soquitcherbitchen

The Knocks + Wyclef Jean [electro house]

2016-01-19T20:30:00.001-06:00

Winter is normally a drag (said everyone, ever). No need to dwell, but it suuuuucks. So it helps when some fun and uplifting music comes around the blogosphere. Nothing too summery that makes you miss the warmth and relaxation on a Saturday in the Park in Chicago (whhhaaaatt did I just do?) But that will come with time. For now, suck it up, watch a few more movies, catch up on your shows, snuggle with a loved one or two.

Right, music.

I'm a sucker for strong and pronounced baselines. The crunchier the better, and underneath The Knocks' down tempo crashes lays that fret clanging bass. Collab'd with Wyclef this time around, "Kiss the Sky" will be on their new album, 55, due out in March (see fig. 1a).

Speaking of collaborating, who aren't The Knocks working with nowadays? Walk the Moon, Phoebe Ryan, Wyclef, Cam'ron, Powers, and Magic Man are all on the new album. Speaking of Powers, she was featured too on The Knocks' more popular tracks evar (see fig. 1b).

The Knocks - Kiss The Sky ft. Wyclef Jean

The Knocks - Classic ft. POWERS (RAC Remix)

Art by Jeremy Mann

Mr Little Jeans + Dear Santa [holiday]

2015-12-13T22:04:00.000-06:00

This time of year, it's nigh impossible to go to any store, street corner, radio station, podcast, uber, friend's car ride, or waiting room without being innundated with holiday songs. It's cool, I guess. There's the staples like Ol' Blue Eye's rendition of "Sleigh Ride", Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You", or even the worst holiday song ever created by Sir Paul.

A few other peeves I have... super religious songs, uninspired classical recreations, or even worse, new and updated versions of iconic staples. So having the common songs observed and accepted, I cant help but get excited when a new song comes by that is actually original, well sung and inspiring. Enter Mr Little Jeans and her motown-inspired original "Dear Santa".

Addictive lyrics and chorus make this an instant favorite (for me). Plus, come on, Mr Little Jeans do a Christmas song? Yes. Please.

Photo by Boqiang Liao

The Chemical Brothers + Born in the Echoes [electronica]

2015-11-12T18:15:00.001-06:00

Yea, this came out over the summer. I missed it. Because I'm out of touch, dumb, clueless and filled with ineptitude.

Having the self defecating out of the way... onto the album at hand, Born in the Echoes. It's The Chemical Brothers' eigth studio release, and first full release since 2010. If you've been familiar with any of The Chemical Brothers' previous work, then you'll probably know what to expect here. Well polished techno-electronica, plenty of percussive layers, distortion, beeps & bloops.

"Go" has a pretty enticing bassline and vocals, and has already been featured in numerous promo spots for Google, Youtube, video games, and probably every sporting event hype-video in the coming future. That's fine, shit happens. And can somebody tell me if that's Q-Tip on vocals or not? It sounds like him, but I dont see him credited anywhere for it.

My other Chemical Brothers posts has consistently been my most viewed and searched out post on the interwebs (which has since been flagged ohhh so many times for DMCA notices, and no longer has any tracks available to it). People love The Chemical Brothers, for good reason, they've stood that paradoxical test of time. Looking forward to adding this album to my collection.

EDIT:
I guess it was Q-Tip... he's been credited on the album along with St. Vincent, Beck, Cate Le Bon, and Ali Love.

Cool. Cool cool cool.

500 + [/b]

2015-10-25T23:43:00.003-05:00

500 posts! Wait, only 500 posts? Hasn't this blog been truckin' along since, what, 2007? Well... when you go thru the usual messes in life sometimes it pulls you away from the inane and insignificant.

I like to look back every now and then on previous posts and all the types of music I've consumed. For the most part since 2007 this has been an EDM blog. Yup, another electro blog born in the heart of the late-aughts blogging era. But I loved the outlet, giving my own opinion on popular tracks of the moment, remixes from hyped up dj's and producers, ogling over the big acts rolling thru the great city of Chicago on any given weekend. It had its perks. I got plenty of free full quality music, tickets and backstage passes for shows in the city, even made it to #1 on hypem for a few days.

