LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (2007)

I saw LCD Soundsystem last weekend at the Treasure Island Music Festival. Apparently this is James Murphy's last tour as LCD Soundsystem and I implore you to see them live. The show was sick-nasty/bittersweet. Sick-nasty because they completely rocked the house and bittersweet because all I wanted was more.

This album was commissioned by Nike as an album to jog to. We'll I haven't jogged to it but I can assure you it can accompany a host of other activities, most of which don't require so much movement and energy. You'll notice the nascent version of Someone Great as a theme throughout, thanks Nike!

LCD I love you but you're bringing me down.

LCD I love you but you're bringing me down.

Like a rat in a cage, earning minumum wage.

LCD I love you but your giving me FLAC

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun (2000)

One of the most psychedelic albums ever made and another one of my all-time favorites. Be warned though, most of the brain-altering is done in the form of quite loud fuzzy noise that descends into chaos from time to time. It always comes back, however, returning to waves of bliss and tribal percussion. Another warning: listening to this while operating a motor vehicle may result in excessive speeds and volume.

Get it in FLAC.

Let's try this once more with FLAC.

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt

So a few months ago I was listening to this college radio station called WRMC 91.1, have ya heard of it?

There was this guy named David spouting his mouth off about some folk singer who kinda sounded like Bob Dylan but had a voice ten times better than Dylan could've even dreamed. Needless to say, I curiously acquired the album.

Turns out, The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth is really, really good.

It's even better in FLAC.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela (2006)

So I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Rodrigo y Gabriela last weekend at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA. Rod Gab has been one of the acts I have wanted to see most for the past 3 or 4 years and finally that desire came to fruition. Some people say that things are better when you are forced to wait. I think that's bullshit. If I could consistently see Rodrigo y Gabriela every weekend I would be one happy motherfucker.

Their stage presence is amazing. It's so blatantly obvious that these two grew up metal heads. Every time Rodrigo or Gabriela took a solo they would get on the edge of the stage, throw a foot up on a monitor, and shred right in the faces of the audience. Luckily enough, I was two people from the stage and got to experience the full brunt of their mastery.

My only criticism from the show: turn those speakers up to 11, dammit!

In FLAC.

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (2010)

I heard these guys on the radio of all places and immediately was struck by how much the lead singer, Kevin Parker, sounds like John Lennon. I'm not sure if he achieves this through skillful effects manipulation or it's just a similarity, but no matter what I dig these guys. They've got psychedelic sounds straight out of Abbey Road, yet remain poppy enough to be opening for the likes of the Arcade Fire or Yeasayer. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Get it in FLAC.

Equal parts slacker non-sequitur and existential burden (eg: "I wanna think what I should know.") And some good old-fashioned overdriven guitars. One of my favorites of all time.

Get it in FLAC.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

If you're white and you know about Nusrat, it's probably because you've heard this guy claim "Nusrat is my Elvis" on the live album he recorded here in 1993.

He's the most famous Pakistani and Sufi singer of all time. And while he's especially renowned for his devotional music, Qawwali, Mustt Mustt (1990) represents his first shot at Qawwali/Western fusion.

He's not saying believe in God, but you better believe that when God spins this album he turns up the bass and listens in flac.

This album fires up straight struggle the whole way through. At first, titles like "Walk Alone", "Dear God (2.0)", "Now Or Never", and "How I Got Over" got me thinking that I was about to drop the needle into some low-fi country rubbish. Helllllllz no, Flac friends. We got John Legend and Yim Yames spitting, plus tons of other concrete hustlers. So fire funk your zipper and bust a bluesy nut on this shit.

We might have to be hush hush about this one.

Oh man, oh man. This one is blowing my mind as I write this. Everything you could want from them without being a repeat of territory covered.

You can find it elsewhere easier enough, but it's here for easy gettin'.

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)

Stereolab was one of the first bands to be described as post-rock, but fans of the genre today would be at a loss trying to listen to them on that information alone. Instead, the band operates in the same jazzy electronic niche as Tortoise and Broadcast. They're notable for using analogue synths and drum-machines from the early 70's to get their lounge-inspired krautrock noise. Start with Metronomic Underground (obviously, it's the first cut), but all tracks on the album deserve multiple listens.

