Monday Mixtapes Ain't Nothing to Fuck With

Most Mondays, I post a handful of MP3s that I've had on heavy rotation. Some new tunes, some old tunes, all good tunes.

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Daydream - Beach Fossils

Over (dJ eSenTRiK Remix) - Drake

New Rules - Shine 2009

OOOO - Fishing

Where I'm Going - Cut Copy

Gettin' Flicked - The Cool Kids

Sewee Sewee - Mountain Man

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Delorean Are Awesome, Release New 12" + Remixes

How great are Delorean? Well, they made early afternoon 95° weather bearable/danceable this past weekend at the P4K music festival. I call that quite a huge "W."

In any event, the trio just released a new single off their excellent new record, Subiza. The 12" is in honor of "Real Love" (excellent summertime jam) and comes packed a slew of remixes, the best of which comes from radical NY producer, ARP (who also has a must hear album on the way).

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Real Love (Radio Edit) - Delorean

Real Love (Tropical Acid Version by ARP) - Delorean

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Women Know How to Bring the Do-Wop 'n the Rock

Women's 2008 self-titled debut was pretty criminally underrated when it was released. This is probably because 1. It rode in on the post-Deerhunter wave of lo-fi psych-pop and was seen as more of the same 2. Their band name is impossible to Google. 3. The group has no female members. Whatever the reason, I hope their sophomore record, Public Strain, doesn't see the same fate.

The forthcoming LP doesn't drop until late-August, but the first single's been released and it keeps all the Phil Spector charms of their solid debut.

Grab six-minute "Eyesore" down below, plus two old favourites.

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Eyesore - Women

Black Rice - Women

Group Transport Hall - Women

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Minks Release New 7", Sill Sounding Like The Cure

The goth punks/Cure disciples known as Minks have released a second 7", Ophelia . Yes, the Brooklyn kids continue that trend of flaunting their Robert Smith inspirations (as if that's a bad thing). Bonus: the band continues that Love Will Tear Us Apart-esque album art theme.

Grab the single's a-side, plus the previously blogged/honestly better "Funeral Song," down below.

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Ophelia - Minks

Funeral Song - Minks

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Overdue Tennis Artwork Revealed, Songs Still Great

When Denver's married dynamic-duo Tennis dropped their fantastic "Marathon" and just-as-good "Baltimore" tracks onto the interwebs, all we knew at the time was that the two songs were off the band's yet-to-be-titled 7" on Underwater Peoples.

Well, now that single has a title, Baltimore, and some elitist rich man's artwork, pictured above. The songs are still winsome and if you haven't grabbed them (or the "South Carolina" single) yet, do so today.

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Marathon - Tennis

Baltimore - Tennis

South Carolina - Tennis

Cape Dorey - Tennis

Sea Farer - Tennis

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The Monday Mixtape, P4K Music Festival Edition

Most Mondays, I post a handful of MP3s that I've had on heavy rotation. Some new tunes, some old tunes, all good tunes.

Note: This week is made up of a few of favourite tracks heard this weekend at Pitchfork's music festival.

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All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem

Texico Bitches - Broken Social Scene

A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under - Why?

Dancing on my Own - Robyn

Tiny Cities Made of Ashes - Modest Mouse

Morning Light - Girls

Deli - Delorean

Hold the Line - Major Lazer

Goodbye - Best Coast

No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future - Titus Andronicus

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Cloak and Cipher Not as Cool as Cloak and Dagger*

I like Land of Talk. I liked their first full-length, Some Are Lakes. Catchier than My Brightest Diamond, not as quaint as Feist, and more straight-forward-rock than St. Vincent, the band places pretty high when ranked in the list of female-fronted indie outfits also associated with greater indie acts.

While the band's leader, Elizabeth Powell, is, in fact, a member of the ever-expanding Broken Social Scene and that whole musical collective, her work with Land of Talk holds it's own against their Canadian contemporaries. Plus, their aforementioned debut LP was produced by Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver). Yeah, I just indie-folk name-dropped.

Powell and her band have a new record right around the corner, Cloak and Cipher, and "Swift Coin" is our first listen and it only wets my appetite for more songs of the guitar-driven, female-vocalist variety. Fun fact: Powell wrote the album while recuperating from a hemorrhage vocal polyp. Whoa.

Cloak and Cipher is out September 24th via Saddle Creek.

* Cloak and Dagger.

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Swift Coin - Land of Talk

From 2008's Some Are Lakes...

Some Are Lakes - Land of Talk

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Mixtape: Dominique Young Unique

In news that's only a couple of weeks old, Dominique Young Unique -- of "Show My Ass" fame -- dropped her first mixtape, Domination. I'll be blunt: highly recommended.

