-rock):

Heart Is Hard To Find - Jimmy Eat World

Invented - Jimmy Eat World

Stop - Jimmy Eat World

The interesting aspect of these three collective tracks is that they sound like three of the previously mentioned albums. Stop has a very distinct Futures vibe that resonates mostly in the chorus. Invented (the track) sounds like something from Clarity's post-emo era. Lastly, Heart Is Hard To Find has a strong Bleed American feel to it. Save these three tracks, J.E.W. has left the good side of its sound and focused on the watered-down radio-worthy style that is often the filler on previous albums. Kill your manager.

essentials: regina spektor

Regina Spektor, a Moscow-born and Bronx-grown anti-folk beacon, has these moments of lyrical excellence that never get flowery or overly metaphorical, nor are they ever dumbed-down into simplicity. It's quite the balance she achieves in this, and it's why I became a fan.

In 2006 she released what can be described as the perfect anti-folk album in Begin To Hope. You should own it if you are a lover of the modern singer/songwriter. Here are my four essential tracks from the album. These are my favorites, but if you do not like them, I would also recommend looking up the two biggest (and much more pop-friendly) singles from the album, Fidelity and Better.

My favorite of these, if you must know, is easily On The Radio. Not to get too transparent, but I definitely listen to it when I have bad days or simply need some bittersweet coherence. A close second is Samson, which I often equate to my last relationship. It's a real weenie-shrinker, but a hell of a song. Hotel Song is the infectious side of Spektor that will stick with you like a herpes simplex. Lastly, That Time is the kind of simple, carefree, dreadfully honest folk-pop track that makes me want to strip down to my underwear and a cape made of pillow cases and run through the East Village. Enjoy.

On The Radio - Regina Spektor

Samson - Regina Spektor

Hotel Song - Regina Spektor

That Time - Regina Spektor

remix monday : luciana has her eye on you

I love Luciana, and thanks to DJ Matt Bailer, I was forwarded this great remix featuring her! If you don't love Luciana, or know her, you should fix that ASAP. She's easily one of my favorite pop starlets, and I think she's going to keep getting bigger on this side of the Atlantic (OVERDUE!). She has this natural attitude in her vocals that basically scream "yeah I'm a skanky whore, now suck on my titty, bitch!"... and this is why I love her. This track is extremely danceable. I have been working with it all week and will probably use it on the next teasermix! Get on it.. DOWNLOAD NOW (.m4a)

I Got My Eye On You (Nari & Milani club remix) - Cristian Marchi ft. Luciana

robyn gets dirty with gaga

The musical goddess of all things good and quality meets the wicked witch of pop in a mash-up I deem slightly above tolerable. Hooray! Check out this mashup of Robyn's None of Dem and Lady Gaga's Beautiful Dirty Rich:

Dem Dirty - Robyn vs. Lady Gaga

three track thursdays - retro/dance for EYES WIDE DRUNK!

Here are three tracks I plan on playing Saturday at SHIFT: EYES WIDE DRUNK, a mess-querade! They are all old songs which I've had for a while, but really need to play them more often. I have yet to post any of these tracks, so here you go!

Whitey is one of the most underrated producers/artists out there. For lovers of LCD Soundsystem, he will be a massive star one day. Melody Club had a run in the 2004-2006 era that completely rocked my world. Baby is one of their two best songs (along with Electric) within a sound that is nothing short of 80's new-wave with modern production. Lastly, I love The Doors, and so should everyone. Whenever I hear a remix of them, I either cringe or jump with glee. This is the latter.

Wrap It Up - Whitey

Baby - Melody Club

Hello I Love You (PRO7 remix) - The Doors

fresh: EYES WIDE DRUNK MIX (new teaser)

2010.09 SHIFTeaserMix: Eyes Wide Drunk - DJ MAJR

This month's teaser is basically a battle between hot indie pop (Dragonette, Marina, Robyn, Example) and great mass-consumed pop (Rihanna, Usher, The Doors, Kelis) with some hard edges thrown in for good measure (and to make me smile). I hope you like it!

DOWNLOAD (.m4a)

essentials: the birth of the postal service

Here's a track that few have, but would probably love! A lot of people adore The Postal Service, but few have read back to see how they came to be... Well, here is the track that started it all.

The Postal Service is the serendipitous collaboration of Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello, who is also a pretty fantastic producer. This track is off Dntel's album Life Is Full Of Possibilities, and sparked a series of collaborations between the two that, when molded together, produced the heralded Give Up LP (that so many in our generation own) that was released in February 2003.

The track itself uses a great deal of distortion and deep (often frantic) percussion over Gibbard's bewitching vocals. It was ahead of its time and probably not mainstream enough to be appreciated by the masses, but it's nothing less than an enchanting track.

Though the follow up album has been indefinitely shelved, it is still fascinating to hear the magic between these two on this initial foray. I also added my favorite B-side of theirs, a tracked called Be Still My Heart that I've loved since the moment it hit me. Feel free to download and exploit. Enjoy!

