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[Radical AC]

It was a search fail.

[JD]

It happens

[Mr. Tool]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Original Soundtrack



01 Sex Bob-Omb: "We Are Sex Bob-Omb"
02 Plumtree: "Scott Pilgrim"
03 Frank Black: "I Heard Ramona Sing"
04 Beachwood Sparks: "By Your Side"
05 Black Lips: "O Katrina!"
06 Crash and the Boys: "I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad"
07 Crash and the Boys: "We Hate You Please Die"
08 Sex Bob-Omb: "Garbage Truck"
09 T. Rex: "Teenage Dream"
10 The Bluetones: "Sleazy Bed Track"
11 Blood Red Shoes: "It's Getting Boring by the Sea"
12 Metric: "Black Sheep"
13 Sex Bob-Omb: "Threshold"
14 Broken Social Scene: "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl"
15 The Rolling Stones: "Under My Thumb"
16 Beck: "Ramona (Acoustic)"
17 Beck: "Ramona"
18 Sex Bob-Omb: "Summertime"
19 Brian LeBarton: "Threshold 8 Bit"

Sex Bob-Omb tracks were written by Beck, who plays instruments with the movie's actors providing vocals. Crash & The Boys tracks were written and performed by Broken Social Scene.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?afajuexb09m3yni

[aflowerchild]

That album's good stuff.

[Tom]

The Metric track isn't even that good Yes it is.

[lauraelise204]

robyn - body talk pt. 2 (2010)

your link is already down.

[lauraelise204]

I can't believe this hasn't been posted yet.

However, this is one band and album I will be extremely disappointed if the majority who download it for free don't immediately run out and buy it and support them.
Just sayin.

Ok now kiddies, enjoy!

The Cradle - Colour Revolt

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/4r752je6ce3nxz6/CR%20-%20TC.zip

[scarred]

your link is already down.

Also, please do NOT request albums. This includes requests for re-uploads; if you miss it, try looking for it somewhere else.

additionally, there are other tactics you might want to try

[Eris]

That Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is pretty tops! It made me go looking for Blood Red Shoes albums, and I am generally enjoying everything on the soundtrack.

It is going to have to tide me over until I can go see the movie.

[minus_the_david]

blood red shoes are definitely amazing!

[gospel]

Rules:

The first rule of mediaf!re thread is you do not talk about mediaf!re thread.

The second rule of mediaf!re thread is no smorking.

No hot-linking images or albums. You can re-host images at http://imageshack.us.

Ensure your tags are correct and that you have specified both Artist/Album in your post.

Upload your files in either a .zip or a .rar archive to mediaf!re.com, in multiple parts if the album is over 100mbs. The reason for this is that we know mediaf!re is safe and efficient and allows multiple downloads. The ads on other sites, such as Sendspace, are known to contain viruses on the page. Get yourself checked out.

Post your link using code tags. It's the # icon above the policeman emoticon. This prevents the links from being traced back to the forums, lowering the chance that the wrong people notice the thread, potentially threatening Jeph with legal action.

Also, please do NOT request albums. This includes requests for re-uploads; if you miss it, try looking for it somewhere else.

Repost the rules at the top of each new page.

NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Tallest Man on Earth - Wild Hunt (2010)

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wkdtjy0koln

[youthcant]

that's one of my favorite albums of 2010. Reallly great stuff.

[youthcant]

your link is already down.

Also, please do NOT request albums. This includes requests for re-uploads; if you miss it, try looking for it somewhere else.

additionally, there are other tactics you might want to try

that's a completely insufficient way of find music.
CHECK IT OUT:
http://tinyurl.com/34ods7b

epic results.

[Orcusmars]

nice.

[Cire27]

Not really necessary to quote the guy above you, especially with one word.

[gospel]

Re-upping an album I found to be a PITA to actually find.

