Wildlife Wednesday - Superman Wore a Cape

Is it me or is every day Super this week? In any event, I’m super, thanks for asking. Actually I was in Montreal over the weekend sitting in my new favourite little resto in the world, La Faim du Monde, and decided that all I ever wanted to hear from now on was quiet, interesting folk music from all around the world. But fast-forward to later that night and I find myself in the middle of a hipster dance club introducing myself to THIS FELLOW (warning: explicit everything), and two days later I’m back to blasting power ballads by Roxette on repeatte all day. Le plus ca change?

Unfortunately, probably the only thing I have in common with David Byrne is that we both like occasionally dropping French phrases for no apparent reason. I meant to share this track by White Girl Lust with you a while back, but I just plum forgot. Psycho Killer has always been one of my favourite songs and he does some fun things with it, including slipping in a little bit of everybody’s favourite French duo. No, not Tintin and Milou… Daft Punk.

White Girl Lust - Psycho Killa (Daft Mix)

This track is absolutely hulking out on the information superhighway, but I figured I’d post it up anyway in case you’ve been sleeping on it. I don’t know the first thing about PNAU but Ladyhawke is an amazing artist who I stumbled on last summer when I confused her with a Vancouver band I really like, Ladyhawk. The other reason I threw this in is so I don’t get crucified by Brat Kimono, housemate and charter member of the Boy Luck Club, who loves this song more than he loves nature documentaries.

PNAU ft. Ladyhawke - Embrace

This is just a modern mashup, but it’s a really rad one. Seb Tellier came out with the fantastic “Sexual Sportswear” last year, and now it’s been mixed with Eric B & Rakim’s seminal hip-hop classic, “I Know You Got Soul”. If I’m not mistaken, the Kleptones also made a fantastic track out of these rhymes on their album of Queen mixes, A Night at the Hip-Hopera. But I couldn’t be bothered to go dig it up and find it again.

Sebastien Tellier vs. Eric B & Rakim - Soul Sportswear

The top ten have been released for Yelle’s remix contest for her track “Ce Jeu”. I don’t know who will win but my favourite is the Twelves’ take on it.

Yelle - Ce Jeu (The Twelves Remix)

I gave a brief shout-out to this contest and others like it in a paper I wrote on digital music, which is now about two months old, but I had intended to post up and forgot to. So, here it is for anyone interested. It’s in PDF format, so you shouldn’t have any trouble reading it, unless you never learned how, in which case this sentence really isn’t necessary, is it?

Assessing the Potential for Democratized and Decentralized Consumption in Recombinant Digital Music

If you haven’t noticed yet, I like ending with something a little funkier and older. In honour of yesterday being Mardi Gras and me feeling nostalgic, here’s the track that drove us the whole way down to New Orleans this time last year. If this doesn’t warm your soul you might want to get that checked out.

Harold Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band - Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Whether you prefer to call them blood oranges or conflict oranges, think twice before you eat them.

Will

Wildlife Wednesday - Bad Speed in a Can

Sorry I disappeared for a minute there. The first excuse was I was out having way too much fun and kind of stopped noticing which day was which, and then the second excuse was I was clinically dead for a few days with some nasty bug. Of course the two occurrences are in no way related. Either way I came out of it roughly resembling Frankie Wilde after his stint in the pillow room, but now I’m back on my grind and ready to speed harder than ever.

I looked things over, and I can’t believe I never wrote anything about Santogold. She’s in with Mad Decent and a lot’s been said. Here’s my Coles Notes: A lot like M.I.A. except her songs are better, and that annoying dude with dreads who lives down the block from you doesn’t think she’s the future hope for humanity.

Santogold ft. Spank Rock - Shov It

All these Kylie remixes came out lately. Don’t you love Kylie? Obviously you do. Here’s my favourite one, which is MSTRKRFT taking on “Wow”.

Kylie Minogue - Wow (MSTRKRFT Remix)

My!Gay!Husband!’s got an unhealthy obsession with Feist. Pretty standard edit till about 1:45 when it drops harder than the rain in a popular Christian Slater movie.

