“Oh yes, you have a plethora”

Wrapping up the week with a plethora of jams that I’m lovin’ hard… times ten.

So, the Beastie Boys‘ ‘Hot Sauce Committee pt.1′ was indefinitely postponed and the dudes are moving straight on to release ‘pt.2 on 5/1; yeah! Make Some Noise leaked earlier this week, following which the dudes just said ‘what the hell’ and posted the track officially on their site; you can’t fight these things these days and blogs just perpetuate the love. It’s a great album taste-tester with that unmistakable bouncy, playful, party-in-the-city sound that they’re known for. Check out the official trailer for the album on their site as well, it’s pretty awesome.

Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise [dl]

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Elton John & Leon Russell? Yeah, why not. Not really within the realm of my usual repertoire, but I don’t discriminate. The quintessential glam-pianist and the piano-session-god joined forces to release ‘Union’ in late 2010 and played selections of its greatness on Saturday Night Live last week. The full album is worth a listen especially if this isn’t really your style of jam.

Elton John & Leon Russell - Hey Ahab [dl]

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Holy Ghost! released their first full length album and from what they’ve been tweeting, album sales are good! I caught them live with Chromeo late last year and though the Bowery Ballroom’s mic’s were a wonky as hell, it was still a great performance. I’ve already purchased my ticket to see them at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 4/29 (with The Hundred in the Hands). The album is better than I had anticipated; unlike other bands that had similar fan-awareness and release styles (I’m thinking about Hey Champ and Miami Horror here) the album is not just half a compilation of already released singles with just a few new tracks; most of the tracks are new and they’re all quite good. They’re really sticking true to being the spiritual successor to Jesus Jones with a live but still well-produced sound and a clearly rock angled sound that screams ‘we listen to electronic music’ in our spare time. My favorite cut from their self-titled angsty outing is It’s Not Over; with enough drum solos to make Phil Collins feel like he was kicked in the teeth. Purchase via the links on their site and support ‘em by seeing them live, definitely good stuff.

Holy Ghost! - It’s Not Over [dl]

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I originally became aware of Mason from their 2006 release, prog-house track Exceeder. After finishing an album of original tracks in 2008, they scrapped it and started over; the result of which is ‘They Are Among Us,’ which dropped just recently. Little Red Petticoat was given out as a free download along with this album teaser. I’m really looking forward to digesting the full album.

Mason - Little Red Petticoat [dl]

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Ever since I heard ODahl’s remix of Never Too Much by Luther Vandross, I’ve been hooked on his Nu Disco sound. Without an album proper though, I’ve only had a few single releases to satiate my fever for more. That’s alright though because they’ve all been quite good. Particularly, Out of Control.

ODahl - Out of Control (Justin Faust remix) [dl]

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While most of the time I’m very hot on dancey, techno-tronic disco influenced electro, there are times when I’ll obsess over good Jazzy Hip-hop. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly recognize the brilliant producer, Pat D. And this track from his album ‘Kind of Peace’ with Lady Paradox is just fantastic. I’ve had it on repeat more than a few times this week.

Pat D & Lady Paradox - Train of Throught [dl]

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SebastiAn’s Embody was definitely a hot one this past week, which was released with a really great music video. I love the original track (yep, been running to that one too), but this DJ Premier remix just brings things to another level. Wow. Grab some more from SebastiAn, here.

SebastiAn - Embody (DJ Premier 95 Remix) [dl]

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Les Baxter much? Actually not at this particular moment; But, we are talking Bas Lexter’s sound of funky cinematic grooves centered around the jazzy grooves of the ’50s on his second album ‘And the Beat Goes On.’ I’m really enjoying his bass-heavy production spin on these recognizably sampled-riffs.

The Bas Lexter Ensemble - Nippon Sidewinder [dl]

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I saw the Brooklyn premier of Joe Wright’s Hanna earlier this week starring Soairse Ronan (sorry I spelled your name incorrectly in my tweet!), Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana – and wow, this film is really great. Ronan plays Hanna, a young girl raised in the wilderness by a seemingly ex-assassin (Bana). Hanna chooses to leave the protection of their hidden wilderness training ground and with that alerts her existance to CIA bad-woman (Blanchett). Chases and battles ensue set to a score composed by The Chemical Brothers. In a Q&A session earlier this week I was able to ask Ronan about her thoughts of the role of music in the film. Hanna’s character is increasingly curious about the outside world and my favorite question of hers is “what is music.” As the audience, we don’t hear the first bit of music in the film until Hanna is exposed to the outside world. As she battles for survival she is exposed to more of the world including many musical elements. The intensity of her experience increases and is paralleled by the Chemical Brothers’ score; it’s a great ride. While Ronan admitted that, to her knowledge, the score was retrofitted to the film in post only, she did feel that Hanna’s exposure to music was a large part of her character’s development and it does serve as a generally pervasive driving force for the full narrative. She also said that they listened to ‘Push the Button‘ a lot when they needed to get amped up while filming. My favorite of the mix is Escape Wavefold, and naturally this is now on my iPod playlist for running too. Lucky I’m not running from the CIA… yet.

The Chemical Brothers - Escape Wavefold [dl]

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At my last DJ gig I received a request or two to play some Prince and ever since I’ve had a bit of him in my every day rotation. Kiss is such a classic track – and make sure you get the original version that’s on the album ‘Parade’ rather than the strangely-mixed version that’s on his Greatest Hits release with those annoying kissing-sounds. But then my super-cool, punk-rock, hot shot radio legend, mother informed me that Tom Jones did a cover of Prince’s classic. Really!? Yes, really. It’s quite awesome. The man’s voice is pure sex.

Tom Jones - Kiss [dl]

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Take these tunes, go climb some rocks, buy a new couch or do whatever ya please – because it’s the mf weekend!

Stay tuned.