MySpace
"Whales Sing" (YouTube)
"The Sleepless" (YouTube)

The Shaky Hands - Lunglight (2008)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?cexonjoekeos97x
"We Are Young" (YouTube)

And there others:

The Shaky Hands - Let It Die (2009)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?q36h24u2koic4s4
The Shaky Hands - s/t (2007)

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http://www.mediafire.com/?ezzmzgohinm

[Patrick]

Twain Harte. Math-rock band from right here in Livermore. The band name reads hella lame-like, but do not be fooled at all. I've known the drummer since we were little kids, and the guitarist and I are more recent jam buddies. I never knew either of them could put out something like this, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Anyway, here's both of their EPs. They no longer exist as a band, but god damn, what an exceptional group of three insanely talented musicians.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?wyuwn0m2myz
Long fucking live Twain Harte.

[Cire27]

Oh hey, if the first song means anything then this is some pretty fun math rock.

[Patrick]

Mindfuck: it's the drummer singing.

Depression: that is the only stuff they ever have released/ever will release, they split up. Matt moved to Utah, Logan's moving to Santa Cruz this month, and nobody has any fucking clue what Cody's doing.

[Koremora]

Yes.

of Montreal - False Priest (2010 - 320kbs)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?vulctbhopiuu6bh

[scarred]

no

[minus_the_david]

i just exploded in my pants seeing that the new Of Montreal had leaked...thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KvP]

Pictureplane - True Ruin Light Body (vinyl rip)

Right, so yesterday I spent about an hour and a half writing a big long essay about Travis Egedy aka Pictureplane and where he comes from and his (insert scare quotes if it pleases you) significance as an electronic musician coming up from the ranks of the Denver DIY lo-fi art-punk scene as opposed to a club scene (of which there is very little in Denver). Then I accidentally clicked "save" on a first draft that was still open and I lost about 90% of that. Rather than trying to recreate that post I'm going to spare you and just talk about the music here.

True Ruin Light Body is an EP of sorts released on Kate Moross' Isomorphs imprint, one of many labels / design houses catering to the hip music lover's fetishism for limited run issues of vinyl and merch, and as usual they delivered a fine product in TRLB. The design is a collaboration between Moross and Egedy, and it features a lot of odd cryptographic imagery on the sleeve and vinyl label (including several Stars of David, leading my friends to ask if Pictureplane was jewish) on white vinyl.

The EP is comprised of 4 tracks, 2 of which are culled from last year's weird, compelling Dark Rift LP and two of which are remixes of songs from the same. The EP starts with the eponymous "True Ruin Light Body", which is apparently a remix of the final track from the album, simply titled "True Ruin". Maybe it's my lack of an attention span (both songs run about 9 minutes) or maybe the differences are particularly subtle, but I can't seem to find much difference between the Dark Rift and True Ruin Light Body cuts, aside from the fact that the EP version is a little bit shorter (by a measure of 6-7 seconds). The track itself is Pictureplane's trademark sound at work - like much of the hip electronic music of the last decade, his music looks back with some nostalgia on the 90's, but Pictureplane casts a much wider net than, say, Zomby does, incorporating elements of rave, house and electro but also mainline radio eurodance of the Ace of Bass variety, creating a final product that is mongrelized and seemingly slapdash but also possessed of a distinctly human quality, devoid of tired irony and abound with sincerity and enthusiasm in large part due to the rough, homemade feel of the music.

"Cyclical Cyclical (Atlantis)" is one of the more enduring cuts from Dark Rift, a giddy and quick number with thumping, rough drums, cut-up female vox and a Dan Deacon-esque electric piano line. Then it ends just about as abruptly as it started. The b-side starts with "5th Sun", an uptempo eurodance-influenced song with a rhythm that wouldn't feel out of place on a UK Funky comp. It's a little more "minimal" than Pictureplane's other songs, comprised of just the rhythm, Egedy's voice and a judiciously used, reverb-y synth line.

