Shame on you, Timbaland

So apparently this is sort of old news, but the Douchipster and I were listening to Crystal Castles the other night, and he played me "Courtship Dating", a tune I hadn't heard before. It sounded remarkably similar to 50 cent's "Ayo Technology", which dropped way back in the summer. I remember when that song came out that I was on a pretty strong anti-curtis kick, but I really enjoyed the synth on it. Well, now I know why.

The rumor that seemed to pop up most was that Timbaland had someone jack a sample from crystal castles through a concert soundboard. Not sure if that sounds 100% credible, but Crystal Castles have been playing this song live for far longer than the 50 cent tune has been on the airwaves. I'm all about sampling, don't get me wrong, but uncredited beat-jacking is something completely different. Shame on you, Mr. Mosley.

Here we see him listening to Beirut Demos, looking for his next hook

"Ayo Technology" feat. Justin Timberlake by 50 Cent (produced by Timbaland)
"Courtship Dating" by Crystal Castles
"Venice" by Beirut

Although I've mentiored Beirut here more than a few times, I haven't discussed that particular song. It's a pretty mellow, electro psychedelic jam.

On a sort of barely related note, I've been listening to "Rock With U" from Janet Jackson's latest album, Discipline, and it's really not bad (everything else I've heard is). My only question is this; why would you release a song called "Rock with U"? Your brother's similarly titled jam may be one of my all time favorite dancing songs, but that doesn't justify re-using the name. That issue aside, the song has a fun arpeggiator melody and well placed vocoder vocals, pretty much everything I look for in electronic music.

"Rock with U" by Janet Jackson

"Rock with You" by Michael Jackson (youtube)

I don't know where my phone is, I don't know where my homies

So it's never really been a secret that I've long been on Nelly Furtado's figurative jock, even before I saw her from a side profile.

I can actually remember exactly when it started and that would be the 2002 grammys, the only year I really watched the grammys. I wasn't really a big fan of "I'm like a bird", but when she performed it that night, something in it just hit me. It was a great performance, just her and Steve Vai off on a side stage, side by side in one single stationary spotlight. He played his guitar and she sang, that's it. Once I heard her showcased in a minimalistic setting like that, her vocals totally blew me away. Since then her pop songs have become a guilty pleasure of mine, but this latest single, "Say It Right", is really catching on in my head. It just has some kind of quality to it that sounds so familiar to me, yet I can't put my finger on what the hell it is. Maybe it's because it showcases her voice a little bit more than her other recent singles, maybe it's the weird atmospheric "heys" in the beat, I just don't know. Plus the video shows her with her own custom heli-pad. How fucking cool would it be to have your own custom heli-pad?

"I'm like a Bird" with Steve Vai by Nelly Furtado

"Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado