of Montreal + Best Coast + Wavves + Some Remixes/Covers

Hey so sorry it's been a while (and jeez why do all my posts start like that now?  I guess I'm just a bad blogger... Frown face).  After an action packed May (in terms of album releases), June has been a little slow, but.... there have been some new tracks coming out from forthcoming albums, so here you go.

First Up: of Montreal :: Coquet Coquette

Normal guitars?  Normal drums?  How can this be of Montreal?  Well, it is certainly different, that is for sure.  Coquet Coquette is a step in a whole new direction, featuring a much more straight up approach.  Kevin Barnes still maintains the slightly psychedelic sound though, and it ends up resulting in a sound that is very similar to the most recent MGMT album.  It will certainly be interesting to see how False Priest, their 10th (!!!) studio album comes out.
mp3: Coquet Coquette

Since I mentioned MGMT, I'll also throw in the AIR remix of "It's Working" by MGMT, courtesy of PMA.
mp3: It's Working (AIR Remix)

And since we are on Remixes... check out the Golden Filter's remix of Yeasayer's "Madder Red"  below.  (sorry couldn't find the mp3 anywhere...).

Madder Red (The Golden Filter Remix) by theQuietus

And since we are doinig covers/remixes...

Antlers :: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Cover)
The AV Club have an interesting thing were they have one band come in and choose a song off of a list of 25 songs to cover and then cross that song off, so the next band will have one fewer songs to choose from.  Most of the covers are really great, and this was one of my personal favorites. Sorry about the Budweiser mumbo jumbo.  Also check out the late Mark Linkous (AKA Sparklehorse)'s cover featuring Thom Yorke.


The Antlers cover Pink Floyd

mp3: Wish You Were Here (Sparklehorse Cover)

Best Coast :: Boyfriend

Just as you'd expect, this track has been tearing up the web, and deservedly so I might add.  We are all looking forward to her debut album... (yes that's the album art)
mp3: Boyfriend

And since we are talking about cat's on the covers of albums, and Best Coast (Beth Cosentino), let's talk about Wavves, whose lead singer Nathan Williams is in a relationship with Beth Cosentino, and who both have cats on their album covers!  Go read the hilarious HipsterRunoff post about their relationship.

Wavves :: King of the Beach
I just grabbed this album and it is one of the first albums released in the past month or so that I have really enjoyed, the others being The Drums' the Drums, Ariel Pink and the Haunted Graffiti's Before Today and Here We Go Magic's Pigeons.  Definitely listen to this if you would like to keep the summer state of mind up.  This album has a little bit of a cleaner sound, but it's still lo-fi if you were worrying.

mp3: Mickey Mouse
mp3: Super Soaker
and the most fun one off the album
mp3: King of the Beach



Best,
A Teenage Elephant

PS Is anybody at all excited for the new Klaxons album, which also features a cat on the cover?

Fol Chen

Yesterday (super briefly), I mentioned the Fol Chen EP, and in the past couple days it has really blown up... BUZZBAND ALERT!!!!!!!!!!

  Now, I'd like to really push it to you guys because it's great.  It's five songs, three of which are remixes of the first, the other being a cover of the first.  Right off the bat, the Fol Chen version has this deep, strange voice and heavy drum beat/bass.  Then the vocals and other instruments come on, and it turns into a catchy pop song, and finally you have a nice part where all the instruments cut out and you have a little piano riff.  Really varied song, really good... then you have the remixes and cover, which give you four completely different and new takes.    Bonus: Fol Chen is an LA band.

