After 15 years since his last release, a wicked new video and song By the legendary Gil Scott-Heron, off his new album I’m New Here.

I just recently dug up some more obscure gems (at least obscure to me, i’m no jazz expert) from the jazz monster that is Blue Note, i’ve posted some of my favorite covers from this batch. I’d have to say the color selection is definitly what does it for me with these covers. That orange is just kickin’. The patterns used on the Charlie Rouse cover compliment the latin twist on this album well, and stand out among a lot of the other Blue Note covers. I also love the clash of pink, red, and orange, normally a color theory no no, but it works here, running parallel with the energetic syncopated bossa rhythms.

I just rinsed Charlie Rouse’s Bossa Nova Bacchanal, such a great way to start swinging in the morning. Here is the first track on the album:

Charlie Rouse: Bossa Nova Bacchanal – Back To The Tropics

The Golden Filter – “Solid Gold” from golden filter on Vimeo.

Last night was a blast. I was at Tribeca Grand in Manhattan to see The Golden Filter. A NYC based new wave / disco band. They had a live drummer, a guy on keys and floor toms, and a vocalist (pictured above). She was amazing, i think i have a little crush. Unfortunately the sound engineer seemed to have trouble bring up her vocals.

The Tribeca Grand is a crazy place. It’s a very fancy, well design hotel, with a large lobby / bar area, apparently a lot of similar shows happen there. Sad the crowd was slightly snooty and stiff, i was up front cuttin’ up rug, and every time i glanced back i was reminded that i was one of the only people dancing. Since when was disco about standing around looking cool in your cocktail dress not moving your bod?

I first heard The Golden Filter when i bought their remix of Cut Copy’s Far Away, but for some reason had not reached out to their other stuff, i can’t believe i had been sleeping on these guys. Check out the video for Solid Gold above, the visuals are quite delectable.

Cut Copy – Far Away (Golden Filter Remix)

I just discovered this free album of wicked chilled out dubstep / techno. Considering how much of this type of music is delay and reverb, the album is ironically named Anechoic Chamber, which i remember learning about in my audio schooling.

This chamber is a room used in audio engineering (and other sciences involving other inaudible frequencies) that has absolutely no reverberation, no surfaces for sound to reflect. Since the room has no audible context apparently these rooms are so audibly unnatural for humans, that people can go nuts if they are exposed to Anechoic Chamber’s conditions for too long. Sounds that we take for granted and sounds that are masked with the ambience of our environments, such as our breathing, heartbeat, and even the blood coursing through our veins become the only sounds heard in this padded room. I’d love to check one out one day, i think they are quite visually stunning as well.

Here is a sampling of Echo Dub’s Anechoic Chamber:

Beneath Me by Sines

I normally avoid live albums, but this accompaniment to the documentary A Cross the Universe is quality, certainly following in the footsteps of Daft Punk’s Alive 2007, Justice has made a solid execution of mixing 3 things i really enjoy: funk, metal, and dance music.

We Are Your Friends (Reprise) is my favorite part, i love Simon Lord’s vocals.

Fujiya & Miyagi was rockin’ our gear at the CMJ music festival in NYC last week. Now that Dave is rockin’ the Rosary, we can officially say he is a scientist. :D more photos in the post

A  little halloween flyer treat for a friend, who is throwing a huge halloween bash at the club Love in Manhattan. All the grime, dubstep, and drum & bass you could ever ask for coming from nyc’s biggest respective crews.

Above are some amazing album cover concepts for Beck’s latest album, Modern Guilt, which i ran into the other day on Mario Hugo’s website. I, was blown away at how great these are (love the wood block typography!), and i was also even more blown away they used what is shown below instead:

When i first saw the cover i immediately had a slightly negative reaction. Not that it’s horrible design, but it seems like they decided to go with that “cheap” look you find on a lot of all jazz and rock records from the 60’s and 70’s, which can be cool, but i don’t feel it stands up to Mario’s work.

This comes as a surprise after reading in Wired some time ago about how Beck was into creating memorable, unique artwork for his previous release, The Information.

As for the album, it didn’t quite grab me as much as The Information, but it’s still quality Beck, i enjoyed it. Was i influenced a bit by the art work? I’m sure, i think the art certainly has a part in the gestalt of an album, the first thing that hits your senses before you even listen to the music…..branding???

There is always great music out there if you seek it, but it’s still hard for me to find something new that stands more than a half a dozen rinses on my iTunes. But I have found one of few exceptions. Fujiya & Miyagi has been one of the most unique and fresh bands to surface in my music library recently, which is quite a bold statement. I first got into them when my buddy DB, who does their A&R for north america sent me a sample of their debut album Transparent Things. Being a fan of lyrical oddities like MF Doom and Dr. Octagon, i immediately fell in love with F&J’s off color songwriting, combined with (very Talking Heads-ish) brilliantly simple syncopated beats, and funky basslines, combined with electronic & organic instrumentation, and mouth noises.

They have just followed up their freshman release of Transparent Things, with the equally amazing Lightbulbs. (wicked cover art too)

Check them out immediately. Fujiya & Miyagi on Myspace. They are also great musicians live. Infectiously danceable.