Brain Salad – April 2012

Brain Salad – April 2012

“If I were more nocturnal, I would surely miss seeing my shadow.  This peculiar dark spot that diligently follows my earthly shell, reminds me of the momentary changes I can make to this physical world.  Similarly, it is a constant reminder of the great ball of fire that we rely on to survive on this planet.  Lying on my back towards the sun, I am often stricken with guilt that people of the current era do not pay respect to the sun as much as the people of old.  With spring fully upon us, the days are getting longer, and our mid-day shadows are becoming much shorter.  This provides an excellent opportunity to explore the wonders of your individual world.  So the next time you’re feeling the urge to re-watch old episodes of your program of choice, drop your headphones onto that powerful cranium, and romp around for an hour or so.  If you truly regret it, then you may be having an uncommon case of springtime seasonal depression, and just might be beyond help.”

- Robert “Bobby” Frost

This month’s Brain Salad comes with its fair share of sunny and bright tunes, most notably, two tracks off the debut release from Vacationer with “No Rules” and “Good as New”.  Both tracks are extremely catchy and have everything that I look for in a good synth pop song.  Make sure to check out their album,Gone, on their Bandcamp, it’s too legit to be illegitimate.  Topping of the mix, is two folky songs, one from an artists I’ve been following for a while, Of Monsters and Men, and a brand new discovery to me, an excellent folk group out of Houston that goes by the name of Buxton.  Next, the fun, bounding track from Imperial Teen, has been my international walking anthem for the past few weeks.  Delicate Steve teases us with a track his latest album, Positive Force, coming on May 15.  I brought in another track off Conner Youngblood‘s free EP Sketches Pt. 1, simply because he’s making some extremely creative music and I firmly believe that more people should be aware of it.  Nite Jewel‘s album One Second of Love, caught me completely off guard and I’m simply infatuated with the track “She’s always Watching you”off that one.  The mix ends with some peppy, and almost-annoying tunes, from Tanlines and the always reliable Remix Artist Collective.  The last track on this is a unique banger from french hip-hop/edm producers Chill Bump.  Watch out for them if you dig this track because they’re quite on point.

As always, take care, please share, and Thank you x2.  xx

Tracklist and link After the Jumpoff

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Brain Salad – March

Brain Salad – March 2012

Despite being relatively absent from the blogosphere for the past few months, I have been listening to a fair bit of music.  So here I am picking it back up with a brand new Brain Salad release.  March’s mix continues the trend of eclectic compilations with everything from Shigeto’s exciting glitchy remix of Sufjan Steven’s “Futile Devices”, to the light folky soul tune in Michael Kiwanuka’s “I’m Getting Ready”.  Highlights from this month’s include a quality track titled “Lonesome” from another quality release from Dr. Dog off Be the Void.  The new track from one of my personal favorites Yellow Ostrich, “Shakedown” is a driving rock tune that starts off strong and ends with a crescendo that is as fulfilling as it is hectic.  Blood Orange has been ringing its smooth R&B Rock through my head for the past few months, so I figured I’d share “Forget it” with all y’all.  By the way, Blood Orange is the project of one Lightspeed Champion, who I found out about through Emmy The Great, won me over with his excellent name and even better music, so check him out, please.  Pepper Rabbit comes through with a nice catchy tune that is just plain nice.  Michael Kiwanuka and Ben Howard wins the best folk tunes so far this year.  Polica and Rhye and Grimes all came out of nowhere this year with some awesome female dance/electronic tunes.  Conner Youngblood continues to crank out tunes that I can’t help but love, and even better, “Will You Be There”, came on a free EP called Sketches Pt.1.  Last of all comes A$AP Rocky’s “Peso” which if you aren’t already aware of, fix it, because A$AP Rocky is doin his own thang like none other, and gettin paid for it.  As always, thanks and enjoy and thanks.

Tracklist after the Jump.

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Brain Salad – November

Brain Salad – November

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“Whenever the first leaves would fall, back when I was a child, I would began to count down the moments until there were enough to gather.  The amount wasn’t anything specific, more like an estimation of how big the pile would have to be to break my fall.  Just beyond the worn away patch of dirt in the lawn, I would corral the leaves.  Always careful to try and filter out any twigs or other debris that could later become dangerous.  The old rope swing stayed up year round, but some seasons were favorable.  You never knew for sure if it was a good cushion until you tried it.  So once I felt I had an adequate collection I would back up as far as I could go.  Running and leaping with a mighty push, I would launch into the brisk air.”

