Song of the Day

**5/29/10

Kele - Tenderoni

------------------After a week of listening to new Kanye West tracks, Drake and Jay-Z collabs and nineteen-year-old brit crossovers, I'm saturated in upcoming music from artists that we've already got on our ipods.

Kele Okereke stood at the front of three albums Bloc Party. Now he's taking the party into the club with full-force in his album, The Boxer.

If you've already booked Kele for your Summer Rager playlist, good for you. I'm listening to it for what will be the fifth time in a row and I'm still nodding my head. "Tenderoni" harkens to the strobed, sweaty dance clubs, electrifying with an eighties jungle drum beat and lyrics Madonna would die over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQioZHYpvQ

Song of the Day

**4/21/10
Tommy Sparks - She's Got Me Dancing
--------------How fun would it be to get paid to listen to music and pick your favorites for TV shows? I envy you, all of you, who are able to do that for a living - my goodness you must have four ipods full of great music.

Maybe one of those ipods has Tommy Sparks on it, who I'm going to officially name the product placement artist of 2010. Not only was Spark's electro-disco beat "She's Got Me Dancing" featured on an episode of the CW's Gossip Girl, he's also had it featured on an Apple itouch commercial, Sony Eyepet, aannd FIFA 10. Call him a sellout if you wish, but once you listen to "She's Got Me Dancing" from his 2009 self-titled release, you might not care so much. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU1AghHD0_U

Song of the Day

**4/20/10

Ratatat - Cherry

---------------I trolled around on Pitchfork.com today to find some new albums released today (Tuesday is the official unofficial release date for most albums, by the way), and I wasn't satisfied with the attractiveness of the names on the list.

I saw one band named after what I swear is a character from Harry Potter (Deadelus, as in Deadelus Diggle?, nerds? anyone?), and a separation of a hotspot Florida city, Mi Ami. Not too appealing, let's be real here.

Some of you may have been waiting for me to talk about Ratatat. Ratatat is a New York City electronica duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast playing synthesizer and bass, respectively. Not always known as Ratatat, "Cherry is a tribute to the band's original name.

"Cherry" is a sweet-synth mass of Chutes and Ladders chord progressions and a minimalist bass line that's perfect for today of all days. This instrumental album is a prelude to the massive hip hop collaborations Ratatat would do on their next two LP's, working with everyone from Kanye West to Kid Cudi. "Cherry" is the final song on their debut full-length, 2004's Ratatat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW8VmSfYLAU

Song of the Day

**3/1/10

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Lights/Passionate Introverts (Dinosaurs)

------------------Something is echoing through my brain all asmushed with music -it's this need for button-pushing, synth-slathered, ambience driven material. A Sunny Day in Glasgow has the Nitetime Rainbows EP available on pre-order (only digital and vinyl - how renaissance), but to really get a feel for the group, one must experience their 2008 LP Ashes Grammar. That's where you can find yourself transfixed by "Lights/Passionate Introverts (Dinosaurs)."

Though the name sounds like an utterly random game of Mad Libs, the song is utterly and elegantly betwitching. If Passion Pit and The Postal Service got their digital recordings lost in translation with Band of Horses, A Sunny Day in Glasgow were the ones who snatched it out of their inbox.

Also hear: "Failure"

http://myspace.com/sunnydayinglasgow/

Song of the Day

**1/28/10

Little Boots - New In Town

-------------Little Boots with a big, stomping beat. "New In Town" is very devil-may-care, flirty and tons of techno-fun.

This song is wonderful. If you're tired of brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack, "New In Town" has strutted onto the dance floor. Try very, very hard not to sit still while you listen. Get "New In Town" from Little Boots stateside EP, Illuminations.

http://myspace.com/littleboots/

Song of the Day

**12/1/09

Ghostland Observatory - Midnight Voyage

-------------Brainstorming bands to bring in for the spring season is always a turbulent hurricane of opinions. Someone could nominate a perfectly terrible group and find out from their colleagues that whomever they thought was totally rad is totally bad.

Sticking my neck out for the duet from Austin, Texas, I voted a big "yes" to Ghostland Observatory. These guys seem to fill their jackets better than most electro-bands on the circuit right now, incorporating a montage of laser-swished guitar melodies to their Daft Punk-influenced beats. "Midnight Voyage" boasts a funky and slightly unexpected rebel-pop guitar riff that carries through dreamlike keyboards and Aaron Behren's vocals. Get "Midnight Voyage" from the Ghostland Observatory album, Paparazzi Lightning.

http://www.myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory/

Song of the Day

**10/25/09

Pretty Lights - Finally Moving Remix

-------------Complexity can be a beautiful thing, especially when that complexity requires one to stop what they are doing and pay full attention to it. That amounted to my first time listening to Pretty Lights, a Fort Collins, Colorado electronica/hip-hop group that compose songs as detailed and meticulous as a classical symphony.

Derek Vincent Smith and Corey Eberhard throw their cutting edge party beats and Daft-Punk style songs into a whirlwind of robotic harmony. Electronica hardly ever ceases to impress me, and Pretty Lights couldn't make digital music more, well, pretty! "Finally Moving (Remix)" from the 2008 album Filling Up the City Skies.

Pause! Want some free Pretty Lights? You can download their latest album, Passing By Behind Your Eyes for free on their website:

http://www.prettylightsmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/prettylights

**9/17/09

Major Lazer - Pon de Floor

---------------Just watch the video taken at SXSW of Major Lazer, and tell me that the crowd isn't having an amazing time. Major Lazer is as electro-dance as you could probably get, and even if your favorite musical instruments don't include mixers and turntables, this beat might change that. Hailing from Lazerville, as told by the myspace page, the digital-reggae collaboration of DJ and producers Diplo and Switch bring beats to the party that are as infectious as swine flu on a college campus. Get "Pon de Floor" from the 2009 Major Lazer album, Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkhhwkwmltI

Song of the Day

**9/7/09

Carbon Based Lifeforms - Abiogenesis

---------------First of all, if your music catalogue contains Carbon Based Lifeforms or ever heard the name passed along in a random, obscure music swap, then my fedora goes off to you. Second of all, if violins and keys don't please your relaxation senses as much as ethereal, otherworld sounds from a synthesizer, then this duo belongs in your library. The Swedish ambient-electronica Carbon Based Lifeforms signed with Ultimate Records in 2002 following an earlier release of their debut album in 1998, The Path. But 2006's World of Sleepers is aptly titled for those searching for the perfect out-of-body techno trance. Instead of just listening to the opening song "Abiogenesis," listen to World of Sleepers as one continuous song.

http://www.myspace.com/carbonbasedlifeforms