(This Is) The Dream Of Evan and Chan - Dntel ft. Ben Gibbard

Be Still My Heart - The Postal Service

remix monday : usher goes pro-homo

Usher has made a killing this year by changing his genre from hip/hop-infused pop to fellatiotastic gay dance. I wonder if he realizes how homosexualicious his music is now, or if he simply is coming out to us indirectly?

Who knows (or cares, as he has the sex appeal of an amoeba). Do you know what is sexy? Well, I'll tell you! Indeed I will! It's this track right here:

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (DJ Kue remix) - Usher

Remixed into dance perfection by DJ Kue, this almost makes me not hate the song. What turns me on most is the heavy electro drive of this track... it's quite astounding for Usher.

What cracks me up is the big synth that comes in about 2:15 that basically should just be Richard Simmons bellowing "oh heyyyyyyy," instead. I'll leave you with that.

remix monday : new mixes of brandon flowers, daft punk

We will begin this week where we left off... with pretty little bangable Brandon Flowers. This remix of his new single (the best song on his album) Only The Young, is the 2nd remix I've received. The first one I put in your eardrums about a month ago. This one is much more dance-friendly (and a lot more gay). You may enjoy it. It does have this terribly annoying circuit-esque beat that makes me want to kill kittens, but the quality of the base track overrides that fact... mostly.

Only The Young (Roger Sanchez remix) - Brandon Flowers

Speaking of gay... What's French, always late (overdue with a follow up record), and makes you dance with your hands in the air all over?

Yes, that's right, Daft Punk. Here's a new remix of an old track off Discovery, called Too Long. It's great background music from one of the greatest influences in dance history. Suck on it in your cubicle...

Too Long (NAPT N-Funk remix) - Daft Punk

Enjoy and stay tuned for lots of posts this week! It's SHIFT: Eyes Wide Drunk week... the countdown has BEGUN!

three track thursdays - new Brandon Flowers

Here are three tracks from Brandon Flowers', frontman of The Killers, debut album Flamingo. I'll review the whole album later in the week/weekend. In the meantime, here are some highlights:

Only The Young - Brandon Flowers

Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts - Brandon Flowers

Magdalena - Brandon Flowers

fresh: new Weezer

So, I am not afraid to admit I love Weezer. I have long given up on them producing anything close to Pinkerton or the Blue Album (or even the Green Album), but I do expect them to keep coming up with smart, cheeky, simple pop-rock that only their sound produces. No one sounds like Weezer, and if they try to, they wind up f*cking themselves over as a labeled poser (e.g. The Anniversary's first album, or anything by Wheetus). (Remember when "poser" was the meanest derogatory title ever?!... let's bring that back [at least for a week]).

Here are FOUR BRAND NEW TRACKS that I don't hate from the new Weezer album, Hurley. In stores, iTunes, Amazon and whatever the hell else sells audio, as of this past Tuesday! Indulge..

Ruling Me - Weezer

Where's My Sex - Weezer

Brave New World - Weezer

Time Flies - Weezer

one of the most moving things i've ever seen

new video: Florence gets 'heavy'

The amazing Florence + The Machine just released this equal parts beautiful and morbid video for the haunting, gorgeous track Heavy In My Arms, which I posted a couple weeks ago. Thanks to the glorious media guru, Joe Gizzi, I was notified that it was online. Florence keeps setting the bar so high... God help her when she comes out with another album.

download the mp3

essentials: the cranberries

One of my favorite bands of the 1990's was The Cranberries. They were a part of this 1993-1996 influx of music that drenched the airwaves with a clusterfuck of really amazing and tremendously terrible music. They were the former, and I think we should take a step back and appreciate how great they were. Formed in Ireland in 1989, Dolores O'Riordan and Co. had four top 20 albums, 8 top 20 singles, and sold over 14.5 Million albums in America, alone. They were a massive part of the 1990's, and especially of my early teens. One song, Dreams, I still maintain as one of the greatest songs ever made. Including Dreams, here are my three favorite tracks of theirs, one from each of their first three albums:

Dreams - The Cranberries

Forever Yellow Skies - The Cranberries

Zombie - The Cranberries

between two lungs it was released

Usually I do a Remix Monday post on this day, but that can go suck a bagadix today.

Have you ever had a song completely consume you for a few days? Sometimes it goes even longer, sometimes it fades quickly after a good punch in the face... and then there are the moments when a track will start engulfing you. You begin to hear all the nuances of production, all the subtle metaphors, and all the pieces of the puzzle that make the most amazing image... and not one of those terrible Kinkade puzzles that make douchebags think they appreciate art.

This track is tied with Dog Days Are Over (which was a pretty stellar performance last night on the VMAs) as my favorite Florence + The Machine song. It is an amazing love song. There's this moment at 3:28 that my entire life stops and I'm in the song and nowhere else. Ladies & Gentleman, I give you Between Two Lungs!

