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Gran Ronde Wisdom Lyrics
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
This is one of our favorite tracks from the Black Kids' debut, Partie Traumatic, an album overflowing with highly danceable neo-wave pop. "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" is an infectious, synth-covered mix of joyous indie-pop with bubbly melodies and Go! Team-inspired cheers.
Click here to download Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You and more free itunes downloadsKudai - Lejos de Aqu
Chilean teen pop sensation Kudai set its sights on the U.S. with the band's third studio album Nadha, the first to be released here in the States. The song "Lejos de Aqu" is an electro-tinged pop track with airy vocals and lyrics focused on global warming, reminding us that we all have to take responsibility for our actions that impact future generations.
Click here to download Kudai - Lejos de Aqu and more free itunes downloadsThe Lost Trailers - Holler Back
Too bad that the Lost Trailers' "Holler Back" wasn't released a few months earlier. Otherwise, it very well could have been a strong dark horse for single of the summer. Opening with sassy fiddle and a humorous spoken word verse, this modern country gem builds up to a chorus featuring not only a tight backing vocalist but call and response shouts. So give "Holler Back" a listen and extend your summer ? at least in spirit!
Click here to download The Lost Trailers - Holler Back and more free itunes downloadsWednesday, August 20, 2008
Rebelution - Safe and Sound
Picture Sublime jamming with Jack Johnson on Don Carlos? back porch ? that?s Rebelution. The three-year old band from Santa Barbara, California, uses reggae as its base element then adds colorful rock and hip-hop embellishment. ?Safe and Sound? epitomizes Rebelution?s sunny ?California Reggae? vibe that propelled its debut album, Courage to Grow to prominence on iTunes.
Karina - Can't Find The Words
Working in front one of the all-time great crate-digger beats, Karina makes it easy to fall for her thoughtful, boom-bastic pop. Karina is a pianist/songwriter/teenager whose debut, First Love was produced by Tricky Stewart and The-Dream and has already gained a little bit of love thanks to the single "Sixteen @ War."
Don Tetto - No Estaba Acostumbrado
This Colombian quartet come out of the gates running - hitting hard with their pure punk energy and lyrical insights that look more to the brighter side of life than downtrodden tales from the barrio. The thundering, mile-a-minute drums showcase the group's love of modern punk-pop, but you can also hear a love of the big "chunka-chunka" metal guitars of heroes like Metallica. "No Estaba Acostumbrado" is taken from the band's debut, Lo Que No Sabas.
Get Smart
Exclusive clip from the movie Get Smart available for free download from the iTunes Music Store.
Click here to download 'Get Smart' free from itunes...Locos por Juana - Armando
Locos Por Juana is a Latin rock/cumbia/reggae/hip-hop/salsa/you-name-it ensemble out of Miami. The smoking brass section and thick cumbia vibe of "Armando" comes from the group's third album, La Verdad. The track oozes soul out of these tropical grooves, throwing on more and more elements as the song progresses (children's voices, a brief hip-hop spotlight, a few DJ scratches) into an unclassifiable roof-raiser.
Click here to download 'Locos por Juana - Armando' free from itunes...Ludovico Einaudi - Andare
Ludovico Einaudi's music is so enjoyably approachable that it may come as something of a surprise to learn that he studied under the famous experimental composer Luciano Berio. His simple, lyrical piano music is often described as "minimalist", although many of his compositions are structured more like popular songs than the extreme minimalist works of Philip Glass and Michael Nyman.
Click here to download 'Ludovico Einaudi - Andare' free from itunes...Joel Auge - So Deep In Love
Joel Auge is the former frontman for the group Hewit. On his own, Auge's mixture of worship music and emotional alt-rock rings makes a solid case for being one of the highlights of 2008. The album mixes up folk and pop with piano pop and Auge's own transcendent vocals.
Click here to download 'Joel Auge - So Deep In Love' free from itunes...The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division
This Liverpool trio offer up some sound advice on this track taken from the group's full-length "The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guid to Love, Loss and Desperation." The track is a spiky little post-punk dance celebration that finds a little bit of joy in the legendary Manchester group's influential dirges. The irony is not lost on the Wombats, who sound like they're having an amazing time - adding plenty of Motown-style rhythms underneath the soulful, jangling clatter.
Click here to download 'The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division' free from itunes...Babasnicos - Microdancing
The restless sonic adventurers of Argentina's Babasonicos have spent the bulk of their nearly two decade-long career crafting introspective, futuristic pop. Their sound is one that combines tuneful, electrified alt-pop a la U2 with the stylish flair of Roxy Music. "Microdancing" is an understated bit of glitter pop with a perfectly breezy vocal spin. It's like a lost gem from the new wave era.
