Eye Candy

MOMENTS WITH ALOE BLACC, MIKI AND JAYBO: "I NEED A DOLLAR" PART 5/6 from MADE Blog on Vimeo.

This is an amaaaaaazing video of Aloe Blacc performing a live rendition of his song, "I Need a Dollar." Backing is provided by Mihalj “MIKI” Kekenj’s string quartet. The performance, which took place back in April, was captured by artist Jaybo for the MADE project. Aloe sounds insanely good. It might be the orchestra mics or the acoustics but he sings so clearly and seemingly without effort. Love the drink in hand and the calm way he can just belt it out. Seriously great performance, I can't get over how good this sounds.


Bjork and Michel Gondry, "CRYSTALLINE." It seems like this song was made for a video and not the other way around. I can't imagine when you would want to listen to this song. I wouldn't be bumping this in my car, this isn't living room fare. It's tolerable with the visuals though. It's kind of like an insane Icelandic woman and a crazed French man got together for this project, or maybe that's just the vibe I get.


I love this commercial so much. I like to imagine the director and James' interactions like Bill Murray in, "Lost In Translation." "You know Lat pack?" *James just screams and does the splits*


Ha, these kids are awesome. They are the perfect duo. Strong silent type, straight man, on the right and the singer, emcee, on the left. Strong silent is intense, you have to love the face he makes when he does the shimmy. Amazing video. I love Andre 3000 as well children.


Great animated video for a nice airy pop number from Lanu featuring Megan Washington. Love the style, blends really well with the vibe of the song too.


Yourstru.ly Presents: UMO "How Can You Luv Me" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.
Feeling this Unknown Mortal Orchestra song. Falsetto rockiness, recorded in SF. Of course they were formed in Portland.


Sene makes some quality hip hop. Became a fan of him from his work with Blu and Exile.

Ipod Shuffle Mix 1

Mars-1 just had a show opening at Jonathan Levine Gallery in NYC, as usual it was pretty mindblowingly, awesome work.  Check it out here.

Just like a Mars-1 piece, Ipod shuffle mixes take seemingly random and chaotic elements of the universe and find geometric patterns that create a beautiful cohesive landscape of sound/visuals.  Or not, it's possible that I just put my Ipod on shuffle and let the machines do all of the work.  It's called chaotic curating, a term that I just made up right now.  It's all about letting the robots out of the cage and seeing what they come up with.  I have to say that they didn't do a horrible job.  It may not be a Mars-1 masterpiece but it's definitely a couple steps above a paint by numbers.

The mix is a nice blend of girl groups, soul, some old people music and a small sprinkling of Indie.  Download the Mix here. or hit the jump for samples and tracklist.

Soul Mix 9

Dancing at the Tiny Bubble Room- Matte Stephens

The art above is by Matte Stephens, his Etsy can be found by clicking the link in the caption.  I am partial to his Manhattan print and the rest of his city themed prints.  I am also partial to dancing in Tiny bubble rooms.

The newest soul mix is the perfect fodder for tiny bubble room dancing.  At least towards the end.  It starts out slow like most of my mixes seem to do.  Then it delves into some slow, doo-wopish, falsetto type songs.  They are almost more doo-wop/oldie than soul, but it's a fine line and they are good songs so they get the nod.  After that it breaks on through to the other side with a handful of more upbeat tunes.  Some of them are even newer songs that have been released within the last couple of years.

Tracklist and download link behind the jump.

Soul Mix 4

Do you have your smoking jacket on and a drink with an umbrella in it, no homo?  Then settle in and get ready for Soul mix 4.  Being totally unbiased it's the audio form of everything that is right in the world.  Someone named me likes it.

This mix has the Helene Smith version of, "Pain In My Heart," off of Eccentric Soul Vol 7: Deep City Soul Label.  I highly recommend purchasing it on vinyl, it's a solid collection.  Deep City was a seriously dope label out of Miami, there are a bunch of nice tracks in their catalog.  A little bit about them and the Eccentric Soul collection.  "Possibly the most influential of all the 60s Miami soul label's, the Deep City sound not only changed the Metro-Dade area, but set the tone for disco powerhouse TK's impressive run in the 70s.

The singles on Willie Clark and Johnny Pearsall's Lloyd and Deep City label's are Florida's rarest of the rare, and we've collected the best of their four year run here. Includes Betty Wright and Paul Kelly's first sides, the can't-miss-but-did diva Helene Smith, obscure work by Frank Williams & the Rocketeers, as well as a previously unreleased acetate by the Moovers."

 












Eccentric Soul Vol. 7 and Otis playing peek-a-boo.

Back to Helene's cover, I was in a record shop in the city and this came on and I had to do that thing where you stop what you are doing, walk up to the counter and demand they give you the name of the artist singing or you will start breaking things.  Of course they coughed up the name immediately and that's just one of the many reasons they call me Jack Bauer.  It's not the fact that I get drunk and tackle Christmas trees, it's the way I make people talk...and I also happen to be 3' 11."  Apparently Helene has a Myspace Who knew?


Helene Smith- Pain In My Heart

Here is one more sample.  The James Brown track, "Prisoner of Love."  That's some old school James, it's amazing how long this man was good.  From slow smooth grooves to rock your face off funk fantasticness this dude could do it all.  This one of the slower jams, but dude could SANG!!

James Brown- Prisoner Of Love



The rest of the mix has music, with instruments and singers.  If you like music and instruments and also singers then it might make sense for you to download this, but that's just like my opinion maan.


Soul Mix 4

MURS: The Hardest Working Man in Hip Hop

Somebody please give MURS a tub of hair relaxer and a comb because he is "the hardest working man in show business". After a slight hiatus from his Warner Brothers deal, MURS is back and with a fury. He'll be dropping 10 albums, in 10 months, each with 10 tracks. The first album, titled Fornever is produced by the 9th Wonder and scheduled to release on March 30th. The MURS and the 9th wonder; a combination as classic as peanut butter and jelly, biscuits and gravy, sex and candy. The first single, 3:16 Part 2, is basically a story of all that happened between their original collaboration in 2004 and where they are now.

Hear that track and More behind the jump.