After being embraced wholeheartedly by the music blog community with his 2008 pop twist on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (re-dubbed “I Want Those Flashing Lights”), it was looking like Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe was on the fast-track to doing big things. Following the release of the equally-adored mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero, later that year however, Munroe-as-solo-act faded from the scene, only popping up on occasion via guest spot gigs in the time since (including collabos with Black Milk, Slum Village, Travie McCoy and Kidz In The Hall) with little word on when his official debut project was to arrive.
This week, Munroe contacted us via e-mail to explain what the bleeping deal was: “There were some things that needed dealing with and that dealing is almost done.” A bit cryptic, but, hey, at least we know that the album is still on the way (hopefully sooner rather than later)…and look at that, he’s even opted to bring his solo hiatus to an end with an offering of a brand new cover. Of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U”, no less.
Admittedly, it’s not as amazing as the Kanye re-do nor as dynamic as the Purple Rain original (it’s impossible to beat Prince), but Munroe’s thumping, electro-shimmered production against his plaintive, Auto-tune-tweaked croon creates a fairly pleasant ethereal allure, making it an easy-to-appreciate re-introduction to the man’s appeal.
Of the four early previews of Arcade Fire‘s highly salivated over third full length The Suburbs that are currently spreading throughout Cyber-land, it’s no surprise that a majority of the acclaim is being directed towards “We Used To Wait”.
Whereas the sunny (and, comparable to most of AF’s output, downright minimalist) title track, boppy “Ready To Start” and fiery punk-leaning exercise “Month of May” have polarized the masses in their slightly shocking straight-forwardness, “Wait”‘s arrival has somewhat calmed this growing trepidation towards the new album by adhering the closest to the band’s well-established appreciation for the epic.
Here, Win Butler bemoans today’s “everything instant” culture, waxing nostalgic for the days of when he and and a lover could spend hours together just walking, or the days spent anticipating the arrival of her handwritten letter via snail mail (Damn those automobiles and e-communication systems!!). “But what’s stranger still is how something so small can keep you alive/…Hope that something pure can last,” he pines away, supported on the verses by urgent staccato piano chords, distant guitar flickers and heavy drum thuds that seem to illustrate the busy hustle of life around him.
From the mid-point on, this arrangement gradually blooms larger and larger, the band filling up any trace of open space left with the addition of some U2-y guitar ambiance, ghostly background vox and co-lead Regine Chassagne’s sweet coos until, by song’s end, Win’s increasingly manic yelps of “We used to wait for it/ Now we’re screaming sing the chorus again” have been completely drowned out, poignantly asserting that his yearns for the return of a long bygone era are futile at best.
The Suburbsdrops August 2nd in the UK and August 3rd in the US; hear “The Suburbs” and “Month of May” through the widget below.
What happens when Tegan & Sara‘s Sainthood highlight “Alligator”, a dainty ’80′s-disco-tinged number about clingy girlfriends, gets a chance to spend some time on remixing wizard Doctor Rosen Rosen‘s operating table? Just like everything else Rosen puts a scalpel to, it emerges from surgery a far more dramatic electro-pop beast!!
Grab the “Rx” below, followed by MP3′s of the Canadian twin sibs taking on David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine”.
By now you’ve probably heard the Major Lazer/ Nina Sky/ Ricky Blaze ’09 delight “Keep It Goin’ Louder” re-spun a number of wildly different ways, but have you ever considered how good it might sound when re-fashioned with a ’50′s pop Phil Spector/ girl group twist?
That’s the vibe Vancouver remixer DJ Kutcorners goes for, and awesomely nails, on this ‘Surfs Up’ revamp, which marries Blaze and Sky’s already blissed out vocals with a clap-happy and twinkling chimes-adorned Wall of Sound groove that’ll have you wishing you had some kind of sock-hop-themed event to attend.
Summer may be months away in reality, but it definitely doesn’t seem that way when the feel-good buoyancy of First Rate People‘s “Girls’ Night” is spilling through your speakers.
Here, the Ontario-based seven-piece piece together a fetching swirl of indie rock, R&B and bedroom-pop style stamps, the song’s encircling male and female leads at times feeling like two different songs being mashed together in perfect harmony.
We’re not particularly clear what the two singers are going on about (something about sending postcards and crashing an all-female outing), but honestly we could care less, because what is fully understood, is that by the time this two-and-a-half minute tune has faded out on a sunny high of chirpy guitars and that crunchy, hip hop-esque drum track, we’re immediately hit with the uncontrollable need to hit “replay” so that we could be immersed in it’s catchy goodness all over again.
Expect a full-length debut from FRP sometime later this year.
In record time, Rihanna’s underwhelming “comeback” single “Russian Roulette” has already spawned a remix. And to be honest, if we had heard this version, featuring a “killer” (heh) intro sixteen from Kardinal Offishall, first, we would have had better things to say about the record initially.