But all that's behind me. When I get the time or the urge, I hardly know what to post. Being a dad rocks, but is hard work. Working live a good life, but its not a dream job. I keep this blog as an outlet for nobody else really but myself to blab and vent and put words to a page and keep a history of how things progress from week to month to year, usually by the tone of the music I post. Maybe I'll expand this into all the pop culture things that peak my interest... movies, tv, android, comics (even real big person books!).

The picture I posted is a rendition of my new favorite show, Rick & Morty, characterized as Doc and Marty from Back to the Future. I chose this picture for this post specifically because it represents the transformation I've had. From a typical city dwelling electro-bot into a (somewhat-responsible) single dad wanting nothing more than to protect and provide for my son. But like Rick and Doc (in somewhat different methods) sharing their interdimensional time-travel with their paternal cohorts, so do I wish to share all the cool shit in my life with my son--and just be a good dad.

Blarrghhh, enough. Here's to another 500+

First is one I'd love to put up on a #TBT, but those are harder and harder to muster up the energy on a random weekday. That'd mean I'd have to prepare? What? But Wilco has long been one of my faves, and this is what I think is their best track off their 2002 release Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. "Poor Places" starts off somber but builds and builds itself using bits and pieces of its own background, not using the familial song structure but instead deconstructing itself from a folk song to a--noise? Yea, noise. I'll be looking to post more favorites from my growings ups in the next 500+.

Wilco - Poor Places

Forward 10 years in time. Noise is still noise. Genre's always have and always will change, evolve, meld/mix/match insto other inspiring sounds of the next moment. Not much has come since from Beat Culture, no wiki page, no discogs release, no soundcloud profile. But his 2012 release "Useless" is the best 5 minutes of music I've heard to that point, or since. Okay a bit hyperbolic, and no it's not the best track of all time... But it delves into some of my favorite sub-genres of chillwave, electro pop, shoegaze, experimental, etc. and construes an addicting, ethereal vocal track over chest deadening basslines in ever building intervals from verse to bridge to chorus. I'll be on the lookout for more like this in the next 500+.

Beat Culture - Useless

Art by Mike Walton

Phoenix + Uppermost [french house]

2015-10-18T23:31:00.000-05:00

Haven't heard the non-remixed version, but I do enjoy this french house/nu disco remix from producer Uppermost. Reminds me of some early Alan Braxe & Fred Falke. Pressuring bass under 80's synth drums giving way to funk guitar solos? ...mmmmmmyyeaaa! Unfortunately he could've taken things past the initial apex at the 2:30 mark and continued with an extended breakdown maximizing in what ended up being an abrupt finale. Edit anyone?

Sometimes I love just closing my eyes to a song, tapping my toes uncontrollably, imagining driving down an empty highway in the middle of the night, not another soul for miles. This is peace to me. An illogical surreal setting I know this, but that's what daydreaming to music is supposed to do for you, right? Give you the slightest escape in an otherwise inescapable world.

Phoenix - Bourgeois (Uppermost Remix)

Bonus on the similar dreamy chill vibe... Tycho! I posted Awake nearly two years ago, my god. Still as good as ever if you haven't checked anything by him out before.

Spoon - Inside Out (Tycho Remix)

Art by PascalCampion

Wavves + V [lo-fi]

2015-10-18T00:20:00.002-05:00

Is one supposed to tuck in a sweater vest? I saw someone at work with his sweater vest tucked into his pants, and it made me uneasy. Too much, sir. Too much.

Wavves - Pony

Image by YairMor

Gregory Alan Isakov + Amsterdam [folk]

2015-10-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

Moodly moody.

Gregory Alan Isakov - Amsterdam

Dan Deacon + Adult Swim [experimental]

2015-09-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

Not having cable means one is limited in the media they consume. Either by word of mouth, podcasts, npr, or in this case--reddit. Nine different (read: amazing and unique) animators came together to collaborate a music video for Dan Deacon's track "When I Was Done Dying".

Here are the animators in chronological order per the video:

Much inspiration. Very trip. Sehr erstaunlich.