The first Baths remix is a house, trance take on the song, with heavily reverbed vocals and synth pads.  Then the other Baths remix is also very different.  It's got vocals that shutter in and out giving the entire song an incredibly staccato feel.  The Keepaway remix starts out with the original drumbeat, but then goes and plays with changing up the drum beat and using synths for the instrumental parts.  It may be more of a traditional remix, but it is still very different from the original and other two remixes on the album.  Finally, there is the Karin Tatoyan cover, which is the most drastically different.  It starts out with a long, drone drum intro, and then a sort of 80's/8bit synth comes in.  Next in, the vocals, which have a very, very different take on the vocals.  They are the main emphasis of the song, with the other instruments pretty much relegated (poor word choice...) to the background.  They are not sung with a poppy feel, but with a feeling of longing and melancholy that is most evident as she almost begs "All I want is to see your face" and observes "everything is in ruins."

I really recommend you guys go over to folchen.com and download the whole EP for free (and the weird video that comes with it...  it's also below).  I'll give you a track or two here.

mp3: In Ruins
mp3: In Ruins (Kerin Tatoyan Cover)


Check out the Holy Ghost! remix of LCD Soundsystem's "Drunk Girls."  The two will be touring together this summer, and they are both on LCD Soundsystem front man's label DFA Records.  Oh, I've been listening to the new LCD Soundsystem album a ton, and it's great!  With the exception of Drunk Girls, every track is fantastic.  More on it when it actually comes out in May.
mp3: Drunk Girls (Holy Ghost! Remix)

-- A Teenage Elephant

The Books + Sleigh Bells + Some Dub

Hot Stuff!  Hot Tracks, Hot Remixes... This post is hot... Almost too hot to handle.  Then I again I like to think my readers can handle it all.

The Books :: Beautiful People

The Books!  More unique stuff from them.  There's the trademark sample vocals (which here are pretty weird at times - they run backwards at times, and are also  seem to be about the sciences).  There's brass sections, some sweeping synth pads, and a steady (strangely so... you'd almost expect some strange time signature) drum beat.  Plus some acoustic guitar... it's got it all, and it's sure to get bloggers (well it already has) and critics buzzing alike.

mp3: Beautiful People

Sleigh Bells :: Tell 'Em

I talked about Sleigh Bells a couple of months ago, and since then they have really picked up some steam (both in sound and as in a following).  This is the first single from the anticipated album that will be on MIA's label (and boy do a lot of the songs sound like MIA).

Blasting the super distorted guitar and heavy bass on full volume is the way you have to listen to this (as it was with last one), and it even picks up an even dirtier quality when you play it on speakers that aren't really nice (think laptop).  Also, as a bonus, I'll put in one of the tracks from the demo that's we've been all enjoying in the wait for the album.  It's a little mellower and I actually like it a little more, but it's cool to hear the much more produced sound that comes with the new track and the use of the MIA recording studio.  You can also dl "Tell 'Em" at the Sleigh Bells website here.

mp3: Tell 'Em

mp3: Ring Ring

Rusko :: Hold On (Feat. Amber Coffman) (Sub Focus Remix)

In the words of my friend (jokingly of course...) "Life is Short. Dub. Nao."  Well, here's a mellowed (almost... chilled out, if you catch my drift) version of the just released Rusko song Hold On (which features the Dirty Projectors' Amber Coffman).  The remix definitely I think emphasizes Coffman's vocals a little more, and has a slightly more pop sound.  The part of this that has the dubstep sound gets pretty repetitive and doesn't sound all that original, but whatever.  It's still fun.  I like the original a little more, but this is the one that's heating up the interwebs so here it is.

mp3: Hold On (Feat. Amber Coffman) (Sub Focus Remix)

-- A Teenage Elephant

Also:  I command you to go download the Fol Chen EP now!!!!  Get it at folchen.com.

