Editor's ABC's : The Arkell's, BT, and Cage The Elephant

     I've been hearing some complaints lately, many echoed by myself, I put the word "Daily" in the title back when I had the time to post daily, and for not keeping my promise I apologize. As my apology I present to you oh mighty viewer an idea I may or may not have stolen from one of my fellow publishers, every Friday (time permitting) we'll go through my itunes Library alphabetically and pick an artist that has yet to be featured here as well as recapping the ones that have been. Hold me to it audience, three artists every Friday starting now.

      First off lets go through the artists that have already been featured here on the beats, A-Trak, Abandon All Ships, AC Slater, Ace Reporter, Akron/Family, Al Bizzare, All's Quiet, Armed With Crayons, Asking Alexandria, Attack! Attack!, Audiodax and Azedia.

     Now lets introduce my pick for our premier A-Z series, The Arkells. Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, The Arkells are quite possibly the best example of Canadian talent, their debut album Jackson Square is one of my all time favorite rock albums and the CD has barely survived all the times its been tracked around the country with me.

   

     Again lets take a trip back in time and link you to all the posts with artists starting with B. BadBadNotGood, Baptized In Blood, Bart B More, Bassjackers, Beheading Machine, Big Chocolate, Blackmill, and Butcher Blades/.

     Unless you've been hiding under the proverbial rock then you've heard of BT, a widely known Grammy nominated electronic producer and composer. I first took notice after hearing a remix of his song Forget Me, then I took a trip over to itunes and purchased his album These Hopeful Machines. BT redefines electronic music, mixing in rock and orchestral themes, and I was hooked at first listen.

     These links are getting tedious, but our previously featured artists are Carridale, Chiddy Bang, Chris Webby, Chrome Sparks, City Delivered, City Lights, Com Truise, Commissioner, and Cyberoptics Dubstep.

     I think we're definately getting into my top 5 favorite artists. Cage The Elephant, there is not a day that could not be improved by their amazing sound or lifted by the shear amount of feeling put into their songs. I was first drawn to them after hearing their song Ain't No Rest For The Wicked on the radio one day, then further when it appeared as the opening track in the game Borderland. Their Self Titled debut album Cage The Elephant is a masterpiece of alternative rock and a battlefield of poetic liscence. This is a must buy, I command it!

     After all those links I'm not sure the hour I spent was worth it, but if you liked todays post give me some feedback on our Facebook page, and please support the artists.

Hipster Humpday 2 : BadBadNotGood + 3 Great Alternative Songs

     Welcome to our second official Hipster Humpday. You're here because you feel that todays music just doesn't quite live up to your standards, and thats good cause it shouldn't. Gone are all the great names from yesteryear and they took the talent with them, or so we thought. Here to instill a new found purpos in your ipod, is BadBadNotGood, a three piece jazz band from Toronto. Also known as the "Odd Trio" these guys met at Humber College and bonded over some very soulful music, jamming all improv like to many a hip hop song. Wait hip hop? Yup their first album you'll be surprised to hear is a mixtape of hip hop put to jazz. Their new album BBNG is available at their bandcamp for the great price of free and is chock full of top notch jazz with the heart of hip hop. I myself rarely listen to jazz but BBNG had me driftin off all day and I can't say I didn't want to go.

     I figured I should make some of the Wednesday articles the same format as Tuesday, so stick around for three amazing tracks that have been floating me this week. Miami Horror, Reptar and Handsome Furs.

Miami Horror - Holidays Ft. Alan Palomo

(Right click, save as, to download)

Reptar - Stuck In My Id

(Right click, save as, to download)

Handsome Furs - Repatriated

(Right click, save as, to download)

     Thanks again for stopping in, hopefully I've shown you some of the amazing talent that's hiding just around the corner these days. If you like it or not, head on over to our Facbook page to stay updated about this and our other blog and to just be a better person. Also big ups to Gabe for letting me know about BBNG and a huge thanks to the publishers of the Burning Ear for not having me killed for stealing so much music.

Toxic Tuesday 22 : Bass From Above + 3 Great Electronic Tracks

     Last Thursday marked the release of a long awaited treat. A thirty three track compilation album presented by Subsynthesis, a bass oriented blog which I was attracted to by the first volume last March. The awesome part about the albums is that all proceeds go to charity, and its already raised over a thousand dollars for Japan. I'm completely amazed by the sheer amount of top notch artists featured, Protohype, Love & Light, Nit Grit, Slim Thugz, Project Aspect, and more. This is the real deal, Bass From Above, name your price and start the dubsteppah!

     If you can stuff anymore electro into that head of yours you'll want to hit the tracks below, three tracks that have been floating around my playlists this week.

Calvin Harris - Flashback (Millions Like Us Remix)

(Click to download)

3LAU - Dubsex

(Click to download)

Bart B More, Drop The Lime and AC Slater - The Bass

(Right click, save as, to download)

     Thanks for tuning in for another post and apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. Please take the time to check out Subsynthesis and the Bass From Above volumes, and please if you can donate as all proceeds go to a great cause. Click on the links above for amazing music and other great sites to search, please (I implore you) take three seconds and click like on our Facebook page (seriously three seconds). Hope everyone had a great Tuesday and stay tuned for more.

