Bag Raiders Video Shows Some Hot Monkey Love

I'm rededicating myself to posting more often. I've got three months of stuff to post about, so I'll try to make it short and sweet in the interest of getting more stuff up here more often. I know it will somewhat be ignored, but once in a while someone stumbles on the blog and they like it.

Bag Raiders are fun and have two songs I like a lot. They're Passion Pit-esque. Full of synths and a good dance beat with high pitched man vocals. The video for Sunlight features a chimp gone bad, which is always a bonus.



I also like Not Over. This video features a time traveling caveman.

Simian Mobile Disco, Cee-Lo, and Telephoned

Dance and funk numbers from last month's playlist.

Telephoned is an awesome combo of DJ Sammy Bananas and vocalist/party maven Maggie Horn. They remake and rework common pop tracks that stand on their own as dancefloor anthems.

Their eponymous EP could be played as a mixtape at your next party, but I particularly enjoy Rockin That Thing and Dancin' On Me. Though they are technically remixes, they might as well be completely different songs. I'd almost rather call them homages. Whatever you call, them they will make you want to move!





My next recommendation is a smooth, funky dance track. It's a fun tune, and it's free! Dance impresarios Simian Mobile Disco team up with diva Beth Ditto, of Gossip fame, for this one.

Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (feat. Beth Ditto) (Heartbreak's Slow Action Remix)

Finally, everyone loves and is familiar with Cee-Lo's 100% pure hit, Fuck You, but the 2nd best song off the album is Love Gun. Check it out.

Mark Ronson - God of Awesome

For his latest album, Record Collection, London Superproducer Mark Ronson goes for a more 80s synth-pop feel. No matter that he's made his reputation on funk and soul hip-hop numbers, whatever he does works. Apparently, Ronson wanted to be so authentic to the 80s sound that he went out and procured the actual synths that Duran Duran used. Even the album cover (above) has an 80s theme, deftly mixing the themes of 80s album artwork together.

Bang Bang Bang is eminently danceable and features one of the all-time great MCs, Q-Tip the Abstract. The Bike Song is good fun and Someone To Love Me features Boy George. Though the original for Someone To Love Me is good, the remixes are even better.

Gram Rabbit - Party in the Desert

Gram Rabbit - They rock. They dance. They glam. They electro. They clash. They country. They sexy. They have a thing for bunnies and cults. They from Joshua Tree in the deserts of California, and there's something weird and beautiful about them. Their sound is luscious and somehow manages to be fun and sinister at the same time.

I would say they remind me most of Madonna, Lady Gaga, and the Ting-Tings, but way more strange than any of those. In that sense, they're more like Electric Six. Their latest album, Miracles and Metaphors, continues their awesomeness. Here's my favorite track on that album, Candy Flip, and below are some other great tracks from their catalog.



The Rest of Us Sleep and In My Book off of RadioAngel & the RobotBeat


Bloody Bunnies off of Cultivation


Cowboy-Up off of Music to Start a Cult To


Her Secret Power off of The Desert Sound EP - Listen to it here.

More Fabulous Ladies - Quadron, tUnE-yArDs and V.V. Brown

Quadron is a Danish dance-pop duo that reminds me of Erykah Badu's first album. The songs are slinky, sly, and smooth. The beats are neo-soul/jazz lo-fi affairs. Average Fruit and
Horse are both lovely. Slippin is a catchy doo-wop affair. Jeans is a little funky masterpiece.



tUnE-yArDs is a one-woman sound machine from Northampton, MA named Merrill Garbus. She takes a Beck inspired any sound is a good sound ethic and creates undefinable music that's melodic and unique. I can hear tinges of world-music, twee, and folk influences as well. Although Garbus plays with sounds, by far her greatest instrument is her amazing, unbridled, and unpredictable voice which she often loops over itself even when performing live. There are several tracks I'd recommend: Hatari, Sunlight, News, Jumping Jack, Safety, Want Me To, and Hap-B.