-Danny Glover

**Tracklist**

1. Pillow Talk – Wild Child
2. One Thing – Peter and Kerry
3. The Ballad of Speck and Pebble – Delicate Steve
4. Up Up Up – Givers
5. Settle Down – Kimbra
6. Australia – Conner Youngblood
7. Time Spent in Los Angeles – Dawes
8. Cannons – Youth Lagoon
9. Money – The Drums
10. Champagne Coast – Blood Orange
11. Death by Accident – Halloween, Alaska
12. Call it Off – Washed Out
13. DIY – Keep Shelly in Athens
14. Colours (Remix) – DJ21azy
15. Ohio – Justice

Brain Salad – October

Brain Salad – October

**CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD**

http://www.mediafire.com/?3b4aewrqgowyjx8

Last night I had a dream that my friends and I were being pulled around a lake (in which one end was a shallow indoor pool) by a rope that had some sort of strange throttle mechanism on it.  Hanging on to this rope, my friends and I zipped around the lake just enjoying the ride.  All of this was fine and grand until we were pulled back into the pool area and we discovered something written on the floor of the pool.  I remember getting just close enough to read it, feeling scared because of the way that my friend had shouted about it, and then I woke up.

Enjoy this months Brain Salad.

**Tracklist**

1. The Bad in Each Other – Feist
2. Love & Light – Sandro Perri
3. Virus – Bjork
4. Cruel – St. Vincent
5. On Your Side – Icarus Himself
6. Carried Away – The Kooks
7. Honey Bunny – Girls
8. Post War Blues – Dan Mangam
9. My KZ Ur BF – Everything Everything
10. Murder Room – Pepper Rabbit
11. Lemonade – Braids
12. Fading Colors (Bloomington) – Canon Blue
13. Bonfire – Childish Gambino
14. Kelly (Schlomo Remix) – When Saints Go Machine
15. Family Affair – Hugo Frederick

Yellow Ostrich

Yellow Ostrich came to my attention while scouring the interwebz for material for the Brain Salad compilations.  I first came across “WHALE” which is a track that starts simply with just some looped vocals and percussion.  Lead singer and project mastermind Alex Schaff chimes in with his juvenile and playful voice that he decorates really really well with some light distortion.  This adds a really nice grainy, yellowish touch to the music.  For the most part, Schaff writes songs that form around looped vocals of some sort, typically densely harmonized as well.  His latest release, Mistress, comes after two EP’s – The Morgan Freeman EP, and Fade Cave EP.  All of these releases are good, and if you’re into movies and pop culture as much as you are into good music, I highly suggest checking out The Morgan Freeman EP.  It is exactly what you might assume it not to be: a collection of songs about or directly relating to Morgan Freeman.  Its incredibly entertaining and it really gives you a good idea about what Yellow Ostrich is all about.  Other highlights include “Hahahaohhoho” off The Mistress  and “Getting Lost/Staying Lost” from the Fade Cave EP.  I really really like what Yellow Ostrich has going on, and they’ll  be doing a string of dates with Ra Ra Riot, so that would just be an excellent show.  So try and catch them if they’re around.  They’re playing an excellent ACL Fest this weekend.  And I don’t want to talk about how I’m not there.  xx

“Whale”

“Hahahaohhoho”

“Get Lost/Staying Lost”

“Morgan Freeman’s Selected Filmography”

He also has a couple of wonderful covers that you will probably (hopefully) enjoy.

“King of Spain” – Tallest Man on Earth cover

“Don’t Haunt this Place” – The Rural Alberta Advantage cover

Thanks and enjoy and thanks.

Brain Salad – September

Brain Salad – September

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It’s been said that salad is the only thing that beavers are afraid of.  While that is undoubtedly fact, this salad is nothing to be afraid of unless you’re a beaver that also hates nice sounding things.  In that case, I’m amazed at your ability to use the internet seeing as you’re a beaver, and less concerned about whether you enjoyed the mix.  Anyways, this mix was kind of thrown together from the songs I’ve been listening to all month, and a couple late additions to make up for the plethora of new albums that are coming out or have leaked.  The first song, “Bubble”  come from Mercury Prize 2011 nominee King Creosote and Jon Hopkins.  This is a soft interesting number that has sparse percussion that keeps the songs rolling along at a comfortable pace.  Next is “WHALE” from brooklyn indie-folkers Yellow Ostrich.  I’ve just discovered these guys and found them to have a number of well done covers (including a Tallest Man “King of Spain” cover that really made me smile).  Check it out if you enjoy that sort of thing.  The song “Pineapple Girl”  from Mister Heavenly, is a fun track that reminds me of Dale Earnhardt jr. jr. with a little less manners.   “Suffragette Suffragette” from Everything Everything is a electric guitar led number that has very Two Door Cinema Club esque breaks and rhythm.  Also they pose the age old question of “Who’s going to sit on your face when I’m gone?” (jksc)  Yacht brings us an very nice synth pop anthem with “Dystopia”.  ”Serve the People” from The Handsome Furs (Sub Pop) is such a great song that I really am at a loss of words about it.  I saw the duo perform this live and i think the emotion associated with my memory of that show are clouding me from making objective statements about it.  so yeah. listen.  Next is the fully electronic slash EDM section of the mix, with new songs from CSS and M83.  Finally some nice crunchy filth to end out the mix with “All Nite” and “Happy Violence”.   Pleeze pleeze enjoy this music and spread it amongst the masses that deserve to hear it.  and continue to have fun/be safe.