The final track is a remix of the disco-indebted "New Mind" via UK post-chillwave (I'm making that term up and you can't stop me) kids Teengirl Fantasy, who are about to become hot shit in the next few months. The remix ups the Deep House factor by quite a lot, with snappier snares and hi-hats and a more hypnotic synth warble. It's the kind of vaguely messy club song that would've made the cut on one of those long-lost extra Trainspotting soundtracks.

If you have the means of getting the vinyl I very much urge you to do so. It's crafted with care - mine survived a most unfortunate run-in with my spazzy black lab (the packaging was less fortunate). As usual I've included the ripped tracks as .wavs to preserve sound quality as much as possible.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?dtsv28orx2lvz0o


Valet / Richard Youngs - Tsuki No Seika Vol. 2 (vinyl rip)

A little 7" I picked up from Boomkat, Tsuki No Seika Vol. 2 is a split single between adventurous composers Valet (ne Honey Owens) and Richard Youngs. Root Strata's Tsuki No Seika  series is 3 deep now (I've got the third on the way, couldn't get the first) and its theme is pretty interesting - One, artwork must be provided by the artist, and two, all sounds on the songs in the series have to originate from the human vocal cords. There doesn't seem to be a limitation on post-production trickery or multi-tracking or anything like that, but there are no instruments beyond the voices of the artists.

Valet's contribution is, apparently, a cover of Mudhoney's minor classic "Touch Me I'm Sick", but it owes more to the pagan mysticism of British post-industrial music than Seattle hrunge. The heavy use of reverb on Valet's clicking tongue and half-audible murmurs creates a pulsing, ghostly backdrop for her whispered lyrics. All in all it's strongly reminiscent of the unsettling claustrophobia of Coil's "Something".

On the flip side, Richard Youngs takes on a different sort of mysticism, this time the strangely alien tone of old folk music. "Fen Flowers" is as much an incantation as a song, as Youngs' even, upwards cadence and seemingly improvised lyrics resemble a chant to some obscure god of fertility. I can't listen to it without thinking of the original Wicker Man film (I have Coil on the brain today - the seminal post-industrial group contributed a bewitching neo-folk track to the film's soundtrack).

Tsuki No Seika is, ostensibly, a subscription-only series, as per the grand tradition of esoteric avant-garde music (Coil, for example, was known to give incredibly rare recordings only to friends) but Boomkat seems to be getting small quantities in as new iterations of the series are released. As I type this Volumes 2 and 3 are still in stock, the former at an irresistibly reduced sale price. Snatch them up while you still can. The artist-provided covers are certainly as compelling as the music itself is.

As I often try to do, the vinyl rips are provided in .wav format for optimum quality preservation.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?kg4a8kovd8p5aqg

[KvP]

Ramadanman - Grab Somebody / Mir [white label vinyl rip]

It took me a little while to get into Ramadanman, but when I did it was thorough. Continuing his hot streak of 12's (most recently a split with Midland and the killer Fall Short single for Swamp 81) with this white label single, apparently made in Atlanta and self-released.

The A-side is classic Ramadanman, with clean and precise drum programming and Chicago Juke-indebted sampling, this time pitch-shifted a bit higher, the vox taking on a helium-treated sound. "Grab Somebody" also features a much heavier bass than I normally notice from Ramadanman. Also trademark Ramadanman is the compelling R&B-flavored synthwork that picks up halfway through the song (the moment when the organ kicks in on potential track-of-the-year "Glut" is pure genius), very sparingly used here, but to great effect.

The B-side was famously featured on Oneman's Rinse mix CD, here presented as its own track. Ramadanman's mnml drum programming gifts are on full display, but this one's got more of a UK Funky vibe to it, with more varied percussion sounds and zooming laser-beam sounds over pressurized, hollow-sounding synthwork.

Overall this is probably one of the best-sounding vinyl records I've spun on my turntable, and I'm really enthused about the quality of the rips I was able to get. Unfortunately it seems as though the white label with the "Mir" flip is sold out pretty much everywhere, but Bleep still looks to have the single-sided "Grab Somebody" white label. Typically solid work from Ramadanman playing around in the American sandbox. hopefully this moves out of the White Label wilderness into the wider market soon.

