Category: mp3 Page 59 of 120

So last week, I took a look back at what was my Class of 2012. That was a set of 10 artists that I followed closely all year, with the prediction that all of them would have a significant rise in profile as time went on. Among the class were artists like A$AP Rocky, Lana Del Rey, Azealia Banks, Frank Ocean, Grimes and Purity Ring. Many of them did quite well for themselves in 2012, and I’m proud of them for doing so. Now in 2013, I’ve selected another set of 10 artists, and fittingly called them the Class of 2013. I’m quite excited about being able to keep a close eye on them for the next 12 months, and I’m remarkably confident that their successes will become even greater than the class before them. So I encourage you to check out that post and get educated on those 10 artists, as you’ll be hearing a lot more about them in the near future. I like to use the Pick Your Poison intros as Class of 2013 update centers, so we’ll have a lot of fun with that quite soon. Did any of the artists below make my Class of 2013? Well, no, but there’s some really promising acts in this bunch too. Be sure to check out tracks from The Cannanes, Go Exploring, Kait Lawson, The Lovely Bad Things, Lovestreams, Pissed Jeans and Rare Monk. In the Soundcloud section located after the jump, you can stream new tracks from A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) and Merchandise.

Among Criminals – War

Bogan Via – Kanye (Geographer Remix)

The Cannanes – Bumper

The Fiery Piano – Scene From A Science Fictional Love Story

Future – Youth Conspiration

Go Exploring – Today

KaiL Baxley – Don’t Matter to Me

Kait Lawson – Place in the Ground

The Lovely Bad Things – Fried Eyes

Lovestreams – Shock Corridor

Mackaper – Dimma

Pissed Jeans – Cathouse

Rare Monk – Underground

Simian Ghost – Be My Wife (David Bowie cover)

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It’s Friday, and as always, that’s fantastic. The Oscar nominations came out yesterday, and as a movie buff, I’m excited to see how this year’s awards are going to go down. There were a few snubs, as there are every year, but this year’s seem particularly strange and farsighted. You take a look at the Best Director category, and to not have accomplished and great people like Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow and Tom Hooper included when they all turned in some of their finest work this year seems crazy. Perhaps the nominations got a little screwed up in the wake of some balloting issues they encountered while attempting to allow members of the Academy to vote digitally. Either that, or maybe the Weinsteins are threatening more families than usual this year. I’m just kidding, though really there’s a couple ounces of truth behind that I’m sure. So anyways, there are a number of things I’m disappointed with in this year’s Oscar nominations, but I’m not going to tackle them all here. Instead I’ll hope for better results when it comes down to the Golden Globes, which are on Sunday. That’s Hollywood’s most fun awards ceremony, so make sure you watch if you’d like to see a bunch of people having a good time while winning (or losing) awards. Now then, let’s get to today’s Pick Your Poison. Songs that get my stamp of approval today come from Apricot Rail, Camper Van Beethoven, Chelsea Light Moving (Thurston Moore’s new band), Gospels, Hollis Brown, Lapland and Milo Greene. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), stream some good tracks from Carmen Villain, Guards, Ryan Hemsworth and Widowspeak. Have a great weekend!

Apricot Rail – Basket Press

Blind Architect – Lebanon

Camper Van Beethoven – Someday Our Love Will Sell Us Out

Chelsea Light Moving – Empires of Time

Gospels – Animal Feelings

Hollis Brown – Down on Your Luck

The Hot Dark – In Retrospect

Jacco Gardner – The Ballad of Little Jane

James Hersey – Don’t Say Maybe

Jerusalem in My Heart – Yudaghdegh al-ra3ey wala al-ghanam

Kris Menace ft. Unai – Lone Runner (Axel Le Baron Remix)

Lapland – Unwise

Majical Cloudz – Turns Turns Turns (Blue Hawaii Fluchtig Mix)

Milo Greene – Parents (The Descendents cover)

