Rubin Recommends

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

Music:
1986: Everybody Is Whatever I Think They Are
Aloha: Home Acres (2-LP vinyl) *
The Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night (vinyl)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoo (vinyl)
Broken Bells: Broken Bells (2-CD box set) (vinyl)
Daughters: Daughters
Demon Hunter: World Is a Thorn
Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks (vinyl)
Jason Collett: Rat A Tat Tat (vinyl)
JJ: No 3 (vinyl) (not as good as no 2 but I still like it) *
Josh Rouse: El Turista (vinyl)
The Knife: Tomorrow, In A Year
Liars: Sisterworld (CD & DVD)
Ludacris: Battle Of The Sexes
Method Actors: This Is Still It
The Morning Benders: Big Echo (vinyl) *
Nervous Curtains: Out of Sync With Time (vinyl)
Pavement: Brighten the Corners (vinyl reissue)
Pavement: Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (vinyl reissue)
Pavement: Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement (2-LP vinyl) *
Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted (vinyl reissue)
Pavement: Terror Twilight (vinyl reissue)
Pavement: Watery Domestic (vinyl reissue)
Pavement: Wowee Zowee (vinyl reissue)
The Pharmacy: Weekend
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks (vinyl)
Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (vinyl)
Via Audio: Animalore (vinyl)
White Hinterland: Kairos (vinyl) *
Woodpigeon: Die Stadt Muzikanten

DVD:
The Avon Barksdale Story: Legends of the Unwired
Precious
Tapeheads
The Who: The Kids Are Alright [Blu-ray]
Up in the Air

(part of the Have You Heard? mix series)

So this is something new I’m going to try on a weekly basis (I hope.) These are the songs I listened to on repeat all weekend. The weather was nice, it was a really great weekend.

So here’s a little mix:

Buy these tracks at: the iTunes Music Store.

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Stream above or Download the Mix MP3 here.

BRAHMS – Another Time (subscribe to their mailing list and get their 4 song demo EP free.)
Buffalo Tom – Mountains Of Your Head
Drake – Over (this is my new favorite Drake song.)
Cloud Nothings – Turning On
Dr Dog – Shadow People
Modern English – I Melt With You
Appleseed Cast - Innocent Vigilent Ordinary (I saw them play Low Level Owl Vol 1 & 2 this weekend. Go see it if you can.)
Seamonster -  Bearsuit

(The above graphic was made by my buddy Blake E. Marquis using his typeface Farnum that you can check out here.)

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

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MP3 >> The Ruby Suns – Cranberry
(I really loved the first Ruby Suns record. I still feel like this new one has to grow on me a little.)

Music:
Athlete: Black Swan
Golden Triangle: Double Jointer (vinyl)
Japanther: Rock N Roll Ice Cream (vinyl)
Little Boots: Hands
Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back (2-CD deluxe edition)
Portugal. The Man: American Ghetto
Rogue Wave: Permalight (vinyl)
The Ruby Suns: Fight Softly (vinyl)
Seamonter: Two Birds
Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago (vinyl)
These New Puritans: Hidden * (Kurt said it’s good)

DVDS:
Tell Them Anything You Want
Where the Wild Things Are

Hidden is the new album from These New Puritans. It is intensely dark. Not depressing, just militantly, unapologetically dark. It is awesome. A crazed combination of intricate woodwind arrangements, massive Japanese drums, British dread and dubstep-inspired beats come together in a way that actually makes sense. With songs called ‘We Want War’ and ‘Attack Music’ you really can’t go wrong.

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MP3 >> These New Puritans – Orion

The record officially comes out on March 2nd in the US, but a full-album stream is available now.

I’ve been enjoying this Seamonster’s Two Birds EP about a week now. I think the video above is a good visual of the music. My friend Hunter over at Gold Robot is releasing the vinyl and you can pre-order it now (and get the digital version instantly.)

Two Birds was written and recorded by Adrian Todd Webb and friends in various tucked-away places across Virginia (laundry rooms, sewing rooms) over the course of three years.

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MP3 >> Seamonster – Oh Appalachia

If you’d like to get caught in a magical trance at any time of the day, throw on City Center’s new EP Spring St out now on Quite Scientific Records.

Thanks to Kevin at What’s Your Rupture? for reminding me about them.

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MP3 >> City Center – Sky Flowers

Purchase at Quiet Scientific (with beautiful packaging) Amazon MP3 or iTunes.
City Center Website.
City Center Myspace.

Here are 2 recent music recommendations I made over at We Love You So in the last few weeks.

Active Child

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read the post at We Love You So.

White Hinterland

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MP3 >> White Hinterland – Icarus

read the post at We Love You So.

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

Alkaline Trio: This Addiction (deluxe CD & DVD edition)
Balmorhea: Constellations
Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt Pepper (vinyl)
Clem Snide: The Meat of Life
Editors: You Don’t Know Love EP
Efterklang: Magic Chairs (vinyl)
Electric President: Violent Blue (vinyl)
Eluvium: Similies
Fang Island: Fang Island
Fela Kuti: Black Man’s Cry (reissue)
High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (vinyl)
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me (vinyl) *
Nick Thune: Thick Noon (CD & DVD)
Past Lives: Tapestry of Webs (vinyl)
Pelican: What We All Come to Need (vinyl reissue) *
Phantogram: Eyelid Movies (vinyl)
Rocky Votolato: True Devotion *
Shearwater: The Golden Archipeligo
Shout Out Louds: Work (vinyl)
Tune-Yards: Real Live Flesh (vinyl)
Tunng: Hustle (vinyl)
We Are Wolves: Invisible Violence (vinyl)
Wolf People: Tidings
Xiu Xiu: Dear God, I Hate Myself (vinyl)

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MP3 >> Local Natives – Airplanes

Adam Green: Minor Love
Art Museums: Rough Frame (vinyl)
Backyard Tire Fire: Good to Be
Bear Hands: What a Drag/Can’t Stick Em (vinyl)
Dum Dum Girls: Jail La La (vinyl)
Fanfarlo: Harold T. Wilkins/Comets
Fela Kuti: Gentleman / Confusion (double album reissue)
Fela Kuti: Koola Lobitos 1964-1968 / The 69 La Sessions (double album reissue)
Fela Kuti: Open & Close / Afrodisiac (double album reissue)
Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight + 2 Singles (reissue)
Field Music: Measure (vinyl)
Giant Drag: Swan Song
Greg Dulli: Vol. 1 – Dangerous Highway (vinyl)
Jason Falkner: I’m OK, You’re OK (vinyl)
Lightspeed Champion: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You
Lightspeed Champion: Marlene (vinyl)
Local Natives: Gorilla Manor (vinyl) **
Mumford & Sons: Sigh No More
Patton Oswalt: 222
Patton Oswalt: Patton Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton EP
Robert Pollard: We All Got Out of the Army (vinyl)
Shout Out Louds: Oh Sweetheart
Smoking Popes: It’s Been a Long Day (vinyl)
The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack (vinyl)
Sole: Vol. 1-Nuclear Winter
Son Lux: Weapons EP
Sonic Youth: Eternal (2-LP vinyl)
Tangerine Dream: Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares (vinyl reissue)
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra: Kollaps Tradixionales (vinyl with CD)
Tindersticks: Falling Down a Mountain (vinyl with CD)
Wu-Tang Clan: The Return of the Wu & Friends

My Year of Mixtapes is Chicago-based DJ/producer Chrissy Murderbot’s heroic attempt to do one mixtape a week for a year. So far, so good.

His knowledge of obscure genres, their history and the connections between seemingly disparate artists is truly impressive. Who else is doing killer mixes of Kraftwerk, UK Rave from 1991 AND Bobby Orlando? Probably no one. Personally favorites of mine are Week 26: Classic Ragga Jungle and Week 36: Italo-Disco. And Week 32: Weed Songs is well-suited for those special times.

Chrissy’s own work as a DJ and producer can be found at murderbot.com. He also runs Sleazetone records – purveyors of highly sleazy tunes.