Get it in flac.

You Know Them Stakes Is High

This isn't flac because it's not an audio file, but you'll want it anyway.

The Wood Brothers - Up Above My Head

The Wood Brothers are amazing as always.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I learned the Hard Way

Ive seen her live now 3 times in about 2 months and she killed it every time. One of the most fun live performances. Check out their latest album here.

Phil Spector

Look at this man- he doesn't give a fuck what you think of him. Yeah, he shot an actress and is serving 19 to life, but before the wigs, the reclusion, and the psychosis, he made some of the sweetest jams put on vinyl. Working with The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Righteous Brothers, The Beatles, and even The Ramones, Phil Spector created a sound that the last 50 years of pop music has tried to replicate, again and again. Trouble is, no one can do it quite like the master.

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Though Titus Andronicus' newest album, The Monitor, is the most dynamic punk album I've heard in a while (5 of the 10 songs are over 7 minutes long!), it can be boiled down to a simple RIYL equation:

The strained vocals and lyricism of Conor Oberst + the drunken snarl and occasional bagpipe of the Dropkick Murphy's + the large-scale songwriting of fellow New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen = Titus Andronicus

Now add that solution into the following equation:

Titus Andronicus + Ear-bleeding volume + Whiskey on the rocks + PBR = Just want you want in life.

or

Titus Andronicus + Night + Driving + Open Highway = Excessive speeds and a good time

Thanks Eric for the recommendation. I can't stop spinning this.

FLAC.

P.S. Kit Wilson would be so proud. The whole album has Civil War themes spun throughout it. The Monitor was the ship that fought the Merrimack in the Battle of Hampton Roads. Also note the clips from Lincoln's speech in "A More Perfect Union."

I ask you: what more could a liberal arts graduate want in a punk album?

Lou Reed- Street Hassle

Lou Reed had it tough after leaving the Velvet Underground- how do you follow up some of the best rock and roll ever recorded? Instead of playing it straight, he got weird, glamming it up with Bowie on Transformer and inventing noise rock on Metal Machine Music. In 1978, he released Street Hassle. The album is flawed, sure, but Lou never really made masterpieces. He's as broken and dirty as his characters, all used up and ready for more. Here, especially on the title track, he's doing what he does best: finding beauty in the tragic, the absurd, and rocking the shit out of it. And speaking of that title track, that little beatnik rap thrown in at the end is delivered by none other than Mr. Bruce Springsteen. The song itself is epic enough, one of Reed's best, but The Boss really sets it over the edge. Check it.

Hip Hachet - Men Who Share My Name

Here's a new one from one of our favorite Jerseyites (I said one of aK, don't get defensive), Philippe Bronchtein with his folk project, Hip Hatchet. Men Who Share My Name is a lovely offering from him, complete with beautiful melodies, introspective lyrics, and great production quality.

I definitely see a lot of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen influences in here, which is never a bad thing, yet Hip Hatchet definitely retains a unique quality in the vocal harmonies that I think are the gem of the record.

Usually we post albums up here in FLAC to download but I'm going to link this to Hip Hatchet's bandcamp page where you can give it an initial listen then buy it at a price you like (minimum 2 bones). After all, the money goes to a good cause...we all know how haggard Philippe is.

Oh, and you can get it in FLAC.

More on the hush hush

This is an album that I have been waiting a long time for. Song by song it may not have the power hits such as All My Friends and Someone Great, but this is by far DCL SystemofSounds best album. Although tracks 1, 4, and 9 are pretty gangbusters. The more I listen to this the more I just want to keep listening to this. I think that is what crack might be like.

Currently pushing this in FLAC. You'll be happy you did.

Be very quiet. I'm sharing music.

ST have many robots patrolling the internet, so it'll just have to suffice to say that you probably want this.