While none of the twelve tracks reach the highs of "Show My Ass" (which is a legitimately great party song), Dominique does a solid job showcasing her hyperactive flow and unique dance-rap sound. Pun not intended: Domination is made up of club-ready elements we've all heard before (Lil Kim, electroclash, Diplo, et al...) thrown into a blender and spit back out in a quick-fire, attention-deficit fashion.

Her case isn't hurt by the fact that she's a mere eighteen years old and has the talent to get attention from both the blogosphere and more major publications. Hell, she's even opening for Dirty Projectors during the September leg of their current tour.

Download the entire mixtape by clicking here, but if you're not sold yet, check out my favourite cuts below + a Hood Internet mash-up from their latest tape...

"Make that ass clap, yes, it's only right."

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Pussy Popping - Dominique Young Unique
Blaster - Dominique Young Unique
Hot Girl - Dominique Young Unique
I'm In Love With a Hot Girl (Dominique Young Unique x YACHT) - The Hood Internet

Previous MP3...

Show My Ass - Dominique Young Unique

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Wake Up, Listen to This New Crocodiles Track

Here's a new one from San Diego fuzz-pop duo, Crocodiles. I quite dug their dirty debut effort and it looks like these guys kept every Jesus and Mary Chain influence emblazoned firmly on their sleeves.

Their sophomore record is titled Sleep Forever and the title track is only a few mouse clicks away. While the band's shtick hasn't really changed, "Sleep Forever" sounds like Crocodiles took a page out of the Wavves playbook, dropping actual production values into their garage rock this time around. Bonus: you can actually hear the vocal mix.

Sleep Forever drops September 14th on Fat Possum.

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Sleep Forever - Crocodiles

From 2008's Summer of Hate...

I Wanna Kill - Crocodiles

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New Hood Internet Mixtape: Perfect Summer Timing

There's no doubt I'm a big fan of The Hood Internet, considering how much I've blogged their tracks. They dropped a new mixtape yesterday, featuring some of the more recent songs I've hosted, and everyone should pick up immediately.

Heads up though, this latest effort is filled with more low-key, poolside jams instead of their usual brand of basement party anthems; a departure all-so-appropriate for the recent summer heatwave.

Grab a couple recommended highlights below or download the whole free thing by clicking here.

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Beamer, Drips (Lloyd Banks x Neon Indian) - The Hood Internet

Feel It on the South Side (Birdman x Washed Out) - The Hood Internet

Shoeing Horses in 1901 (Phoenix x Why?) - The Hood Internet

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Haiku Review - Maya by M.I.A.

Haiku Review of M.I.A.'s Maya

Look past all the noise
Find a frustrated record
More hits than misses

Notes: In order to give this record its fairest shake, one must strip away all the recent anti-hype bullshit surrounding M.I.A. (i.e. TruffleGate). Let it be said that this album is not The Last Airbender of music, nor is M.I.A. the M. Night Shyamalan of pop -- Maya is not the travesty its being hailed as.

It is, however, a disappointment. Especially when compared to the fan-adored/critically-acclaimed Arular and Kala, Maya's successes are far less obvious, which makes for a pretty difficult listen; not something most look for from a dancehall-pop artist whose last hit was featured in a Judd Apatow movie.

While Maya is a tough album to crack, there's plenty to be mined from all the noise, dissonance, and artistic confusion. Of the albums twelve original tracks (excluding the bonus iTunes cuts), I consider seven to be solid and accessible ("It Takes a Muscle" being a personal favourite). The rest sound either unfinished ("Lovalot") or are bogged down by overproduction and choke on their hyperactive concepts ("Teqkilla").

Each track on Maya fits firmly in one of two camps: more "traditional" pop or M.I.A.'s newly-adopted industrial aesthetic, the most successful example of the later being "Steppin' Up," with it's power-drill samples and Ministry-riffs. In terms of the mainstream, tracks like "Tell Me Why," "XXXO," "Space," and "It Iz What It Iz" attest that M.I.A. still understands how to write for the radio.

M.I.A.'s recent antics and attributions have made her a polarizing figure in both the blogosphere and at the dinner table; this LP will only add to her unstable mythology. After only a handful of listens, it's clear that Maya is an album made by a frustrated artist, one that is purposely challenging and unintentionally half-baked, but not the wash its being made out to be.

Maya Tracklist:
1. The Message
2. Steppin' Up
3. XXXO
4. Teqkilla
5. Lovalot
6. Story to be Told
7. It Takes a Muscle
8. It Iz What It Iz
9. Born Free
10. Meds and Feds
11. Tell Me Why
12. Space

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It Takes a Muscle - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Space - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Steppin' Up - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Born Free - M.I.A. Removed by Request

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New Panda Bear B-Side - "Slow Motion"

So the new Panda Bear single, Tomboy/Slow Motion, is already sold out. Bummer news for Noah Lennox vinyl-die-hards, but the rest of us can get our fix digitally via iTunes come July 20th -- and by fix, I mean snag a high-quality version of the single's a-side, "Tomboy" -- Until next week then, you and I are stuck with the almost trip-hop sounding b-side, "Slow Motion."

