The highly anticipated reggae dubstep album from dj’s Diplo and Switch is finally upon us. Although it’s tempting to treat it as a sequel to diplo’s Top Ranking Santigold collab album from last summer, Major Lazer is it’s own thing. There are a few tracks, like Lazer theme, which are clearly the work of Diplo. Highlights include a baby who is born with autotune for his voice.

Major Lazer – Lazer theme [feat. Future Trouble] (zshare)

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Saturday evening was well spent here at the office (my apartment), in the company of some friends including the Montreal band The Pop Winds. Beer was graciously provided for free by our friends at Carlsberg and we quickly dispatched 54 bottles worth of the Danish brew.

If these photo’s of the party leave you wanting so much more, The Pop Winds are playing a show this friday (June 26) at Theatre St. Catherine (264 Ste. Catherine E.) with Brave Radar, The Silly Kissers and Reversing Falls. Show starts at 8 I believe. Not only will I be there but if you print off one of the pictures below, their saxophone player will sign it personally.

The Pop Winds – So far down (zshare)

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Last week Mos Def released a new album called The Ecstatic which features collabs with black star alum Talib Kweli as well as Slick Rick himself. On my first few listens I was pleased to see that Mos Def is still having fun being himself. If you didn’t already know he’ll be playing Montreal for the Jazz festival on July 10th at Théâtre Maisonneuve. He`s playing with hip hop influenced jazz pianist Robert Glasper and you can get tickets here.

Mos Def – History [Feat. Talib Kweli] (zshare)

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Mos Def – Auditorium [Feat. Slick Rick] (zshare)

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Last evening Phoenix played a sold out crowd at La Tulipe in Montreal. The set was extremely tight and their on stage sound matched the fullness of the album almost verbatim. Thankfully they had a few extended jams as well to make it worth seeing live. They seem to be using session drummers still but it worked fine. I took this video of the band performing the song 1901 from the new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Phoenix – Lasso (zshare)

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Believe it or not, Veckatimest was the first Grizzly Bear album I’ve imported into my itunes, not because I didn’t listen to Friend, but because somebody gave it to me on vinyl first and I stuck to it. The newest ablum Veckatimest has been out for a few weeks now and the general consensus seems to be that all that time between the albums was well spent.

Grizzly Bear – Fine For Now (zshare)

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First post in quite a while – I’ve been off doing more lucrative journalism. But I’m back and so is Animal Collective with an album called Merriweather Post Pavilion. I might get a hard time for this but I’ve never been the hugest fan of the band. I liked them, but just barely. This album (out for a few months now) seems like quite a departure from what they were all about on strawberry jam and preceding albums. It highlights less the experimental and adds more melody and consistent rhythms. So even if you didn’t like them before, check this out. If you did hopefully you still like it (pitchfork has stayed BFF with them and gave this album a 9.6) Check back for Grizzly Bear in a few days.

Animal Collective – My Girls (zshare)

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This week is probably going to be sparse on posts. I’m in LA for my very first E3 and so far it’s been great. I’ll keep you the site posted on any music related activities that go on. So far Jay Z and Eminem have done a set for the DJ hero franchise and DJ Z Trip.