Feist - 1234 (My!Gay!Husband! Get Up Kid Edit)

Speaking of unhealthy obsessions, lately I can’t get that Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill” out of my head. I play it on repeat all day every day. I always hated Kate Bush. I’m going to get this checked out. But in the meantime, check the take Purple Crush did on it; lots of fun and just a touch less likely to leave you questioning everything you thought you knew.

Purple Crush - Running Up That Hill

Rest and fluids are important components of any recovery from illness, and I certainly had both in abundance, but I’d give most of the credit to this record which was playing over and over last week because I couldn’t be bothered to put anything else on. This track is a New Orleans classic and it’s always been a favourite of mine. I think I used to throw on a version that a Vancouver DJ, U-Tern, did of it at some of those first dance parties.

The Dixie Cups - Iko Iko

See you in the car.

Best wishes,

Milhouse

Wildlife Wednesday - Oh I Think Dey Like Chicagoland

It’s been a couple years since my last visit, but I think Chicago is rivalled only by New Orleans for coolest American city I’ve been to. And with apologies to Weezy, it definitely wins for my favourite scene going on right now too. So I thought I’d highlight some of my favourite acts going right now for you to maybe check out more of if you like. No Kanye or R. Kelly here, but rest assured everyone involved in these tracks is certified Chicago’s finest, and I’ve got nothing else to say so just enjoy the riot.

Hollywood Holt - Bang That

The Cool Kids - Pump Up the Volume (Flosstradamus Remix)

Mic Terror - Juke Them Hoes

Vyle - Thriller

Kid Sister - Pro Nails (Chico Love Remix)

Love and light,

Will

Wildlife Wednesday - In One Year and Out the Other

It’s 2008 and I’m back to feeling frisky after enjoying a lovely holiday season, capped off by the inevitable shirtless dancing to Justice on New Year’s Eve. Every time I visit Vancouver I end up returning with a potato sack full of great new memories, as well as the odd one better left behind, and I thought in honour of this I’d throw down a post in homage to some of my favourite parts of the excellent Vancity scene.

1/2 Alive used to be a pretty skid weekly party operating out of shelled out warehouses and other such low-key venues, but soon enough it blew up enough to be held at one of the better downtown venues for music, Richard’s on Richards. The DJ’s My!Gay!Husband!, Tyler Fedchuk, and Tony X (and MC Curtis Santiago) are all really tight on their own, but more and more 1/2 Alive has been bringing in big names like Digitalism, Krames, Chromeo, and Shout Out Out Out Out. All in all a fun way to spend a Friday night in Vancouver, and here’s some edits and remixes you’ll be sure to enjoy.

Tegan and Sara - Back in Your Head (Tyler Fedchuk’s 1/2 Alive Disco Remix)

The Beatles - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (My!Gay!Husband! Mash)

The Rapture - W.A.Y.U.H. (My!Gay!Husband! Remix)

YoungBloodz ft. Familjen - Hog Luft Hood (TonyX’s 1/2 Alive Mix)

Saturday nights are best spent at my favourite space in Vancouver, the Royal Unicorn Cabaret, in the heart of Chinatown. Saturdays it gets taken over by the Salbourg crew, featuring superstar DJ Paul Devro (who’s in with Diplo’s Mad Decent crew) as well as his brother Erik Devereux. Their parties are two blocks past Jump Street, so to speak, and sometimes they also feature touring DJs. I seem to recall we saw Radioclit there this past summer, but things to tend to blend in my mind.

Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere (Paul Devro Edit)

Dizzee Rascal - Sirens (Paul Devro Edit)

A little less electro-rage-bangerific this week, but some lovely tunes nonetheless. Due to the combined effects of two conditions from which I suffer, being busy and being lazy, my new year’s resolution will be to simply keep this little weekly dabble going. Any suggestions for future directions?

Love and light,

Will

Wildlife Wednesday - What Will Santa Bring You?