And because I'm such a putz, I included yet another pair of 33 RPM fuckup rips in the .rar as well. Interestingly enough 33 play "corrects" the pitch-shifting on "Grab Somebody". Discard them if you like, they're just kind of there as a lark.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?vzo3vnbuloupan3

[scarred]

molly rose - molly rose (2009)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?uvuoodlobjw5xg4
The best folk album you've never heard. Found it in the bargain bin at my local record shop, in a cardboard, home-screenprinted case. Inside was a storebought CD-R with "Molly Rose" written in sharpie and a booklet made of folded photographs. The production value (and quality) is far from DIY, though. Really, really fucking good. If you like girls singing, guitars, strings, and occasional percussion, you're gonna go head over heels for this. I did.

Molly Rose draws intricate landscapes of narrative poetry. Her music is as driven by the intrinsic rhythms of her words as by whatever nameless muse guides her. There's nothing conventional about her songs, but she's hardly a weirdo folksinger. She's just a lovely songwriter, and if you're ready to listen closely, you won't be disappointed.

She's got her acoustic singer/songwriter sound dialed in, strummed rhythm, string squeak, and an incredibly dynamic voice, with overtones that make a single line sound both about ready to cry and cry out. Her lyrics are a poetry of secret observations -- you have to listen closely, and she rarely sacrifices depth for a hook. More often, when it comes to the expected chorus, she modulates and the song heads off for new pastures.

[gospel]

Always a fan of folk. Thanks for the upload. It does hit the DIY-folk spot quite nicely.

[JimmyJazz]

Swans leak!

"My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky" - Swans

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf?re.com/?fy012x5ke7owx8z

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

Looooove youuuuuu

[TheFuriousWombat]

KvP man, like the blog but (and don't consider this a request per se) how come there's no link for that Kyle Bobby Dunn ep?? Makes me sad. Also, if you don't have the Grouper/Xela split for Tsuki No Seka, I can probably upload it. I have the 7" and it's great (about 150x better than volume 2 if you ask me).

[KvP]

Dunn sent the EP to me and requested that I not put direct links up. If an artist or a label sets guidelines on sharing I do my best to follow them.

[TheFuriousWombat]

makes sense, good policy

[youthcant]

Antony and the Johnsons - "thank you for your love" ep

Code: [Select]

http://www.med!afire.com/?eu6ic16h2a9aiv7Under the radar, above the radar. Useless pity, translated into remorseful musical satire. Elegance, translucent tranquility. All of this describes the chamber kindness transcended within the odd voice behind Antony and the Johnsons. Title track is probably the most hyper material ever produced from this cat. I almost didn't get depressed when I listened to it.

[trr005]

Wow.  I cannot wait to get home from school to get that.  Thank you so much.

[JD]

Killola - Let's Get Associated[2010](320kb/s)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?o3na18yca0adw14
Cracks In The Armor

[spoon_of_grimbo]

i can't remember whether or not i've whored this out on here before or not, but here's a 3 track ep (two originals and an idlewild cover) i threw together as a recording project at uni the other year.  was pretty rushed in every sense (and as a result is mastered a bit quietly so you might need to up the volume a bit when listening), but despite my misgivings, most people who've heard it seem to like it at least a bit.  as far as throwaway pop-punk songs go, i'm kinda proud of 'em. 

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?kignmll1dth

[KvP]

Eil R / Conr - Beneath Mix 2

Beneath Mix 2 comes from two DJs out of Manchester, Eil R and Conr, both taking up a side on a (limited edition, natch) cassette tape for extended, contiguous mixes. The choice of cassette for the format is both odd and natural. I was expecting what normally graces cassette runs these days - modern classical and drone pieces, and of course the 80's nostalgia of "chillwave" music, but Beneath Mix 2, while eclectic, is rooted firmly in the confines of "mainstream" (as in, not strictly experimental) electronic music. The sound quality suffers somewhat but the hiss of the tape and the muted bass give the mixes a lived-in feel (artists in other genres, notably rapper Buck 65, have used the sound limitations of the cassette quite creatively) that compliments the live, one-take mixing very nicely.