“Russian roulette/ My name’s written on your bullet/ Hollow points pointing at your heart/ Gwan, pull it!” the Canadian emcee opens, his voice adding an exciting new layer of menace to the track’s other ominous goings-on, and, like magic, instantly upgrading the track from so-so likable to a hot new favorite (which is quite a feat seeing as though we would have probably had the opposite reaction if Jay-Z’s portion on “Umbrella” hadn’t arrived until a few days after that record premiered, so bravo KO!!).
If radio attaches itself to this take, we definitely won’t mind having to hear it’s joy-sapping doom-and-gloom spew from our speakers over and over again.
Usually we can expect R&B remix kings R. Kelly or Trey Songz to answer back “kick him to the curb” ladies anthems, but on this neat flip-side perspective of Chrisette Michele’s sublime “Epiphany”, we get a refreshing new entry in the oft-entertaining “battle of the sexes” mixtape game via newcomer Canadian emcee Erik Flowchild who’s found here pointing the finger back Michele’s way as the true blame for their romance’s deterioration.
“Every time I’m home you be steadily accusing me/ Verbally abusing me/ But you don’t even know the half,” Flowchild opens, kicking off a slightly Auto-Tuned annoyed rant about how he’s up to here with all of her on-going paranoia concerning what he’s up to when he’s not around (“It’s not necessary for you to be on my cell phone/ Baby what the hell for…?”).
And while it’s not easy to completely take Erik’s side when his best defense is that she should stop listening to the “lies” of a not-so-best friend who’s only jealous because she can’t have him for herself, the cold-ish way he threatens to send her back to single-dom (“So don’t be my girl then,” he simply shrugs) definitely has us hoping that Michele is hitting the studio right this minute to cook up a sassy-classy response.
From Flowchild’s forthcoming mixtape, Delivery Boy.
Like us, you’ve likely spent the past 24 hours re-familiarizing yourself with the rich career-long catalogue of MJ, probably in hopes of capturing some type of alleviation to the pain and disorientation brought about by this week’s tragic loss.
As proven so many times in the past, there’s no greater comfort like a journey through the music that soundtracked your yester-years to help get through the hard times of today.
Toronto singer/ producer Slakah The Beatchild sort of taps into that vibe on his “Enjoy Ya Self”, a neo-soul-baked satisfier from his acclaimed Soul Movement Vol. 1 debut that rewinds the clock to bask in the old-school pleasures of Marvin and Stevie and early-90′s urban staples like A Tribe Called Quest and SWV.
“We need to take it back/ Cause nowadays there’s so much violence/ That feel-good real good vibe is gone/ And it’s so hard to find it,” Slakah preaches, his laidback tone the perfect compliment to the track’s feel-good, house party-ready impression.
In response, all we have to say is “Amen”.
Check out the video below, followed by downloads of both the original and the Drake-featured remix.
Submitted for, and apparently denied entrance on, MSTRKRFT‘s newest release, Fist of God, this alternate version of “So Deep” sees the Candian electro unit hooked up with our favorite on-the-rise pop star of the past year, Colin Munroe, and while we admit to being fans of the album version‘s featured guest Jahmal (and all of his Terence Trent D’Arby/ Lenny Kravitz-soundalike-isms), we’re equally digging the way Mr. Munroe has managed to weave in his solid pop smarts amongst KRFT’s dizzying dancefloor rave-up.
Even though “Love Sex Magic” has enjoyed time in the Hot 100 Top 10, making it Ciara’s first single to peak that high since 2006′s “Oh”, the original track doesn’t seem like it will have the legs to become the monster summer go-to it was most likely designed to be.
Now, an extended after-life in the remix realm? That just may be the record’s saving grace as it seems like every week some re-tweaked version of the tune is making it’s Web premiere.
The latest remix to get our bums a-wigglin’ comes via Canada’s Skratch Bastid, who matches Ciara & JT’s sexcapades up perfectly with the sketelal White-boy funk of Laid Back’s club staple “White Horse” and Art of Noise’s bump & grind anthem “Moments of Love”.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
After being embraced wholeheartedly by the music blog community with his 2008 pop twist on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (re-dubbed “I Want Those Flashing Lights”), it was looking like Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe was on the fast-track to doing big things. Following the release of the equally-adored mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero, later that year however, Munroe-as-solo-act faded from the scene, only popping up on occasion via guest spot gigs in the time since (including collabos with Black Milk, Slum Village, Travie McCoy and Kidz In The Hall) with little word on when his official debut project was to arrive.
Well damn, that was fast. 
Usually we can expect R&B remix kings R. Kelly or Trey Songz to answer back “kick him to the curb” ladies anthems, but on this neat flip-side perspective of Chrisette Michele’s sublime 
Like us, you’ve likely spent the past 24 hours re-familiarizing yourself with the rich career-long catalogue of MJ, probably in hopes of capturing some type of alleviation to the pain and disorientation brought about by this week’s tragic loss.
Submitted for, and apparently denied entrance on, 
Even though
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