Finally, V.V. Brown is a soul-pop singer from Britain. She's well (perhaps overly) produced and writes songs that are irresistibly easy to sing and dance along to. If you need something sweet and low-cal, then she's for you. Check out Shark in the Water, L.O.V.E, and Everybody.
Here's the official video for Shark in the Water

Groove Armada - I Hear You Baby

Over the last year or so, I've been sifting through Groove Armada's discography and unearthed some great dance tracks. So rather than recommend a particular album or track, I'm creating my own track list of GA's greatest hits for you.

Needless to say , I haven't even listened to everything they have yet, but if you like Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, Bassment Jaxx or any big beat, dance DJs, at the very least, you'll probably like GA's best songs.

From The Best Of (2004):
If Everybody Looked the Same
I See You Baby
My Friend
Purple Haze
Easy
Think Twice

The Best Of - Groove Armada

From Soundboy Rock (2007):
Get Down
What's Your Version
Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)

Soundboy Rock - Groove Armada

From the Groove Armada EP (2009):
Drop The Tough
Go

EP - Groove Armada

Lauren Flax - You've Changed (now dance!)

Lauren Flax, with help from Sia, shows that you can change a man and when you do, you can make a great dance track out of it.

You’ve Changed (feat. Sia) (Or...

Best of the Rest of October

I have not been the most dependable blogger. I'll try to catch up by listing some of my favorite tracks from September and October with a few brief comments.

In alphabetical by Artist:

Anuhea - Barista - pop jem from Hawaii.

As Tall As Lions - Circles, Sixes and Sevens - Soaring guitar-pop. A little like Death Cab (when they rock out) or Helio Sequence. They sound like they must be from the Northwest.

David Guetta - When Love Takes Over, Sound of Letting Go - Hit the dance floor with these techno thumping anthems.

Jack Peñate - Be The One, Tonight's Today - - really good worldy/folky/dancy/tracks. Reminds me of Vampire Weekend a little bit.

KRS-One and Buckshot - The Way I Live, Clean Up Crew - dope rhymes and old-school beats. KRS-One is one of the all-time great MCs.

Mika - Blue Eyes, Good Gone Girl, Touches You, We Are Golden - If you like Scissor Scistors or similar throwback disco-pop, you'd like this guy.

Miss Li - Bourgeois Shangri-La, Dancing the Whole Way Home - Now that's some good English girl-pop right there. Or at least she sounds English to me. Lily Allen would be proud.

Nickodemus - Sun Children, 2 Sips & Magic - Great trip-hop, jazz, acid-jazz, latin-y stuff.

Phish - Joy - A solid album if you're a Phish fan. If you're not a fan, don't worry about it.

Slavic Soul Party! - Taketron, Baltika, Get It How You Live, Canaan Land - Best Slavic/Mexican/Latin Jazz/New Orleans style-brass band ever! Nothing like it anywhere.



Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (James Iha Remix) - Rockin'.

Yo La Tengo - Here To Fall - Guitar goodness.

Remember that you can listen to most of these tracks all the way through at least once on Lala.com. It's worth getting an account.

Yacht - Psychic City

It's been over a week since I posted about some music, so I'm resolved to post more frequently. To that end, the posts might be shorter. Also, I'm going to be embedding links to the songs in Lala (if they're available), so you should sign up for a free account or use your Facebook account to login to hear the songs.



Every time I hear this song, I'm happy.

Psychic City (Voodoo City) - Y...

It's sexy and groovy and simple and catchy. Vocalist Claire Evans employs a Leonard Cohen-esque, half-talking delivery, and in this song, rather than sounding flat and lacking affect, it comes off as effortlessly seductive. The spare, synthesized beats follow her lead, gilded with found sounds like a water droplet and (I'm pretty sure) a slinky.

I can't get this song out of my head. Maybe it's when Evans sings, "Where you been darlin' darlin'? We been holding this moment for you," but this song makes me want to cuddle (I know some people are going to read this and have trouble with the image of me cuddling, but I'm confident enough to admit that I like a good cuddle now and then).

On a side note, there are several versions of this song, and I actually really like at least two other versions almost as much as this one. I also like the Classix Remix; it's a little more groovy and fluid than the original. The Rory Phillips Remix has a fatter, more beat-heavy flavor, reminding me of 90s techno groups like Orbital.