Side A belongs to Eil R, and while it starts off fairly oddly, with what sounds like a movie clip of a woman speechifying about Jihad, the mix soon enough finds it footing in bass-heavy techno workouts (though you can't feel the bass very well given the medium) and stays in the groove pretty consistently. Throughout the side there are excursions into Jungle and acid house, and the surprise appearance of Autechre's remix of The Black Dog's "Tunnels ov Set".

Side B varies things up a little bit more, as Conr goes abroad for influences and draws from more popular contemporary dance genres. The oddly affecting intro was the first time I had heard the ramshackle afro-dance movement dubbed "Shangaan Electro", and from there Conr explores the borderlands between techno, Chicago Juke and modern UK bass music. Peverelist's "Fighting Without Fighting" (from the Better Ways of Living single) and Ramadanman's "Work Them", both b-sides from popular 12s, are put back to back, and later on a fascinating pitch-shifted remix of Addison Groove's Juke-indebted "Footcrab" (Conr's own?) shows up. The only niggling problem seems to be intermittent insertion of Brainfeeder-esque "wonky" beats. This might just be because I'm not a big fan of that movement, but it still feels a little sloppy, even if that's the point.

Overall, Beneath Mix 2 is a bewitching little lo-fi dance mix that's just as suited to home listening as a dancefloor. Probably more suited to it, all things considered. It's also a welcome respite from the ultra-polished megamixes that crowd the marketplace these days. The handmade feel of the mix is refreshing. There are apparently only 50 of these cassettes in existence but Boomkat somehow still manages to keep them in stock. Go get one! The packaging is all handmade and worth the price.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?4hoovjlgzbxjhes

[KvP]

Solar Bears - Inner Sunshine EP

When an artist is said to "push boundaries" with their music, oftentimes it is due more to the fact that a reviewer doesn't actually know where the artist is going with it than it is due to the artist's actual success in breaking down barriers and exploring sounds you wouldn't normally expect to blend in a palatable way. The artist that can bounce between musical mindsets within the space of a single album in a satisfactory way seems to be pretty rare. Rarer still is the artist that can engage more than one mode of music in the same song.


The Irish duo Solar Bears is the most recent initiate into that scantly populated latter fraternity. Their debut album, She Was Coloured In, has been garnering a significant amount of buzz from P4k, XLR8R and elsewhere. The early scuttlebutt was that they were akin to an Irish Boards of Canada, and the snippets of music that Planet Mu offered up on its site seemed to back up that notion. Boards of Canada's output is without a doubt the very best of the late 90's / early '00s wave of IDM artists, and their warm, organic groove remains to this day a very handy jumping-off point for anyone interested in exploring electronic music beyond the confines of house and techno. Their sound has been quite hard to replicate, and many have tried. That the BoC comparison was bandied about so readily promised great things from Solar Bears.


Upon the release of their inaugural Inner Sunshine EP for Planet Mu, however, the comparison proves to be a bit premature. The band's sonic debt to Boards is apparent, but from the first track it becomes clear that Solar Bears have far greater ambitions than a faithful recreation of its influences. Opener "Trans Waterfall" establishes the pattern early on - while Solar Bears share with BoC a certain fondness for the epic sound of classic soundtrack music (Morricone, etc.) they also have a deep abiding interest in live instrumentation. The bass guitar and live drumming cleanly establish the Solar Bears sound. Like so many up-and-coming electronic artists these days, Solar Bears have been influenced by the krautrock and library music of the 70's as much as anything else. The kicker comes three minutes into "Trans Waterfall", when the song abruptly turns into a Summery, vaguely hippie-like acoustic guitar jam, complete with canned flutes.


