The Very Best Mixtape

Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit (aka The Very Best) will be releasing their first mixtape tomorrow, Nov 1. You can get it here at Wooden Vinyl a day early. Check it out. All the detail are below.



You can dowload here or here. (I had better luck with the second link, and the file is a .zip so just extract the contents for the actual songs)

1) Kamphopo (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races)
2) Wena (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Bleksem, music: DJ Cleo - Wena)
3) Tengazako (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: M.I.A - Paper Planes)
4) Chikondi (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Hans Zimmer - True Romance Theme)
5) Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (The Very Best Remix) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit & Vampire Weekend)
6) Hide And Seek (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Teki Latex, music: TTC - Batards Sensibles)
7) Salota (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya and Blk Jks, music: Cannibal Ox - Life’s Ill)
8) Boyz (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, Akon & M.I.A, music: M.I.A -Boyz)
9) Sister Betina (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Mgarimbe, music: Mgarimbe - Sister Betina)
10) Birthday (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & The Ruby Suns, music: The Ruby Suns)
11) Funa Funa (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit)
12) Kada Manja (classic version) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit)
13) Dinosaur Of The Lost Ark (The Very Best remix) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Ben Brewer, music: Bermuda)
14) Get it Up (The Very Best Remix) (vocals : Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, M.I.A & Northern Cree, music: Radioclit)
15) Will You Be There (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Michael Jackson, music: Michael Jackson - Will You Be There)

How can you pass up a mixtape that is free and finishes off the set with Michael Jackson?

Classic of the Day

Here is your classic song of the day...Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Baby Neil!!!!

One of our good friends, Neil, has a birthday today. We want to wish him the bestest birthday ever and play some of his favorite songs in his honor.

This is for you, Neil:















PS.. the last song is his favorite chant of all time and in the picture at the top that is him on the left

Guns n' Roses New Song Finally Released

It is called Chinese Democracy. I listened to it. It's bad. I don't recommend you searching it out, and I am not going to post it here. You can thank me later. Your friends at Wooden Vinyl.

Sleepy Head Video

Here is the video of my favorite song of the year so far..

One More Cup of Coffee, Please

Classic and Classic...

Heartless

Here is the second track off Kanye's new album 808s and Heartbreak. Very simple beat line (808 also part of the album's title) which is very reminiscent of early 80s rap.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/2061601598dc2cb1/

Listen to These Now

Here are the two best songs from the biggest hit or miss album of the year:


Neon Neon - Stainless Style


Warning: If you do NOT want songs stuck in your head all day then do not listen.

Rolling Stone Changing Size

So apparently after 40 years of being oversized, Rolling Stone has decided to change to a smaller, more magazine rack friendly size.

The article below explains:
NY Times Article

Here comes El Guincho!

Did you know that Panda Bear had Pitchfork's #1 album last year? They also compared El Guincho's album Alegranza! to his. The album is slated for relase on October 21 here in the US.

To whet your appetite, here is a video and an audio selection from Alegranza!.

Department of Eagles

The Department of Eagles just released "In Ear Park" this week and after a number of listen this album is great. It is much lighter than Daniel Rossen's other project "Grizzly Bear" and it is a great album to start the fall off with. So check out "No one does it like you."

http://www.myspace.com/deptofeagles

T.I. - Paper Trail

T.I. - Paper Trail
WV Score: 8.6/10

Sometimes rappers want to be serious. Sometimes they want to just have fun. T.I. wants to do both.

One year ago, he was caught trying to buy guns from federal agents. He was subsequently sentenced to community service and house arrest. This is what he worked on while "confined". Friends visited him to work on the album, and what we get is a combination of his sober realization that he (and we) should appreciate the life he has, such as on My Life where Rihanna does what she does best: sound like a singing human robot. Just Blaze samples the song made famous a few years ago where the guy dances on video in front of the computer, which is catchy yet questionable. Summary of the song: Have fun yet and be gracious for what you have.

These seem to be common themes throughout the whole CD.

Of course this wouldn't be a T.I. album without organs and deep synths. That is what he does best. Just think back to What You Know. This is best exemplified on No Matter What, which has a basic drum beat and church organs throughout. The song sounds like a farewell song, but he sings "still I stand," showing a paradox, like many of the albums themes.

He has an A-list of guest stars from Ludacris (which guest on the worst song of the album) to John Legend to Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne all on one song. The song with those three is Swagger Like Us, which gets most of the press these days. Unfortunately I cannot listen to the song for very long because it samples MIA's Paper Planes and it gets kind of repetitive. I like it as a song, I just get tired of hearing part of a song that is currently overplayed as it is. Oh, and T.I. actually has the best verse in the song.

He wants to show you a good time. This is evident in the lyrics and the beats. This is most evident on Whatever You Like where he tells the girls "you can have whatever you like" and that he has "stacks on deck," which apparently means you have so much money that your don't have to worry about anything.

After meandering through party songs, trap songs, and appreciate-your-life songs, it ends on a high note. Dead and Gone with Justin Timberlake sounds like a JT songs made for T.I. and it is the perfect collaboration. It sounds like a Timbaland song, but it was actually produced solely by Justin Timberlake.

T.I. has drawn together an album that is my favorite rap album since the last Kanye album (sorry Weezy). I believe we have much bigger thing to see and hear from the King. He raps on No Matter What: "Never have you seen in your lifetime, a more divine southern rapper with a swagger like mine." Thank pretty much sums it up.

New Kanye Video

I just thought I'd quickly post the video for Kanye's new song Love Lockdown.

Here you go:

The One Good Dire Straits Song I Know

A good friend introduced me to this song a couple years back. It was the first Dire Straits song I had enjoyed since I was 13, when Dad and I used to rock out "Money for Nothing" in his Toyota Camry. I am not aware of any good Dire Straits songs other than this one.


Dire Straits - "Romeo and Juliet"




BONUS: "Jenny and the Ess-Dog" has got to be the best Stephen Malkmus solo song, and since it contains a reference to the Dire Straits album "Brothers in Arms," I figured I'd throw it in here too:

Radiohead - Reckoner

So this little band out of England, who also happens to be my favorite band, had a competition. Their newest single, Reckoner, needed a video, and the band wanted an animated one that paralleled the theme of the song.

Well, after all the votes were tallied, a man from France won. Here is the winning video.
Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon

Old Favorite, New Location

I just found this video of Ryan Adams in Jamaica. It is an acoustic versions of one of my favorite songs, Firecracker, which is on his 2001 CD, Gold. If you look closely, you may even notice that the locals are enjoying the music. Actually I think they are bobbing their heads, trying to figure out who these crazy Americans are.