Sigala + Simple Melody [dance pop]

2015-08-30T07:07:00.000-05:00

Okay I lied, there's more room for dance pop songs this summer. Unfortunately though its the second song in a row being posted with no info of the artist/producer--other than his/their skilled sampling of The Jackson 5.

And there's those damn marimbas again!

Sigala - Easy Love

Viola Beach + Summer's Ending [indie]

2015-08-29T18:56:00.004-05:00

One last track for the summer :-/

But that means fall :-)

ODESZA + Little Dragon [chillwave]

2015-08-19T20:43:00.001-05:00

Two of my more favorite artists from recent memory have finally collaborated for what can only be described as a blissful daydream. Odesza has stapled themselves with their spacey melodies, deep and crunchy basslines, airy vocal samples, and overall impressive live performances (yay for seeing them at Lolla!). Combined with Yukimi's pure, deep voice... mmm.

Look for this track on the re-release of their album In Return, due out in September.

Obadiah Parker + Koni [#tbt]

2015-08-13T17:32:00.002-05:00

Remember this? Remember when this was covered by this guy? Now remember when this was covered by that one guy and remixed by this new guy. TBT! LETTERS!

Picture by Jane Long

Snow Patrol + Thero [#tbt]

2015-06-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Stressed out. The computer labs have an especially quiet resonance to them tonight. Evacuated of warm bodies that might share in my anxiety. This ever expanding pad of empty pages is a reflection of how far behind this semester has fallen. That living nightmare of neglect. This relic of technology is my escape. Not to redemption but to artificial comfort. A fake notion of accomplishment that osmosis might affect these ailing neurons. Yet nothing but a blank stare is accommodated when the earbuds are plugged in. Hours of potential wasted as thoughts run thru the mind of a 22 year old with no ideas about how the real world yet works. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Photo archived at Purdue

The Colourist + Away [indie pop]

2015-06-23T23:58:00.000-05:00

Pretty much all the features of a song that I enjoy in the summer. Poppy basslines. Airy vocals. Catchy and quirky chorus. Yea this is just fine for June.

Photo by donotlick

FF7 + remake [finally]

2015-06-16T06:17:00.002-05:00

[insert_meme="its happening", excite_level="100%"]

Kid Cudi + Steve Aoki [#tbt]

2015-05-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

An endeavor is defined an attempt to achieve a goal. What goals do I have in life? What goals for my kid... for this blog... for this apartment.. my job.. my family. And of what purpose does achieving those goals do for my well being or betterment?

I could continually get raises at work by overachieving and outperforming my peers. For what though? To be turned away at the next promotion opportunity and set aside for another bright upstart?
I could look at improving myself both in self image, physical well being, and expected life longevity. But why? For my son? So he can take care of me in hospice as I wither away slowly. Ever so gradually losing grasp on today's ever accelerating world?
I could be nice to people in my life, support them in times of need and desperation, laugh with them in times of amusement, hold them close in times of sorry and regret. Or see it all not matter and be washed away like a half gallon of spoiled milk.

So do what it is that makes you happy. That's the only thing that matters. The selfish pursuit of what keeps you going every day. The good things the get caught up are all just big bonuses in your path.

Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)

All art by Craig Davison

DATA + Benny Sings [french electro]

2015-05-16T16:49:00.000-05:00

Haven't seen much from DATA for a while, good to see the frenchman is still doing his thing.. and doing it well. In fact he's been pretty quiet since his hayday in the french electro revival of the late aughts. One EP in 2014 and now this single in 2015.

DATA - Don't Sing (Feat. Benny Sings)

filous + summer [indie dance]

2015-05-12T23:44:00.000-05:00

Filous is pretty much hitting 1.000 with his remixes thus far (that's 'one-thousand', or hitting 'perfect' for those of you too trendy for a bit of baseball vernacular). Just look at these hearts on the hypem charts, 5.5k, 9.4k, 5.4k, 10k, 15k, 7.2k... what in the what? All deserved though after listening thru the remixes up and down. They have that summer-melodic-chill sound that is ohhhh so welcomed.