Should’ve asked for a little more roll with that rock. Had these confused, aging white men done so, they might have been delighted with any of the following selections:

I’m kinda feeling rock ‘n’ roll this week but I’m also kinda feeling like I have an exam tonight. Regardless of how bogus said exam may be, I’m going to keep things brief. Cazals are rocking that Kitsune scene, but I prefer this version to the one on the new comp. Also, the content is vaguely apropos given my current situation.

Cazals - To Cut a Long Story Short (Xtopher Fiction Remix)

I wasn’t sure anything could top the remix of The Gossip’s Yr Mangled Heart that Linus Loves did ages ago now, but Guns ‘N’ Bombs came pretty close with this new one they dropped a few weeks back.

The Gossip - Yr Mangled Heart (Guns ‘N’ Bombs Trashbags Remix)

The new Hot Chip album, Made in the Dark, is great from start to finish. It’s also a fair amount more bangin’, which is good if you’re a fan of things like movement and fun. My favourite track is “Out at the Pictures”, but I don’t really want to get sued, so you get to make do with this one that’s been more widely released. There’s a few remixes floating around for this song but the original is still the one.

Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor

Speaking of lawsuits, the Bloody Beetroots have been responsible for a lot of great songs (including that remix of “She’s a Maniac” that I’ve played and danced wildly to at probably every single event this year), but this time they went and done did up an old Metallica track, “Search and Destroy”. Metallica, notorious fans of file-sharing, would no doubt be thrilled to see this posted. Assuming they still have a pulse.

The Bloody Beetroots - Ill To Destroy

And finally, much as I love Rick Ross, there can be only one Boss: Bruce Springsteen. A lot of people are doing best songs of the year type lists right now, and this one occupies slots 1-10 for me. You can decide for yourself how serious I am.

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere

Okay so I didn’t keep things brief. But this should come as no surprise.

Regardless of what you’re celebrating this time of year, love and light,

Will

(Wildlife Wednesdays will return in the new year. Enjoy the end-of-year mixtape. It’s the bee’s knees.)

Wildlife Wednesday - Moi Non Plus

I was on the bus back from Toronto this evening and there were a couple super duper hipster French girls heading back to Montreal sitting with me. They seemed to have just been shopping. It was probably for the best that my French is piss-poor, otherwise I might have pretended to be really impressed and asked where I, too, could get an entirely polka-dot wardrobe before it goes out of style next week. Instead, I slept, except for occasionally being wakened by their loud ringtones. They were texting each other….

Here is a collection of songs for indie Franco girls, spoken in the international language of American Apparel.

This remix is off the 5th Kitsune Maison comp, usually not so down with those discs but this new one is really quite solid. Kitsune’s a French record label, Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya are from Paris, and theme weeks are agréable.

Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Fuck Friend (CSS Remix)

In The Club are from Paris too and so are Killdahype. Voila!

In The Club - She’s a Man (Killdahype Remix)

Numero# are from Montreal. This song was a really fun one at places this summer, maybe you’d recognize it. It was actually on a Kitsune comp too. More French Connections in this post than in Satan’s mall.

Numero# - Hit Pop

TTC are the illest group ever and if you came to any of my dance parties this year you have no doubt heard me screaming like a teenage girl during this song.

TTC - Une Bande de Mecs Sympa

And finally, I don’t know what’s French for “slow jamz” but Charlotte Gainsbourg is Serge’s daughter and this is a pretty cool song.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Operation

Love and light,

Will

Wildlife Wednesday - Gettin’ Down in the Town That Makes No Sound

I had my first bail of the season yesterday while walking on campus, it was so badass. Got straight horizontal, felt like I even bounced off the sidewalk. Hopefully the surveillance camera mounted on top of Stauffer Library served a less disturbing purpose and caught it on tape. Random and epic falls are a sure sign that winter is very much upon us.