**Click below to download**

http://www.mediafire.com/?4aatjg91d47b8qt

**Tracklist**

1. Bubble – King Creosote & Jon Hopkins
2. WHALE – Yellow Ostrich
3. Feel My Shadow – Malemute
4. Pineapple Girl – Mister Heavenly
5. Shuffle – Bombay Bicycle Club
6. Suffragette Suffragette – Everything Everything
7. The Look – Metronomy
8. Penthouse Suites – Wise Blood
9. Dystopia – Yacht
10. Serve the People – Handsome Furs
11. Come Back to Me – The Rapture
12. Hit Me Like A Rock – CSS
13. Charisma of the Sun – Tygerstrype
14. OK Pal – M83
15. All Nite – Rustie
16. Happy Violence – Dada Life

Thanks and enjoy and thanks.

Brain Salad – August

Brain Salad – August

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This month’s Brain Salad is full of wonderfully fun songs that have guided me through the summer days with relative ease.  Lookin forward to getting back to the brick streets of the university and enjoy the company of my friends.  There was a large quantity of good music released this months, and some wonderful new albums have made their way through my ears (Fruit Bats, Beirut, Portugal the Man) I’m seeing the Head and the Heart(!!!!) w/the Decemberists this week so alot of my listening has been occupied with that.  First is a song that I’ve been sitting on for a while, “Wedding Song”, is a song by Anais Mitchell from her Folk album Hadestown featuring Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).  Its a sweet sweet song with nice harmonies that have been stickin to the inside of my head for quite some time.  Next is my favorite song of the new Vetiver album The Errant Charm.  “Can’t You Tell” is a chill song perfect for strolling around in the sun on any given summer day.  ”Dolly” by the Fruit Bats is a playful number from one of my new favorite bands.  Their new album has been on repeat.  The new stuff from The Kooks, Portugal.  The Man, and Beirut is all just as quality as one would expect from these wonderful bands.  The new song “Go Outside” from the Cults is just too summer (cool) to leave off this playlist, I’m really liking it.  ”Somebody That I Used To Know” found its way onto the playlist because it enlisted the magic of a wonderful dual male/female lead vocal part.  Just can’t get enough of this track.  The next is the electronic section of the salad, is really quite groovin if I do say so myself.  The new track from Bjork, “Crystalline”, pleased me to hear because of its similarity in percussion to Sufjan Stevens on the Age of Adz.  Tycho’s new song goes in the category of “Superchill” and fit right in.  ”Gucci Gucci” by Kreayshawn has been remixed and thrown into mashups and mixes so much since we first heard it, and I put my favorite of those on here.  The final track is remix to “Somebody that I Used To Know” that I really enjoyed when I came upon it.  Hope you do as well.  In addition I hope the entirety of this mix improves your mood and has you better than you were previously.

**Click to Download**

http://www.mediafire.com/?ufic25wkw935oj5

**TRACKLIST**

1. Wedding Song – Anais Mitchell
2. Can’t You Tell – Vetiver
3. Dolly – Fruit Bats
4. Junk of the Heart (Happy) – The Kooks
5. Got it All (This Can’t Be Living Now) – Portugal.  The Man
6. Santa Fe – Beirut
7. Go Outside – Cults
8. Somebody that I used to Know – Gotye ft. Kimbra
9. Rising – Son Lux
10. All There Is – Chrome Sparks ft. Steffaloo
11. Crystalline – Bjork
12. Hours  - Tycho
13. Circles – Digitalism
14. Gucci Gucci (Rock It Scientists) – Kreayshawn
15. Somebody that I Used to Know (Rufus Re-Edit) – Gotye ft.  Kimbra

thanks and enjoy and thanks.

