New Zealand is on the come-up, at least in my little bubble. A solid World Cup appearance, a perfect TV show, and a string of really great releases (Cut Off Your Hands in '08, Fat Freddy's Drop in '09, and now Stornoway). Not to mention them Ring Lord movies. Modest, maybe, but there's a positivity about all of the above that I find charming.

I woke up with this feelgood little foot-stomper in my head, which I think guarantees me a good day.

Here Comes The Blackout...! by wtbroome

Don't miss "Zorbing" either. Horns!

Ha. I have been holding off on posting because I wanted to commemorate my 100th with an epic 4-mix release party extravaganza. Turns out, I had a bunch of drafts lying around, which Blogger counts as posts, falsely inflating my total to that tantalizing #99. I just realized this and find it comically appropriate. Nine months later, I am still running a shoddy operation.

So, instead, I bring you... Post Number Ninety-Four!!!

Fortunately, my value as a collector of music and mix-maker exceeds my talents as a member of the digital community. Until I can figure out how to make these available online (like I said... but soon!), have a look, and track down something new. It's been another fine year so far...

Volume 1

Flying Lotus - Auntie's Lock / Infinitum (Feat. Laura Darlington)
Baths - Lovely Bloodflow
Foxes in Fiction - 15 Ativan (Song for Erika)
Tanlines - Z
Teen Daze - No Regrets
Delorean - Grow
Atlas Sound - Washington School
Twin Sister - Phenomenons
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Falling Over
Autolux - Spots
Caribou - Leave House
Black to Comm - Hotel Freund
White Hinterland - Icarus
Holly Miranda - Waves
Nosaj Thing - Lords
Thom Yorke - FeelingPulledApartByHorses

Volume 2 (aka Yosemite Sam's Jammy Jamz: Urban Influences)

Gil Scott-Heron - New York Is Killing Me
Gonjasufi – Change
Wavves - Baseball Cards
Big Boi - The Train Part II (Sir Lucious Left Foot Save The Day) [Ft. Sam Chris]
Kid Cudi - Make Her Say (feat. Kanye West & Common)
Janelle Monáe - Neon Valley Street
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
Major Lazer & La Roux - Colourless Artibella
Raekwon - The New Wu (feat. Ghostface Killah & Method Man)
Erykah Badu - Turn Me Away (Get Munny)
Fat Freddy’s Drop - This Room
Caetano Veloso - Base De Guantanamo
Zinja Hlungwani - N'wagezani My Love
LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean
Ludacris & Shawnna - How Low Can You Go?
Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
Panda Bear - Slow Motion

Volume 3

Spoon - Trouble Comes Running
Stricken City - Tak O Tak
Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Local Natives - Who Knows Who Cares
Dr. Dog - Shadow People
Harlem - Tila And I
Male Bonding - Year's Not Long
Islands – Vapours
Dirty Projectors + Björk - On and Ever Onward
Au - Ida Walked Away
The Soft Pack - Move Along
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Bright Lit Blue Skies
The National - Anyone's Ghost
Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
MGMT - Siberian Breaks
Vampire Weekend - Diplomat's Son
FanFarlo - Ghosts

Volume 4 (my fave at the moment)

Cotton Jones Basket Ride - I Was Stoned By The Choir
Jolie Holland - Fox In It's Hole
Laura Marling - Made By Maid
Stornoway - Here Comes The Blackout...!
Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore - Try
Kings of Convenience - Mrs. Cold
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Drying of the Lawns
Julian Lynch - Ruth, My Sister
Christian Scott - The Last Broken Heart (Prop 8)
Grizzly Bear - A Leader Always Carries a Stick
Sleeping States - Gardens Of The South
Broken Social Scene - Highway Slipper Jam
Broken Bells - The Mall & Misery
Monsters of Folk - Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
The Morning Benders – Excuses
Medications - Brasil '07
Joanna Newsom - Baby Birch

The biggest surprise from the Outside Lands festival this weekend, Mr. Hawthorne had me dancing, laughing, and singing even before I sank my first Heineken. I loved every minute.

Motown-bred and Motown-styled but always with a wink and a smile. Which, as a white guy with a less-than-perfect voice, is really his only option. Somehow, he makes it work. Sheer force of personality, I suppose.

He finished with this jam, my favorite, and had everybody within 100 yards testing out their falsetto. In fact, I was singing it in line for the port-o-potty, and the kid in front of me turned around to finish the verse. Two guys, waiting for a portable toilet, trading falsettos. Doesn't happen every day.

Just Ain't Gonna Work Out by mecarro

"The next thing I remember, I'm walking down a street
I'm feeling alright I'm with my boys, I'm with my troops, yeah
And down along the avenue some guys are shootin' pool
And I heard the sound of acapella groups, yeah

Singin' late in the evening, and all the girls out on the stoops, yeah

Then I learned to play some lead guitar, I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a J-eeeee
When I come back to the room, everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play

It was late in the evening, and I blew that room away"

- 'Late in the Evening'

The next time you have an opportunity to celebrate, I recommend this song. It was my post-bar exam victory jam, and frankly, it slayed. The rumba beat, the joyful horns, the triumphant lyrics - you really couldn't put together a better vibe.

Paul Simon is such a character, huh?

By the way, everybody loves the sound of the train in the distance. Everybody thinks it's true...

Sick.

Sir Lucious Left Foot.

This song is stalking me. I wake up in the morning, there it is. I go for a run, and somehow it's the only song on my iPod. I try to study, and I can hear it thumping loudly over my thoughts. It gets lodged in my head when I need to be using those brain cells for other things, thank you very little. And it's always trying to talk me into "just one quick dance" when I need to be firmly planted in my seat. I literally can't deal with it. If I don't pass the bar, I'm blaming it on YOU, Big Boi, ya sweet, sweet music-making bastard.

Listen. I am diving deeper and deeper down into the abyss that is bar review, and I don't really have much time to stop and chat these days. So allow me a little straight talk before I disappear for a while.

This is the sh!% I’m on right now:

Major Lazer & La Roux - Lazerproof. One of my favorite voices in pop, but instead of the gaudy, overly slick club tracks, you get Major Lazer's crazy combination of dancehall, dub, and hip-hop backing her up. Loving this right now. And you can get it here for free!

The Jam:


Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti – Before Today. Not for everyone, but if you like a little weirdness in your musical diet, you might love it. Lo-fi project from a dude fixated on that crazy musical transition from the 70s to the 80s, except it's all scuzzy and sloppy and sleezy and, well, haunted grafitti is an oddly appropriate name. LA hears the Bee Gees, DB referenced MJ, and I'm picking up little bits of early punk/no wave. Only in 2010.

The Jam (better off closing your eyes for this atrocity of a video):


Caetano Veloso – Zii E Zie. Tropicalia icon still going strong, released a breezy album of perfect little oddball gems with customary eeeease. The Jam: ‘Base de Guantanamo’

Christian Scott – Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Super cool jazz trumpet prodigy steeped in hip-hop and rock. The Jam: swell cover of Thom Yorke’s ‘The Eraser’

Foxes in Fiction – Swung from the Branches. Side A super dreamy ambient, Side B poor man’s Atlas Sound. A smattering of A Sunny Day in Glasgow, maybe a small dose of Post-era Bjork. Like drifting in and out of sleep.

The Jam: