Blue-Eyed Glitch Soul

Mike Milosh's style branched off from the same limb that grew The Postal Service, Junior Boys, and Jamie Liddel. Its the reimagined sound of soul in a digital realm. Where every I love you is sliced, dissected and recombined to electronically wring feeling from voices that may not have reached such depths otherwise. Carving out his place in this sound, Milosh hardly ever raises his voice above a whisper or his beats above 80 bpm, but he still manages to make it rain in this quiet storm. Micro snaps and stutters leave plenty of room for his phrasing to waltz all over the tracks. He always sings like he's on one knee and this earnest approach makes potentially boring moments warmly heartfelt instead.

The track below for download, "Its Over", is from his 2006 album Meme. Almost over before it starts, I can listen to this song all day and never get bored. A perfect example of his simple appeal, its nearly begging for the movie soundtrack treatment. Zack Braff I'm looking at you. The video is for the song "You Make Me Feel" from 2004's You Make Me Feel. In a super inventive move, this video actually changes every time you watch it based on your local weather. The youtube clip is just one static take, for your own original version click here.

Milosh- "It's Over"

Milosh- "You Make Me Feel"

No Time To Rest

El-P is an artist I count as automatic. No matter when or where, if he puts his hand to a project I’m rolling pennies til I get enough money to buy his new heat. Right now he’s in the studio stoking just that sort of fuego and I’m busy looking in couch cushions making sure I have the coinage to cop it when it drops.

Since his days with Company Flow he’s continuously built on his everything but the kitchen sink approach to production and crafted some of the densest off-kilter soundscapes ever put on wax. The man has a command of drum pattern programming that leaves 808s tripping over themselves trying to keep up. Blend that with the disembodied synths that float in and out of the mix and you get 8 steps to haunted-hop perfection. He’s finally found the time between producing for others and heading the Def Jux imprint to drop this second proper solo album I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. Word has it that he’s calling in favors from the likes of Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta and Cat Power to name a few. The world needs a remix of “The Greatest” if you have time sir. From the sound of these new tracks his heart’s still in ’88 but he’s seen the future of the machine and knows how grimy the gears can get. Brains have been ground up trying to decipher wordplay like this. I’m happy to just let these metallic sonics steam roll the status quo without getting too involved myself.

El-P "Smithereens (Stop Crying)"

El-P "Everything Must Go"

Nothing Left To See

Emily Haines has one of those voices that reminds you of the time when singers sounded like individuals and not just Auto-Tuned factory girls. Her catalogue isn't long enough to secure a place as a permanent member in my vocal Security Council yet but Neko, PJ, Rufus and the rest think there might be room at the table if she keeps this up.

When fronting the punky Canadian outfit Metric she yelps and hollers between her whispers to add a cathartic and propulsive dynamism to their songs. On her second solo outing, Knives Don't Have Your Back, she never steps too hard on the gas. It isn't about getting where you're going, its about gazing out the window and trying to count the stars you're using as a map. Of all the songs my personal fave is "Doctor Blind", which mopes its way to making a point about empty modern hearts stuffed to the brim with pills. We can't swallow human connection and the druggy, plodding video by director Jaron Albertin shows that hard truth in a simple but off putting way. Something's just not right. You know, Emily knows it, and so does the man behind the counter refilling your script.

A Little Lily

Lily Allen is but one part of my self professed Anglophilia. She's just about the cutest damn Chav this side of Sussex and I'm really feeling her style. Born of Myspace demo postings, her album Alright Still went straight to #1 in the UK based on the easy ska-lite rhythms and snotty/charmings lyrics. It was a perfect summertime record that sounded like a tall glass of hard lemonade, saccharin sweet but plenty boozey.

I've put a few tracks on the album in heavy rotation at one time or another but right now I'm all caught up in "Littlest Things". Observational slice of life moments rap-sung over a wilting piano melody make for an I miss you song thats equal parts sentimental and realistic. Leaves me glassy-eyed with a smile still on my face. That and I love the way she calls sneakers "trainers". Shit is dope.

Deep Underpinnings

Califone are a band I came across just this year, but feel like I've lived with forever. Its in the music they make. Hazy, lived in, notes reach way down to the roots of American music and pull up a unique sound, dirt and all. Deep jangles and clangs of folk, country, gospel, blues and rock as seen through eyes teared from pulling so damn hard. To help bring up these sounds buried under modern ground, they use slightly modern studio techniques. Subtle samples and programmed drums get their hands dirty right along side banjos and harmonicas. Everyone pulls their weight and they move with chain gang rhythm, keeping steady time. Finally, weary and bruised from the journey out come songs from another era that couldn't exist again until now. Tired, but hopeful after seeing the light of day.

Califone- "Our Kitten Sees Ghosts"

Califone- "Sunday Noises"

Quitters Never Win

When art and commerce mingle, smoke and mirrors are deployed. One of the quickest slight of hand moves is to take a blase singer and dress 'em up in studio production geared specifically to reap critical acclaim. Somewhere along the way the industry learned that if you take what the kids are listening to, and slow it down to half-adult contemporary speed you split the two in half to find a delicious Grammy filled center. Its from the blood of this musical Seppuku that singers like the UK's Amy Winehouse are born. Imagine a Joss Stone with no chops, and you're somewhere in the neighborhood she terrorizes. She even went head to head with Ms. Stone for a Mercury Prize in 04, the blood of better-solo ideas still on her hands.

Now take a band like Hot Chip. Also from the UK, also criticaly acclaimed, also nominated for a Mercury Prize (06). They're an example of styles come together under the blanket of love to give birth to something great. Pop, electrco, rock, soul, dance, they cover every base and still shake their ass while rounding 3rd. When music embraces you get new life. When it collides you get monstrous Frankensuck singles.

So its a testament to their skill that the guys from Hot Chip somehow manage to break out a wig, a pretty dress and some makeup to turn one of Amy's beasts into something I wouldn't be afraid to hold hands with in public. I think the Craigslist phrase is "passable". I'm loving the bounce to this track and the sentiment is one that any dabbler can relate with....right or wrong. This is LA sunrise music, and trust me, no one wakes up that early in LA.

Amy Winehouse- "Rehab" (Hot Chip Remix)"

Some Dreams Stay Dreams, Some Dreams Come True

I have to admit right off the top that I've never been the Ace #1 Nas fan on the planet. Can he rhyme: no doubt. Do I respect his swagger: no question. But for reasons that remain wormhole mysterious he's never been at the top of my personal MC roll call. There's no questioning his status in the game, or the place of Illmatic in the pantheon of rap records but I've always been whatevs when it came to his albums. That being said, Hip Hop Is Dead is an end to end burner without question. Knowing how I came at him before, theres no merit in me giving it the coveted "Best Record Since Illmatic" tag that every other review lays on it. All I can say is that this is the most entertained he's left me since...well...ever. This album is no Illmatic, even a casual and some might say weak-jack, listener like me can tell the difference between a stone cold classic and and a solid late career record. Illmatic might turn up in your college syllabus, Hip Hop Is Dead might turn up in your late night smoke session.

Theres no shortage of yarns spun but of all the cuts on the album I keep coming back to "Still Dreaming" with Kanye West. Whipping up the same colabo chemistry that made "We Major" a stand out on Kanye's album both MCs snuggle up in an understated drum break that stays elevated thanks to the whisper light vocal sample that loops through the song. They lay it on you like a daydream- you get that far off gaze and its like you're really there, till you blink and its over. Indelibly easy.

Nas featuring Kanye West- "Still Dreaming"