The Notorious B.I.G. vs. The xx.... One of the the most creative mash-ups I've ever seen and definitely one of my favorites

I know rap isn't really this blog's style, but this is so goddamn epic I have to post it.  I personally loved last year's debut album from the xx, xx, and I am a huge xx fan now.  I'm not really a rap guy, with the exception of Del the Funkee Homosapien, who actually used to rap in the Gorillaz - check out the album Deltron 3030 by Deltron (Del and Dan the Automator), but I guess Biggie is pretty classic, and you gotta like him right, even if you don't listen to him.  They are clearly two very different artists; The xx are the type of artist that you often listen to on your own, when you enter your own solitary shell.  It seems to me that a classic image of somebody listening to the xx is the person using some sort of public transit and surrounded by other people, yet completely in their own world that consists of only them and the music.  On the other hand, you have Biggie, which instantly evokes a party with everybody dancing; it's a communal experience.

The idea of bringing the two artists together certainly may not come to mind when you think of the two, but Wait What marries (Well, if you read the press release for it you'll find out that it's not really a marriage between the two artists but instead "a solid connection between two people trying to feel something" - you should read the press release if you get a chance it's pretty funny/interesting) the sublime and utterly laid back music of The xx with, as my friends would say, the fresh rhymes of B.I.G in a way that makes them sound like they were made for eachother.  The xx's music brings about a whole new side to Biggie's vocals, making them seem perhaps more heartfelt and sincere.  I can't quite place why it seems that way to me, but it does and it's awesome.  Whenever the intros for each song finish and the verse parts start and Biggie's vocals come in, it seems like the xx's music has more of a direction than it normally does, which certainly helps it.  When the xx's vocals come in, it seems like the perfect chorus to round out the songs to make them very balanced.  But enough about what I'm saying!  I got to ask Wait What a few questions, and here's what he had to say.  Also, you can listen to the whole thing below UPDATE: You can only download each song individually now because inevitably the record labels asked him to take it down, but you can download each song from the embedded player below by clicking download.  If you like his stuff go become a fan of him on facebook!  This is definitely the best LP length mash up since Jadiohead (Jay-Z + Radiohead) and Danger Mouse's Grey Album (Jay-Z's The Black Album + the Beatles The White Album).  I hope you enjoy!

1)  I know "Juicy-r" was the inspiration for the rest of the album, but when did you first think of mixing Biggie and the xx in the first place/what inspired you to do that?

I was kind of late to the xx party -- I started listening to them a lot in December, and was pretty intrigued when I saw that they listed artists like Aaliyah as their main influence. I started trying to listen for the R&B influence, and as a hip-hop fan, tried to think what it'd be like to hear a rapper on their instrumentals. From there, I thought of the Juicy/VCR mashup, and really liked how Biggie sounded on a minimalist beat.

2)  From reading the post and the main page of your website, it seems like everything happened really quickly once you realized the potential for the full album, and it came together really all over the world.  Could you maybe describe what the process was like doing it in so many places, etc., and if maybe the different locations influenced the songs at all (i.e. the songs from one place have more of one sound, and the songs from another have a different)?

Yeah, absolutely. So creating the album all over the world was mostly a result of circumstance rather than an intentional decision made in making the record. I happened to be traveling a lot at the beginning of the year -- I work for a tech company that sent me to Switzerland for a little bit, and then was going on trips four or five  weekends in a row: Williamstown, Mass, Aspen, New Orleans, Switzerland, London -- I got see some really cool places. It's hard to say, as a mashup album, how much location was an influence, but I do feel the most creative when I'm around friends or out of my standard day-to-day life, so being able to work on it in different locales definitely made the creation of it a lot more fun for me.

3) You mention in the press release how the xx are often listened to in your earbuds when you enter your solitary shell, even if it is on a commute when you're surrounded by people, you are still alone in some way, whereas when you listen to Biggie it's usually a "communal"experience; what is your take on how this album "should" be listened to/it's impact on people (i.e. how it makes them feel)?

Great question! So I actually am really into this concept of music matching a specific situation, and I thought a lot about where I liked listening to this record. I included this note at the end of the liner notes, suggesting three places it's worked well for me:

1) rainy days in your apartment after you've overslept but aren't going to let the asymmetry of your day disrupt your mood

2) driving during that time between when the bars close and the newspaper routes haven't started when no one's out and the city looks abandoned

3) walking alone and thinking about everyone you know and imagining what they might be doing right then.

