Lately, Spencer Krug has been a bit of a baller. Yeah, yeah, fellow Wolf Parader Dan Boeckner has his little thing goin’ on in Handsome Furs, but it doesn’t hold a candle to any of Krug’s laundry list of legit side-projects. Krug’s contributions to Sunset Rubdown are undeniably outstanding, and he totally kicks ass as a member of both Frog Eyes and Swan Lake. However, currently he is receiving major props for the new Wolf Parade album, At Mount Zoomer. To me, the album is kind of like a balance between his weirder, more experimental work in Frog Eyes/Sunset Rubdown and the calm, earnest sound of Swan Lake. Hopefully y’all out there likes what you hears!
Lately, I have been going through a nostalgic stage of 90s hip hop music. I don’t know why, but it might be fueled by all the 90s hip hop utilized in Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals. So here’s a playlist of some of my favorites of the 90s. You know you love it.
This week, our God Warriors are Rob & Big from hit television show, Rob & Big.
Pictures via MTV.com
I know there are haters for this show, but Toe Taps and Spastic Claps thoroughly loves and support them. I mean it’s been our dream to karaoke to “Ebony and Ivory.” But alas we have reached the ending of an era because Big Black had to leave the show because he knocked up a baby mama and now has to do his fatherly duty. Their reign on MTV will definitely be missed. For the past seasons, we simply got to watch these boys have fun. Whether it was recreating the Tupac and Suge Knight portrait, or having Big Black become a stripper for a night and don a sweat suit with the words “I charge by the pound.” The show is pure chaos and it isn’t hard to enjoy every bit of it, but you can watch a good majority of the shows on mtv.com. Favorites of mine are “Meaty Goes to Hollywood”, “Guinness World Records,” and “Turtle Racing.” I never turn down a Rob & Big marathon on tv and you shouldn’t either. So let’s all wear our Big Black t-shirt in tribute to this awesome show or drink Monster and wear DC shoes. Check out the video of Rob and his alter persona, Bobby Light performing “Dirty Girl”. So DGs 4 LyFe N’ FoEveZ!
It’s time to watch the ever so lo fi experimental videos of Ariel Pink, Tickley Feather and Animal Collective. Just so happens that all are on the Paw Tracks label.
It is here, Girl Talk’s latest album, Feed The Animals was released this past Tuesday. Following the hot trend of Radiohead, he released it with a choose your own price dealie. I chose $0, and I was immediately quizzed to why so, but sadly enough, poor college student was not a choice. Considering I had no idea that this album was even coming out, I didn’t know what to expect from this album. Would it be as clean and entertaining as Night Ripper? Are these new tunes going to make me risk the chance of getting tasered by going to one of Mr. Gillis’ shows?
As Gregg said in an interview that he wanted to get this album out as soon as possible because he utilizes the most recent and current hip hop and did not want to risk his album sounding out dated. I think this is a strange statement about the album because he seemed to delve a lot further into older music including Tag Team, Salt N’ Pepa, or Public Enemy. As well as old hip hop music, Gregg also used a lot of 80s and early 90s hits including Rick Astley, Bizarre Inc. Cheap Trick and Tears For Fears. Don’t get me wrong, I love to rock out to “I’m Gonna Get You” by Bizarre Inc. any time of the day, but what I miss of the old Girl Talk is his use of indie music. This album sounds like water got spilt on a wedding dj’s laptop. It’s a mixture of current hip hop and cheesy wedding hits. The only extent of indie music I heard was the ever so familiar M.I.A sample or a little bit of Hot Chip and Of Montreal, but if I hear another M.I.A. sample I will punch the next person I see in tribal patterned t shirt. Although the album has a great flow and probably is best being played straight through some of the tracks seem a little bit sloppy.
The mash up game has definitely increased it’s contenders and Girl Talk used to be the heavy weight champion, but with the introduction of a new artists everyday, he is fighting harder than ever to keep his title. The disadvantage that Girl Talk has is that other mash up artists haven’t been charging for their music. The Hood Internet have been keeping pretty current and you can download all of their tracks for free at anytime on their website. So when listening to Feed The Animals, I kept saying to myself, “Oh The Hood Internet already used this sample.” Granted Girl Talk definitely chops ups songs much more creatively than The Hood Internet. But sometimes I just want to hear a song throughly such as the Nirvana vs. Salt N’ Pepa vs. Deelite during “In Step” or Kanye West vs. Montell Jordan Blackstreet during “Still Here”, but those parts of the song only last about 25 seconds to my disappointment. Sometimes, I don’t know if Gregg is trying to be funny, but I don’t appreciate Dawson Creek theme song samples in any song ever. But the album definitely takes some time to warm up, riots would start around “No Pause” and would last until about “Let Me See You.” I am a bit underwhelmed with this album, but Girl Talk is great at what he does because I would never have thought of putting Metallica vs. Lil’ Mama which makes him an innovator if not a genius.
