14 posts tagged “santogold”

A friend of mine and I went out last night for dinner for my birthday and for election night. We were excited that Barack Obama would actually win the presidency. I was still very cautious. I am glad he won. I am glad the Democrats have the majority in the House and Senate. However, they may not get their 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, but they still did well. I am glad a lot of red states went to Obama.

Austin, TX and Travis County always go to Democrats, and it definitely went easily to Obama this time around. However, it kills me that Texas, as a state, has to be so backwards and go for McCain. If you look at an electoral map, you will see that the large urban areas (where most of the people live) all went to Obama.

Prop 8, which bans homosexual marriages, will probably get passed in California if the current results are correct. That is disappointing, but I guess that will just take time for people to get over their hangups about same-sex couples. I still believe that time heals all wounds, but that's not true if you run out of time.

The positive perspectives from around the world about Obama as the new president are very nice. I like the idea that the rest of the world may like America again. I always think globally. If I had enough money, I would live in a different country every month.

In other news, there is a lot of good music out there right now. Here is a mixtape that became available on the M.I.A. Fans message board today (http://miafans.co.uk) ...

http://fairtilizer.com/radioclit/the_very_best.zip

The music definitely has a "world music" sound to it. Esau Mwamwaya is featured heavily on the mixtape. He has done his own versions of "Paper Planes" and "Get It Up". I have posted his songs on here before. M.I.A. also put some vocals on a demo of his song, "Rain Dance". I think I have all of that right. The mixtape is also available on MySpace here ...

 

I have been listening to this song a lot lately in my car. The title is "Dutty Six Pack". It sounds very reggae to me. I don't know who sings it, and I have a feeling it is an old reggae song that has just been updated a little for this mixtape, "Top Rated", but I could be wrong. Anyone know who sings this, and if there is a longer version?

Here is the song ...

Edit ... I think this is Cutty Ranks. I did a Google Search on "Dutty Six Pack", and all the links said Cutty Ranks so that makes sense. I like the song "Limb by Limb" by Cutty Ranks, too, but I have read that there are a lot of anti-gay lyrics in this kind of music. I don't know how accurate or how offended I should be by that, but I still like the song.

Cutty Ranks - Limb by Limb

Here is an article about the Dutty Six Pack song ...

http://blogs.laweekly.com/play/diplo-santogold-cutty-ranks-re-1/

The song samples Black Flag's "Six Pack" ...

 

Two new remixes of M.I.A.'s song, "Boyz" from Kala have come out recently. Both of the remixes just add vocals to the song, and they both mention Barack Obama.

Jay-Z's remix seems very anti-war, which is fine with me. M.I.A. also has some additional vocals on this version of "Boyz" ...

Wale added some vocals to "Boyz", too. Here is his version ...

Here is another version of the song, "Get It Up" by Radioclit, featuring M.I.A. and Santogold. This version has vocals by Esau Mwamwaya instead of a rap by Gorilla Zoe (which is on the other version, here).

Here is a clip of the song, "Shells", which M.I.A.'s fans have been waiting on for a long time. The song was supposedly done by M.I.A. and Diplo (I think), and it sounds like a lot of fun.

http://84.45.101.210/mp3/XLCD281X-N.mp3 - you have to download it because it is a stream of music, not an actual mp3.

The problem I have with this clip is how sped up the vocals are. I hope that is a mistake because I don't like sped up vocals like that. However, the song is fun to listen to. "Shells" will finally be released on the re-released version of Kala, which is already available on some sites, I think.

In other news, Britney Spears has a new expensive video for her song, "Womanizer". The video looks very slick so that's good for her. The song is catchy enough. I am amazed at how many remixes of Womanizer are already floating around the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-23EToh43M

I am sure there will be a higher quality version of the video above soon, but that's all I could find for right now.

For all the latest M.I.A. news, go to the M.I.A. Fans message board at http://miafans.co.uk.

Santogold songs have been in just about every commercial I have seen on TV lately. This song, "Lights Out", is in a beer commercial, I think. The video is neat to look at ...

Diplo and M.I.A. put out the "mixtape", Piracy Funds Terrorism, vol. 1, years ago, and it was really cool. Now, Diplo and Santogold have made this "Top Rated" mixtape. One of the songs they played around with is "Iko Iko", a song I have always liked (it was played at the beginning of "Rain Man", sang by the cast in "Satisfaction", and covered by Cyndi Lauper and many others). Here is that song ...

You can buy the "Top Rated" mixtape here.

This Santogold song is pretty cool. My favorite part of the song is where Santogold starts singing, and I love that M.I.A. can be heard in the background. M.I.A.'s singing is not bad either.

