Do I even need to tell you that The Morning Benders are from Berkeley? They’re doing a tour of the America with a few stops in Canada including Montreal on April 15th at Sala Rossa. Tickets are 12$ + tax. The video below if for a song from their new album Big Echo called Excuses.

The Morning Benders – Excuses

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A few weeks ago the new Magnetic Fields album titled Realism was released and accompanied by the start of a North American Tour that includes 12 US cities. This is the band’s tenth studio album since their debut way back in 1991 and is meant to complement their 2008 album Distortion. Singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt of the Field’s says the album is inspired by British folk of the late 60s and early 70s. Don’t expect anything too traditional though since Merritt says he “can’t stand the sound of an acoustic guitar for more than three minutes at a time”.

The Magnetic Fields – Book of Love

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

2/21, 22 The Aladdin Theater Portland, OR
2/23, 24 Town Hall Seattle Seattle, WA
2/27 The Fox Theater Oakland, CA
3/1 Herbst Theatre San Francisco, CA
3/2 Wilshire Ebell Theatre Los Angeles, CA
3/4 Pabst Theatre Milwaukee, WI
3/5 Buskirk Chumley Theater Bloomington, IN
3/6 The Pageant St. Louis, MO
3/7 Harris Theater, Millennium Park Chicago, IL
3/10, 11 The Town Hall New York, NY

There have been a ton of White Panda remixes seeing a lot of play on hype machine the last few months and while they almost certainly won’t stand the test of time, if they keep coming out at this rate it won’t matter much. Here a few to get you started.

Yung Joc vs. Owl City – Fireflies Goin Down [White Panda Mashup]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

T.I. vs. Passion Pit – What You Know About Little Secrets [White Panda Mashup]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There isn’t a whole lot of press around about Skybox, a Chicago band comprised of Tim Ellis, Mike Holtz, Christian Fields and Dan Ingenthron. But don’t get used to it because if their new album Morning After Cuts is any indication it won’t be long before the whole family’s listening to them and they’re doing iPod commercials. Check below for some 2010 US tour dates including South by Southwest.

Skybox – In A Dream

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’m aware that this is extremely late coming – it got stuck in my drafts folder unnoticed – but here it is anyways. My thoughts on the newest effort from Vampire Weekend. After reading the feature article the New Yorker ran about Vampire Weekend a few weeks ago titled School of Rock, I was left with a lot of questions. Apparently Vampire Weekend is and has always been influenced by African music, IE Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa – Kwassa Kwassa being a dance rhythm from the republic of Congo – and the article followed this theme while detailing the band’s career. My honest and admittedly uninformed impression before reading this was…really??

From Contra, the song Diplomat’s Son marks the very first track that actually made me sit up and take notice of some Pan-African influence in their music. It’s a very relaxed song with a undeniably reggae beat. But I take some issue with those who would define the band by praising their novel mix of African beats in an indie rock context. The New Yorker article also talks about the tension that arises from the incongruity between their extreme “preppy” image and their choice in world beats. I think is probably where my – and the rest of the critics – skepticism about the band’s authenticity is rooted. I don’t doubt that their degrees from Columbia University taught them a thing or two about world cultures, but I don’t hear a strong commitment to this aesthetic in their music.

Update: I’d like to thank everyone for their insightful emails and comments and gently remind people that I hardly ever write about music on this blog that I don’t like. This review wasn’t meant to come off as negative, just to put the criticism I read about in the New Yorker out there in the context of the new album.

Vampire Weekend – Diplomat’s Son removed by request

Dangermouse and the Grey Album now has a British counterpart. Tom Caruana, a music teacher, has produced an entire album of Beatles songs mashed up with Wutang instrumentals. Even Raekwan approves. You can download the entire album at Tea Sea Records.

Wutang Vs The Beatles – Uh Huh

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Wutang Vs The Beatles – City High

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

These two prolific Brazilians are putting out remixes faster than I can post them, so in an attempt to keep up with The Twelves, here is a roundup of some that are new to me.

The two are is a remixes of rock songs – the Radiohead song Reckoner and White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes. The third is a remix of Sudden Rush by Erlend Oye. Hopefully Kings of Convenience will hear this plea and deliver us that Canadian tour we were promised a few months ago. The latest mixtape by The twelves can be downloaded from their myspace link.

Radiohead – Reckoner [The Twelves Remix]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal [The Twelves Remix]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Erlend Oye – Sudden Rush [The Twelves Remix]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

illustration cred: thelittlefriendsofprintmaking

It’s not often I come across a minimal electronic album that takes me beyond good background music. The last one I remember was The Field album From Here We Go Sublime. Look for a review of the newer album, Yesterday and Today in the next week. I stumbled across Robot Science on their bandcamp site where you can download both of their albums (pay what you can) including the latest Doodads. The Constant and Cut & Paste were hard to pick out – the entire album is consistent and spectacular. The sounds jet from video game tones to fuzzy synths and keys in a purely organic way. I can safely say it’s the best electronic album I’ve heard in the first seven days of 2010.

Robot Science – The Constant

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Robot Science – Copy Paste

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Vampire Weekend has been showing up a lot more often in the first few days of 2010, probably in preparation of their new album, titled Contra. The album will be officially released next week on January 12 and will include this tracklist.

1. “Horchata” 3:26
2. “White Sky” 2:58
3. “Holiday” 2:18
4. “California English” 2:30
5. “Taxi Cab” 3:55
6. “Run” 3:52
7. “Cousins” 2:25
8. “Giving Up the Gun” 4:46
9. “Diplomat’s Son” 6:01
10. “I Think Ur a Contra” 4:29

There will also be two bonus iTunes tracks called Giant and California English Pt II. Look for a post next week on this album. I’m listening to it right now and let me just say that the song California English sounds like they used some auto tune effects on the vocals. A curious choice indeed. Until then here are a few new takes on an older song, The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance, the first by Montreal’s very own Chromeo and the second by the “animals” from Miike Snow.

Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance [Chromeo Remix]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance [Miike Snow Remix]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year 2009 and everywhere you look there is media telling you what the top 10 everything was. This song might not make any of those lists but it’s got that nice casual flow that Kid Cudi excels with. The Vampire Weekend instrumentals work really well too. Let’s hope no one’s New Year’s eve ends as abruptly as this song does.

Kid Cudi feat. Vampire Weekend – Cudderisback

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.