Song of the Summer #7: "The Riot's Gone" - Santigold

As I've stated a few times, my favorite 2012 album so far is Santigold's sophomore LP (suck it, slump) Master of My Make-Believe.  Within this album there are no less than FIVE superb tracks, and three in particular I consider to be in the top 10 best songs of the year, thus far.

Here's a little taste of this brilliance:

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Santigold really puts herself on an incredibly vulnerable stage here.  She speaks from a place of inner turmoil turned vanquished soul, yet always potently self-aware.  To me, at least, it is a song about being trapped within oneself, and how one relates to the world - yet oddly comfortable in one's self-made bed of nails.  A song that can easily be related to relationships, as well as the psychological storms that often beget a lush creation.

This is definitely my reflective song of the summer.

I've been looking for a fight
All the trouble that I know
Trying to lose the world inside
But, it's got no place to go

Oh, I'm only dangerous at the whim of my command
I've been searching for an angle
For a cause I can defend

Oh, take me home
Let me go all day
Just be here 'til I know
The riot's gone, the riot's gone away

fresh: "Settle Down (Jonas Quant v. MAJR edit)" - No Doubt

No Doubt returned recently from a massive hiatus- but didn't we all know that they were going to be great upon return?  I mean - let's be real - Gwen Stefani is golden.  She is one of the most likable female vocalists in the world, and brings the kind of genuine energy that makes even the bitchiest of critics smile.  And, she can deliver live- all you doubtin' hipsters can shove it.

Just a peach, that bitch is.   

So, I looked and looked for a proper remix of this downtempo return to the radio (first single: Settle Down), and finally came across one by Jonas Quant.  Known as simply QUANT to the dj/producer worlds, this veteran producer comes from SWEDEN... such a surprise.  He is responsible for producing all of Hurts' 2011 album Happiness (which debuted at #4 in the UK), and has also worked with No Doubt (outside of this remix) and Leona Lewis.

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So, check out the edit I did of this lovely piece, and feel free to dance around like a fancy white lady.  

Also, get off your lazy ass and go out and buy/support the return of one of the best bands out there. 

Push & Shove drops on September 25! 

(fantastic artwork below)

Song of the Summer #6: "Breathing Underwater" - Metric

Metric's latest album, Synthetica, is definitely a different direction for the Canadian kings (or queens) of indie pop.  It is somber, cerebral, and completely a different direction from the pop-sensitive (see also: catchy as fuck) Fantasies.  The highlight of this album is easily one of my favorite songs of the summer, Breathing Underwater.  

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Just give a second to marinate, and I dare you to not love this song:

fresh: NEW Two Door Cinema Club & Helio Sequence

As a fresh addition to your indie rock collection, you get two little gems of joy today.  The Helio Sequence finally returns after a 4+ year hiatus.  In January 2008, they released what was easily the best album of the year, Keep Your Eyes Ahead.  I still listen to it often, and am haunted by the chords of the title track in all the right ways.


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Two Door Cinema Club, my favorite dance-rock band to pop up in the last few years, returns with the unenviable task of topping their 2010 debut album, Tourist History, which drew heavily positive reviews (not only from yours truly, but) from virtually all of music critics.

Both of these tracks, from each respective act, are simply solid returns (even if they don't quite stack up yet to the previous albums' works. All in all, these are solidly optimistic signs.  Two Door Cinema Club's album, Beacon, is due out the first week of September.  The Helio Sequence's Negotiations is due out the second week of said month.


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By the by, here are couple little video previews: 

"Goods (MAJR club edit)" - iamamiwhoami

IAMAMIWHOAMI is a Swedish act/project (SWEDEN! AGAIN!)  of singer/lyricist Jonna Lee, an immensely talented broad worth hearing.  The debut album, Kin, is getting fantastic reviews since its release on June 11 of this year.  It is worth noting that IAMAMWHOAMI has been leaking a lot of these tracks since 2009, and finally put them on one album for the world to distribute and enjoy.  So... do that.

As much as I know this track will probably never fly at regular pop-laden gigs (i.e. gay bars), I am in love with it and can't get it out of my head.  It is a beautiful combination of haunting synths, cerebral pop/lyrics, and the kind of danceability that cannot be denied.  It is a wonderful piece of work, and was worth editing to play in house sets.  It is definitely a track I'd have to sandwich (between two 'winning' tracks), but I hope (in my foolishly optimistic mind) that one day someone will request it.

And we shall marry immediately.

