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We must admit: we're not partial to using the calendar as a crutch for progress. A new year (and decade) is an exciting thing, and an excuse to party always sits well with us. However, at outerglow hq's we are firm believers in self-improvement not as a resolution, but as an ever-present mindset. Even more, though, we believe in intentional daily happiness (for at least a few moments). It's great to have a work ethic and to push hard for your version of success, and if you're able to make a new year's resolution and keep it, more power to you. But you know what's better? Making time to do things that give you full and legitimate pleasure– like listening to super flamboyant disco, fist-pumping (ahem) house beats, or the understated genius of Arthur Russell. That's our wish for you, not for 2010, but every day. Much love and happy new year.
Here is the first song we listened to in the new year. It is a huge compliment when we say this edit approaches the loveliness of the original. Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk On The Moon (218 kbps)
Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk On The Moon (Youth Return To Base Edit) (320 kbps)
Dynasty - Adventures In The Land Of Music (276 kbps)
Camp Lo - Luchini AKA This Is It (224 kbps)
Angie Stone - Lover's Ghetto (244 kbps)
This week's crossword centers around one of our favorites– 80s disco-funk group Dynasty and their best album, Adventures In The Land Of Music from 1980. We love Dynasty because they glide so easily between silky ballads and uptempo dance numbers; plus we can never turn down male/female vocal synergy. The title track is of the slower variety, but punctuated with stabs of brass, the perfect foundation for some hip-hop/r&b cuts. 90s Bronx rappers Camp Lo sampled it in their graceful-yet-street '97 track 'Luchini AKA This Is It,' and Sugar Hill r&b/neo-soul diva Angie Stone used it in 04's 'Lovers' Ghetto.' Dynasty - Groove Control (257 kbps)
Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars (Shazam Dub Mix) (192 kbps)The next piece of the puzzle features our favorite Dynasty track, 'Groove Control'– so slick, so funky, those strings, that xylophone! So dope. Shazam's dub of Bag Raiders' 'Shooting Stars' from '09 which samples it is... well, let's just say, we love Bag Raiders and we love Shazam and we're generally not ones to get picky about sampling, but we think the degree of sample here is a little cheap. Kinda clever, and definitely sounds sexy, but cheap (again, with all due respect to Shazam/BR). Well, we'll let you be the judge. It's all for the love of the crossword, y'all! Drop in again next Wednesday, won't you?
Here are two songs related in some way to the zodiac.Capricorn - Pow Pow Pow (256 kbps)Wailing 1980 italo number from Capricorn, or Italian duo Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo. Even without the knowledge that they were part of acclaimed italo group Easy Going, don't those names just assure you this song is legit? It is.Uncle Jamm's Army - What's Your Sign (192 kbps)Some goofy 1985 vocoder action on top of a massive, classic beat from equally massive L.A. old school electro-hip-hop crew Uncle Jamm's Army– L.A.'s first hip-hop crew, and hugely influential to West Coast hip-hop and early electro in general. And Ice-T was in it.
Got a little distracted last week, what with list-making and all, but no worries, we haven't forgotten. This time around it's more of a funk crossword, and both of our samples come from a really amazing compilation we've been spinning for a while– 'Can You Dig It? The Music & Politics of Black Action Films 1969-75' from Soul Jazz Records. It's a collection of music from the Black Action/blaxploitation films of the early 70s (Shaft, Super Fly, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, etc.), the first films written, produced and acted by almost entirely blacks and focused on black life. Pretty unsurprisingly, the genre is steeped in controversy (hence the negatively-connotative 'blaxploitation'); was it a perpetuation of stereotypes, or a groundbreaking expression of previously ignored themes? Regardless, their soundtracks fucking slayed, featuring the best, most sophisticated funk and soul jazz tunes of the time.
Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft (223 kbps)
Young MC - Know How (251 kbps)
Our first pairing starts with Isaac Hayes' theme from Shaft from '71, a smooth and richly orchestrated number punctuated by can you dig it's and bad mother shut your mouth's– how can you go wrong? Young MC (who you know better for his Grammy-winning 'Bust A Move') deftly sampled it in his '88 track 'Know How,' one of our favorite hip-hop tracks of all time.
Willie Hutch - Theme of Foxy Brown (203 kbps)
Cassius - Foxxy (320 kbps)
Next up is Willie Hutch (dope Motown artist who soundtracked The Mack and Foxy Brown, as well as cowrote the Jackson 5's 'I'll Be There') and his awesome theme for Foxy, which the legendary Cassius sampled on 'Foxxy' from Cassius 1999. Catch ya same time same place next week for another crossword!