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Some of my favorite things to hear in music outside of the songs are the stories behind them. The whole idea of shows like VH1’s Storytellers where the artists give background attracts me like a magnet, though I’ll only dive into it if the artist featured is someone I like. While I’m sure someone like Pink has plenty to say about the construction of her tracks, inspired by an addiction to pills or something, if I can’t connect to it I simply don’t care. So let’s talk about Jens Lekman for a minute. There’s a track of his featured below called “Olivia and Maddy,” a song that comes with a story that I found compelling. A couple months back, you may recall the tragedy that was Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast pretty hard. New York City became a powerless, flood-soaked nightmare, and many were trapped in their houses and apartments for days without some essential resources. Amid this tragedy, Lekman wasn’t in any affected areas, but his pianist was. The tour was starting in Seattle a couple days after Sandy, and Jonas the pianist was trapped in NYC. So what’s an artist to do? Lekman took to Facebook and asked his fans for a favor: If someone in the NYC area could pick up Jonas and drive him to Boston so he could catch a flight, Lekman would pay for the help, and he’d write a song about that person. So Olivia and Maddy were the two heroes that apparently helped save his tour. The song itself is a little bit silly, and if the lyrics are true Lekman got over a hundred offers from fans wanting to help, but it’s actually quite a nice track all things considered. So check it out below, along with some other great songs from Art Decade, Boys School, Freeze-Tag, Hey Champ, Lower Plenty and Torres. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream tracks from Generationals, Herve, Heyerdahl, Hooray for Earth (covering Bear in Heaven) and Rachel Zeffira.

Ampersand Posture – Asleep

Art Decade – Breeze

As Elephants Are – Lucifer

Boys School – Saturdays

First Rate People – You Won’t Get This Joke At All

Freeze-Tag – Kiss Kiss Kiss

Hey Champ – Cliche

Isadora – Barcelona

Jens Lekman – Olivia and Maddy

Lower Plenty – Strange Beast

Neon Hitch ft. Tyga – Gold (Faustix & Imanos Remix)

The Steve Adamyk Band – Katacombs

Torres – Mother Earth, Father God

Unlike Pluto – Run Maggie Run

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I’m in a bit of a hurry today, so unfortunately I can’t quite ramble on about something aimlessly like I tend to do in these Pick Your Poison entries. Instead, let’s pretty much get straight to the music. There’s good stuff today from artists such as Anamanaguchi, FLOTE, Ghost Youth, Jez Dior, Pere Ubu, Phaseone, Reversing Falls and Rice Cultivation Society. In the Soundcloud section (after the jump), stream tracks from Free Energy, Hurts and Jeremy Greenspan.

Anamanaguchi – Meow

Brave Baby – Magic & Fire

FLOTE – The Cascades

Ghost Youth – Pilgrimage

The Good Natured – 5-HT (Duncan Murray Remix)

Jez Dior – Love Me to Death

Moduloktopus – Formless

Othello Woolf – Keep On

Pere Ubu – 414 Seconds

Phaseone – It’s Not Forever

Reversing Falls – Curse This Place

Rice Cultivation Society – Honey Hide

Rosco Bandana – Feels Like Mississippi

Total Warr – Bambastard (ft. The Death Set)

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It’s the first official new music release day of 2013, and naturally things are getting off to a slow start. Next week will be much better. For now though, if you’re itching to pick something up, the following artists are putting out material for your enjoyment: Big Boi, Broadcast, Chris Tomalin, Dropkick Murphys, Never Shout Never, Pere Ubu, Solange and Wooden Wand. You might also be interested to know that the soundtrack to the great HBO show “Girls” is out this week, featuring tracks from Robyn, Santigold, Grouplove, Icona Pop, Belle & Sebastian and Fleet Foxes. It’s all previously released material, but if you don’t have those individual records already, it might be something to check out. Also worth checking out is today’s Pick Your Poison. Focus tracks today come from Airstrip, The Away Days, Frida Selander, Iceage, Paperfangs, Qurious and Sweet Knievel. In the Soundcloud section (after the jump), there’s streaming tracks from Ancient History, Azealia Banks, Eat Skull and The Neighbourhood.

Airstrip – Pleasure Center

The Away Days – Dressing Room

e-dubble – Plot Twist

Frida Selander – Forever On Your Team

Gentlemen’s Relish – They Have Seen the Apes

Humfree Bug Art – With Night and Lights

Iceage – Coalition

Mikki Ekko – Pull Me Down (T. Williams Remix)

