mixtape maestro (2.0)

We fully understand that when it’s all said and done, just as with that other song, the amazing new clip for OK Go‘s “This Too Shall Pass” single will far surpass the actual record in terms of public appreciation (especially for anyone that grew up playing Mouse Trap), but let’s give the Chicago act some credit: beyond being masters at making killer, on-the-cheap music videos, OK Go can also do brain-sticking pop (whether of the power-, alternative-, psychedelic-, or Prince-influenced variety) very well.

In the nanosecond it took to re-play the “Pass” vid for the hundredth time, we were just as excited to peep the complex, two-story Rube Goldberg contraption featured in the clip as we were to have our ears swallowed in the song’s densely layered, sunny triumphance.

Featuring tender piano plinks, soaring harmonies mixed slightly off in the distance, singer Damian Kulash’s pinched falsetto yelps spewing a spirit-raising message of positivity, and drummer Dan Konopka having a raucous good time underneath it all, the record carries a fetching jollity that’s just impossible to easily dismiss.

From OK Go’s latest album, Of The Blue Colour of The Sky.

BONUS DL: OK Go “This Too Shall Pass (Passion Pit Remix)” (alt)

BONUS DL: OK Go “The Lovecats (The Cure Cover)” (alt)

Gorillaz, the world’s biggest animated band (and recently announced Coachella 2010 headliners), are set to drop their third LP, Plastic Beach, this March, but they’ve gifted fans today with the streaming premiere of the album’s first single “Stylo”, featuring legendary soul great Bobby Womack and Mos Def.

“Stylo” may lack the immediate quirk-pop hookiness of previous singles “Clint Eastwood” and “Feel Good Inc.”, but it’s nevertheless one of the band’s most endlessly intriguing creations.

Driven by heavily synthesized production-work that conjures up an eerie ’80′s sci-fi ambiance (it’s dominant musical figure, a dot-and-dash electro bass line, will definitely be echoing in your brain for the next week), the song takes on more of a trippy edge as it goes on, especially once the grainy-voiced Womack enters the picture, wailing his heart out about his “electric love” for the cut’s curious attempt at a chorus.

Expect another (likely equally as fascinating) Womack appearance, alongside guest spots from Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, De La Soul and The Clash’s Mick Jones & Paul Simmons, when Plastic Beach leaks probably weeks before drops March 9th.

Stylo (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack)

Gorillaz | MySpace Music Videos

While best known for their wildly inventive exercises in hard rock, metal, prog and pop-rock sounds (as well as a seemingly glue-stuck “like Foo Fighters” tag) that have slowly helped push them further and further into the UK mainstream view, Scottish alt-rockers Biffy Clyro have also proved over the years to be reliable in delivering some really fascinating cover songs.

From Rihanna’s “Umbrella” to Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” to Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and The Killers’ “When You Were Young”, Clyro’s re-imaginings haven’t always bettered the originals, but in their (sometimes polarizing) attempts to recast these familiar nuggets, the results were never un-interesting either. So when the news dropped that the Biffy boys were gonna hit the Live Lounge studios, we were excited beyond imagination to hear what cover song they would try out next. When we found out it was going to be the slinky Ciara/ Justin Timberlake duet “Love Sex Magic” though, that excitement was multiplied times ten. Their last venture into American R&B (the aforementioned “Umbrella”) managed to be a winner…but what in the hell were they gonna do with this under-performing FutureSex/ LoveSounds leftover? Answer: Fill our hearts with glee!!

Rather than give it an extreme “rawk” makeover as they had sometimes handled their covers in the past, Biffy (thankfully) opt to go a more straightforward route this time, reinterpreting the original’s funk groove via some surprisingly groove-able singular guitar picking, and providing vocal performances that, while definitely awkward in that square-ish “non-soulful European white boys” kind of way, pull out some charmingly goofball, falsetto-aided male harmonies.

If you dug the Klaxons doing “No Diggity” or Hot Chip taking on Snoop or giving us their best R. Kelly imitation, you’ll likely admire this.

DL: “Love Sex Magic (‘Live Lounge’ Ciara Cover)” (alt)

We wouldn’t be too far off from the general consensus in the regretful admittance that most of our excitement over A NEW ARCTIC MONKEYS ALBUM quickly dissipated the first time we actually laid our ears on the thing. Like grumpy old folk who like things to always be the way they were, it was just too much of an extreme switch-up to find the usually lively Sheffield blokes attempting to sound “all growed up” with the collection’s sludgy, dark rock boogie atmospherics and Alex Turner’s sudden over-leaning on elongated vocal croons.