You will dig it, so download below.

P.S. In case your fingers have been far from the Animal Collective pulse, Tomboy/Slow Motion is the first release of a singles-series that'll lead up to the release of Panda Bear's third album, also titled Tomboy, due out this fall. The next single scheduled, You Can Count on Me/Alsatian Darn, will drop later this summer on Domino.

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Slow Motion - Panda Bear

Related...

Walkabout (feat. Panda Bear) - Atlas Sound

Bros - Panda Bear

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Wow, Ridiculous Themed Hip-Hop Dance of the Day

Here's a great way to start off your afternoon: the "Daddy Stroke." This dance craze (if it's not already, it should be sweeping the nation right now) is unbelievable. So unbelievable, I'm doing it as I type this.

While the video above loads, allow me to explain...

Step 1: Straighten both arms, make fists with hands.
Step 2: Swing arms like a pendulum.
Step 3: Hump the air to the left, then to the right.
Step 4: Repeat.
I think my favourite parts of the video are the over-sized mascot, the dead look and boredom in all the female dancers' eyes, and the small child they hired to showcase the gyration.

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Daddy Stroke - Party Boyz

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The Walkmen Are Stranded, Releasing New Music

It's hard to listen to The Walkmen these days without context. 2008's excellent You & Me was a record devoid of any pure singles -- it was one of those albums that, once you started it, you had to finish it, kind of like when you stumble onto The Godfather Part II or Top Gun on cable -- a definitive front-to-back LP.

With that in mind, it's hard to critique "Stranded," the first single off The Walkmen's forthcoming Lisbon record, released today over at NPR.

The track is mid-tempo, heavy on the brass, lush, almost waltzy -- by all means good. It's just the emotional punches seems a little wasted without hearing the record's bigger picture. But it's new Walkmen, so I'll take it. You should too.

Lisbon is out on 9/14 via Fat Possum.

Note: "In the New Year" is still a must-hear.

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Stranded - The Walkmen

From 2008's You & Me...

In the New Year - The Walkmen

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Shocker: "All Summer" Is a Summertime Jam

Selling out sounds pretty good, eh? Citizen Insane favourite, Bethany Cosentino (aka Best Coast) recently teamed up with Kid Cudi and Rostam Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend & Discovery) in the name of Converse.

The track finds Cudi and Bethany trading vocal duties, while Batmanglij goes all Jack White on us and handles drumming duties.

Cudi smells like pot and still sounds like he doesn't have a care in the world and Bethany's guitar/vox are beachy and reverbed, so nothing's really new here, but the song's a jam if not only because its sonics stay true to its title.

Download the song below and, if you're so inclined, check out a behind-the-scenes clip of the collaboration over at SPIN.

EDIT:// Check out the new music video up above.

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All Summer - Kid Cudi, Best Coast & Rostam Batmanglij

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A Summer Monday Like Any Other

Most Mondays, I post a handful of MP3s that I've had on heavy rotation. Some new tunes, some old tunes, all good tunes.

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Laredo - Band of Horses

Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells

What to Say - Born Ruffians

You and I - Washed Out

Panties to the Side - The-Dream

Show My Ass - Dominique Young Unique

King of the Beach - Wavves

While We're Young - Department of Eagles

Gone - Donnis

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Now Playing: The Citizen Insane 2.0

After a bit of HTML labour, I'm proud to present the redesigned, new-car-smelling Citizen Insane. What's changed? Well...

Up above, below the title banner, you'll find links to my four regular features (mixtapes, Haiku Reviews, Artist Spotlights, and Albums of the Week), as well as links to my Tumblr*, my soon-to-be podcast*, and an About/Contact section*.

To the left, you're looking at links to recent-ish, favourite entries that deserve a little extra advertisement*, a search bar, links to my feed, email, and social media, followed by your standard archive and please-don't-sue-me disclaimer.

To the right is a picture'd list of records I currently have playing on heavy rotation, whether I've blogged about them or not*.

In terms of content, things are now going like this...

I'll be posting multiple times a day, now properly tagging each entry so you know what you're in for before downloading*, continuing my established features with greater frequency, and producing a monthly, continuous mix* (kind of like this) all in an effort to give you guys something worth coming here for every day of the week.

Boom goes the dynamite.

* New, new, new.

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Flashing Lights - Kanye West

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