You can download the album for whatever price you want at Illegal Art. I’m still waiting for it to be released on vinyl via Wham City cause then I can really pretend I’m a dj. But until then you will see me droppin’ like its hot to “Hands In The Air” when I see Girl Talk at Lollapalooza. Here’s hoping that I don’t get trampled to death!
I have made a huge mistake. That is that I assumed that the blogosphere would have heard about The Golden Error way before I did! I was trying to hype some tracks by them and I found that was virtually impossible because they are virtually an impossible band to find online other than their myspace. So I want to say is what’s up blogosphere? I’m usually 10 steps behind when finding music. So I’m highly disappointed. Granted they do only have their 7 song album that is only avaiable on 12′ vinyl format, but this Brooklyn based band are part of the indie punk noise genre and already pre-approved by Parts & Labor. The catchy guitary screeches blend perfectly with the spastic yelling. Recommended for fans of Abe Vigoda and Cardboard Records connoisseurs. So blogosphere here is your chance to listen to The Golden Error.
The Golden Error – Hunted [MP3] [ Myspace] Buy their new album through Myspace via paypal!
Other updates:
We have been lacking a little bit, but it’s because we’ve been working hard to get you guys some new album reviews and show previews. So watch out for those in the upcoming weeks. As always we’re taking requests. So make sure to email us the newest info at toetapsandspasticclaps@gmail.com!
The God Warrior for the the week of June 15th is David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors.
We love Dirty Projectors‘ founder David Longstreth for many reasons. Not only does he possess one of the most refreshingly impressive and soulful voices that we’ve heard in a long time, but he has managed to go from solo act to quartet while evolving his sound and keeping listeners right under his thumb. Basically, what we are trying to say is we here at TT&SC would do just about anything to take the places of his two female band-mates. The Projectors kicked so much ass during their first Daytrotter session in 2007 that they were asked for an encore. Below are MP3s of this triumphant return.
“Dirty Dave” and his crew are set to release not one, but two (!) albums in 2009, and are going to be playing the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
Remixes are awesome. Why do we love them so much? What constitutes a successful remix? Exactly how is R. Kelly’s “I’m A Flirt (Remix)” different than the original? The answers to these questions are extremely open-ended and virtually impossible to explain with words, so instead we are giving you a remix playlist as a little summer treat because we love you, and it’s just in time for you to get freaky in the club.
Remixes are sent from the heavens because they allow you to get buck to your favorite songs without having to feel awkward for dancing to scary House/Techno music. Sure, there are millions of emerging remixers/mash-up artists to keep track of these days, but we here at TT&SC have selected our personal favorites. What are yours? Feel free to give us your faves.
Music vids are good for the soul. Today, we have a Vh1approved video by MGMT, cheesy yet cute in studio video with Los Campesinos and an oldie video of my precious Born Ruffians.
RZA is a nut. A CHESS NUT! Aaanyway, not only is this member of Wu-Tang currently promoting the release of his up-coming Bobby Digital album, Digi Snacks (set to release on 6/24 on Koch Records), but he is also about to kick off his first ever live band tour with soul group Stone Mecca backing him. Between being a member of Wu-Tang, recording a new album and preparing for a world tour, RZA just likes to unwind and challenge his brain-power like any other thug in the biz…by playing chess.
RZA recently launched WuChess.com, his first ever online venture and the world’s first chess and Hip Hop community.
At WuChess.com, not only can you play LIVE CHESS with people all across the world, but you can check out matches between RZA, other Wu-Tang members, and various other celebrities/musicians across the planet. This all sounds pretty tight to me. I mean, I co-founded my high school’s Chess Team, and I always thought, “If I had one wish, it would be to battle RZA in an epic game of chess.” Well, now I can. In fact, we all can. If your strategies just ain’t good enough to battle the Wu, WuChess.com allows its subscribers to get knowledge from REAL chess masters online, or you can duke it out against the computer to refine your skills. If you sign up with the site now, you get a free t-shirt!
Read all about his path to checkmate in this New York Times article.
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We here at Toe Taps and Spastic Claps love free music as much as the other, but these mp3s are for promotional use only.
If you really enjoy the artist, it's highly recommended that you buy their work. If you are an artist and would like us to take down your music for whatever reason, please feel free to contact us at toetapsandspasticclaps@gmail.com and we'd be much obliged.
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