fresh from outer space land

It doesn’t take long to realize that these aren’t the most normal people you know. Justice has been in the business of melting people’s brains for awhile now. If you need some reassurance of that, give their full-length debut LP, “†”, a quick listen, or its even more pupil-dilating live version, “A Cross the Universe”.

Samples of said insanity below:

Official Trailer (recommend this DVD if you don’t have it)

However, this isn’t a post about Justice circa-2007; this is a post about their new album, “Audio, Video, Disco”, to be released next week. Don’t be fooled by the giant stone cross on the cover, the similarity between the two albums mostly ends there. They get things kicked off with Horsepower, almost as a teaser that this is going to be “† vol. 2″. Here’s a sample:
Horsepower

You’ll quickly notice, though, that this is not another pulsing electro-rock-house album.The emphasis… is on the rock part. Tracks like On’N'On and Newlands sound as at home on rock records of the late 70′s and 80′s as they do here:
Newlands

Justice has never been a band (band? DJs?) that has been particularly focused on the tastes of their fans. Just as the crunchy, ears-bleeding electro-riffs of “†” freaked out a bunch of fans unaccustomed to these kinds of sounds (think about mainstream this album would be perceived as by today’s neon dubstep army), this album is going to piss off fans by being different. It’s worth a listen or ten, but probably won’t fuel your next couch-on-fire riot party.

sailing to the hipster graveyard

Just around the corner. Get your sick days ready because Lolla is coming to town and bringing the noise. Rather than fill up this site with the usual paragraph after paragraph of word vomit, straight to the goods.

In order of appearance:

Fuck Buttons – Bright Tomorrow

Hot Chip – Hold On

Chromeo – 100%

Tiga – Luxury

The Strokes – Alone, Together

Metric – Help, I’m Alive

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

Cut Copy – Lights and Music

Phoenix – If I Ever Feel Better

Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

MGMT - Brian Eno

Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition

Felix Da Housecat – We All Wanna Be Prince

Arcade Fire – Month of May

See you at Devo on Thursday night at the Congress – and at the beach on Monday.

Happy trails,

D

the other side of the hamptons

“You have your whole life to make your first record and 24 months to make your second”

How do you duplicate the experience and passion you put into your first [hit] album, the record that made you famous, into another commercially popular product that the public will both love again and you will be satisfied with?

Needless to say, this is a difficult process. Creating In Utero likely pushed Cobain over the edge (exception to the rule [mega hit] – but also not true second album). I don’t think Ezra Koenig went through the same angst to push Contra through production, but he didn’t have to worry about continuing to define his own genre.

With this in mind, in the face of huge expectations in the wake of The Rhumb Line, The Orchard doesn’t fall flat on its face. It lacks the powerful, emotional pace of its predecessor, explores new territory, and delivers some quality new tracks. It also maintains Ra Ra’s reputation for delivering music that is extremely tight, technically. It’s slower, more thoughtful, and maybe, like a lot of second albums, will be appreciated more by the fans that truly support the band than album before it.

A few of the choicer singles:

Shadowcasting (Jackson Browne, anyone?)

Do You Remember

You and I Know -> Note cellist Alexandra Lawn’s debut as lead vocals (another good reason to see them live)

Enjoy, and see these guys in concert as soon as possible (Oct 5th at SmartBar would be a good choice)
Duff

hurry while supplies last

Just imagine what music would sound like now.

Here’s the first track out so far - Where I’m Going

Sound like a good start to another good album. Catch them at Lollapalooza this weekend.

“Oh yeah those blogging assholes thought that they were really hot shit and then they disappeared”

Well….. true. Until recently. See there’s this really agonizing time-suck called work and it was jealous of the blog taking our leisure time – but no more excuses. We are lazy and the blog went into a coma.

So what do we do? Rather than go on about the endless details of stone polishing, insect taxidermy, and prostitution, I found it more useful to associate a picture of each of your favorite bloggers at work.
(Working theme songs upcoming upon my using a non-work typewriter to upload it)

Busybomb

just buying some souls

blackbeard

daylight in mongolia

kelbs

naylor

duff

any credit approved

Something musical-related coming soon.

Duchov

milk was a bad choice

Well, it’s almost August, if you didn’t know – marking the one year, semi-active, almost legitimate anniversary of this site. So thanks for pretending you still come here and thanks for actually stopping by.

Anywho, (if not currently in chicago please disregard this section) if at some point this summer you have found yourself moving from street fair to festival, or festival to concert, or concert to bar, or garden-walk to pool party, or baseball game to happy hour, or Chicago and summer, you may have found yourself asking, “But wait, where are the new summer jams???”

The answer is I don’t know. For as gracious as summer has been (again, if not from Chicago please go back into your earthen hut and contemplate moving to Chicago) with abundant sunshine, high temperatures, a very very wet lake, and unlimited opportunity for day partying, the hot new tracks have really not been flying out of the studio lately.

Not to worry. As usual, The Hood Internet has you covered for all of your hot remixed track needs. Yes, you are correct, they already get a disproportionate share of this site (and my) posts, but you honestly have to hate fun to not enjoy their new summer mixtapes at your next, barbecue, rooftop, after-hours, etc. Such an easy process to make your next party a success:

1) Go to thehoodinternet.com
2) Download new mixes (trillwave is a good start)
3) Reap benefits of awesome party

About time we came out of hibernation – thanks for coming back. More coming soon.

DD

P.S. If you aren’t listening to Yeasayer’s Odd Blood right now and loving summer please return to aforementioned earthen hut.

Coming to a party near you

Youth is not wasted on the talented. Between ABX and STV SLV, the young prodigies of Neon Indian, the future of music becomes clear: it’s weird, it’s capable, and it’s so unpredictable that you cannot help but be excited. Traditional harmony, rhythm, pop melody don’t matter; only the notion of what sounds cool. It may be shocking, surprising, even uncomfortable, but in the end so good that you may not notice it tonight, or on XRT tomorrow, but these brains are far enough ahead of their time that you should be lucky to see them in a small venue now before the rest of their world realizes their talent. It’s not a deadbeat summer; it’s a new season altogether.

-dd

Side-effects of 6-hour winter days: See also 'Champaign'

One of the most popular rock bands in Sweden and yet relatively unknown outside the country. Here are a couple off their newest offering, Röd. You can hear both sides of their emerging style: Half Radiohead-inspired rock on the first track, half synth-heavy power pop on the next two.

Svarta Linger

Taxmannen

Krossa Allt

I heard these guys are playing the Ice Hotel for Winter Break 2009

Duff

Get warmed up. A couple off his new album:

FML

Ghosts N’ Stuff (feat. Rob Swire)

Or better yet, sample this.

See you there…

Duchov

Coming to a party near you

For those unfamiliar, Chicago-based The Hood Internet consists of Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, better known as ABX and STV SLV, two DJs unafraid to mash just about anything together. Best known for their outrageously good mixtapes, Volume Four is no exception.

Some Highlights:

Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear – Two weeks of Hip Hop

Soulja Boy vs. Joe Jackson – Swaggin’ Out

OJ Da Juiceman (ft. Gucci Main) vs. Discovery – Make That Loop Say Aye

Modest Mouse vs. Kanye West – Floating Paranoia

Amanda Blank vs. VEGA – No reason to like you better

Find full singles, the rest of this mix, and a bunch of other good stuff on their website. If you haven’t had the chance to catch these guys live, do so ASAP. They play a lot of shows around Chicago, including The Vic on November 27th and Canopy Club (for you U of I alums and students) on December 4th.

DD