4) Does the album/the making of the album have any special significance to you?

Yeah, the album has absolutely held special significance to me -- despite it being a mashup, it does feel personal to construct something in headphones and away from where you live, and it makes it feel like it only exists in your head. I was more anxious than I thought I'd be before it came out, and was just hoping a couple friends would listen to it and be digging it. The response has been pretty overwhelming, but I do feel like I'm listening to something different than everyone else -- I think of airports and late nights and playing demos for my best friend to see what he thought about it.

5) Was there any sort of message, whether it was a feeling, idea, etc that you were trying to convey?

I'm not sure about a specific feeling, but generally I want people to hear about it and think 'that'll never work,' and then check it out and enjoy it. A lot of mashups I find to be a little obvious -- I've certainly been guilty of this -- and I think challenging listeners a little bit is really the most fun part of the genre. Also, my favorite emails are from people who say 'I usually hate rap, but really liked hearing Biggie on your record' or 'I had no idea who The xx were, but they're awesome -- where do I get their CD?' The album's free, I'm not trying to exploit any other artists, and I'm most happy when I can play a small part in spreading good music to people who otherwise maybe wouldn't have checked it out.

6) What's your favorite track from the album, or do you think it is best listened to as a whole?

I would say I hope the record is best listened to as a whole, but my favorite track is probably 'one more chance for a heart to skip a beat' or 'the curious incident of big poppa in the nighttime.' The first one because, thematically, I think it's the strongest, and I really liked how the chorus turned out. Big Poppa/Nighttime has a pretty eerie beat, and I thought was a cool transformation of the Biggie track. 

7) Do you have any other mixes/anything else in the works? (Just an idea maybe it's stupid but... Animal Collective's "Guy's Eyes" vs. the Dirty Projector's "Remade Horizon")

Yes, absolutely! I'm exploring a couple possibilities now, and am a couple demos into one project that I'm excited about. My hope is to have some individual tracks coming out in the next couple weeks, and hopefully a new album this summer. Also, I've been getting some inquiries about a string of college shows, and would love to go on a short tour -- I think that'd be a lot of fun. If anyone's booking at colleges, get at me! Also, I've got a facebook page where you can follow all the action: www.facebook.com/pages/wait-what/90344887283

Hope y'all enjoyed my first real interview (the Animal Collective one doesn't really count because it was more of just a conversation that I remembered the salient points from...) and this awesome mixtape.

-- A Teenage Elephant (Be Seeing You...)

Hot Off The Press: Memory Tapes Remixes Phoenix

Hot Off the Press :: 1901(Memory Tapes Remix)

Earlier today, Memory Tapes released on his blog this remix of one of the most popular/best/catchy songs of last year and certainly one of the biggest "crossover" songs (it was in a Cadillac car commercial...).  This remix is a beat dreamier if you will, featuring many more synth sounds.  All that it really retains from the original is the vocals; otherwise, it feels like a completely re-worked and separate song, which I like because it feels like it has its own identity.  It definitely feels slower, in part due to the fact that for much of the song it is just the vocals with the synths in the background, with the only one being featured prominently a sort of arpeggiated sound and a slow tambourine for the drums.  My favorite part though is around 1:40 when it speeds up.  Probably my favorite of the many remixes that Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix has spawned (I like to call them "Wolfgang Amadeus Remixes... I'm just too good I know).

mp3: 1901 (Memory Tapes Remix)


In Other News:

Beach House' much anticipated (is it just me or does it seem like everything has been really anticipated this year?) Teen Dream was just released.  I have yet to listen to it enough times to review it, but I will say it is very enjoyable.  Here's the first song that was released from it.

mp3: Norway

-- A Teenage Elephant (SW)

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Here are a couple of tracks from A Sunny Day in Glasgow (who are not actually from Glasgow but Philadelphia), a band I have just heard about and am starting to really like.  These are from the band's second album (released a couple of months ago), called Ashes Grammar. 'Shy' is my favorite.  I really love their complex, multilayered sound.  It reminds me a bit of Horn of Plenty.  I get the feeling that seeing them live must be one of the calmest, most relaxed shows out there.
Tell me what you think of these.