Wow– we thought narrowing down our top albums was tough, but jesus. So we aren't putting these in any particular order aside from the top ten (err, 11 plus a 'special award,' we can't edit); frankly we just can't wrap our minds around a task that huge and subjective. Fuck an order, anyway; these songs all ruled and that's what matters. This list is pretty much all dance/electronically biased, with a few exceptions, but really, isn't the internet already over-saturated with 'indie' lists anyway? We know y'all got good taste, so as not to be redundant and give you tracks you've already played out, we're hitting you with some downloads of the possibly less-circulated tracks, as well as some alternate takes on the bigger ones, and we'll direct you to places where you can check out the rest. Blah blah. Here are our favorite tracks of 2009!SPECIAL MENTION: DFA Class of '09You already know DFA is the bee's knees. We think this year was their best in recent memory, even considering last year's Hercules frenzy and 2007's release of 'Sound of Silver.' This year saw the major success of YACHT and The Juan Maclean (whose live show this summer was one of the best of the year (RIP Jerry Fuchs)), but it's the smaller releases that made us love DFA evermore: a plethora of smashing EPs from Canyons, Shit Robot, Walter Jones, Holy Ghost!, James Curd and more, and a few albums thisclose to making our top albums list (Black Meteoric Star's self-titled in particular). Here are a few of our favorites that didn't quite make our top ten but definitely deserve a spin (there's more DFA in our top ten and honorable mentions).
Canyons- Apples & Pears (192 kbps)
Black Meteoric Star- Death Tunnel (320 kbps)
Still Going- Spaghetti Circus (320 kbps)
11. Vitalic- Second Lives (Different)
When we first heard this song, we kiiinda cried in our car stuck in traffic. Hugely powerful stuff that you expect from Vitalic, and then some. (We actually kind of regret not putting 'Flashmob' in our top 15 albums in retrospect. We're sorry.)
10. Four Tet- Love Cry (Domino)
We've had a special relationship with Four Tet for a long time (basically the first 'electronic music' we truly loved– yeah we used to be #indieasfuck, our bad). That Kieran Hebden's time kicking it with Burial has rubbed off on him is definitely not a bad thing.9. Bottin- No Static (Bear Funk)If you had yet to notice, we think Bottin can do no wrong. Pure Italo bliss. You can download this track from our top 09 albums post, or here.8. Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix) (Warp)Best remix of the year (and it makes us happy to say that of the lately hit-or-miss Falke). A heartstring-tuggingly perfect take on one of the year's most beloved tracks. 7. Classixx- I'll Get You ft. Jeppe (Kitsune)Do you like bass? Do you like the producers that, out of nowhere, almost single-handedly crafted a defining sound (minimal nu-yacht-funk if you will) that majorly influenced the aesthetics of a huge realm of dance music production? Word, us too.6. Air France- GBG Belongs To Us ft. Roos (self-released)Does this count as an official release this year? Eh, don't care. Considering that 'summer-sounding music' was one of the year's most distinctive trends, here's a somewhat bold claim we're willing to stand behind– summer song of '09 right here.5. Siriusmo- High Together / Siriusmo- Nights Off (Monkeytown)Too hard to pick between these two, off the fantastic 'The Uninvited Guest.' Nobody does it likes Siriusmo; even at his worst, he's never uninteresting.
Siriusmo - Nights Off (203 kbps)
4. YACHT- Psychic City (DFA)Really, come on. Who isn't in love with this song? Shitheads, we suppose.YACHT - Psychic City (Classixx Remix) (320 kbps)3. Shit Robot- Simple Things (Work It Out) (DFA)But man... but man!... even that's hard sometimes! Every day for a good two months, we'd start our morning by playing this song. Arguably a lyrically depressing way to face the day, sure, but who gives a shit with a song this good, with a slow build this overwhelming. Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work It Out) (Original Mix) (320 kbps)2. Phonat- Set Me Free (MoFoHiFi)Simply ecstatic. (And the Avicii version is by far the best remix. Massive stadium house. Don't act like you're too cool.)Phonat- Set Me Free (Avicii Remix) (320 kbps)1. Duck Sauce - aNYway (Fool's Gold)