But we also wouldn’t be alone in truly believing that after a few spins, Humbug‘s initial inaccessibility eventually melts into being a solid enough third trip out, successfully re-formatting the Monkeys’ sound to keep the band from sounding like they’re only regurgitating past glories while igniting a flicker of promise for the routes to be taken on successive releases, where these maturing kinks are hopefully ironed out and the band grasp a better way to balance their earlier appeal with their understandable yearn to traverse different terrains.

If there was any one track presented on Humbug to target as THE stepping stone from the Arctic’s past to their future, it would have to be “Cornerstone”, the collection’s most immediately pleasing offering and the one that’ll likely warrant reason to keep re-visiting Humbug the most in the long run.

Bearing both a melodic pop catchiness and Turner’s beloved grasping of keen-eyed lyrical detailing (“I thought I saw you in the Parrots Beak/ Messing with a smoke alarm/ It was too loud for me to hear her speak/ And she had a broken arm…”), two elements that made the band’s first two albums must-haves, “Cornerstone” is grounded enough by it’s slowly churning arrangement to stay in line sonically with it’s Humbug trackmates, and arguably ends up standing as one of their best creations yet.

Here, Turner Morrissey-ly mopes around town all hours of the night, so hung up on an old love he starts “seeing” her at every pirate-themed pub he enters (The Battle Ship, Rusty Hook, Parrots Beak). But every time he gets close enough to one of these “ghosts” to spark their intrigue, he quickly ruins any shot at a new romance by requesting to call her the name of his ex. Which is kinda creepy.

Even more creepy? His chorus’ decision to take the scenic route home while in a taxi, all so he can spend more time smelling his boo’s “scent on the seat belt” or the bizarre ending verse that finds him finally getting the girl: his former love’s sister!! “She was close/
Well you couldn’t get much closer,” Turner sings matter-of-factly. We guess.

A lengthy touring spell. Handful of one-off concert events. The release of a couple bootlegs. A comic book. A short story. Throat surgery. A brand new blog.

In the year-and-a-half since dropping his 2008 solo debut Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, UK-born dance-punk-turned-Americana-esque-indie singer/songwriter Lightspeed Champion seems to have done everything but bless the public with a proper follow-up to that near-brilliant collection. Apparently this set is already completed and awaiting the proper pieces to fall in place for it to get an official release date (Industry politics *sigh*), but never the lazy one (as figured by all his aforementioned activities), the man born Dev Hynes has already delved deep into his next next project, a psychedelic rock & funk-based side gig going under the moniker Blood Orange that he’s been teasing for a while now via posted demo tracks.

The latest, and best, cut heard so far from this forthcoming era is “S’Cooled”, a circuitous hypnotizer built on heavy bass chugs, persistent hi-hat hits and flittering guitar, that feels like it was inspired after one of LC’s darkest days (“Losing all my friends for sure/ We were left inside this hole…”, he emotes in his best Prince pout) and has definitely got us anxious for not only it’s final polish, but what else Blood Orange have cooked up.

Keep checking BO’s MySpace and Lightspeed Champion’s (quite fascinating) blog for future postings of this increasingly intriguing project.

DL: “S’Cooled” (alt)

Could Jordin Sparks’ power pop ballad “Battlefield” have the potential of becoming the next “Umbrella”, spawning countless “ironic” cover versions all across the Inter-Webs over the next year? We’re not entirely sure, but we could dig that reality if the rest end up as nicely as this subdued take from London indie alt-rockers Fightstar.

Their version isn’t completely perfect (that “you better go and get your armor” line really demands some sort of dramatic spike), yet overall, hearing the song’s lyrical relationship drama dipped in Fightstar’s moody, rainy day reading makes for quite a pleasant listen.

Fightstar’s highly acclaimed third LP Be Human is available now.

DL: “Battlefield (Jordin Sparks Cover)” (alt)

Speaking of remixes, here’s a new one fresh out of the OR from Doctor Rosen Rosen. The good Doc‘s latest patient is none other than ’09 French alt/pop highlights Phoenix and their contender for Best Single of ’09, “Lisztomania”.

Here, Rosen casts off the original’s boppy sunniness completely, opting to shroud Thomas Mars’ perky emotings instead in a mesmerizingly mood-ish mix that interweaves downbeat dance textures, pinches of classical riffs, chopped vocal snippets and haunting Gregorian chorale.

It might not be the most uplifting remix, but the pensive melodrama of Rosen’s score masters a noir-y elegance that’s definitely got our ears satisfied.