Click here to download 'Babasnicos - Microdancing' free from itunes...Hercules and Love Affair - Blind
Hercules and Love Affair is basically one Andy Butler, who has invited a variety of people aboard to vocalize his electro-pop experiments. "Blind" is an extraordinary record thanks to the inclusion of Antony (he of the Johnsons), who plays the role of melancholy, amazingly-voiced, electro ingenue like Jimmy Somerville and Alison Moyet before him. The group is signed to James Murphy's DFA imprint, so you shouldn't be too surprised when Hercules and Love Affair go global sometime this year.
Click here to download 'Hercules and Love Affair - Blind' free from itunes...Valeria Gastaldi - Despertar
Argentinean singer Valeria Gastaldi branches out on her own with this new song from her solo album Cuando No Estas. The former reality TV show winner and member of the pop group Bandana creates her own brand of light and hook-filled contemporary rock with a sugary edge. "Despertar" has a dreamy, sing-along quality that makes it one of the stand-out tracks on her new release.
Click here to download 'Valeria Gastaldi - Despertar' free from itunes...James Carter - Bossa J.C.
On this original composition, James Carter lays down a subtle understated groove driven by elegant arrangements, carefully pared down to the essentials. Says Carter: "I'm dealing with more lyricism on this album, and I'm making more concise statements in the music versus playing out for 10 or 11 minutes." This creates the perfect setting for Carter's solowork - and work it is, as he leaps large intervals in single bounds that would make any superhero blanch. Little wonder then, that the Detroit native recently topped Downbeat's annual Critics Poll in the Baritone Saxophone category for the third year in a row.
Click here to download 'James Carter - Bossa J.C.' free from itunes...The Cool Kids - 88
The Cool Kids flex a new rap language, inciting both new and old hip-hop heads to exclaim, "They don't make songs like this anymore." With all its golden age signifiers - the knocking beats, the "yes yes y'all" chants, the guitar stabs - the Cool Kids show immense affection for rap's magical year of 1988. "88" makes the old school futuristic with Mikey and Chuck going sick over cyborg drum breaks, which brings up the question: "Are they indeed rapping about 1988 or reporting from the future and reflecting back on 2088? Decide for yourself.
Click here to download 'The Cool Kids - 88' free from itunes...Tommy Torres - Tarde O Temprano
In the past few years, Puerto Rico's Tommy Torres has established himself as one of the top Latin pop producers on the globe. His work with Ednita Nazario, Ricky Martin, and Ricardo Arjona brought out the best instincts of these artists. "Tarde o Temprano" is the title track from his third solo album and it's a sweeping epic, with Torres blending theatrical rock with a more windswept ballad style.
Click here to download 'Tommy Torres - Tarde O Temprano' free from itunes...Julianne Hough - My Hallelujah Song
As back-to-back winner in television's Dancing With the Stars (with partners Apolo Anton Ohno and Helio Castroneves), Julianne Hough has a solid foundation as one of America's premier ballroom dancers. She furthers her winning streak, this time in country music, with "My Hallelujah Song," the follow-up single to "That Song In My Head," from her new self-titled debug. Hough takes a moment to reflect on her life and offer thanks in a style that recalls Christina Aguilera and Shania Twain. Hough is the antithesis of today's tabloid starlets: a sqeaky clean and talented pixie, truly an American sweetheart.
Click here to download 'Julianne Hough - My Hallelujah Song' free from itunes...Leny - Llegara Ese Dia
Leny keeps things as smooth as is humany possible on "Llegara Ese Dia". He's got an R&B slickness to his vocals, but the fluid percussion and the bachata rhythms are less about filling up the clubs but more about creating a sophisticated and romantic sound. Fans of Aventura or Juan Luis Guerra or anyone who feel for Leny's "Debil" last year will find much to savor here.
Akon & Kardinal Offishall - Dangerous (feat. Akon)
Kardinal Offishall comes to use straight out of Canada and this cut is a slick, bouncy club favorite that has been all over the charts up north. It wouldn't be a chart-topper without an Akon appearance. The Senegalese vocalist with the Midas touch adds a few verses and some production duties on this synth-heavy track.
Click here to download 'Akon & Kardinal Offishall - Dangerous (feat. Akon)' free from itunes...The Blakes - Two Times
Seattle-based indie rockers the Blakes don't so much perform their songs as swagger through them. "Two Times" is a case in point, a track that allegedly caught the ear of indie rock luminary Iggy Pop who was moved to say "This s**t is good". We can't help but agree. The song takes a while to get to the chorus but once there, you find yourself wishing it would never leave. Grunge this most certainly is not but the music exudes a certain undeniable authenticity - clearly the work of a band that has paid its dues. And what could be cooler than a band named after William Blake?