The song is produced/mixed by Radioclit who has a MySpace here. You can download this song here.

I'm not a big rap fan, but when it has all the cool elements of this song, I like it. Of course, this song could just be called electronic since it has so many different sounds going on.

In other news I had to go to a share insurance training session today for my job. I work at a credit union, and I always tell people to stop using banks and find a credit union they can use. There are tons and tons of ways to qualify for membership at credit unions now, and credit unions seem a little safer than banks like IndyMac and companies like Countrywide. Most credit unions do not do that sub-prime lending that has gotten Countrywide into trouble.

Anyway, you can usually find a financially sound credit union in your area that will offer all the services banks do. Credit unions usually offer lower fees than banks (or no fees at all), they usually have better loan rates, and they usually have better dividend rates (for the money that you earn on your savings, money market, IRA, certificate, etc.).

Credit unions are insured through the NCUA/NCUSIF, and you can read all about share insurance here. Credit unions are kind of like hybrid vehicles ... people have heard about them, know that they are probably good for them, but they don't use them until something awful happens (like high gas prices and banks going under).

Credit unions also have to fight against banks to stay in business so you should always donate to credit union polticial action committees, such as TCUL PAC (in Texas), and you should vote for politicians that support credit unions (usually Democrats).

OK, that's all I have for now. 

This is one of the best commercials/music videos I have seen in a while. I love the special effects that look like something you would do in an arts and crafts class.

You can download the song at www.converse.com (after some clicking).

I have a ton of Hot Chip remixes in my iTunes library, and I put the entire Hot Chip folder on a CD (data disk) recently to play in my car. Well, I discovered one remix that I really liked. Here is the song, "Biting Tongues", by Faultline remixed by Hot Chip.

Here is a video of the original version of the song on YouTube ...

Here is some information on Hot Chip, and their official site.

Here is Faultline's official site, which I think is very well done.

My friend, Travis, showed some videos of a disco group from the 70s called Boney M. I had never heard of them before, but I guess I should have since they seem very popular then and now. Travis thought that M.I.A. may have gotten some of her style from Boney M, and I think he may be onto something.

Here are some my favorite videos of theirs ...

Here is the remix of Santogold's "You'll Find A Way" that is on their official album. I have posted this remix before, but this new one sounds a little cooler ...

The above remix was done by Switch and Sinden.

 

So it looks like Barack Obama won in North Carolina by a pretty significant margin, and he held up pretty well in Indiana next to Clinton. Therefore, I wanted to do an Obama post since I haven't done one in a while.

You can donate to Barack Obama's campaign here, and you can give $10 or $25 if you want. You don't have to make a huge donation. Every penny helps ...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/markinaustin

I still think he will be a great president.

Here are two songs I like right now ...

Madonna - Beat Goes On

Santogold - My Superman

Madonna has a song on her new album, Hard Candy, called "She's Not Me", that is pretty cool. Wendy Melvoin from Wendy & Lisa and Prince's band, The Revolution, is credited with playing the guitar on the song, and her name is even mentioned in the song. Like other songs on the album, the sound of the song changes at certain points, which keeps it pretty interesting. The song reminds me of Garbage's "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)". Listen to both songs and maybe you'll hear the similarity ... maybe not.

Madonna - She's Not Me (produced by Pharrell Williams)

Here is the video for Prince's song, "1999", which I have always really liked. I don't know if Wendy is in this video, but it's still topical for this blog post ...

Prince is very picky about where his music and videos can be shown/streamed so I could not find the "1999" video on YouTube, but I did find it on imeem.com.

Here is "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)" by Garbage ...

Here is another song from Portishead's new album, Third. It is the first song on the album, and I love the phrase, "did you know what I lost, do you know what I wanted", that is repeated in the song.

 
Here are some songs from the new Santogold album. Most of the songs on the album have been shared on the internet for years, but it's nice to hear high-quality versions of the songs. Santi White of Santogold is friends with M.I.A., and they seem to travel in the same social circles, but Santogold is a group that definitely stand on their own talent-wise.

Santogold - Shove It

Santogold - Unstoppable

Santogold - Anne

In other news, I guess I am not M.I.A.'s #1 fan anymore because I did not go to her concert at La Zona Rosa in Austin on May 1st. I had to work the next day, and there was no way I could go to that concert and make it to work the next day. Also, by the time I even considered risking it and going to the concert, the tickets were sold out. I am sure the show was awesome, though, because her last show there a couple of years ago was full of energy and the sound was perfect.

Here is a picture from the Austin concert ...

I think all of the photos were taken by David Reagan for the Austin American-Statesman's blog aka Austin360.com.