This technique of abruptly changing the style of a song halfway through it is one that Solar Bears comes back to throughout the EP. "Photo Negative Living" starts out with sustained organ tones, promising a spacey Campfire Headphase-y pastoral jam, but the introduction of similarly hazy guitar and bass takes the song in a new direction. When listening I couldn't help but think that the tone and feel of the music was strongly reminiscent of Zero 7's first two albums. On the one hand, I loved those records and thought they were about perfect for Summer listening, even as they were largely derivative of Air. On the other hand, I was hesitant to make the comparison because it certainly feels like Solar Bears are aiming a bit higher than downtempo comfort food music. While I was fretting over this, Solar Bears switched up the music again, churning out a squall of electric guitar and over-the-top rock drumming in the last minute of the song.


So in the span of two tracks, Solar Bears have managed to touch on BoC's translucent IDM, classic soundtrack music, downtempo chill-out music, and shoegaze-y post rock. It's all rather impressive, especially considering how well it all flows together. The third (and title) track is less adventurous largely due to its length. "Inner Sunshine" is just over a minute and a half of mournful, sleepy Campfire Headphase electronica, and it's immensely satisfying for anyone who's been waiting impatiently for the last 4 years for new Boards of Canada music. "Kill On" starts off as an awfully pretty little folk song with delicately plucked guitar and understated synth (perhaps it betrays my lack of worldliness that I can't tell if that other plucked instrument is another guitar or a harpsichord) before going into yet another Ulrich Schnauss-y bout of muscular post-rock.


The EP closes out with two remixes. Usually with new Planet Mu signs, debut EPs are loaded with remixes from the label's own stable of like-minded artists, but for Inner Sunshine, the band and label head Mike Paradinas looked outside the confines of the label to find sympatico remixers in Lone and Letherette, both UK electronic artists of the distinctly post-BoC variety (I wrote a little bit about Lone's latest album Ecstasy and Friends in January), both remixing songs from Solar Bears' upcoming LP. Letherette's remix of "Crystalline (Be Again)" brings the speed and pitch of the song up just a notch and swaps out the song's vaguely disco-oriented leanings for some light electro-funk, complete with wooshing laser synths and a clopping, danceable beat. Lone's remix of "Twin Stars" is more distinctive, bringing his trademark tight  synth arps and uptempo drum programming to the fore, with a delicious vintage BoC synth line and a more relaxed feel in the back half of the song.


The bad news with this EP (and this band in general) is that if you're so desperate for new Boards that you're looking for a replacement until they step back up to the plate again, Solar Bears will only fitfully serve your purposes. The good news is that it doesn't even really make sense to talk about Solar Bears in relation to that venerable group - they have, from the very start, endeavoured to carve out their own sonic niche, one that, when you really listen to it, only bears a passing resemblance to the sun-kissed IDM of the Scottish duo. Solar Bears' debut LP comes out next month and it's already shot to the top of my most-anticipated list for the year, and if it's as consistent as this EP it will be a shoe-in for best album of the year. Mike Paradinas really struck gold with this one. Can't wait to hear more.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?b8ns8y05bg3ein7

[De_El]

I completely love the phrase "sonic debt." I actually saw it coming in your review a few sentences before I got to it and got really excited.

[JD]

The Thermals - Personal Life[2010](320kb/s)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?rs8pgz776poungjI Don't Believe You

[Catacombs]

So the Thermals are pretty good?  They get a lot of mentions on this thread & that video was pretty good, so I'll check out the album.

[valley_parade]

They're the fucking Thermals.

(Yes, they are very good.)

[Avec]

Man I was in love with their previous two albums, hopefully this doesn't disappoint.

[the_pied_piper]

Fucking Yes, I have been waiting for this for so long.