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul

With the warmer weather previously mentioned come the romantic feelings of spring. Nothing sums up those feelings better than Isaac Hayes' soulful genius. Those of us growing up with South Park associate Hayes with the iconic lady's man Chef. We remember him teaching the children about the birds and the bees, all while sexually exploring the female population of that small mountain town.

Consider this album the documentation of the real Hayes' sexual exploration. Released in 1969, I can only imagine the things that were recorded in FLAC.

El Michels Affair - Enter the 37th Chamber (2009)

Now that it's (hopefully) stopped snowing up here in VT, let's get some summer music on rotation. I think you all know what this is.

Le Loup - Family

Le Loup is one of those gems that I discovered grading CD's as a Dejay at WRMC. I definitely had to listen to a lot of shit bands in order to discover good ones but albums like these made it all worth it. Le Loup's first album, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, was my first contact with them in the purple-walled studio and when I saw there new album, Family, on the table this year it was with great enthusiasm that I snatched it up and brought it home.

On their first album I would have described them as a more ambient Animal Collective. Maybe along the lines of Lymbyc Systym. It was a blend of post-rock, electronic, ambient, indie-pop. Family forays into the folkier side of life. The album reminds me a lot of the Akron/Family's earlier stuff, al a Love is Simple. The tribal nature of the songs on the album are engaging and provocative yet they still retain an electronic pace and feel.

Enough indie rock name dropping. Get this album here in ALAC (come on, it's still lossless!

The band's based out of DC, so if you live down there, nudge nudge, go see them!

Paul and Linda McCartney- Ram

This album is for anyone that believes Paul McCartney started sucking the moment he left the Beatles- it turns out he had one more good album in him. Pay special attention to the jam "Monkberry Moon Delight." Somehow, Paul managed to record the first ever Man Man song way back in 1971. Talk about foresight.

World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland (2007)

Multiinstrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda makes avant-garde music across a broad variety of genres. Classical arrangements blend with glitchy electronics and whispered samples. He takes his inspiration from the world of dreams and surrealism, but always tries to stay on a human level. It's equal parts bliss and ugliness. It's totally different. It's here.

Bela Fleck - Daybreak

Just look at that hair...

ever wondered what this modern banjo-virtuoso sounded like in the 80s? This disc is from February of '89, released that day my little sister was born.

True story.

Flac ondemand

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

I have been a Bowie fan for a long time but it wasn't until this year that I got Aladdin Sane. I must have listened to Hunky Dory a million times before I discovered this one and I'm glad I've gotten off the porch a bit. I had the same relationship with enchiladas. For years I would only order cheese enchiladas. What's not to like? Cheese, tortillas, more cheese, some red chile sauce, etc. I knew of the presence of meat options but I would always ignore them, settling on my standard cheese version. Then, the past couple years I started to open up to the wide world of enchilada flavors. Last night I got chipotle pork adobo. It was delicious.

FLAC.

Bessie Smith - The Bessie Smith Story

I first listened to Bessie Smith when I was a kid and my Dad would have her on in the car. Then I lost interest until just recently. Ive been reading this book (which you guys should read if you have a sec) about the history of the blues and Bessie Smith was of course featured. She was and is known as the "empress of the blues." which says something... Just like all old blues singers she has some myth surrounding her life and death which only adds to her legend and place in history. Bessie Smith was one of the most successful blues singers of her time and was even featured in a black and white film called St. Louis Blues which was popular amoung blacks and white. Here is a clip of her singing the title track to the movie.


Bessie Smith is a pre-war blues singer, but transitioned to jazz during the war and in the inter-war period like most of her contemporary female singers. During this time, the idea of the blues changed and glamorous female black singers backed by a full bands no longer were marketable as blues, hence her transition to big-band, swing jazz. Blue now was known as "race-music" which was lead by the idea of the guitar slinging lone-wanderer traveling from town to town, scrapping by with his guitar. This idea was pretty much embodied my the likes of Son House and Robert Johnson (two of my personal favorites). Because singers of Bessie's time mostly recorded for singles and compilation type albums, this is a best-of but it includes some of my favorite Bessie Smith cuts. The album transitions between early jazz and blues and at times you hear the twang of what was to become country/bluegrass. Singers of the sing were almost required to know all three to cater to all type of audiences but Bessie was one of the best. Here is the album, enjoy!

Serge Gainsborg - Histoire de Melody Nelson

Spring is in the air and its time for a sexy one that smothered the WRMC airwaves last summer. With lots of repeated themes and elements, the album is more a movement than a collection of different tracks.

The plot is more or less this: A sleasy french dude (Serge Gainsborg) hits a teenage girl (Melody Nelson, played by Jane Birken on the album) on her bike while cruising in his Rolls Royce. He falls in love with Melody and they have an apparently lustful affair.

In summation: What's better than listening to Jane Birken giggle her face off on track 6 in FLAC?

GSY!BE

Yes.

White Stripes - Elephant (2003)

THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON OH-OH THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON

The best Stripes songs are on this. It's not their best album though.

Phenomenal Handclap Band

This is for those of you who weren't at the Phenomenal Handclap live. Mostly you missed out on the Phenomenal Laura Marin's rhinestone-studded beauty.

5, 10, 15, 20, all that music and nothing to pay for it.

Diego Bernal - Besides

Diego Bernal, the genius DJ who came out with For Corners last year drops his new effort for free download from his label's, Exponential Records, website. Not only is it a free download, but it's your prerogative to specify which format you'd like the album.

Now that's progressive.

Get it from Exponential here

If you dig it and you want For Corners, let me know. I'm still listening to Besides so I have no idea if it is as good as his first effort. So far so good.

Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert

I know many of you might have this, but the Koln Concert is one of my favorite pieces of recorded music. Over an hour and a half of purely improvised genius, complete with grunts, sighs, and ribaldry galore. You should listen to this in order, and not skip around, because one movement just flows seamlessly into another. Notice as he plays in different time signatures with his right and left hand; this is one of many insane virtuosic techniques that Keith is famous for. My recommendation is to spend and hour and a half in a dark room smoking a big fatty to the entire album. Keith Jarrett has much to teach if you're willing to learn. It changed my life.


By popular demand: music should be free

Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

If you're not listening to this in lossless, you should probably try it. Obnoxiously one of my favorite albums of all time. HERE

Gorillaz Video Game

http://gorillaz.com/g-player/games/etpb

Good way to procrastinate while listening to one of the better albums to come out in awhile.
Also alot of other trippy/fun shit all over this website; I think you can talk to a cartoon pelican for awhile somewhere else on their site...

Tower of Power

Went and saw Tower of Power two nights ago. This is the 42nd year they have been playing funk/soul and they are still amazing. Here's an old album but its one of my favorites: Bump City

Boris - Flood (2000)

There's a moment in this piece, 10 minutes and 42 seconds into the second part, when Wata's guitar comes in and hits this slow psychedelic riff, that without fail I notice that I have a shit-eating grin on my face and I can't remember how long it's been since I wasn't smiling.

Flood will do that to you, but it requires that you treat it well in turn. It wants the listener to be thoughtful. It wants to be loud. It wants to be whole. Yes, it is one 70-minute long song. But it's 70 minutes of total psyched-out bliss.

The link is shamelessly pulled from holyfuckingshit40000:
Boris - Flood
pw: haveanicelife

Umphrey's McGee - The Bottom Half

Alright; I know you thought I'd put an Umphrey's album on here and I did not want to disappoint. This 2007 release is one of my personal studio favorites. These are all the song that didn't make it onto Safety in Numbers, the group's 2006 effort. I think the latter release is funky and dancier.

Highlights include: Higgins, Bottom Half, Bright Lights (if you're into techno-pop), and Ocean Billy.

There is a second disc if you're interested, but they are mostly b-sides. This is what you want.


Back by popular demand: free music

Sigur Ros - ()

By request: HERE

Includes album art and some notes on the album

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

One of my favorites: Here

Welcome!

Welcome to Flacasaurus, a prehistoric world where lossless rules the Earth....

To start things off:

The Strokes - Is This It




Get it in FLAC