-- A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Shy
mp3: Ashes Grammar/Ashes Math
mp3: Shy (Ernest Gonzales Remix)

The Best of/History of Chillwave/Lo-fi

During 2009, and especially during the summer, there has been a huge explosion of artists who are characterized by lo-fi- buzzed- fuzzy- summery- washed out- synthpop- chilled- beach-y- whatever-you-want-to-call-it sounds.  Pretty much everybody who has any sort of music blog has made some sort of comment about it (a lot of them are pretty stupid), and since I am a big fan of it I got to take my go at it.  This style has come to be known as 'chillwave' (half-jokingly and half-seriously) after being dubbed that at the start of the summer in an epic post on HRO, or lo-fi/glo-fi.  Of course there were plenty of artists who had this sound before the summer and helped inspire the genre (like Memory Tapes/Casettes), but the summer is when it really exploded.  The biggest summer breakouts were Neon Indian (AKA Alan Polomo, also of VEGA) and Washed Out (AKA Ernest Greene).

Chillwave has most of its roots in shoegaze music.  Although it is generally slightly more upbeat, it is still for the most part meant to just sit back and relax to, and if you're going to dance at all you're pretty much just going to sway with your eyes closed...

With names like Washed Out, Beach House, Wavves, Best Coast, Future Islands, Reading Rainbows...etc it really comes through the idea of trying to capture that summer aesthetic and relaxed beach feel.  Another aspect of the music is that almost all of these artists are bedroom artists- they pretty much started out just recording their stuff in a their bedroom with just a laptop (guess...Correct! Macbook! how'd u no?) and sometimes a synthesizer, gaining recognition just by circulated their stuff on the inter-web-net-blog-world (as I like to call it).  So for some of these artists, even though they originally did not create their music to be performed, they have transformed their act for their sudden fame.

This genre, chill though it may seem, has created some angry and heated (although pretty comedic) arguments on blogs all over the web.  Some people (well, a lot) feel that this chillwave music is too 'repetitve' and that nothing happens in it and the music itself is 'shitty' but I feel that that is okay and that is a part of it that you should embrace.  Chillwave isn't trying to be Mozart and it's not trying to be Radiohead and it's not trying to be Arcade Fire (musically perfect artists...IMHO) - it's just trying to be something that you can close your eyes to and drift away.

-- A Teenage Elephant

Here are a few of my favorites

Neon Indian
mp3: Deadbeat Summer [via]
This has got to be the epitome of chillwave.  Even its title is extremely chillwave.  It is also one of the best.  It sounds as if it has been run through a washing machine, but is still upbeat and fun.  I love it.  Neon Indian is the solo project of Alan Palomo, who has multiple solo projects.   This years album Psychic Chasms is out and pretty all around awesome.

Washed Out
mp3: Feel It All Around [via]
mp3: Feel It All Around (Toro y Moi Remix)  [via]
Ernest Greene was a librarian/stay out home guy from South Carolina until his sudden popularity over the summer.  A real bedroom artist, he had never performed anything he had made or been signed to a lable until this summer.  Because his stuff was not made to be performed, at first he said he would not be doing any live shows, but eventually he had his first performance in August in NYC.  The videos are worth checking out.  The new album (just released) is called High Times, and is definitely getting if you like chillwave.  Washed Out is sort of the breakout artist of chillwave, responsible popularizing the genre over summer, and Feel It All Around is his biggest hit.  It's a song that really captures that vacationing, relaxed feel.


