this n that

The breetard passed the new ergs! album my way the other day. I have to say that it's not really as instantly catchy as some of their older material (like "Everything Falls Apart Again"), but there are definitely quality tracks here. From my initial spins of the album, "See Him Again" is the first track to really stand out from the others.

"Everything Falls Apart Again" by the Ergs!
"See Him Again" by the Ergs!

On a totally different note, I've been feeling electronic music lately. I got six free song downloads with my rock the bells tickets, so I went ahead and picked up some Gui Boratto and Felix da Housecat in the iTunes store, along with an excellently titled Ghislain Poirier song. The Gui Boratto track comes off of a remix album for City of God. The tune really doesn't convey anything related to the amazing film, but it's a cool spaced out track that manages an interesting balance between the Brazillian influence and the house sound. The Felix da Housecat track is really a lotta fun, but like a lot of house it really takes a while to really get moving. That's the nature of the beast though, so I can't really front on it for that. The Ghislain Poirier track shakes the booties, as his tracks are apt to do, and does some crazy backwards sampling tricks that work out real well in his favor.

"Molestado" by Gui Boratto



(weirdest house party ever goin on there)
"Footsteps of Rage" by Felix Da Housecat

"Don't Smile, It's Post-Modern" by Ghislain Poirier

I also picked up the Bright Eyes guest spot from the new Dntel album. This production makes me really excited for a new Postal Service album. The Conor Oberst vocals aren't hurting my opinion of it either.

"Breakfast in Bed" by Dntel

Mixtape Murdaaa

So I put together a playlist to burn for driving in my car a while back, a mix if you will. I really enjoy listening to it on rainy days, but maybe someone else will like it for a beautiful day like today. Some of these songs have been up on Cigarbox before, but today it's not really about the individual song as much as it's about the set of songs as a whole. Anyways, without any further adieu, I present to you

Cigarbox Guitars Volume 1: El Producto

1. "Imagine" by Dizzee Rascal
Man, I like this song so much more than the John Lennon song of the same name. The production is just beatiful. Absolutely beautiful. The postal service needs to listen to this song and take notes.

2. "Rain Edit Interlude" by Prefuse 73
So maybe this song is why I like listening to this mix so much in the rain. The first time I played the "Surrounded by Silence" album in my house, my dad kept complaining that my record player had to be skipping, it couldn't sound like this on purpose. YOU JUST DON'T GET IT, MAAAAAN.

3. "Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean" by Paul Simon
One of my firsts posts on Cigarbox was about how awesome the most recent Paul Simon is. I really feel like Paul Simon just doesn't get enough credit anymore for being an awesome musician. The guy has made music that goes in so many different directions, from this album with Brian Eno to his early American Folk sound to the African Folk sound on Graceland. The way he sings, "nothing is different, but everything has changed," at the end of this song is absolutely heartbreaking.

4. "I and I Survive" by Burning Spear
This is one I picked up off of Soul Sides. As guest blogger Joe Schloss explained, this song is a great example of musicians using the absence of sound to create a musical soundscape. Fucking cool song.

5. "Talkin' Bout Hey Love" by De La Soul
This might be my favorite De La Soul song of all time, off of what's definitely my favorite album, De La Soul is Dead. Does this even count as a song, or is it technically a skit? I'm not sure. Either way, the Stevie Wonder melody is just wonderful.

6. "Analyse" by Thom Yorke
Thom's solo effort was a bit of a letdown to me. That's not to say I don't like the songs individually, I do, but as a whole the album just wasn't as captivating as I expected. That being said however, I like the piano on this song a lot.

7. "One For The Head" by M.I.A.
This beat reminds me so much of this little casio keyboard I had when I was younger. I really wish I could find that little keyboard.

8. "Arc of Time" by Bright Eyes
I've said it before and I'll said it again, Conor Oberst is a master beatsmith.

9. "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" by Dntel
Yet another song that the Postal Service should listen to and take some notes on. According to Wikipedia, Ben Gibbard had a weird dream involving Evan Dando and Cat Power (Chan Marshall) and this song was born. It also has a video you can watch here, but I don't think the group had anything to do with the video.

10. "Hollow Bones" by the Wu-Tang Clan
I was in Florida with my family years back and I bought a magazine to read, just because it had the Wu on the cover, raising the Iron Flag. It came with a CD sampler and this was the Wu song they chose to be on it. Ghost's finish to the song makes me wish he rapped like that more often these days.

11. "Mysterons" by Portishead
I love Portishead. The second time I saw the Strokes, they played this whole album before Kings of Leon went on. Once I heard the drum on this song, I basically fell in love with it. I went out and bought the album, I think the next day.