Urban Cone - Come Back To Me ft. Tove Lo (Filous Remix)

Milky Chance - Flashed Junk Mind (Filous Remix)

Photo by sin1050

the muppets [season 1]

2015-05-12T22:28:00.002-05:00

It's time to get things started! #TheMuppets are coming to ABC and this is your first look! https://t.co/mXqsQtgQXr
— The Muppets ABC (@TheMuppetsABC) May 12, 2015

This. Is. Happening! Of course it will probably be over-hyped, over-marketed, under-budgeted, and given a short-leash with ratings and last one-half season this fall.

Penguin Prison + Eternal [dance pop]

2015-05-12T00:02:00.003-05:00

More from Mr Popper himself... Penguin Prison dropped his latest LP last week, Lost in New York, and the track "Show Me the Way" that made it to the top of the hypem popular charts. Cant believe it's been 6 years since we blogged about Glover's first release, and then when he got the Oliver treatment a few years later.

He's collaboarated with another /bitchen favorite, RAC, so it's no surprise that this album and track ring true to the catchyness of pure pop vocals, heel kicking beats, and building bridges that [snap] never end ;-)

Penguin Prison - Show Me the Way

Check the entire album on SoundCloud

Digitalism + RAC [electro pop]

2015-05-09T17:00:00.000-05:00

I must've not been blogging at this time last year when this came out.. because there's zero chance this would've missed the site. As it features two of our favorite names in the game, Digitalism and RAC. The original version of the track is verrrrry Digitalism-esque with those bassy synths and korg-styled drum kits.

The lyrics over the original melody are fantastic, and RAC give their patented remix treatment... ie. tight percussion, bright melodies, layered and deep transitions--just the highest of quality you could ask for. I'll literally post any remix by RAC, I'm that enamored with their work.

Digitalism - Wolves (ft. Youngblood Hawke) (RAC Mix)

Digitalism - Wolves

Photo by ddotg

La Roux + Jack Beats [#tbt]

2015-05-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

Starting up a new thing here... trying to stay hip with the youngster hashpound lingo (fuuuuck you kids). But each Thursday we'll be resurfacing some of our favorite tracks of the last 8 years of running this blog.

First up is an old favorite, both in original artist and remixer. Originally posted in our bestuvohnein post well over 5 years ago... i think that fits in the throwback category, at least in the blog world where two weeks is already ancient news.

I picked this track because it features La Roux, whom recently released her second studio album, of which I loved, but not as much as her debut which exploded with singles like Bulletproof, In For the Kill, Quicksand, and our title track, I'm Not Your Toy.

On the other side of the track title, Jack Beats was a favorite for much of the later aughts producing remixes in the stylish and trendy jacked house sub genre. It's a look back at how quickly things transition from one like to the next hash.

art by DevintheCool

Sterling Fox + ALMOND & SAMME [electronica]

2015-05-06T21:36:00.002-05:00

Summer is around the corner which means it's currently in the middle of springtime for us important mercator-preferred northern hemisphere denizens. And what *that means is jumpy, chirpy, airy, dreamy, happy electronica.

Not sure the longevity of this track, just because I dont think the accelerated lyrics work as well as the original down tempo indie-rock version. But the remix brings enough pop and originality with it's synth heavy chillwave breakdowns which sets it apart from the original mix that it's worth a few listens.

Plus, that whole spring track thing.

cinemagraph by u/bigbengb

Cape Lion [dream pop]

2015-04-26T00:27:00.003-05:00

Old track. 2014 re release. Whatever you want to classify this as, it's a fantastic song.

Well produced volcals, synthy accompnaiment, retro percussion out a John Hughes film... alllll good characteristics.

Image by joey-zero

Chainsmokers + sirenXX + Dave Edwards [prog house]

2015-03-29T22:40:00.000-05:00

Fuuuuuuck I like this. Plus its more than just club-anthem mix interlude like the original (also posted). The vocals from sirenXX are hauntingly adolescent and endearing. To quote a reddit comment... "I'm conflicted. The vocals are catchy and beautifully sung but I really don't want to say them aloud..."

Yes. But in my head I'm screaming.