Toro y Moi
mp3: Talamak [via]
mp3: Blessa (Extended Version) [via]
Definitely my favorite chillwave artist without a doubt.  I had never heard of him until a concert I went to at the Troubadour, where he was the first opening act of 2.  The Troubadour is a pretty small venue and he went on pretty early.  There were only around 10-15 people there when he went on.  He walked up to the front of the small, cramped stage and set up his laptop and synthesizer.  I thought he was just a techie/roadie or whatever w/ good style at first so I went to get some water, but then I heard the first seconds of his music and was instantly mesmerized.  IMHO he is incredible.  Talamak might be favorite song of 2009.  He is definitely the most musically complex.  He is less fuzzy and faded as more dreamy, dancy and pop-y.  He is set to release two albums on Carpark Records this coming year, the first of which being Causers of This, out at the start of 2010.  You can download a bunch of his stuff over at RCRDLBL, but this is the best stuff.  Also, I forgot to mention, Toro y Moi is the solo project Chaz Bundick (also a South Carolinian who is actually good friends with Ernest Greene), member of other bands from the early 2000's.  I could listen to Talamak a million times.

Small Black
mp3: Despicable Dogs [via]
mp3: Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix) [via]
mp3: Pleasant Experience [via]
Small Black is a Long Island Duo, with some really nice electronic songs.  Don't know what else to say about them, but really love these three.


Paralyze Humanity Sequence
Hammock
This is a guy from Chicago I believe.  Don't know much about him just that he has unsigned, pretty much just does parites, and that's about it.  I happened to stumble across his myspace, where you can download his EP, which is actually pretty good aside from the shitty band name.  Pretty typical chillwave stuff, nothing special but I like it.

Atlas Sound ft. Panda Bear (AKA Noah Lennox of AnCo)
mp3: Walkabout [via]
This is a pretty great piece of music off of  Bradley Cox (of Deerhunter)'s solo album (as Atlas Sound) Logos.  It is a really diverse album with lots of guest appearances, this song falling under the chillwave banner in my opinion.  It features Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear) of Animal Collective, so you know it has to be good.

Trailer Trash Tracys
mp3: Candy Girl (Demo) [via]
Don't know much about TTT's but this song I think really captures the shoegaze feel of chillwave.  If you like this you should definitely check Beach House, who are more just standard indie/shoegaze.  They just released a new single, and you can download some of their great stuff at RCRDLBL.

-- A Teenage Elephant

P.S.  Something I think is kind of cool that you might not know...We'll call it the fun fact of the day...
The name for the genre shoegaze comes from the idea that at a shoegaze band's concerts when you listen to the music you just sway with your head down and gaze at your shoes.

Grizzly Bear-Neon Indian

Summer chillwave breakout Neon Indian just put out two warm and fuzzy remixes of Grizzly Bear's 'Cheerleader' off of this year's Veckatimest.  He brings his 80's/synthpop/washed sound to the track really effectively (especially in the first remix).  The two remixes though are really just continuations of each other.  Check out both the remixes at P4k until I can get the other one up.

-- A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Cheerleader   [via]
mp3: Cheerleader (Neon Indian's Sega Genesis P-Orridge RMX)

New Yeasayer

Here is the video for the new Yeasayer song Ambling Alp.  It's a pretty crazy trippy video directed by duo Radical Friend.  If you don't know them they are a psychedelic, electronic and overall sweet Brooklyn band.  They have a new album coming Odd Blood.  Out in February on Secretly Canadian it should be a great follow up to All Hour Cymbals if it holds up to the first single.  You can download the new single over at Yeasayer's website for free. There are also a couple of great remixes, the best of which by Memory Tapes.  Check it all out after the jump.

--A Teenage Elephant

"Ambling Alp"
mp3: Ambling Alp

Ambling Alp - Yeasayer

[via]

Memory Tapes Remix
mp3: Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes Remix)

Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes remi...

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