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The dog days are upon us, and if you're looking for some relief, Napster's Summer Hits playlists will keep you cool and au courant, simultaneously. Chill out with the latest chart-toppers in Reggae, Rock, Country, Hip-Hop, Dance-Pop, and R&B, whether you're lounging poolside or relaxing indoors near a maxed-out AC unit. Don't forget to hydrate, wear plenty of sunblock, and check back soon with us for the Fall 2009 playlists.
Quick-rising UK songstress Elly Jackson is the face of La Roux. Their upcoming U.S. album debut is scheduled
for September, but this week we're featuring the remix EP for the single
“Quicksand.” The Diplo-run Mad Decent records’ remix of the title single, and dubstep
pioneer Skream’s perfectly minimal remix of “In for the Kill” makes this one
of the hottest EPs of the year.
With each passing year, D:FUSE seems to become more dedicated to his craft. One of the most
enterprising DJs out there, his progress has found him adopting a "nothing is out of bounds" mentality, and he'ss even added live performance elements to his DJ sets. Human
Frequency is his latest continuous-mix album. Check his Web site for the track list and additional info.
One Cell Records describes Thavius Beck as a “composer of
mercurial soundtracks for uncertain times.” Yes indeed. Beck’s compositions
have a wide bandwidth of emotional current. From the thought-provoking to the dark and
dangerous, there’s no shortage of passion throughout his catalog.
Aquasky was among the first to bring the Reese-style
bass lines of drum and bass to breakbeat. The group added the “Vs. Masterblaster”
to their name to separate their breakbeat releases from the drum and bass work they were
known for. This album presents their wonderful catalog (2001–2003) for all to admire.
It's a thin line between comedy and tragedy, and if this one doesn't make you laugh, it will almost certainly make you cry. Interestingly, "Weird Al" Yankovic's latest release isn't a song parody—the form of which he is the acknowledged master. (For a quick refresher course, Napster's "27 Years of Weird Al" playlist offers a variety of his best send-ups through 2006.) Nor is "Skipper Dan" even a novelty song; rather, it's a poignant power-pop tale with a premise that's funny on the face of it, but grows darker and darker as the details are revealed, until finally the humor derives more from just how over-the-top the darkness becomes. And just what is this funny premise, you ask? It's something like, "I wanted to be a famous actor but I wound up as a tour guide on that jungle cruise ride at Disneyland. Haw haw." It's a testament to Weird Al's peculiar genius that he's able to straddle this intersection of absurdity and brutal disappointment so well. The song sounds lighthearted and bouncy in a Fountains of Wayne kind of way, and his quirky singing style only adds to that breezy impression. But dare to tune in to the words and you're suddenly staring into a lightless all-consuming abyss of personal failure and soul-crushing defeat. Hilarious! Sample lyrics:
Oh the critics they used to say
I was the new Olivier
Thought I'd be the toast of Sundance or maybe Cannes
But don't bother trying to IMDB me
The only place you might possibly see me
Is ridin' my little boat around Adventureland (it ain't exactly what I planned)...
Or how about this:
I should have listened when my grandfather said
why don't you major in business instead
Now my hopes have all vanished and my dreams have all died
And I'll probably work forever as a tour guide on the jungle cruise ride...
Or this:
Look at those hippos, they're wiggling their ears
Somebody shoot me, 'cause I'm bored to tears
Always said I'd be famous, but I guess that I lied
'Cause I'm still working on the jungle cruise ride...
Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Definitely the best Schlesinger/Collingwood song this year, if they had happened to write it.
If your idea of relaxation is listening to some South American-style pipes of Pan (pan pipes, or pan flute, depending who you ask), then this one's for you: The Andesian Orchestra's Pan Pipe Moods—Platinum Edition. The pleasant tootling of the pipes over mellow, occasionally lush orchestrations brings new life to a host of classic songs including Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," Elton John's "Daniel," The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," and The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" and "Fool on the Hill." There may not be clinical studies to prove it (yet), but it's likely physically impossible to experience stress while listening to pan pipes. Give them a try and see if your cares don't just melt away.
