best of 2014 so far

best albums of 2014 so far (in no particular order, and certainly not complete, yet)

Field Report – Marigolden

Sylan Esso – Sylvan Esso

Hozier – Hozier

Saba Pivot – Comfort Zone

The War On Drugs – Lost In A Dream

Taylor Swift – 1989

Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

Flying Lotus – You’re Dead

Fly Golden Eagle – Quartz

Spoon – They Want My Soul

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels

Sia – 1000 Forms of Fear

The Black Hippies – The Black Hippies

The Afghan Whigs – Do To The Beast

Strand of Oaks – Heal

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib – Pinata

download a new song from philly’s Those People

Philly’s Those People are an original rock and roll band who are starting to cause a bit of a stir here. Disclaimer: my son is in the band. But if they sucked, I wouldn’t be posting this. Check out this new song, “Black Swan.”

Listen to an exclusive new song, “Four Days Three Nights” by blues-roots-rockers The Record Company

Feels So Good is the recent (and second) EP from the Los Angeles blues-rock-roots trio, The Record Company. It’s their first release for Kill/Hurt records and is being treated to a very cool limited edition release on vinyl including the original 5 song EP and 3 extra tracks. The Record Company are Chris Vos (Vocals/Guitar), Alex Stiff (Bass/Vocals) and Marc Cazorla (Drums/Vocals). Since debuting, the band’s been ripping it up on the local music scene in LA; they’re a little bit Wood Brothers, a little bit Canned Heat and a lot of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Below, listen to “Four Days Three Nights”

Feels So Good EP Track List
Side A:
01. Feels So Good (3:56)
02. Roll Bones (3:18)
03. Hard Day Coming Down (3:51)
04. Baby I’m Broken (3:37)
05. Darlin’ Jane (4:05)

Side B (previously unreleased):
01. Never Gonna Cry For Me (9:01)
02. Four Days Three Nights (3:27)
03. Superdead Sessions #4 (8:10)

Pre-order the Feels So Good EP here.

Fela Kuti on Bandcamp

A significant number of Fela Kuti records are now available on Bandcamp. Treat yourself here.

Majid Jordan

Majid Jordan is a duo from Toronto including singer/producer Majid Al-Maskati and multi-instrumentalist/producer Jordan Ullman. Part of Drake’s OVO camp, the duo were featured on Drizzy’s “Hold On,” resulting in a number of “who the heck is Majid Jordan” inquiries. Last August they released a mighty tight, soulful, and electro-R&B influenced EP, Afterhours that’s a must hear. Listen here.

18 bands from Philly you need to know

Each week at WXPN, a local band records a session in the World Cafe studios. The Key Studio Sessions are curated and produced mostly by John Vettese, the editor of XPN’s The Key. Each session is made available as a free download. Below, download the latest compilation of bands that did sessions between September-December 2013.

it’s that time again – my favorite/best(?) albums of 2013

Every year I struggle with same question: Are my favorite albums of the year also the best? Well, I decided long ago that the “favorite/best” concept was going to be my organizing principle, not copping to the music critic imperative to list “really cool” records that you listen to once or twice and file away forever. Here ya go. I listened to the Drake album every day since it was released. Some days twice.

1 – Drake, Nothing Was The Same

 
 
2 – Daft Punk, Random Access Memories

 
 
3 – Courtney Barnett, The Double EP – A Sea of Split Peas


 
 
4 – HAIM, Days Are Gone

 
 
5 – Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold

 
 
6 – Ariana Grande, Yours Truly

 
 
7 – Kanye West, Yeezus

 
 
8 – David Bowie, The Next Day

 
 
9 – Laura Mvula, Sing To The Moon

 
 
10 – Jonathan Wilson, Fanfare

 
 
11 – Chance The Rapper, Acid Rain

 
 

Runners up:
Jagwar Ma – Howlin’
Danny Brown – Old
Disclosure – Settle
Primal Scream – More Light
Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels
Jim James – Regions of Light and Sound of God
Autre Ne Veut – Anxiety

In case you’re wondering:
1 – I don’t get Lorde. Sorry.

Some of my favorite songs of the year are on this spotify playlist. Listen below:

watch dis: major lazer, “jet blue jet”

Watch Darkside perform “Freak, Go Home” (BBC1 radio session)

late nite jam: holy ghost! cover drake’s “hold on, we’re going home”