Raves (no, not that kind)

Alas, I fear the time may have come to buckle down and study for this whole bar exam nonsense, so mixes and postings may be slow to come over the coming months. But today, as my good friend Ice Cube said, was a good day. You see I saw the lights of the Goodyear blimp and it read...oh, no, that wasn't what made it good. Rather today was a confluence of my tastes and good luck on the level rarely seen. To begin - the last issue of the series that got me back into reading comics, Y: The Last Man, finished off the story on a high note. I found a really, really awesome comic called Johnny Hiro, which featured a guest appearance from none other than Jeffrey Steingarten (!). Oh, there's this little show called Curb Your Enthusiasm, whose 6th season is now my greedy little clutches. And last, but far from least, I scored a copy of Starry Eyes gods Hot Chip's latest relase, Made In The Dark (and a touch early nonetheless). Whew.

To celebrate this consumption, let me break you off a little piece of a tasty band that passed through Indy last night - Howlies. Now, I promise not to become one of those blogs, that's constantly hyping the next big thing, etc. But these guys brought the heat, and made me glad to have ventured out in a cold, cold night.

Howlies - Angeline

Wednesday Night Fever

So...no new mix yet. Hopefully, I'll have one up soon. To tide you over, a tasty bit of disco goodness:

The Mike Theodore Orchestra - The Bull

from this guy:

Oh my!

"one hundred thousand billion billion billion billion positrons"

Always nice when space.com (as dumbed down by yahoo) reminds you of one of your favorite hip-hop songs of all time (if not, in fact, my actual favorite). Plus, it has a Reggie Miller reference, always a bonus (though not as great as the Reggie Miller reference in "Stay Fly"). Enjoy! Hump Night, hopefully, later tonight.

King Geedorah feat. MF DOOM & Mr. Fantastik - Anti-Matter

The obligatory (belated) top 10

As part of my music blogger contract, I must submit a top 10 album list for the previous year. I have tried to fight it (and am really fighting making any reference to specific performance) but the time has come. Let's get on with it.

10. The Budos Band - The Budos Band II
9. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

Leading it off are a couple of standout releases from the mighty, mighty Daptone Records. The Budos Band is more on the gritty, globalized funk tip, while Ms. Sharon brings the deep, deep soul (as previously mentioned on Starry Eyes). Now, my only question is what is Daptone going to do to top this in '08? (I really hope the answer is a Menahan Street Band full-length).

8. Wu-Tang Clan - The 8 Diagrams
7. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Next are a pair of albums from old standbys, one a model of consistency, the other less so. The Wu-Tang record came on real strong (considering it was only released in December) as it served as a perfectly grimy soundtrack to winter. I have little to add to the critical mass of internet hype regarding In Rainbows (bka as the album that changed everything ever, though not really) but it is a solid, surprisingly personal & accessible Radiohead record. Good enough for me.

6. Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment
5. South Rakkas Crew - Mix Up

Crazily funky instrumental hip-hop built from Turkish, Greek, Italian and Lebanese psych records? Crazily funky electro-dancehall from outer space? Yes and yes.

4. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

This record, for me, struck the same indie-pop with just a touch of groove sweet spot that Belle & Sebastian's last record did. Fantastic songs, interesting production touches, and an embrace of pop & its possibilities all add up to a compulsively listenable record.

3. M.I.A. - Kala

After Arular and its hype and ensuing backlash tore the internet asunder, Kala sounds to me like potential being fully realized. It's a throbbing, beguiling record that's happy to set up its own parallel sonic universe and let the listener make his/her own way through the world as seen by M.I.A. Brilliant.

1. (tie) LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

For a long time, this record held the top spot alone, as it was everything I could have hoped for in an LCD Soundsystem record and more. It's a startlingly brilliant synthesis of sharp, personal songwriting and impeccable dance music production; but I also feel a need to also champion this next record along with Sound of Silver...

1. (tie) Chromeo - Fancy Footwork

Here's where I break ever so slightly from the critical consensus; I cannot for the life of me understand why this record hasn't gotten more attention as the absolute gem of a pop record it actually is. Everyone I play this record for unabashedly loves it, and rightfully so. Maybe it hasn't gotten as much recognition because it's heavily indebted to 80's pop & r & b, but as much as it sounds of that time, it also sounds perfectly of the moment. Buy this record. You will love it.

So there you have it. Lamely, it ends with a tie, but I would have an impossible time picking between those two records for the one record I couldn't live without in 2007. Thanks for reading and indulging my musings. Thankfully, this only has to happen once a year.

Starry Eyes & guitars???

Absentee – “We Should Never Have Children” from Schmotime

You gotta love any song that starts out with “Oh darling, you’re no oil painting and I’m no Michelangelo” only to follow that up with “Some people never should have met, let alone find themselves in bed.” This is a truly fantastic song and a favorite of mine ever since I first heard it. And while it’s the definite standout of the album, don’t sleep on the whole record. It’s packed with sharp songwriting, solid hooks, and dude’s charmingly gruff vocals. It gets the full Starry Eyes recommendation. Note: If you’re going to place this on a mixtape for a special someone, just, uh, proceed cautiously.

Delving into the archives of the Foot

As I hinted at in my last entry, I am currently matched up a true goliath of boredom - the bar exam. In order to combat this boredom, I wanted to do a (hopefully) daily series highlighting some jewels from my music library. And so far it's looking like it will be in semi-alphabetical order. Fittingly, we begin with:

A-Ko – “Fire” from Chicago 12” (Melting Pot Music)

This inaugural entry comes from a fantastic 12” I picked up from the Record Collector back in Iowa City. It’s RJD2-esque instrumental hip-hop, from (apparently) a local Iowan but released on a pretty great German label, Melting Pot Music. While all four tracks on the 12 are winners (a rarity indeed), this track is definitely the standout for me with its stunning cinematic groove, and absolutely deserves to soundtrack a pivotal action scene and/or its aftermath in Elias Lorenzo 2: Detect This! in which our hero has gained thirty pounds but learned surprisingly little about life (and I may have been studying for this role). Take that, Michael Mann.

Hump Night - So Effin' Disco

So for anyone who has been down with the Foot for a while, I have a weekly mix series I like to do called Hump Night, which focuses on Wednesday evenings. Well, tonight I'm proud to announce that Hump Night is back, baby! I'm really proud of this mix as it features some Bollywood, the personification of disco, a song about working at a supermarket, a Kylie Minogue reject, a track from an upcoming record that's a concept album about the life of John Delorean, the track that most makes me want to buy a vocoder and dispense relationship advice, and bringing it full circle, a banging remix of a song that samples a different track from the original Bollywood soundtrack. I think it came out pretty...pretty...pretty good. Check it:

DJ Educated Foot - Hump Night Rides Again

Hope you enjoy. Look for a big things from Starry Eyes in early '08 as I do all I can to combat the vast & unimaginable boredom of studying for the bar.