Gothic Americana isn't an unusual source of inspiration for alternative rock bands these days in the U.S. and abroad, but in 1981, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club introduced a generation to a combination of blues and amped-up, jagged swamp rock that was just as confrontational as any punk band at the time. The Gun Club weren't the only ones to go in this direction—Los Angeles brethren The Flesh Eaters and X both explored similar territory—but stylistically, they got much closer to the root sources of country blues and early rockabilly than their contemporaries. Fire of Love was the band's first full-length album, and to this day it remains a definitive fusion of southern voodoo heat and urban nihilism.
In 2005, the German dance music trio Cascada hit the U.S. airwaves
with the dominating single “Every Time We Touch." Since then, they’ve released a lot of different things, from original material to dance-translated cover
versions of country, pop, and rock songs that have helped broaden their
fan base. Their most recent release is “Evacuate the Dancefloor," which ushers in a new direction for Cascada. It encroaches on Lady GaGa and even
Britney Spears territory with a polished chorus and production that sounds like it's aimed at the sales charts as well as the dance floor.
Is Cascada the next dance crossover sensation? We'll find out when their new album comes out in August.
We're very excited to announce that most albums in the Victory Records catalog are now available for streaming on Napster. It's a major enhancement to our subscription service, given the number of popular artists on the Victory label. We're thrilled and think you will be, too.
Chicago-based Victory was founded in the late '80s and has a well-earned reputation as the most successful independent rock label in the U.S.—and as one of the world's most successful indie labels, period. Victory first made its mark with hardcore punk bands such as Earth Crisis (Destroy the Machines), Strife (In This Defiance), and Snapcase (Bright Flashes), and evolved with the times to include emo/post-hardcore with bands like Hawthorne Heights (The Silence in Black and White), Atreyu (The Curse), Thursday (Full Collapse), and Taking Back Sunday (Tell All Your Friends).
Today, Victory continues to diversify its catalog and has already had a strong '09 with releases from A Day To Remember (Homesick), Silverstein (A Shipwreck in the Sand), and Aiden (Knives). Next up for Victory are highly anticipated releases from Otep—we'll be featuring an exclusive pre-release stream starting 8/11—and Emmure. Check out some of the albums below and listen all you want to some great music. Thanks, Victory.
In the midst of his incarceration for felony weapons violations, rap superstar T.I. has released a new single featuring the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige. On the new track "Remember Me", T.I. acknowledges his absence from the rap world and reminds his friends, family, and haters alike that he'll be back. The video tells the whole story (see below).
"Remember Me" is from the soon-to-be-re-released Paper Trail album.
You may not realize just how large and varied the Napster catalog is until you start searching and browsing through all the world music we have on tap. For example, in the past year alone there has been an influx of new digital releases of music from Corsica. Many of these are albums of traditional polyphonic choral music with lyrics in the Corsican language, including releases from well-known Corsican groups such as I Muvrini and Canta U Populu Corsu, or the more modern takes from Stephane Casalta on his acclaimed Una Preghera. An album search with the words "Corsica" or "Corse" will yield multiple compilations such as Corsica: Les plus belles chansons corses and Chansons populaires de Corse (pictured). And if you've never been to the "Île de Beauté" (truly one of the loveliest places on earth), Napster also has the Corse - Audio Guide CitySpeaker (in French). Bonne chance!
New as a digital release this week, Oh Happy Day pops up from EMI’s Gospel branch. The album pairs mainstream artists like Jon Bon Jovi, Joss Stone, 3 Doors Down and others with Christian/Gospel artists including Heather Headley, Mavis Staples, The Clark
Sisters, and several of the nation’s top choirs. The result is a string
of high-caliber blues, rock, and soul spirituals that leave one wanting more. As the
Edwin Hawkins Singers’ “Oh Happy Day” closes the album, rendered gloriously by Queen Latifah and Jubilation, you'll likely find yourself hoping, as we do, that this concept is repeated soon.
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