[KvP]

Venetian Snares - My So-Called Life

Last year's Venetian Snares album Filth was like a car wreck for me - decidedly unpleasant but impossible to turn away from. The marriage of breakcore and hardcore acid house on a porno-themed album was so gonzo that I wondered what boundaries Aaron Funk would transgress next. Well it turns out, after over a decade of tongue-in-cheek breakcore provocation and sound terrorism, Aaron Funk has apparently decided that he's just going to have fun. Not that he wasn't having fun before, but this time around it's hard to even begin to be offended by all the crazy shit he throws around - he is clearly taking the piss. He does not care.

My So-Called Life (or, as iTunes dubs it, Playing Jungle at a French Speedcore Party, in what's almost certainly another little joke on Funk's part) is something of a return to form for Venetian Snares, stepping back from the brink of brutalized acid back towards the go-for-broke breakcore he made his name on. In terms of feel, this is more akin to his last album in this style (not counting 2008's jungle throwback Detrimentalist, which was strangely light on the manic humor), 2006's Cavalcade of Glee and  Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms. The menace of the Venetian Snares persona is definitely felt about the edges of the music. Opener (and long-time live crowd pleaser) "Posers and Camera Phones" shows off Funk's impressive classical chops with a winding goth-rave piano line before the gleefully over-the-top hip hop samples start assaulting your ears, stating that he "fucking hates you" and, in perhaps the most provocative moments on the album, promises to rape you. It would be more upsetting if it weren't a sample removed from its original context, where it was probably quite threatening, into a overblown, maniacal breakcore song.

"Cadaverous" keeps the breakcore train speeding along with a sample that I know I've heard before (is it from the Wire? I forget) and Funk's trademark slapdash, queasy synthwork. "Aaron2" is a mock breakcore melodrama in the creepy / weird Rossz tradition, telling a story of a boy named "Aaron" and how he turns evil after his sheep are stolen from him and learns to play the drums. "Who Wants Cake?" is yet another tongue-in-cheek provocation, with samples of the word "retarded" being replicated over infectious retro club synths. The pitch-shifted woman singing about how she feels retarded and "Wilford Brimley" warning of the dangers of encountering the disabled at night are especially nice touches.

Then comes the centerpiece of the album, "Welfare Wednesday", in which a rapper lists off all the things he would like to see / do inside the female anatomy. Here is just a few of the things in / being done in it:
 - Orange juice
 - Leather jackets
 - Selling crystal meth
 - Planet Mu label head Mike Paradinas
 - Egg salad sandwiches
It would be incredibly transgressive if it wasn't so aggressively goofy. As with "Who Wants Cake?" there's also a pitch-shifted female vocalist, though I can't hear exactly what she's singing. It ranks with some of the best songs Venetian Snares has ever produced. It's followed by "Ultraviolent Junglist", which is unfortunately a fairly routine breakneck Jungle (duh) song with nothing to really recommend it beyond its insane speed.

Funk slows it down with ""Goodbye9/Hello10", which comes from the same school of breakcore / classical fusion of Detrimentalist's "Miss Balaton" and the acclaimed Rossz csillag alatt született. It's become a bit cliche to say that Funk's best work is in this style, but this really is a very good song. Vsnares' music can be really evocative when he lets it - the strings especially are suitably cinematic and impart some drama onto the proceedings. "Sound Burglar" starts out with doom-laden horns before devolving into a ragga breakcore freakout (though as breakcore freakouts go, this one is remarkably relaxed), beating less adventurous contemporaries like Shitmat at their own game.

The penultimate track, "Hajnal2" is, as the name suggests, an edit / V.I.P. of Rossz csillag alatt született's jazz / classical / breakcore opus "Hajnal", one of that album's standouts. The edit removes the original's jazz leanings and inserts a greater emphasis on Funk's intricate drum programming and adds a few acid-y touches and a bewitching male vocal snippet (singing about how no birds sing in his heart), plus a few touchstones from other Rossz tracks. For anyone who loved that album, it will be a welcome surprise.