12. "This Room" Remix by the Notwist
For a while, I was only familiar with the Notwist's Neon Golden. I heard some of their older stuff, from when they were more on the thrash side of things and I wasn't really interested, so I never really delved deeper than the one album. Then I heard this song and it definitely has a very different sound from Neon Golden, but I really love it.

13. "Just the Thought" feat. Masta Killa and the Gza by Prefuse 73
Another great one from Surrounded by Silence. The effects used after the gun and sword references are so clutch.

14. "Artificial Intelligence" by Autechre
This is pretty much just simple digital music, but I rock reeeally hard to it when I'm all by myself.

15. "Stand Up Tall" Ghislain Poirier Remix by Dizzee Rascal
When I made this mix the first time, I had the McSleazy remix of this song on it. This version is just so much better though. My life won't be complete until I hear this song while I'm out on the dancefloor. This song makes me shake my moneymaker.

16. "Afterclap" by 13&God
13&God are a Notwist offshoot that I honestly don't know a whole lot about. I do know though, that the spoken parts, "Big Money! Big Prizes!" remind me of Requiem For a Dream and I like that a lot.

17. "Battle" by Wookie
Man, this song is cheesy as hell. It's all about fighting temptation and negativity and shit like that by relying on your faith. I dunno, on paper I should hate this song, but it makes me dance. I like the keyboards a lot, even though they're pretty quiet in the mix.

18. "Milkman" by Aphex Twin
The lyrics to this song are so awesome. This song always reminds me of KMFDM, even though it's not thaaat similar.

Download the Mix

5 Great Guest Appearances

So like with the last list I posted, this songs are in no order of importance and I'm not even going to say that these are the best guest appearances ever, although they could be up there. These are just 5 great moments in recent musical history where a meeting of the minds occurred.

1. Nas Escobar joins the ranks of the Wu-Gambinos

It's generally agreed that Nas is at his best on Illmatic. Some may disagree, trust me friends, those folks have incorrect opinions. So we have Nas jumping in the ring on a personal favorite, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Honestly it's sort of ridiculous to think it wouldn't be awesome. Raekwon, Tony Starks, and freaking Nas. It's just great. The mostly incoherent speaking whispered over the track is so damn tension building.

"Verbal Intercourse" feat. Nas and Ghostface by Raekwon the Chef

2. some eerie foreshadowing of things to come

Before there was the Postal Service, there was Dntel and there was Death Cab. Now I'm not going to claim to like Death Cab for Cutie, because I don't, but when frontman Ben Gibbard decided to lend his voice to a track on Jimmy Tamborello's Dntel album, the result was aaaawesome. As much as I enjoy the Postal Service, this pre-postal service collaboration between the two men ranks far higher in my own personal favorites.

"(this is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" by Dntel

3. The title really says it all for me.

Brooklyn's finest indeed. Even if there weren't two rap giants on this track, that piano is so goddamn head-bop inducing. It's so refreshing to hear Biggie duet with someone while he's actually living.

"Brooklyn's Finest" feat. Biggie Smalls by Jay Z

4. It's kind of like Tiny Toon Adventures

I've always liked Rilo Kiley. So when I read that Jenny Lewis was covering the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle with Care" on her solo album, I thought that could be cool. I've always enjoyed the Traveling Wilburys, since I'm not a fool. I especially enjoy a good guest appearance, so when I heard that Conor Oberst-and some less important friends-were going to be joining Ms. Lewis on the track, I thought that'd be pretty cool. It's like their own little junior wilburys. And although I will sarcastically agree and sincerely disagree with folks who tout Oberst as the next Bob Dylan, it's fun to hear him foam out the dylan / tom petty vocals.

"Handle with Care" covered by Jenny Lewis with Conor Oberst, that guy in the postal service, and someone else.



5. Veronica Spector is so money and she doesn't even know it.

Apparently Madonna once said that, "Ronnie Spector sounds: sexy, hungry, totally trashy." So if you couldn't guess, I have one more reason to think Madonna sucks. She's lucky there'll always be "Like a Prayer." So sexy and hungry would both be completely accurate to describe Spector's vocals, but totally trashy is waaay outta line. I sort of have a tendency to always talk about how this is the greatest recorded pop song of all time, but just listen to "be my baby". Spector's voice is anything but trashy. Her voice drips longing and desire, but it's too pure to be trashy. Trashy doesn't do it justice. Anyways my point here is that she has one of the most stirring voices in the world of pop music and only a performer of her caliber could make a star out of one Edward Money.

Think about it this way, isn't it exciting that the angel from the Ronettes got to grace the charts one more time? Besides that, you show me a man who doesn't sing along to this song when he's in his car, and I'll show you either a liar or a person who doesn't happen to be in the car when "Take Me Home Tonight" comes on. That's right, the final song in this installment of Cigar-Box guitars is

"Take me Home Tonight" featuring Ronnie Spector by Eddie Money.

eddie freaking money.