Click here to download 'The Blakes - Two Times' free from itunes...Diego - Losing Me
The doors to success began to open very early for Diego Gonzalez. In 2003, he was a top-ranking finalist on a reality TV talent search. He was just 13 years old at the time. What followed was a slew of acting opportunities and his debug album, released in 2005. "Losing Me" is a huge, anthemic ballad from his assured follow-up, Indigo. Pop songwriters and producers Mitch Allen and Kara DioGuardi have also stepped in to give the songs on this new album a bit of polish that is likely to bring the tune to a massive audience.
Click here to download 'Diego - Losing Me' free from itunes...The Ting Tings - Great DJ
The Ting Tings are an English duo made up of Jules De Martino and Katie White who formed in Salford in 2006. Their style is one that is pure adrenalin and pop music and some kind of unmamed sugary confection thrown in to make it stick. The singles in their so-brief career have been like bubble-gum elctro-pop with guitars. But the catchiness of "Great DJ" is also due to the song-craft underneath, integrating play yard melodies with a touch of indie rock hooks. Their first full-length "We Started Nothing" sees the light in the spring of 2008.
Click here to download 'The Ting Tings - Great DJ' free from itunes...Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
Santogold hails from Philadelphia and was the former lead singer of the Philly punk rock/ska band Stiffed. After leaving Stiffed to go solo, her initial singles became an internet success. We think you'll like this one too.
Click here to download 'Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes' free from itunes...Alex Cuba - Agua del Pozo
Alex Cuba is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from (take a guess...) Cuba who also calls Canada home. This track is from his second album, Agua Del Pozo, a mellow collection of soulful rhythms and strikingly agreeable melodies. His music has a touch of his Cuban roots, but has a knack for melancholy that is like a combination of sad Brazilian sambas and more American-ized baroque pop.
Click here to download 'Alex Cuba - Agua del Pozo' free from itunes...Jil Aigrot - Mon vieux Lucien
If you saw the film La Vie en Rose, then you've heard Jil Aigrot. She was the singing voice of French vocal legend Edith Piaf in the film when Piaf's original recordings weren't used. Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard then lip-synced to Aigrot's renditions. Aigrot's uncanny approximation of Piaf's phrasings and signature matieral is available on the album Word's of Love, on which you'll find this week's free Discovery Download.
Click here to download 'Jil Aigrot - Mon vieux Lucien' free from itunes...NG - Ella Menea
NG2 are a pop-salsa duo from Puerto Rico who honed their considerable chops as part of romantic salero Victor Manuelle's group. "Ella Menea" is an unstoppable groove with some great, funky trombone work and the duo's own interchanging vocal leads. "Ella Menea" is stylish, hip and yet completely classic in its approach.
Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart
"Worrisome Heart" is the title track to the debut from the young vocalist Melody Gardot. Gardot's debut is out on Verve Records and the sound she conjures here is a good fit with that label's classic recordings. This is smoky vocal jazz with Gardot providing plenty of mystery and guile in the composition and vocal style. She unfolds the song like a blues tune, focusing on repitition, but tells more with each line of the song.
Click here to download 'Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart' free from itunes...Tristan Prettyman - Madly
Cut from the same singer-songwriter cloth as Jack Johnson and Jill Sobule, Tristan Prettyman applies a warm Carnauba wax to her acoustic California pop, then burnishes it to a deep glow. A troubadour in flip-flops, Prettyman's sunny take on heartbreak, "Madly," appears on her second album Hello.
Click here to download 'Tristan Prettyman - Madly' free from itunes...Tony Dize - Bien Sudao
In the case of Puerto Rico's Tony Dize, you can definitely judge the man by the company he keeps. Dize has been working closely with reggaeton duo, Wisin & Yandel. The compilation Los Vaqueros that was put out by the dynamic duo featured the track "Quizas", which was a big hit. Now Dize is out on his own and we've got a track from his full-length debut, La Melodia De La Calle.
Click here to download 'Tony Dize - Bien Sudao' free from itunes...Carrier
In the middle of the ocean, a thousand miles from nowhere, a floating city rises above the sea. Twenty-four stories high, three football fields long, carrying 5,000 sailors and marines and 85 military aircraft - this is the USS Nimitz. From May to November 2005, a team of documentary filmmakers embedded aboard the USS Nimitz as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The result is a raw and honest look at the United States Navy and its role at a critical turning point in this controversial war. With startling intimacy, Carrier follows a core group of subjects as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, family, faith, patriotism, and the rites of passage - all against the extraordinary backgrop of the war in Iraq.