The album closes out with the "title" track, "My So-Called Life", which begins like a less somber outtake from Rossz, or even some lost vintage Joanna Newsom track, before unexpectedly subtle electronic touches start inching their way in around the strings. I keep expecting the song to explode into breakcore, but Funk plays with our expectations, biding his time until about three minutes in and even then showing a good deal of restraint. It plays like "Miss Balaton" in miniature, and it's these sort of songs that reveal just what a talented composer Aaron Funk is.

With most any other artist a "return to form" would be met with skepticism - usually when an artist consciously goes back to styles he or she employed in years past it's taken as a sign of creative bankruptcy (think U2 or even Beck), but Venetian Snares is far more creative than most. What's more, one gets the sense that Funk has nothing to prove - he's made a career out of doing his best to alienate listeners while at the same time enticing them with his displays of prodigious talent. By going back to the well and revisiting his disparate muses of the last decade he may well have made his most dynamic and appealing album. Not every song clicks but the ones that do click do so like none other. Aaron Funk deserves the "evil genius" title just as much as Aphex Twin did, maybe more. I just hope he doesn't "retire" as soon as Aphex did.

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[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

Holy shit guys

Mongo Ninja - No Cunt For Old Men (2010)

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It's awfully funny to look back on the original strands of Norwegian black metal. Originally, the music was supposedly steeped in some form of deep thought or elitist philosophy as many of its perpetrators and proponents aligned themselves with the ridiculous 'No Mosh, No Core, No Trends, No Fun' edict. Change is inevitable, but it's pretty rich to se how many of those original panda bears, after discovering the sounds of filthy street punk, swaggering groove and the potentially troublesome combination of whiskey and vagina, are playing in noisy punk, d-beat and thrash bands. In the case of Peter Vegem and Bård Eithun, who both moonlight in Blood Tsunami, some of these dudes are killing three Vargs with one stone. Considering this album's name and songs with titles like 'Broken Cock', 'Shithead Convention' and 'Shotgun Wound (My Last Tattoo)', it's a safe bet these Norwegians aren't the class gents who're going to be invited to play at King Harald and Queen Sonja's 43rd wedding anniversary next month. But that's okay, because it just means that 'Pete Evil' and 'Faust' and their mates (including Max Cargo from The Cumshots) will have more time to deliver their sick 'n' misanthropic anthems to throngs of dirtyminded and attired sleaze bags and gutter sluts who love(d) the darkness and grit underscoring the melody of early Mötley Crüe and WASP, the caustic burn of hardcore punk, classic tharsh metal's tottering two-beat and the propulsive sonic showdown between Motörhead and Discharge. Even better if you enjoy unlikely tales of limbless hookers ('Wheelchair Hooker', another for the Royal Family's playlist), the destruction of one's hopes and dreams ('Pissing In The Wishing Well') and giving in to hatred ('Fuck It All'). That this blackened suicide note primarily set to filthy thrashpunk fiery enough to fuel riots, illegal drag races and gonzo porn soundtracks only adds to the awesome.
(8/10) Kevin Stewart-Panko

[scarred]

jenny and johnny - i'm having fun now (2010)

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jenny lewis and jonathan rice make carefree, catchy indie pop. imagine best coast with good production and better songwriting skills, or a less furiously twee slow club. surprisingly awesome.

(forgive the 128kbps, it's the best i could find, but honestly it still sounds pretty good.)

[barista.babe]

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?m27q3wacw47
This needs very little introduction or review. It's amazing, and simply stated a 2010 must have EP. All Delighted People made me realize that Sufjan still makes me weak in the knees. Overall, it's a beautiful and great EP. I have had no desire to listen to anything but this since it came out. 

[valley_parade]

Odd fact: He's releasing this as a 2x12" EP.

That's just...massive.

[scarred]

Well, it's also about an hour long, which is yeah a bit lengthy for an EP.

You're getting no complaints from me.

[barista.babe]

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This is another one of my favorites of 2010, the album is available as a free download on the band's website. It's very love at first listen. Perfect for those cool, sunny days. Move over leaves that want to change color, this album is the new harbinger of fall.