Punting this week. Not the strongest track, but I wasn’t about to skip another one. This is B.O.B. (from that annoying “got nu nu nu nu nuthin on you” song). I’m not going to lie. Most of his stuff is kind of obnoxious in my opinion. But he does a track with Rivers Cuomo from Weezer called “Magic” which is pretty good. I also like this one. It is a new take on a Vampire Weekend song. It’s called “The Kids.” Spin it.

[Image: from the interwebz]

After a brief hiatus, we’re back. This week’s ear candy is Discovery. It’s is a pretty simple name for an equally simplistic sounding group. This outfit is a side project of Rostam Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend), as well as one of the Ra Ra Riot dudes. It is pretty much as far down the “electro” end of the “electropop” spectrum as one can get. I can’t say that I enjoy all of their tracks. But I really do like a solid handful of them. The one that I’m sharing today is called “Swing Tree.” Like it.

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As a pretext, this post was originally penned before we left on vacation and was meant to post last Tuesday. As it turns out, I forgot to schedule it. As you have probably heard by now, GSH passed away a little over a week ago. Talk about crazy timing. Here you go:

Ok, I feel like pretty much everyone know who Gil Scott-Heron is. Also, pretty much everyone knows of Jamie XX (That is NAS in the photo with Gil, btw [not Jamie XX]). But did you know that they actually teamed up on an album? It has been a while now, but I’m still listening. I heard the title track on ISO50, and thought it was pretty cool. But, I didn’t realize that they had put out a whole album until my friend (and new neighbor) Jen clued me in. It is pretty amazing stuff. Here is one of my favorites “Ur Soul and Mine.”

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I can’t say that I like all of Penate’s jams. But I do like several of them. One thing that I particularly like is that his British accent can be heard in his vocals. A lot of his stuff almost reminds me of Vampire Weekend, with the calypso beats and such. Anyway, one of my favs is “Tonight’s Today.” Spin it.

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JNB has not had nearly enough electronica lately. Haters of club music– go ahead and scroll to the next post in your reader. Seriously though, electronica takes me to a place that no other genre can. I feel like the stuff that we have now is the stuff that the Limelight kids dreamed about tripping to, back in the day. It is so hard to put my finger on exactly what aspect of these types of tracks do it for me. So I guess that I will never really be able to describe it (defend it). If you happen to be a like minded or open minded individual, please enjoy this track by Crystal Castles– Suffocation

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This time featuring NAS. If you saw “Fight for your right revisited,” then you probably recognize this track from the dance-off scene, which disturbingly ends in a pissing contest. Anyway, I think this track is pretty cool. I’m not particularly a fan of NAS. To be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed with the whole hotsauce album. But, I have been a fan of the B-boys for so long that I kinda just like whatever they do, even if they are pretty old and obviously not really trying anymore. For a good time, listen to “Too Many Rappers” (below).

Too Many Rappers [new reactionaries version] (featuring NAS) by Beastie Boys
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The reason that I’m sharing Santigold this week is because she teamed up with Beastie Boys on one of my favorite tracks from their new album, that was actually released today. That is not, however, the track that I’m sharing. I may or may not do a new Beastie Boys track next week. We shall see. Anyway, Santigold (formerly “Santogold“), only has one studio album, that I’m aware of. Titled Santogold, which was also formerly her stage name. Then, someone probably threatened to sue her or something, and she became Santigold. Now that the boring stories are out of the way, let’s talk about her music. It would be impossible to try to categorize all of her music in a single genre, the ones that I like the most are the ones with the old school rude boy flavor. So, the track I’m sharing today is “Shove it.” The opening line “Brooklyn we go hard,” is one of my favorite parts about this song. Spin it.

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I like Wale for several reasons, but probably mostly because his name is pronounced “Wallay,” which is practically my dad’s name. And my dad is awesome. For real though, this is the time of year that I’m combing through my mp3s searching for tracks to motivate me while running. By the end of the season, I probably won’t even be wearing headphones. One, because I won’t need as much motivation anymore; Two, because I will likely have sweated another iPod to death. I know that this track is kind of old, but it is definitely not tired. Wale and Lady Gaga team up for “Chillin.” Yes, there is some swearin’. But this song gets me amped when playing in my ear-goggle turned up to 11. Press play.

What’s on your spring workout playlist?

Yep, PJ Harvey. Remember her? The reason that I’m sharing her music today is because I’m actually going to go check out her show tonight with some friends. Should be good for some random throwback memories. The funny part is that I know I used to jam out to her “rid of me” album when I was in like 9th grade, but for the life of me, the only song that I can even remember by her is “Sheela na gig.” I’m sure tonight will be fun though. Reminisce over Sheela with me.

[img: album art from "Rid of me"]

Let’s take it across the pond this week. Dan Black is British and what’s cooler is that you hear it when he sings. I recently started listening to this dude. The first track that I heard from him was “Symphonies” with Kid Cudi. I really like that song. But I like this one even more. It’s called “Yours.” Escute.

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