Click here to download 'Carrier' free from itunes...Algebra - Run and Hide
Algebra Blessett is an R&B songbird from Atlanta whose gentle rain caught the ear of Kedar Massenburg, who assisted D'Angelo and Erykah Badu early on in their careers. With "Run and Hide", Blessett curls toes with a sensuous tale of elusive love, heightened by synthesized strings, hearbeat keys, and a bedrock beat. Nothing complex about this Algebra; enter her classroom and get schooled.
Antonio Carmona - Vengo Venenoso
The former lead vocalist of Ketama has enlisted the help of famed producer Gustavo Santaolalla for the songs on Vengo Venenoso and the result is a luxurious and smooth entry into flemnco-tinged, first-rate pop music. The title track is a beautifully-played mix of flamenco touches on acoustic guitar but with a backing group that shows nuances of roots roc and jazz fusion.
Click here to download 'Antonio Carmona - Vengo Venenoso' free from itunes...Emily Jane White - Time On Your Side
Emily Jane White is a twenty-something vocalist from the San Francisco Bay Area. "Time On Your Side" is from her album Dark Undercoat and it's finger-picking folk tune underscored by White's husky, slightly lonely vocals. It has the vibe of that "weird America" sound that many of us love here at iTunes but she trades in arcane mythical references for more concrete, lyrical poetry about life and loves.
Click here to download 'Emily Jane White - Time On Your Side' free from itunes...Seor Flavio - Malito
As the bassist for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Seor Flavio provided the bottom end to the group's funky mash-up of ska, rock, hip-hop, and Argentinean grooves. For this solo cut, he keeps the genre definitions at arm's length - working in an uptempo skank while mixing up lightning-quick smooth lyrics against some gruff dancehall-like toasting.
Click here to download 'Seor Flavio - Malito' free from itunes...Lady Antebellum - Love Don't Live Here
Lady Antebellum is a trio from Georgia that's just about to release its self-titled debut. Ostensibly a country music group, the harmony-rich trio plays a warm mix of heartland-style rock on our Single of the Week, "Love Don't Live Here."
Click here to download 'Lady Antebellum - Love Don't Live Here' free from itunes...Cut Copy - Lights & Music
Cut Copy blew us away at South by Southwest. Their new album, in Ghost Colours is an exercise in drawing parallels between favorites old and new and trying to find a meeting point in between - from the vocodered robo-pop of French house to prog's soaring harmonies to the texture of shoegaze, "Lights and Music" lands at some sort of trans-galaxial intersection between these disparate planets.
Chana - La Duda
Chana is Rosanna Tavarez, a vocalist and songwriter of Dominican heritage who grew up in New York and Miami. Along the way, she's built up a voracious passion for music, from dance pop to UK alternative bands to underground American indie rock. She flourishes on this cut from her new EP, Manos Arriba. "La Duda" starts out as a booming dance party cut and gradually morphs into an electronic-tinged alt-pop tune with searing guitars and disco bass-lines.
Click here to download 'Chana - La Duda' free from itunes...R.E.M - Living Well is the Best Revenge
This video kicks off R.E.M.'s storming new album Accelerate with a rousing combination of churning guitars and lyrical ire, with the kind of high and low harmonies that make it so defiantly a R.E.M. tune.
Click here to download 'R.E.M - Living Well is the Best Revenge' free from itunes...Karyme Lozano - Ay, Ay, Ay
Mexico City's Karyme Lozano is one of the most well-known actresses in the world of telenovelas. The young actress has been going strong since she first debuted on Tres Mujeres in 1999. This track from her debut Prohibido takes a pared-down reggaeton beat and spikes up the norteno influence while Lazano adds in her own lucious voice.
Click here to download 'Karyme Lozano - Ay, Ay, Ay' free from itunes...The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful
The Kills are duo Alison Mossheart (VV) and Jamie Hince (Hotel). The group's minimal punk noise has shades of '60s biker chic in their image (think Peter Fonda in Easy Rider) while the music is a mixture of the first PJ Harvey record, Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy and the influential noisy lo-fi indie blues of Royal Trux. This new track comes from their new album Midnight Boom, which delivers a dangerous balance of lust and grit with Spank Rock producer Armani XXXchange helping out in their quest for perfectly distilled rock 'n' roll.
Click here to download 'The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful' free from itunes...The Puppini Sisters - Walk Like An Egyptian
Sure, you love your '80s pop. You've written a small treatise on the importance of both Prince and Gang of Four. You might even be wise enough to appreciate Nouvelle Vague's bossa nova revisit to the grand tunes of the post-punk era. But are you ready to hear the '80s pop classic "Walk Like An Egyptian" from the Bangles done in the style of the Andres Sisters? Such is the bounty offered up by the Puppini Sisters. Gimmicky? Perhaps. Expertly done and ridiculous fun? You bet.
Click here to download 'The Puppini Sisters - Walk Like An Egyptian' free from itunes...
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