Paperfangs – Bathe in Glory

Phil Beaudreau – Spark

Qurious – Pactolian

Sweet Knievel – Rule of Thumb

Useless Eaters – Black Night Ultraviolet

xSDTRK – sVcrethe

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Oh hey, it’s the first edition of Pick Your Poison for 2013! Yes, I’m excited to start another year of fun music writing and coverage and downloads. If 2012 was a truly great year for music (and I’d like to believe it was), that means this new year has a lot to live up to. What with things like a new My Bloody Valentine album and a new Arcade Fire album hoping to grab us by the throat (or ears, if you will), there are a few guaranteed things to look out for. Newly chief among them is the surprising last minute revelation that there will be a new David Bowie record out in March. It’s called The Next Day, and you can watch the first video from it for the song “Where Are We Now?” by clicking here. All this information was revealed minutes before I sat down to write this, and needless to say I’m very excited. Speaking of new music in 2013, I’m pleased to announce that later this week I’ll be unveiling my “Class of 2013” – 10 artists to watch this year. The “Class of 2012” was a pretty big success, with most of those artists definitely getting a boost in profile (some more than others – looking at you Frank Ocean and Grimes), and part of me thinks that this next set will be even bigger and better. I’ll let you know later this week when that post goes up. For now though, please enjoy this delightful edition of Pick Your Poison, filled with some favorites I found during the couple weeks of vacation over the holidays. Be sure to make time for tracks from Amtrac, Angel Haze, Ty Segall’s new band Fuzz, Kirby Kaiser, Pravada and Wildarms. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), you can stream some really good tracks from Active Child, Local Natives and Ryan Hemsworth.

Amtrac – Money (The Drums cover)

Angel Haze – On the Edge

Circle – One True Cup

Daymare – An Argument As A Gift

Dead Wolf Club – Letters

Fuzz – This Time I Got A Reason

Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet – Blues Can Be Abstract, Too

Kirby Kaiser – Every Time

!M! – Lithium (Nirvana cover)

Pravada – Campfire Song

Sex Jams – Shark vs. Apple

SmCity – New Year’s Revolution (ft. Alison Carney)

+verb – I Want Some

Wildarms – Unity

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Okay folks, here it is. The last Pick Your Poison of 2012. After this, the site is on vacation until January 7, 2013. I don’t know about you, but I need those couple weeks to enjoy the holidays and recharge a bit. While I’m gone, in case you haven’t already checked them out, please browse through my Top 50 Albums of 2012 and Top 50 Songs of 2012. They’re both dynamic and fun lists that I’m exceptionally proud of. I hope you’ll take a look, even if it is a passing glance. Other than that, I’d like to wish you a very happy and healthy holidays. Get loads of gifts if you haven’t already, and celebrate the new year in style. I’ve got a great feeling about 2013, even if many feel that particular number is “unlucky.” We’ll take it as it comes, and hope for the best. So here’s what’s good in this final edition of Pick Your Poison for 2012. I can recommend tracks from Arc Rev One, Dent May, ExDetectives, Husky Rescue, Moonlight Towers and The Reed Fags. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), don’t miss streaming songs from The Band in Heaven and The Deer Tracks. Be well, friends! There’s plenty more on the way next year!

Arc Rev One – The Storm of the I of the Storm

Dent May – 2099

ExDetectives – Chase It Away

Husky Rescue – Deep Forest Green

Linus Pauling Quartet – Assault on the Vault of the Ancient Bonglords

Master Shortie – Nobody Taught Me

Mist Glider – Glimmer

Moonlight Towers – Distant Wheels

Out For Hours – Driving

Peking Duk – The Way You Are (Sondrio Remix)

The Reed Fags – Molly

The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil (Pink Holy Days Version)

Theatre of Delays – Prime Time

SOUNDCLOUD

The Band in Heaven – High Low

The Deer Tracks – Bucket of Sunbeams

Heyerdahl – Mirage

Rebekah Delgado – Mad World (Tears for Fears cover)

This Town Needs Guns – I’ll Take the Minute Snake

It’s snowing! Yes, here in Chicago, today was the first day of snowfall since the end of last winter. It actually set a record for the longest period of time without measurable snow in the area. Of course that snow drought would break just as meteorological winter arrives tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, is everyone excited for the apocalypse? Yep, if the world’s ending tomorrow, it’s been nice knowing you and we’ve had a great run. This could be the last edition of Pick Your Poison ever. And that makes me somewhat sad, actually. But it IS absolutely the 2nd to last Pick Your Poison of 2012. After tomorrow, there’s a 1-2 week hiatus in place so I can actually take some time to play with my Christmas presents and spread some cheer before New Years. Have no fear though, everything will be up and running again by mid-January. I’ve also got some more posts planned for you that aren’t necessarily Pick Your Poison related. Some extra Listmas duties to take care of, if you will. For now, please enjoy the songs below. Gold star tracks today come from Beard of Wolves, Bogan Via, The Capsules, Panoramic & True and Photo Ops. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), there’s streaming songs from Geographer (covering Kate Bush), Hundred Waters, Solar Year and more so check those out too!

Beard of Wolves – My Father Drives the Death Star

The Birthday Suit – Silent Night

Bogan Via – Gatsby

Campfires – Fortune Teller

The Capsules – Our Apocalypse

Erin McKeown – Santa is An Asshole (WAV)

Hawk and Dove – Things We Lost So Far

Johan Hedberg – Some Kind of Christmas

Kensy Krackshow – The End

Marching Band – And I’ve Never Seen

The Murder Barn – Just Like Christmas (Low cover)

Panoramic & True – Gunslinger

Photo Ops – It Makes Me Cry

Psymbionic – Space Monkey (Psymbionic Remix)

Tiga – Shoes (Mickey Moonlight Remix)

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So long as we’re being honest this holiday season, I rather dislike Christmas music. I have nothing against the holiday itself, nor the decorations or anything else related to it save for the songs. To me, the words “timeless classic” just bother me to no end. I’ve been listening to these songs every single year since I was born, and I know all the words, and unless you’re totally doing a new twist on them, I don’t want to hear your rendition. If you’ve got an original Christmas song, good for you, but it’s exceptionally challenging to write a good song based around this holiday. Actually, holiday themed songs in general are bad, unless you’re talking about Valentines Day, because any love song will do. But I do hope someday I’ll hear some really amazing new Christmas songs that I can consider to be the “new classics” for the holiday. We can all learn the words to them, and then become tired of them 20 years later. Until that happens, I’ll stick with the non-holiday stuff. Don’t let that scare you away from some of the holiday-themed tracks below. I’ll even recommend a couple. Today’s Pick Your Poison delights include tracks from Dani Shay, David Bronson, E4RTH, Fitz & the Tantrums, Mitzi, Pascal Pinion and Sunglasses. In the Soundcloud section (after the jump), please enjoy streaming songs from And So I Watch You From Afar, Jamaican Queens, Jonti, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s remix of Sky Ferreira, as well as something new from STRFKR.

Brothers – We Are Pushing On

Dani Shay – Let It Snow

David Bronson – Momentary

Digits – Last Trip (ft. Au Palais)

E4RTH – It’s the End of the World as We Know It (R.E.M. cover)

Fitz & the Tantrums – Santa Stole My Lady

Greg Boring – Fine Find Fined

Mitzi – All I Heard

ON AN ON – The Hunter (The Hood Internet Remix)

Pascal Pinon: Þerney (One Thing)

Poppy Ackroyd – Seven

Steelwells – Charles Brown (Christmas Time Is Here)

Sunglasses – Blessing

Unlike Pluto – Icicle Engineer

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It’s one of the final new music release Tuesdays of the year, and if you thought things were thin before, just wait until you see this list. Artists releasing something new this week include Bell Gardens, Blur, Burial, Chief Keef and Mazzy Star. There’s a handful of reissues and deluxe editions that are out today too, and because I don’t usually include them, I will also not include them this time. I’ll be much more excited to tell you about new records once we get past this December lull and into the mid-January wake up from hibernation. Until then, please enjoy some fresh tracks as part of today’s Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss mp3s from Circle, Kate Nash (as remixed by CSS), Kid Flicks, Man the Change, Sophia Bastian and Work Drugs. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), stream new tracks from EELS, London Grammar and Sun Glitters, among other delights.

Circle – 1 2 3 Faux Leopard

Goldfish – Woman’s a Devil (Ducked Ape Remix)

The Heartbreaks – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Kate Nash – Death Proof (CSS Remix)

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch Dont Kill my Vibe (Moduloktopus ReTwerk Bootleg)

Kid Flicks – The Dirty Utopians

KYLE – Silver Platter

Man the Change – Val Killed Her

Maximum Hedrum – Keep in Touch (N.A.S.A. Art of Boogie Remix)

MVTH – Fuck

Slowwave – Paper Doll

Sophia Bastian – Breaking

Work Drugs – Young Lungs

The xx – Last Christmas (Wham! cover, Live on Radio One)

Younolovebunny – Attention

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Ah, the week before Christmas. Do you have all your shopping done yet? If you’re like me, which I’m sure many of you are, the shopping doesn’t REALLY begin until this week. I don’t blame myself for procrastinating, rather I blame everyone I’m buying gifts for because they’re all so indecisive. I ask at the beginning of December what they want, and then they toss out a few ideas, change their mind, and finally settle on something during this last week. I’ve been burned enough times to know that the earlier I shop, the more likely it is I won’t get the right gift. And it is about getting the right gift for the right person. So once I’ve got all that squared away and am able to get an official commitment from friends and family, I’ll map out a shopping plan and get most if not all of my shopping taken care of in a single day. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Long lines and frustrated shoppers aren’t for me, save for one day or two a year, and I’d like to think that makes everyone a little saner. By the way, did you happen to catch my Top 50 Songs of 2012 as I unveiled them last week? In case you missed it, you can go here to check out all the fun, post by post. I’ve also created a Spotify playlist for the Top 50 Songs in order, not to mention an alphabetically ordered playlist of 50 songs I consider to be “Runners Up”. Together those 100 tracks add up to over 6 hours of music, every bit of which is excellent in some way, shape or form. You probably won’t be in love with every song like I am, but I do hope you’re able to discover something new and great that you may have missed earlier this year. Of course you could also miss something new and great by skipping a day of Pick Your Poison, so don’t do that either. Today’s highlights include tracks from The Antlers (as re-imagined by Brent Arnold), Blackfeet Braves, Laura Warshauer (doing a Christmas classic), Sin Fang and Ellie Herring’s remix of Social Studies. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), there’s a bunch of new and great songs from Marnie Stern, Parquet Courts, Wavves, Widowspeak and William Tyler.

