#179 – Anchorsong Told Me To

If you’ve visited the site recently you may have heard us – specifically our newest contributor Max – raving about Anchorsong. Max saw Anchorsong supporting Belleruche last month and was blow away. Some people apparently describe the show “like watching a painter drawing on a white canvas”; Max said he’s pretty sure the guy uses some kind of black magic to make his live show work. Whatever it is, you’ve got the chance to see him touring his awesome debut Chapters, starting in London’s Cargo on March 22nd.

In support of this Masaaki (that’s what his mum calls him. Well, she almost certainly doesn’t call him Anchorsong!) was good enough to contribute to this regular feature, picking a few of his favourite songs and explaining why. It’s enlightening and his choices are thoroughly enjoyable (I’m a particular fan of the Pumpkins song he’s chosen). If you want to hear a little more of his music, then read Max’s previous post. And if you want to buy tickets for the 22nd March, then you can get them here. I’ll be there at the front and hopefully some of you will join me. If you’re quick you can get your tickets for a fiver too…

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Fiona Apple – The First Taste [Buy]

#175 – Rye Rye Plays A Special Engagement

I f*cking love Rye Rye. She is awesome… a mix of dirty rap, sex, feminity, B-more and she’s got a sense of humour about everything she does. On top of this her songs are always awesome. The list of people she’s worked with reads pretty well too, with MIA, Diplo and Sinden among some of the big names.

She recently (this week) played one of Noisey’s Special Engagements in Seattle which was livestreamed across the internet. In case you weren’t lucky enough to catch it, they kind people at Noisey have put up a video from the gig, which you can watch by clicking on the picture above.

#161 – Willy Moon

I hope you’ve heard about Willy Moon. If you haven’t then here’s your chance. If you have then you know what they’re missing.

Taking the best bits of the 50’s – namely the guitars, the frantic energy and the look – Willy Moon is effortlessly cool. His songs are class, blending the vintage vibe with breaks and hip-hop beats and some electronic production to top it off. It’s energetic, enigmatic and quirky enough to stand out from the crowd.

#157 – Hint

Here’s a song called ‘Aliens Enter’ from a UK artist signed to the ever-excellent Tru Thoughts. This song features Austin-native T Fly rapping over the top of a bottom heavy, breaks influenced production that sounds grimey. Her flow is lazy and and the slow BPM makes this a track to listen to loud while driving slow. Actually, I think I want to hear this on a soundsystem at Carnival or something. It’s sick.

#141 – Nothing New, All Good

It’s all in the title for today’s tidbits. It’s a Monday, which means there are some new albums out. Of particular note is the Tribes debut album Baby on Island Records. We wrote about them a while ago (here) and if you like them then go buy the album (here). I’ll be picking it up after work tomorrow, so if it’s up to much there will probably some words written up here.

As I said, though, today isn’t about new songs. Here are three ‘golden oldies’. One from 1967, one from 1970 and one from 1993. So, in chronological order, here they are.

Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth [Buy]

Podcast V

"I'm being serious now. Listen to it."

After yet another long wait, here is the newest podcast for you. It’s got music from Asa, Cults and Zakee, among others. You can click on the links below to go to their respective pages and you can also listen to the songs on their own.

Safety, Fun & Learning Podcast #5 [Download]

#121 – “There’s Only One Thing A Man Can Do

When he’s suffering from a spiritual and existential funk….”

“Go to the zoo? Flip off some monkeys?”

“No. Buy new suits.”

It is a rare moment that such true words are said. Credit to Messrs Ferrel and Koechner for giving them to us. Now French Connection have given us a rather slick piece of advertising to reinforce this idea in their new TV advert. I saw it during the RWC match between Australia and Irelend this morning (it was a cracking game, in case you’re interested) and thoroughly enjoyed the ad. It’s long and, most importantly, it’s got a certain Mr Weezy (rapping) in it.

Music For Horses no. 23

Another Music For Horses, another Four Tet song. Granted, he’s only featured four times, but I’ve had him on the shortlist plenty more. And there is a very, very good reason for that: he makes a superb song to chill out to. The rolling percussing that Kieron Hebdon likes so much, as well as the bleeps and glitches that serve to flutter around like little butterflies combine with the samples and stems from the original song to create something that is both chilled and engaging. Which is no small task. This old remix of his of Thom Yorke is a perfect example of what they both do so well.

Thom Yorke – Atoms for Peace (Four Tet Remix) [Buy]

#115 – Songs About Athletes

This is a little bit of light writing, if I’m going to be honest. I was listening to Mother’s Milk yesterday and I heard the song Magic Johnson and thought to myself “I wonder how many song there are that reference sportspeople”. It turns out there are, rather predictably, tons. These three are ones that I could think of without too much effort, so they are what you get. Luckily, they all happen to be pretty good. As far as the Weezy goes, any opportunity to put him on the blog is embraced with open arms. So, without further ado, here are my three lazy sportspeople referencing songs…

Lil’ Wayne – Kobe Bryant

#104 – Remix O’Clock

Here we go with another roundup of remixes, old and new, that I’ve been listening to over the past week or two. I am going to start with something off the Wugazi mashup album. It’s rare for mashups to be any good at all, let alone comparable with the original songs. Yet somehow Cecil Otter  and Swiss Andy have managed to pull this off. Picking one song off the album is a pretty much impossible task. So rather than simply listening to this one song, head over to www.wugazi.com, download the album and listen to all of the songs. Lots.

Wugazi – Shame On Blue

Having put Rihanna’s latest song up on Sunday I started relistening to a reggae remix of Rude Boy I found ages ago. I don’t have a clue who it’s by, but it’s about as summery as it gets.

Rihanna – Rude Boy (Reggae Remix)