September 2011 Playlist

September 2011 Playlist Track Listing (Download)

1. You Make Me -- Cobra Starship (feat. Sabi)

2. Fade Into Darkness (Vocal Edit) --Avicii

3. Do You Wanna Dance (Henry Blank vs. Way & Beyond Remix) --Dj Zkydriver

4. Forever (Hook N Sling Mix) --Wolfgang Gartner (feat Will.I.Am)

5. Save The Edge Of Glory (Djs From Mars Club Remix) -- Swedish House Mafia Vs. Lady Gaga

6. Someone Like You (Jonathan Gering Remix) -- Adele

7. Beautiful People (Phuckheads Remix) -- Chris Brown and Benny Benassi

8. Good Life (Robert DWNTWN Remix) -- OneRepublic

9. On the Floor (Salt & Fire Remix) -JLO

10. Dirty Dancer (Remix) (ft. Lil Wayne, Usher & Nayer) -- Enrique Iglesias

I Know its been forever since I've posted but since school started I have had more than my share of work to do. Its a challenge to keep up with AP Calculus, AP English, & AP Biology while making these playlists. Thankfully though I had some time this weekend.

Rainy Day Tunes: Joel Strauss

I finally managed to post something on time. I'm doing this in lieu of doing my readings and organizing my time as I should, but hey, sometimes you need a break.

This past Saturday (I can't believe that's almost a week ago now...), I went to a small concert nearby. First up was the young man that I am writing about for you today. He's a student at the university I attend, and just a little earlier this evening I could hear him in a room a floor down and across the hall from mine singing and playing his guitar, which is always a nice atmospheric touch to my studying.

Joel Strauss is what I would call a unique artist. He is not so "outgoing" and "sociable" as one may assume a musician would be, but neither he is reserved and quiet. I think it's quite a great balance actually. On top of it all, he's a genuinely nice person and an amazing artist (I mean musically...I have never seen any other art form from him, so I wouldn't count it out, but that's not my focus, haha). I was blown away by his lyrics and his sound when I heard him live, and I feel honoured to be at a school with such a talented person.

I had C. listen to some of the songs last night, and I really liked the way that he described the first song, "Beyond my Flesh and Bone." He said, "It has a nice feeling to it...melancholy but hopeful." I think that's the way that a lot of his songs come across. Some of them are very catchy, and often keep my mind captive for hours on end.

I do not have a current video for you to listen to straight from this page, so I decided to just leave it out altogether, rather than using an outdated video, but if you go to his Bandcamp site, then you can listen to all of the tracks on this album and if you like it enough or just feel so inclined, you can purchase the album there as well. Purchase it. Listen to it. Love it! I think it's worth it. So common! Support the artist this time, please! :)

Joel's Bandcamp
Joel's Facebook

Thanks for the support everyone! Keep on checking in here for more great music! Remember you can check us out on Facebook too!

Ciao,

K.

Hardcore Humpday 12 : Dreamshade and Beheading Machine

     Melodic death metal, not your everyday topic starter, but damn its amazing. Apparently Dreamshade are actually the first band from Switzerland to take a chance with this genre and actually get it right.

Dreamshade - What Silence Hides

     This is some of the most melodic and emotive music to ever grace my ears and yes I realize how crazy that sounds. With expert vocals changing from growling to screaming at a moments notice, extremely complicated drum patterns and guitar solo's, What Silence Hides is an album to be feared and respected and an amazing start from this relatively young band.     

     You may remember last Monday I briefly mentioned Beheading Machine, a mechanical deathmetal band from Poland. Having only started playing in 2008 the band has come a long way. This is definitely the other end of the deathmetal spectrum with insanely heavy riffs and blastbeats over growling vocal line, this is no pussy metal. Alas the only sad part is that this band is unsigned, so help out in anyway you can.

BEHEADING MACHINE - THE PSALM OF TRIPPING GOD [PROMO UPGRADE 2011] by SUBSTEP INFRABASS

     Well thats all I have to say for today, its my day off so I think I'll just waste a few hours playing Dead Island and writing some rough drafts of a couple reviews I have planned for my other page. If you are part of a band or are looking for a band and are from Ontario, Canada check out my buddies Facebook page here and stay update with our page here.

Toxic Tuesday 21 : Phutureprimitive + 3 Great Electronic Tracks

     So about a week ago I was cruising Glitchdrop and happened across a track by Phutureprimitive. At first I was not only attracted by the clever manipulation of P's and H's but the amazing cover art, but when I was told that I would have to pay for the album I was pretty bummed. My epic quest to locate a free version of Kinetic took me across the boiling deserts of the interwebz to a site called Transmission Seed, and that's where I found it.

Phutureprimitive - Kinetik

     One would have problems attempting to classify Rain's style with this album, maybe psydub, or melodic dubstep, but for now we'll just stick with electronic. 

     This is a ten track masterpiece of emotion and electronica with sounds stretching the limits of your perception and melodies floating across bass so deep you might lose a fender or two off your Sunfire. This album is for fans of electronic, or dubstep, or anyone curious as to what real music should sound like. Grab it up or w'll find you.     

     For the second part of todays post I thought we'd try a little change in format, after the amazing album above we have three random electronic tracks that have been buzzing around the internet and my skull this week. By Stephen Walking, Monarchy and Supervision respectively, no descriptions just downloads and preview vids, enjoy.

Stephen Walking - King Of The Road

Monarchy - Gold In The Fire

SuperVision - Arcane

     Hope you enjoyed todays post, let me know if you like the new Tuesday format at our facebook page here. Also I'm getting a new design tomorrow so t-shirts will be available soon!