A. Chal – Dirty Mouth

The Antlers ft. Brent Arnold – Empty Castles (No Windows Refracted)

Ash Reiter – I’ve Got Something I Can Laugh About

Blackfeet Braves- Vicious Cycle

Dog Bite – Forever, Until

My Gold Mask – Violet Eyes (Alex Zelenka Remix)

Harness Flux – Stockholders

Hayden – Old Dreams

Laura Warshauer – Deck the Halls

Passion Pit – Carried Away (The Golden Pony Remix)

Sin Fang – Young Boys

Social Studies – Terracur (Ellie Herring Remix)

Songs for Walter – Moon/Two Out of Ten

Swim – Ride (Turbo Turbo Remix)

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While most weekends of December can be considered holiday party weekends, I think this upcoming weekend takes the cake for having the most going on. You don’t have to be attending a holiday party, but hopefully you were invited to one. A popular choice is the Ugly Christmas Sweater party, where everyone breaks out their novelty knitted holiday sweaters and wears them for the one time each year. Personally I don’t own a Christmas sweater because I refuse to own a piece of clothing that’s only wearable 1-2 times a year. Hypothetically you could wear an ugly Christmas sweater as many times as you wanted to, but why would you? Well, unless you’re the sort of person that doesn’t find them ugly. There’s a market for them somewhere, I guess, otherwise people would stop making them. The point being, I hope you have fun at a party this weekend. In my opinion, you earned it. Now then, let’s take care of this Pick Your Poison business for Friday. I’ll recommend tracks from Bear Ceuse, Judy Kang, Midnight Spin, Monster Rally, They Might Be Giants, and Hugsnotdrugs’ remix of Crystal Castles. As for the Soundcloud section, I’m just going to go ahead and recommend every single track in there. It’s a really damn good set today. Have a great weekend!

Bear Ceuse – Entertain Me

Cloud Boat – I Left for a Reason (It Escapes Me Now)

Crystal Castles – Pale Flesh (Hugsnotdrugs Remix)

EEEK! – Tough Guys

Judy Kang – You

Midnight Spin – Lion Run

Monarchy – Disintegration ft. Dita Von Teese (Mighty Mouse Remix)

Monster Rally – The Wolf

OH!Hello – MURDA

Paradise – Psychic Returns (Piano Version)

Rhian Sheehan – Little Sines

The Sky Drops – Christmas Time Is Here

They Might Be Giants – Call You Mom

A Tribe Called Red – Trap Heat

Vaticans – Out of the Fold (Silent Rider Remix)

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How are you enjoying Listmas so far? I’ve been posting my Top 50 Songs of 2012 all week this week, and we’re nearing the finish line on that. It’s really good and fun stuff, and I invite you to check it out, especially if you’ve arrived on this page specifically to look at this post you’re reading now. Sure, there are some good songs in today’s Pick Your Poison, including ones from Benbrick, Brooms, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Record Summer, The Wonder Revolution and The Soft Moon’s remix of How to destroy angels_. Sure, there are some good audio streams too from The Night and Why? and Com Truise’s remix of Everything Everything. But the only place you’ll hear the absolute best songs of this year are in the posts directly adjacent to this one. So please check it out, I’m really proud of this list and think there’s so much in it to listen to and fall in love with. If you’re going to start somewhere, start here. Thanks!

The 1975 – You (Andrea Remix)

Ab-Soul – Only 1

Benbrick – What We Run To

Brooms – Barracuda Belly

China Rats – To Be Like I

How to destroy angels_ – Ice age (The Soft Moon Remix)

Jon DeRosa – O Holy Night

Minttu & Olli – Don Juhani

Oneohtrix Point Never – Blue Drive

Para One – When the Night (Amtrac Remix)

The Record Summer – Brighton

Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone (Math Bishop Remix)

The Wonder Revolution – Invisible Until

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