Brain Salad – July

July’s Salad of the brain variety is actually June’s.  To explain, my inner genius has noticed that people don’t want to listen to last months music, so I have cleverly skipped ahead and named this salad July, for the simple reason of attractiveness to Brain Salad virgins.  So yeah, theres that.

Now, this salad has a bit of a different taste.  There’s still the classic sweet start, with your (my) favorite folk tunes that have been brooding in the inner region of the brain.  The first song “Flee or Fight” comes from a wonderfully talented band, Matrimony, who construct delicious folk rock songs with both male and female lead vocals (see album: The Sea & the Eye).  Next, another good track from Stornoway, who continue to satisfy me with their creative folk pop, lead by a wonderful voiced lead singer.  The Vampire Weekend song “Cousins” covered by Mumford and Sons, is the next track on the mix, and is just a prime example of good musicians paying homage to each other.  Love that shit.  Man In Space makes another appearance in the salad bowl, with a wonderful sing-out-load anthem march thing song track hit.  Get it?   Every once in a while I will become interested in a band or album simply because of a creative or intriguing name (Hoodie Allen, Trampled By Turtles, etc.) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is one of those bands.  Their elegant harmonies and creative indie rock songs have had me humming and smiling like a nutcase.  No Diggity, do I really have to explain that one?  If you got a problem, take it up with Steve Wilkos.  In the hip-hop section, I’ve decided to share with you, Shabazz Palaces.  Which is yet another Sub Pop records outlet that I promote.  Its straight forward hip hop with a darker feel and just hard banging beats, nothing overdone, just done.  GHOST TOWN BY THE SPECIALS IS POSSIBLY THE BEST SONG EVER AND I INCLUDED IT JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ALL HAD IT IN YOUR LIBRARY.  Next is the electronic portion of the dish, and features some very dreamy and washed out electro jams.  Mansions on the Moon’s single is out, promoting their new album which is being released soon.  For fans of Passion Pit.  Hot Chip got thrown in just to give you something to dance to in the dark.  The new release from Junior Boys is phenomenal, completely changing my mind about them (also for fans of Passion Pit and the likes).  Lastly, comes the original version of a Jamie xx song that was featured on the last Brain Salad in its remix form.

Anyways, this has been a fun one to compile, and make sure to check out the album art and stare at it for while, because that was fun too.

**Click below to download**

http://www.mediafire.com/?7c8jgqxn4iqbbeu

Tracklist after the jump.

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Brain Salad – May

In the words of Mark Wahlberg, “Brain Salad is my favorite meat.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself Marky.  This Brain Salad created itself in the midst of what was a very strange month, and I think it reflects that.  The mix of greens and veggies and dressing and crunchy squares of bread in this one really create quick a delicious dish.  There are parts of this mix that I’ve struggled not to share with you prematurely because iI was so dayum excited about them.  Sew much good music came out this month, and it was fun and time-consuming sorting through all of it.  But I’ve done it, and I’m confident I’ve done it well.  I Sincerely hope you agree. Continue reading »

Brain Salad – April

Brain Salad – April

April’s Brain Salad has a great deal of mixed greens, that starts with folk and ends with filth (Filth Collins that is). The first song Daydreaming by Middle Brother was stuck in my head worse than the first time I heard Blue (Da Ba Dee), which is purty dayum bad, its just a great folk track that I would like to never forget. Tv on the Radio’s new album is money, real good energy on that one, hard to pick of a favorite track. Summer was described by friend as being “almost too Chill… almost.”, agreed. Exposition by Man in Space is something that I had to include simply for its uniqueness, not sure I’ve heard anything similar, ‘cept maybe tune-yards. The RAC remix is one of a multitude of great releases by the Collective. Next comes Architecture in Helsinki, which I succinctly describe as Nu-MadonnaPrince/Indie/Dance-pop with an extra helping of sass. Mansion on the Moon are an old fave, and they’re workin on a new album so be on the lookout for that. Yeasayer’s “Phoenix Wind” showed up on their Record Store Day release, which was enjoyed greatly. OK. Next. Jesty Beatz is rumored (and hinted) to be workin on a new album, set to be released soon hopefully, and to spawn hype I’ve included possibly the greatest song ever made, “The Plot to Save the World/Genesis 16″. Multi-talented rapper Childish Gambino’s All of the Lights cover/remix goes on here for its ingenious flow and the mere fact that he name dropped Frank Ocean (google dat). Ken Griffey Jr. slept its way onto the mix just for sheer creativity. And Flux Pavillion win’s the Filthiest drop to date. I almost poo’d the first time, be wary. Well on that note, enjoy and share the glove. 

Tracklist after the Jump. Continue reading »