you make me like charity

guantanamo bay prisoner "installed" in disneyland by banksy

big day for new releases - even if most of them have been flitting about the internet for a minute now:

tv on the radio - return to cookie mountain

my (semi) early favorite for record of 2006. tv on the radio are the only pop band who come close to making the kind of "enormous music" that is usually the realm of avant-garde classical composers like steve reich or phillip glass. it would be easy to label cookie mountain pretentious were the melodies not so beautiful and the emotions so earnest. i've posted a whole mess of tracks from this record already, but check out "snakes and martyrs", which is one of the extra tracks on the US edition

tv on the radio - snakes and martyrs

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the rapture - pieces of the people we love

i'm a sucker for fun, especially when it involves roller skating, so it's no real surprise that i'm digging this record. while the rapture began as a proof-of-concept for the DFA, the results of the band working with a diversity of producers on this new album are extremely positive. some tracks have a definite ewan pearson vibe, some a danger mouse feel, and a bunch have the paul epworth disco stamp. but don't fear, every track has the punchy rapture flavor we've all come to love.

the rapture - the devil

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xiu xiu - the air force

when i would did a radio show senior year of college with a buddy of mine we would always play "support our troops OH!" because it was the only song that would get people to call the station and prove that someone was indeed listening to AM radio in new hampshire at 3 am on a tuesday morning. which is to say, i appreciate xiu xiu but i'm not their biggest fan. the air force, out today on kill rock stars, is definitely the most accessible release to date with equal parts engaging melodies and esoteric songcraft.

xiu xiu - boy soprano

xiu xiu - support our troops OH!

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cassius - 15 again

oh, cassius. you've meant so much to french house music. 1999 still doesn't leave my record bag when i play out. but why, WHY would you let pharrell stomp all over a track mumbling about the environment? and why, WHY would you name it "eye water"? things like that are just inexcusable in my book. luckily they still have the sense to temper such missteps with absolute bangers that seem to come almost exclusively from paris these days. (can i get a rousing realization of "it's the new berlin!"?)

cassius feat. pharrell - eye water

cassius - toop toop (mr. oizo remix)

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did anyone catch the boris show at northsix last night? i was planning on hobbling over there but was exhausted when i got home from work. i couldn't even make it through the bedroom to the living room, so there wasn't much of a chance i was going to make it down to wythe.

boris - six, three times

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