Does anybody else notice that the world gets awfully quiet this time of year? I’m not sure why that is, but I treat anything that seems to prove U2 right with a good deal of suspicion. In any event, the past few days have got me thinking back to this track again. Don’t panic, more hours of darkness just means more hours of dancing.

Snowden - Anti-Anti (Treasure Fingers Remix)

Keeping with this theme, or more specifically, making up a theme that I hadn’t particularly intended, this Miami Horror remix would definitely be in my My5. It’s really rad.

The Dirty Secrets - 5 Feet of Snow (Miami Horror Remix)

Enough snow, but here’s a track that’s got the same kinda turboblast feel to it. Ghostland Observatory are from Texas, where everything is bigger, and if Pierre McGuire stood beside the stage at concerts and commentated, these guys would be his monster performer at the end of the gig. This is a very very slight edit that makes the song a little more DJ-friendly, but basically it’s the O.G. version.

Ghostland Observatory - Piano Man (Jesse’s Edit)

And how about some rock ‘n’ roll from somewhere not so cold? Last week DJ Marlboro, this week De Falla; basically I’m obsessed with Brazilian funk. This is one of the most famous songs from the genre, so I figured it’d be a good starter if you’re not so familiar. De Falla was the former band of singer Edu K, and in the megamall that is baile funk, Edu K is like a horde of teenage girls: You’ll run into him everywhere, until he just becomes part of the landscape.

De Falla - Popozuda Rock ‘n’ Roll

And I just couldn’t slip away without dropping this little gem for the holiday season.

Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa

XXXMAS CONTEST!: What is the least appropriate song to play at family gatherings this time of year? Can anybody think of one better than Clarence Carter’s innuendo-rich ode to sexual promiscuity? Holler at the comments with your answers. The winner will receive… well, nothing, apart from the assurance that yours will be one of the names Santa checks twice.

Love and light,

Will

Wildlife Wednesday - The Jumpoff

Hi, my name’s Will. This is my first time, so I hope it’s a lot like how it sounded in health class. I’m very fond of pretty much everything on this site but I tend to think the most interesting things coming out these days are in the more danceable genres suitable for sweaty upstairs dance parties. So every Wednesday I’ll try and rock this spot with some tracks that you might have ducked and maybe shouldn’t. All bangers no busters. Modern science has proven that the weekend starts on Wednesday, and if you play out some of this wildlife you’ll be sure to have a good one.

Here’s a mega-post starter kit to kick things off. Like a store-bought veggie and dip platter, what this post lacks in freshness it makes up for in variety. Future Wednesdays will be more current (which, currently, would be futuristic).

Giddyup. So sometimes I’ll rock out some disgustingly fun original tracks. Sonny Jim’s “Can’t Stop Moving” was one of my favourite jams of the summer, and Sneaky Sound System’s “UFO” is some durrtay electro-pop that’ll make you shake all the way from Australia.

Sonny Jim - Can’t Stop Moving

Sneaky Sound System - UFO

I also enjoy remixes and mashups. Some would say too much. In fact I like remixes so much that I’m writing a term paper on them right now. And mashups these days are not your grandmother’s mashups. Some are very good, and none smell like patchouli. So here’s some remixes and mashups guaranteed to romance her.

M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun (DJ Marlboro Funk Carioca Remix)

Rick Ross feat. the Pipettes - Hustlin’ (Tyler Fedchuk Mix)

Gucci Mane feat. Ludacris - Freaky Gurl (Cousin Cole’s Super Freaky Mix)

And speaking of your grandmother, or mine at least, do you ever feel like sometimes it all gets a bit too fast? Too current? Too loud? If somebody tells you to “turn down that danged racket”, but you don’t want to stop dancing, I’ll be here to help.

Klaxons - Not Over Yet (Gentlemen Drivers Remix ft. Soko)

Celestial Choir - Stand on the Word

Especially don’t sleep on that last one. In fact, don’t ever sleep; you could be dancing. Hope you enjoyed the taste test. Even better things to come next week (not least of which because half the songs I wanted to put up here refused to work).

Love and light,

Will