Michael Schmidt

It appears Kid Cudi has taken enough time off from being a hipster on HBO to make some music. This time it is a collab with Chip Tha Ripper using a soundsystem of the LCD variety. If you’re wondering who the angry man at the start of the song is, that is an excerpt from the 2009 Christian Bale tirade on the set of Terminator Salvation. Along with that song here’s something from Mark Ronson featuring Q Tip and MNDR.

Mark Ronson – Bang Bang Bang (MNDR & Q Tip)

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.

Kid Cudi – All Talk (feat. LCD Soundsystem and Chip Tha Ripper)

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.

German electronic duo Mouse on Mars play Metropolis this Thursday for the 2010 Mutek Festival. The group is another one of the senior acts at this years festival, having been active since 1993 on a variety of labels. Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars are joined by Hrdvsion, Jon Hopkins and Nathan Fake at Metropolis while Bowly, Chris Hreno and Mossa play at Savoy.

Miguel Legault/Caroline Hayeur

Beginning on Wednesday of this week (June 2 – 6), the 2010 Mutek festival will take over seven venues in Montreal. Most of the venues are around the Saint-Laurent at Sainte-Catherine area with the addition of Jean Drapeau park. This the 11th edition of the International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music which originated in Montreal and has spread to South America, Europe and Asia. The full schedule as well as ticket information can be found here.

Our coverage of the festival will begin with San Fransisco/Baltimore based Matmos who play on Wednesday night at Monument National along with Nicolas Bernier and Martin Messier and Montreal’s [THE USER]. Bernier and Messier will be showing a performance piece titled Chambre des Machines inspired by the intonarumori a “noise-intoning analogue boxes invented nearly a century ago by Italian futurist Luigi Russolo (1885-1947)”. Matmos has been making experimental electronic music with astonishingly varied samples as far back as 1998.

2010 looks to be a summer desperately trying to create a meaning for the word “chillwave” and whether you think it’s silly or appropriate – it’s officially a thing that people do. Niva is a project from Sweden that arrived in my inbox today and found it’s way into my library. There is an EP on it’s way later this summer and quite a few songs for download on the site. Ghost In My Head stood out to me as the catchiest of the tunes but they all have their charms.

Niva – Ghost In My Head

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.

Just a quick reminder that the Pop Winds will be playing tomorrow night at Casa Del Popolo, pay what you can. For more on the band and their latest album check out this post while you listen to two more songs from The Turquoise.

Pop Winds – Feel It

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.

Pop Winds – Owl Eyes

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.

Memory Tapes is the result of Jersey based Dayve Hawk recording the 2009 album Seek Magic in his apartment. There is isn’t a whole lot out there about Hawk save for a interview he did in french with Pinkushion. It would a appear from that conversation that we can expect more work coming from Memory Tapes in the future. Run Out and Swimming Field (pitchfork gave some love to this song on a top 100 list) were my favorites from the album.

via Audrey.

Memory Tapes – Run Out

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.

Memory Tapes – Swimming Field

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.

For anyone who heard the new M.I.A. track Born Free and saw the video (below) and thought it a harbinger for the direction her music was about to take, listen to this. Her new(er?) single XXXO could not stray any further from Born Free and I am more than pleasantly surprised. I’m certain that there is some reasoning behind Born Free being introduced before XXXO as if the order had been reversed, we would certainly be inundated with people crying foul over the new radio friendly club sounds of XXXO. This is exactly what M.I.A. does best and I couldn’t be any happier with it, so here you have it. The Born Free video and the XXXO single here in one place.

M.I.A. – XXXO

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.

Something new (to me) out of Brooklyn is taking shape in a project called Javelin and the album No Más. Radio is a bouncy, synth driven track filled with thin treble boosted vocals that works well alongside a nearly instrumental Vibrationz. If the website and album covers are any indication, erratic gif images are a key performance indicator. They also take an Simon and Garfunkel album (bridge over troubled water) and add the (Javelin) moniker over top of it.

Javelin – Radio

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.

Javelin – Vibrationz

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.

Last Wednesday Caribou played a show to a sold out crowd at La Tulipe in Montreal. Thanks for our friends at blue skies turn black, we were able to cover the show and get some pictures. Below are some of the best ones from Caribou’s set. The set clocked in at well over an hour and included the new album Swim in it’s entirety. The band also played a few old favorites and the encore featured a few extended improvised jams. I noticed that the vocals on a number of the songs were performed not by Dan Snaith but the bassist in the band. Snaith was also being backed up by a guitarist and a drummer while he divided his duties between vocals, a second drum set and a keyboard. Caribou is a great example as the right way to translate an electronic album for a live show. Check out the Junior Boys remix of Odessa below.

Caribou Pictures (May 5, 2010 La Tulipe Montreal)

It’s been a long time since Crimewave brought Crystal Castles into our mp3 players and two years later, their new (again self titled) album has been released. Celestica seems to be the first track to gain some traction on the Internet as the physical album won’t be released until May 24th. The album is an eclectic menagerie featuring tracks like the abrasive Doe Deer alongside the smooth and minimal Baptism. Let’s hope that this time the band was extra careful to avoid the copyright/artist permission issues that their last album had. Click below for their full summer tour dates including a stop in Montreal on August 15 at Metropolis.

Crystal Castles – Celestica

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.

Click for Crystal Castles Summer 2010 Tour Dates (more…)