What Americans mean when they say they’re from…

How Americans basically refer to where they are from to non-Americans while abroad If they are not from a big city†: (click to enlarge)

A Remix of a Remix //// Summer Songs 2010

It is going to be an amazing summer for music.

This is me compiling what I’m dancing to around my flat, walking down the street, in my head when I should be listening to a lecture, waiting for the tube, and at my desk. I’ll probably add to it. You’ve probably picked up on most of these already. You’ll see below I don’t have the most sophisticated or insightful approach to music – I don’t really do them much justice. Furthermore, this doesn’t include the new LCD Soundsystem OR the new Arcade Fire, which are being described as … well, epic. Those albums will still be spinning decades down the road.

Alas, here they are in one spot. My narrative and soundtrack for the summer — most because of their sweet beats and melodies along with some of the best lyrical content I’ve heard in a while. They’re all melodic and choral in one way or another, you’ll notice … a theme.

Yeasayer /// O.N.E. (…and the rest of the Odd Blood Album)
I am a fan of their video aesthetic, and I think their dancing really sums up my feelings about this song. There is something beautiful about a synth-drum filled dance song of constant motion saying “You don’t move me anymore– and I’m glad that you don’t/Because I can’t take it anymore/Control me like you used to“. I can’t wait to hear this out at a bar in London.

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Ida Maria/// Oh My God
Another Norwegian rocker has  stolen my heart.  The song that sums up what is going on in everyone’s mind, as we seem to sail through life, looking relatively intentional, purposeful, and composed, when really we come into being more like a Jackson Pollack– things are violently flung into place in reactionary decisions. Not always, but more than most of us want to admit. I first heard this for the Its Kind of a Funny Story trailer, here, and had to seek it out. Shout along.

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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros /// Home (RAC Remix) / Home (original)
When I first heard this song, I had it on a looped playlist and I couldn’t stop listening to it, or whistling it. I’m a sucker for brass, strings, and piano in melodic folk and indie songs. Once I sat down and really listened to it, I feel like its probably the most romantic song I’ve ever heard, and it reminds me of summers past. Both versions = brilliant.

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Vampire Weekend ///Horchata
Don’t get me wrong, I love the catchy cords and springy vocals of that was the entirety of the first VW album, but the new album offers a richer take on the same idea. This one in particular has delicate instrumentation and build up that swells into a sea of xylophone, drumming, clapping, and tambourine moving back to delicate strings and bells to a choral anthem:
“Here comes a feeling you thought you’d forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on
Oh you had it but oh no you lost it…”
I could listen to this every day of the summer.
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Vampire Weekend /// I think Ur a Contra
Couldn’t really find a good video for this. One of their first real ballads — it ends on an even more delicate vocal note than the album opens on. The narrative of this song is so strong it almost stings, if it weren’t so sweetly sung. Incredibly timely for my summer.
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Antlers /// Bear
This is a dancing song. Actually, its about a traumatising decision for a couple, yet its sung so sweetly, it rivals Ben Fold Five’s ‘Brick’ which is on the same subject. He quietly sings “All the while I know we’re fucked and we’re getting unfucked soon” and then comes in the snare and horns, as the music video depicts a visualised grimness to what the lyrics are actually talking about. Still, how you could resist dancing around is beyond  me.

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DailyBeatzBlogwave Summer /// MIXTAPE
[ie: Bag Raiders-  Shooting Stars]

This is only one song off the best mix I have found all summer, with this being the most upbeat of the electronic mixes (definitely download this). However it features CSS, Delorean, Delphic, Tunng, and a range of others. This is a genuine dancey electro pop song that could make the atmosphere at any club in the summer time. Honestly, there is just something about it, I can’t stop listening to it– something about the keyboard refrain. And, check out the 90′s tech spacey journey 3-D modelled music video.
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Two Door Cinema club /// Undercover Martyn
Everything about this band reminds me of weeery UK electro-guitar pop that came out years ago. I could care less and I am totally okay with their Northern Irish approach to borderline emo highly-dancable beats and dry lyricism. I think you have to make that decision for yourself.

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Neon Indian /// Psychic Chasm
Filtered hazy vocals and highly stylized synth. For me, its almost relaxed, slow-moving pop that I can have playing while I do most anything around my room.
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Caribou /// Odessa
I have had this song on repeat for a while to dance to when no one is looking. There is something throwback and funk about these beats that is completely modern with an electric downbeat that I catch myself moving to as I am out around Londontown.
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Hot Chip /// I Feel Better
Perhaps I am just sheltered, but one of the most ridiculous music videos I have ever seen. Worth watching  just for that. Had this come out 15 years ago, the context alone would change the sound; the video embraces their overly dramatic 90′s synth sound– despite being very white electropop indie nerds from the UK. Its EPIC. I can’t imagine this won’t be played everywhere this summer.
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs /// Soft Shock – Hysteric
Same album, well-played in my car as I drove around last summer, especially around twilight when I’d be getting off work. Soft Shock  is easily one of my top 5 YYY songs. Karen O completely woos me with her cadence  in both of these songs and everything that goes with them musically. Very different, but for me, always played during warm drives home and to see friends.
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Camera Obscura /// French Navy
Such a whimsical way-retro pop ballads. I feel like we’ve all been on this holiday in Paris, and we want to know where it went. It inevitably ends. How sad. Still perfect for summer.
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Teenagers /// Remixes of …

Delorean \\\ Love No Remix
Another band of the summer. They have a list of songs that are gratifyingly upbeat  and do something amazing with their electro sound. And their Spanish, so to me they are even more summery!  (If the remix doesn’t do it for you, Stay Close will. Unless you don’t like my taste in music. Entirely possible).

Vampire Weekend \\\ Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa Remix

You have to listen to this almost as if its another song. I think this is the best kind of remix– it  loops and layers the best hooks of the song and themost poignant lyrics, adding bass and starry synth. Again, I think you can see a theme as to what I’m listening to right now.

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Bloc Party /// England

This is just something that comes on my lists every so often and I always like it more than I think I will. One of those songs you walk home to when the streets have emptied out and it just echoes in your ear. It makes me strangely content.
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||||||  I am taking requests.