I’ve been in an election season coma, with only occasional breaks to listen to Gregg Gillis’s work of genius, “Feed The Animals”.
By no means do I pretend to be “breaking” this, unless you’re one of my 40+ friends that has NO idea what’s going on. Mainstream radio – or at least NPR…the only mainstream radio I listen to – is all over this, though they have a lot of difficulty finding any of it they can play (Gregg likes to mash the nasty, expletive-laden, misogynistic rap with the classic-rock-top40-overfamiliar stuff). The very definition of “something for everyone”, a description that usually send me running for the hills, this new set of mash-ups is like a game of audio Trivial Pursuit. Gregg is a beat-matchin’ genius with an encyclopedic collection of samples. Though he occasionally breaks MY rule of too much pitch control (that’s the wicked speeded-up stuff y’all), more often than not he amazes me with his mixes. Love it or not, he gives you about tan to fifteeen seconds of each masterpiece. Download it HERE, pay what you think is fair (PLEASE be kind) and see how many of the 400+ samples you can name. As of this minute, my favorite is track 6…no…track 7….no wait, track 5!!!
Luckily, I was alerted to a hot band, Simon Says No!, from Oslo, Norway. My Bloody Valentine is the obvious comparison, but musically, I hear echoes of Joy Division and Psychedelic Furs, without the disembodied or laryngitic vocals, respectively. “Peak” reminds me of my favorite (no—favourite) Furs song: “India“. Long, with a slow burn intro, exploding into galloping drums and bass…what we used to call “a driving song”. Check the MySpace page, where you can hear songs from their new EP, including the terrific single, “Sleeping Heart”, which you can download for free HERE, for a limited time, courtesy of their management. (Don’t miss “Shiver”…sure to be on a djeddieo compilation soon….)
Flying up the charts on BBC 1 is the new James Bond Theme from Jack White and Alicia Keys. Think about how much attitude each of those two bring to their own performances, then quadruple it. When you someday make that mix CD of your favorite Bond themes, this is one that you’ll turn the volume up for. Download a likely illegal rip HERE.
Also on that BBC chart, and nice to see there, is Santogold, featured here on djeddieo.com some time ago. I understand “Say Aha” is sampled in a Ford Flex commercial, but I don’t hold that against it. A lot of fun, in a MIA way, it’s not on her MySpace page yet, so check this “video” (not much for visuals):
djeddieo.com 