DL: “Lisztomania (Doctor Rosen Rosen)” (alt)

When it comes to Outkast, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes down to their odd (and very frustrating) refusal to not just go ahead and give the fans what they want by recording a joint album (that’s non-soundtrack-related, thank you). So with that said, it’s not too surprising that Big Boi’s latest protogee would be the hip hop/ alternative band Vonnegutt, a Gym Class Heroes-esque act from Atlanta who have been slowly making noise within the blogosphere over the past year.

The band should really grab major on-line interest with this most recent creation though, a full-on cover of the Roots/ Cody ChesnuTT (whatever happened to him?) jam “The Seed 2.0″ that they’ve engulfed in a curioso electro-hop sound. Now nothing will be able to top the utter brilliance of the original (or, for that matter, the solo Cody record that inspired it), but Vonnegutt manage to pull off an interesting take nonetheless.

Look out for Big Boi to be featured on their next official single, “Here We Go Again”, followed by The Appetizer EP which is set to drop this Fall.

(Shouts to OnSmash)

DL: “The Seed 2.0 (The Roots Cover)” (alt)

A love song to a sex doll? That seems to be the premise behind “Rubber Lover”, a delightful little nugget by experimental Scottish alt-rockers Marmaduke Duke (aka The Atmosphere and The Dragon; aka the side project of Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and Sucioperro’s JP Reid).

An early taste from their May-set sophomore collection Duke Pandemonium, “Lover” is set into motion by a cheerful Billy Joel piano sample (the Piano Man’s 1980 “Sleeping With The Television On”) which, alongside sparks of guitar and a steady dance thump, helps frame a kooky narrative about “Johnny” and his lustful adventures with his new toy.

The track might clock in at less than two minutes long, but what a good time that brief length yields: it’s nearly impossible to avoid singing along to it’s sugary “funky all the way home” chorus line at the top of your lungs or indulging in an endless repeating of it’s feel-good groove.

Marmaduke Duke – Rubber Lover

Below, catch a Live Lounge performance in which they take on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and you’ll soon figure out why more people spend their time copying the single’s music video choreography over actually covering the record (YOU try recreating it’s spazzed out production acoustically or re-interpreting Beyonce’s steely, jack-hammer vocal and see what you come with).

That being said, Duke’s clap-happy “all around the campfire” rendition works fine, especially when the boys get to that quite lovely bridge section.

For months, it’s been difficult to escape the hyping of alt-pop-meets-hip hop, Harvard grad duo Chester French. From the endless “ones to watch” music press/ blog shout-outs to the high-profile support of A-list hip hop figures like Kanye West and eventual label boss Pharrell Williams, we’ve been damn near brainwashed into becoming fans of these cats.

Thankfully, the bits of Chester French music we’ve actually heard (the ’60′s-washed first single, “She Loves Everybody”; that insanely catchy Common collabo, “What A World”; their surprisingly neat remix of Jay Z’s “Excuse Me Miss”) has helped in justifying all this early praise.

Hoping to build up an even stronger buzz for debut album Love The Future (while further highlighting their cool circle of friends), the team of Maxwell Drummey and D.A. Wallach recently dropped the pre-official release mixtape, Jacque Jams, Vol. 1 – Endurance, which tracks the on-the-rise trek of their previous six years through material both old and new, some amusing skits, and the “exclusive” inclusion of a self-produced Lady Gaga remix, not to mention a laundry list of cameo appearances that includes Diddy, Jadakiss, Bun B, Solange, Talib Kweli and Cassie amongst others.

Preview a couple of MM’s faves below:

It’s kind of sad that Janelle Monae still hasn’t quite set the world on fire with her brilliant sci-fi-soul sound (you NEED to pick up Metropolis The Chase Suite like right now), but nevertheless she makes for a great duet partner on the geeky puppy love ode “Nerd Girl”, a prance-y mix of Beatles vocal creaminess and ’80′s synth-pop tenderness.

“I wear tiny suits and bowties, some might call me strange,” she coos. Oh Miss Monae, that’s hardly a bad thing.

DL: “Nerd Girl” (alt)

Meanwhile, “Life In LA” details guest stars Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri’s wild and crazy sexcapades with the City of Angels’ bottomless well of overly worked on, coke-sniffing Barbie Dolls atop old school rap drum clatter and space-age ambiance. Unfortunately, the good times are all over for the French boys, who’ve partied all their dough away and now must leave all the fun and sun behind.

DL: “Life In LA” (alt)

You can pick up the entire entertaining collection here; Love The Future, drops April 21st.