Between Two Lungs - Florence + The Machine by djmajr4

SIREN sounds: get ready for tonight!

Here are three SIREN SamplerMixes I've made over the last few months. They are sure to get you ready for tonight's glorious shitshow!

Siren Sampler July 2010 - DJ MAJR by shiftdistrict

SIREN SamplerMix - DJ MAJR by shiftdc2

SIREN the 13th SamplerMix - DJ MAJR by djmajrdc

Artists Included:

Kylie Minogue

Tamia

Ke$ha

Goldfrapp

Amuka

La Roux

Annie

Madison Avenue

Madonna

Daft Punk

Peaches

Dragonette

Kosheen

Little Boots

Lady Gaga

Stacie Orrico

Britney Spears

Benny Benassi

Kelis

Darude

Lily Allen

Whitney Houston

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Kim English

Cascada

Amber

Deborah Cox

Kelly Rowland

Gigi D'Agostino

Tiesto ft. Emily Haines (Metric)

...how can you go wrong?!

three track thursdays - little boots remixes

As many of you know, I heart me some Little Boots. I am pretty stoked that she's currently in the process of recording a follow-up to the fantastic LP, Hands. I had the privilege of seeing her perform an impromptu 5-song set last year around this time, and I am salivating to hear what her talented little face comes up with next.

Here are three of my favorite remixes, from my favorite little anti-Gaga.

Tune Into My Heart (GRVRBBRS remix) - Little Boots

Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood remix) - Little Boots

Remedy (Buffetlibre vs. Sidechains remix) - Little Boots

fresh: new Rihanna

Will she suck up big balls like her last album, Rated R, or will she return to what makes her good, if not lovingly tolerable? That's the question we are asking ourselves, those of us that sort of like (often dislike) Rihanna... now here's what's new! Check Only Girl (In the World) before you hear it on loop so much at bars that you want to shove a locust in your ear. Additionally, a big shout-out to Bryce (who sent me this track)! You rock my world!

Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna

And, now for what I really think.

OK, so Rihanna has a limited scope of talent. Some of her pluses are that she knows how to lend her talent to producers who understand the lowest common denominator of pop and how to sell it to the masses like CostCo sampler ladies, and that she understand that the only key she can sing in is often very pop-friendly. Those are fine. This track, judged on its own merits, is not terrible. It's not astounding or even novel in the least, but it's fine for now. Neither here nor there. Enjoy its fleeting popularity and move on to something of equal substance-lacking. Par for the course. So, enjoy!

remix monday : Florrie gets Falke'd

Fred Falke, as always, does a fantastic job with his remixes. You can edit them down into club bangers, or you can keep them as an ambient, borderline-orchestral piece of electronica. Florrie, with her eerily-Annie sound, is perfect for Falke's prowess. These two tracks, though I do not absolutely love the originals, are great for remixes. Also, I have gotta give a shout-out to my boy Wesley over at Coffee&Bars, who is in LOVE with Florrie. He didn't point me to these remixes (I'm a Falke-follower with serious addiction issues), but his love of Florrie has been joyously crowding my inbox for a while. I will say that I think she is a rising star to watch, and that her affiliation with the Pet Shop Boys has paid some serious talent and connection dividends. I'm excited to hear what else pops out of her musical womb. Work. It. Out.

You Wanna Start Something (Fred Falke Club edit) - Florrie

Give Me Your Love (Fred Falke Club Edit) - Florrie

review: Marina & The Diamonds (live)

Marina & The Diamonds put on quite the show this evening. From the outset, the show was a surprise.

When I expected her to fall back on back-tracking, she raised her voice and overwhelmed the crowd.

When I felt she may become more tentative with an oft-reserved D.C. crowd, she gave them an excess of sass and rock-starlet swagger.

Finally, when I thought she'd open up with a big hit and mosey through a set of filler before pounding out a couple of strong more mass-familiar tracks, she completely caught me off-guard with her arrangement and organic momentum.

For me, it is easy to say that the highlights were I Am Not A Robot and Shampain (my favorite two tracks), but the songs that really stood out otherwise were Numb and Are You Satisfied.Numb, in particular, was nothing short of enchanting. I Am Not A Robot was a unique balance of intimate and anthemic that brought quickly to mind seeing Regina Spektor perform On The Radio last fall in Los Angeles (at the amazing Greek Theatre).

I believe she will be a massive star, eventually.

Numb - Marina & The Diamonds

NEW Marina Video - 'Shampain'

I love Shampain. I love its irony, raw honesty, and simple (yet borderline-ingenious) lyrics. I also like the way Marina tried to adhere to the theme of the song, as well as pay homage to one of her idols, Michael Jackson. It's quite good.

I think we all have moments like this. We have dreams caught somewhere between our own sad realities and the glamour of our serotonin-indulgent fantasies. Tragic never glistened so well.

Here's to seeing her TONIGHT at 930 Club!

Download the Song