IIII CAN DO IT ANYYYWAY THAT YOU WANT IIIIT! We can't count how many times we've walked down the street blasting this in the headphones with our swag at maximal levels, belted this out in the shower, or gone mental on the dancefloor (not just when it was fresh this summer– try last weekend) from the first second it hits. It just fucking rules. Enjoy the killer '79 soul jam from Final Edition that's sampled here (we've heard a few peeps complaining that A-Trak and Van Helden's version was too similar, but we think they are totally missing the point)! Final Edition- I Can Do It (Anway You Want) (262 kbps)HONORABLE MENTIONS:Alex Metric- Head StraightAtlas Sound- Walkabout (ft. Noah Lennox)Aufgang- Channel 7 (John Talabot's You & Me Remix)Basement Jaxx- RaindropsBest Coast- Up All NightBirdy Nam Nam- The Parachute EndingCassius- Youth, Speed, Trouble, CigarettesCFCF- Big Love (Fleetwood Mac Cover)Chew Lips- Salt Air (Jupiter Remix)Chromeo- Night By NightDamn Arms- Destination Pt. 1 (DCUP Remix)Delorean- DeliDJ Kaos- Love The Night Away (Tiedye Remix)Esser- HeadlockFake Blood- I Think I Like ItFear of Tigers- Sirkka △download (320)△The Field- I Have The Moon, You Have The InternetG.L.O.V.E.S. - PYXGrace Jones- William's Blood (Aeroplane Remix)Grum- Heartbeats (Joe & Will Ask? Remix)Heads We Dance- Model 21 (Justin Faust Remix)HEALTH- Die Slow (Tobacco Remix)Holy Ghost!- I Will Come BackJavelin- Lindsay Brohan △download (279)△jj- Things Will Never Be The Same AgainThe Juan Maclean- One DayKings of Convenience- Boat BehindLCD Soundsystem- 45:33 (Theo Parrish's Space Cadet Remix)Lifelike- SequencerLinkwood- Tears △download (168)△Major Lazer- Keep It Goin' Louder ft. Nina SkyMemory Cassette- Surfin (Weird Tapes Version) △download (320)△Memory Tapes- Plain MaterialMiami Horror- Make You Mine (Cassian Remix)Motor City Drum Ensemble- Raw Cuts #5 △download (320)△N.A.S.A.- Gifted (Treasure Fingers Remix)Pictureplane- Goth StarRenaissance Man- What Is GuruRoyksopp- Happy Up HereSebastien Tellier- Roche (Breakbot Remix)Space- Carry On, Turn Me On (Bottin Remix)Teengirl Fantasy- Azz Klapz △download (320)△Villa- Agneta (Edit) △download (320)△Washed Out- New TheoryWavves- Cool JumperWhitney Houston- Million Dollar Bill ft. Alicia Keys6th Borough Project- Do It To The MaxThanks for tuning in, and keep an eye out for our favorite mixtapes and compilations of the year!
Marvin Gaye- Got To Give It Up (Pt. I) (237 kbps)Well guys, we are in kind of a funk at the moment; we spent all day putting together a (we think) glorious list of the best tracks of the year, and Blogger's dumb azz did not save a shred of it when our computer crashed. Anyway, that's gonna be postponed for a day or two, but rather than stew, we figure we'd turn to two things that never fail to improve our mood– Marvin Gaye and wrinkly-faced dogs. Thus, we'd like to share with you the best Marvin Gaye song ever and a wrinkly-faced dog. Hehe.
Jackie Stoudemire - Invisible Wind (204 kbps)
Jackie Stoudemire - Don't Stop Dancin' (202 kbps)God the Numero Group is awesome. If you're unfamiliar, they're a record label that finds, compiles and remasters previously released but super obscure material– not genre-specific, just cool shit they think deserves attention. Their mission statement:
'To dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street. No longer would $500 singles sit in a temperature-controlled room dying for a chance to be played. No more would the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who made these records happen go unknown and unappreciated.'
Dope. We've come across a shit-ton of astounding funk, soul, and gospel jams through them, and we'd like to share one of our favorite finds: the romantic, string-and-brass-heavy soul/boogie grooves of Jackie Stoudemire. 'Invisible Wind' and 'Don't Stop Dancin'' are some of the highlights from Numero's 'Dont Stop: Recording Tap,' a collection of amazing early 80s soul, boogie, disco and hip-hop tracks from Jeremiah Yisrael's short-lived Tap Records that Numero resurrected from a moldy pile in Yisrael's garage. You basically can't find Stoudemire's music anywhere else– jump on this shit! And definitely check out the rest of this compilation and the rest of Numero's catalogue for tons more amazing finds.
We must admit: we're not partial to using the calendar as a crutch for progress. A new year (and decade) is an exciting thing, and an excuse to party always sits well with us. However, at outerglow hq's we are firm believers in self-improvement not as a resolution, but as an ever-present mindset. Even more, though, we believe in intentional daily happiness (for at least a few moments). It's great to have a work ethic and to push hard for your version of success, and if you're able to make a new year's resolution and keep it, more power to you. But you know what's better? Making time to do things that give you full and legitimate pleasure– like listening to super flamboyant disco, fist-pumping (ahem) house beats, or the understated genius of Arthur Russell. That's our wish for you, not for 2010, but every day. Much love and happy new year.