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ORIGINAL VIDEO/SONG

song of the summer #5 - "Dance" - Rye Rye

First of all, BUY THIS ALBUM!  Secondly,...
This song is definitely my go-to energy song of the summer.  Rye Rye (a.k.a. Ryeisha Berrain) is from my hometown of Baltimore, and is a wonderfully talented 21 year old with a bright future.  Taken under the wings of both M.I.A. (on whose label she exists) and Robyn, she has been provided an excellent boost by artists respected for defying the lines of contrived pop- yet remaining respected throughout the pop world.  One of the other reasons I have grown to love this girl is that she consistently has supported great acts, as an opener, such as Scissor Sisters & The Gossip - something you rarely see from a hip-hop artist.

The sad part about her debut album, Go! Pop! Bang!, is that it was supposed to be released in 2009.  The parent company to M.I.A.'s N.E.E.T. label, Interscope Records, persistently delayed it- which probably had a lot to do with her having an ill-timed (career-wise) baby that year.  So, the LP was polished more and more until finally they gave the go-ahead.  

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I think she is a nice alternative to the COMPLETELY plastic aspect of Nicki Minaj.  She's self-made Baltimore Grime to Nicki's diorama of a career, and is set to take over the world's speakers.  It's just a matter of time until the shallowness of Ms. Minaj's career annoys its market; making room for talented artists like Ms. Berrain to assume the proper throne.  

So go get the record, or download this track....it is pure ... well... DANCE!

Here are some other Go! Pop! Bang! tracks worth having: 

fresh: "Let Me Love You" - Ne-Yo (written by Sia)

Ne-Yo, one of the worst guilty pleasures of a lot of neo-hipsters out there, returns with his second single from his upcoming album, R.E.D., so that you can make fun of him yet secretly love him because he reminds of you of your teen years when you still listened to Usher and liked it your way.  

Also, I'd like to take a moment to point out that his real name is SHAFFER CHIMERE SMITH, JR. 

I suppose that when you're last name's Smith, you should spice it up with a name that sounds like a luxury sofa.  Enjoy that.

In any case, he hooks up here with none other than amazing songstress Sia to write and produce this dance-friendly whiny-assed track that you will first hate, then secretly love for a while, and eventually shamefully hate again until, at last, you forget about- because it wasn't really that good in the beginning.  

That's temporary pop.  Learn to separate the good from the shit in this sub-sub-sub-genre.  

Dive in: 

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rmx mon: "When It Feels This Good (MAJR edit)" - Richard Vission v. Luciana

Luciana really is the queen of electro/club dance.  The London songstress returns with a vengeance.

She has returned in a very Dragonette-esque track with Richard Vission.  If this collaboration sounds familiar, it is the same one that brought you one of late 2010/2011's biggest dance jams, I Like That.  Check out their "new" one (it was dropped in Europe in late May), below.  Special thanks to DJ MATT BAILER back home, in DC, for throwing this my way.  I edited it up a bit to play it live in heavy dance sets.  I hope you dig it.

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Luciana has really been hitting it out of the park this year.  Her Bodyrox track Bow Wow Wow is one of my favorite dance tracks of the year, her track Jump with The Cube Guys is right up there, as well.  And, lastly her club-killer track We Own the Night, with the duo of none other than Wolfgang Gartner and Tiësto, is being blasted everywhere there's a house beat.  She has also, in the past, been responsible for some MASSIVE club hits, such as her previous Bodyrox collaboration, 2006's Yeah Yeah, 2007's Super Mal track Bigger Than Big, 2008's Come On Girl (the only good song Taio Cruz has ever produced), 2010's I Got My Eye On You (by Nari & Milani with Cristian Marchi) and Figure It Out (a track she did with Dave Audé under a pseudonym Isha Coco).    All ELEVEN videos are below.

Oh, and she wrote Kylie Minogue's Cupid Boy, perhaps the best song on Aphrodite.

song of the summer #4: ELVIS LIVES!

So, this is not exactly new (came out in late 2010), but I recently discovered it, and it is ruling my world (not to mention workouts).  This JXL take on Elvis's A Little Less Conversation is the kind of dance song that makes me immediately cut it loose.  Everything about this take on The King is stupendous, especially how the swagger of the remix complements the lyrical content.

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A little less bark | A little more BITE

fresh: "The Puritan" - blur

Oh, glorious blur (they maintain the lower-cased 'b'), you have finally returned.  G'bless you, child.  I should have posted this on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was busy getting my life in order.  In any case, they return with a little EP called Under the Westway.  The interesting thing about this EP is that the better song on the 2-song record is not the namesake.  The supporting track, The Puritan, is simply fantastic.  It's the direction we expected Damon and his lads to take (without sounding too much like Gorillaz).  Check out the awesome distortion laced behind the chorus... delicious.

So, for all you brit-pop fanatics, enjoy the glorious return of one the best bands the UK has produced... period.

Favorite lyric:
Because the flash of the blade is one less getting paid, there in the line.

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