Daft Punk-Doin' it Right

Like the ribs at RedHill BBQ in Rancho Cucamonga, California (my favorite BBQ spot in the world and a must visit if you ever find yourself lost in the concrete madness that is the Inland Empire) I musically let the new Daft Punk album smoke gently for hours. Good things come to those who wait and the perfect example is BBQ: only after a seemingly endless amount of time do the subtle flavors of the wood and marinade come out. Like a lot of you I followed every masterful video and teaser, all those subtle hints that turned an album by a (relatively little known 5 years ago) French electronic duo into the biggest album release of the millennium. After managing to ignore almost every preview and first impression post that plagued the blogosphere for those first weeks after the album dropped, I let the album do the talking and I think I can finally taste it: that subtle sweet tang of a track that will stay with me for years.

"Doin' it Right" is most likely the simplest track on Random Access Memories: a repetitive, echoing, loop based jamandahalf that is guaranteed to change this face as Ricky Rubio once said. Building and fading, "Doin' It Right" never loses that undeniable quirkiness that will have me going back to it for years, just like those innumerous trips to RedHill during our college years. 

Download Daft Punk Doin' it Right

AraabMuzik-Lost In A Maze & Underground Stream

AraabMuzik's music is best listened to at high volumes-not in your favorite club or on big speakers, but on your best pair of headphones. Why? Because there is something about his grimy debit album Electronic Dream that's kind of like a untold secret-its music that you don't necessarily want to share with others.

This past weekend on a trip up north I tried to sneak in some Araab on the roadtrip mix. I think a death metal/polka mashup would have gone over better in that Citroen. Adding the sonical equivalent of a black hoody on top of some of the best electronic jams of the past few years, Araab puts out an album that is surprising if nothing else-he used to be best known for producing beats for dipset and videos like this one. On Electronic Dream he flirts with shadows without coming off as too over the top, never falling into the ridiculous depths that dubstep often ventures into. Instead he takes a little bit of that edge and injects it into house, creating a sublime mix. I loved it on the first listen, let me know what you think.

Click here to download "Lost In A Maze"


Download Araabmuzik Lost In A Maze

Click here to download "Underground Stream"


Download Araabmuzik Underground Stream

Justice-Audio, Video, Disco (Now with .mp3)

The new single for Justice's new album just leaked. Still don't know quite what to think. I think Justice will get a lot of new fans with this new sound, and it's not like the biggest names in electro haven't completely switched their sound up from time to time (see: Daft Punk). Not as rambunctious as Cross, but maybe that's not a bad thing. Anyway, listen and let me know what you think.

Click here to download


Justice Audio, Video, Disco

Calvin Harris-Bounce (feat. Kelis)

Unlike the Republican primaries, artists and DJs across the world have been quickly getting in the race to make the top Summer Jam of 2011. With summer and its festivals/parties right around the corner, a clear winner hasn't emerged to become that song, the ubiquitous track, that no matter where or when it is played, everyone immediately starts dancing. Last year's undisputed champ was of course "We No Speak Americano," and you, your mom, your distant cousin, all will know soon enough who's going to win this year.

Calvin Harris has been a personal favorite for a few years now, and makes fun, catchy, house that doesn't aim to please at the lowest common denominator level. His newest single is no different. Enlisting the oddly entrancing vocals of Kelis, Harris does what he does best-throws some funky synths in there and makes an absolute banger. With lyrics that may allude to Kelis's public divorce with Nas (which caused this video), the song doesn't let itself get too caught up in it, it's too busy having a helluva time. In a crowd that gets deeper by the day, "Bounce" is so far the clear front runner.

Click here to download

Justice-Civilization

Semana Santa has officially begun in Spain. A national Spring Break, Semana Santa is week of religious celebrations fueled by sun and lots of cañas (beers). People travel: from small towns to big, from big to small, from towns of all sizes to the beach, as evident by the packed bus that I am on right now. No Spring Break is complete without a soundtrack, and if the same isn't true for Semana Santa (this is my first here for this week), than I’m going to do my damn best to do a little cultural cross pollination of my own.

Justice needs no introduction. The French duo’s first album Cross brought their style of aggressive house to the world, but in the past few years, not many peeps were heard from the two. Perhaps they took a long nap after their US tour (not surprising if you’ve seen their documentary A Cross The Universe), perhaps they felt that the scene was getting too crowded. Maybe they were also tired of hearing D.A.N.C.E everywhere. Whatever their rationale for leaving, they’re back. First heard in the background of an ADIDAS commercial, the full song leaked a little while back, perfect timing to be one of the sounds for Spring Break, I mean, Semana Santa 2011. 

Click here to download

 

Empire of the Sun-Country

The Australian duo Empire of the Sun, best known for their all-time hit "Walking on a Dream," take you on a journey with this jam. No matter where in the world you're reading this, Australia is probably still pretty damn far away from you. But the duo do not want to take you back to their home country, with this one they try and take ya a little farther, far out there in the reaches of time and space. "Country" has a mysterious quality to it, but one that doesn't get in the way of how chill it is. It moves along at its own pace, meandering along through a jungle of noise.The song seems to often get momentarily lost in mazes of sounds but it never falls into the depths, always being pulled back by the reassuring loop. Dreamy and pensive, this is a great jam to wind your week down with.

Click here to download

Jamito-y-Medio #3: Foals-One (Cover)

This is the third "jamito-y-medio," Spanish for "little jamandahalf." This deserves to be up here like all other jamandahalfs, but due to time, it gets a shorter post and a cheesy Spanish name. 

The British invasion continues. After dropping a moody moving folk song yesterday from the British singer Fink, today we bring you a jamito-y-medio from the Foals, a five piece band from Oxford. The British indie rock group switches up their usual flow and takes on of the biggest club records of the summer (One by the Swedish House Mafia) giving it some spice, adding a little something Caribbean to it. They give the certified club banger a few Mojitos, maybe a "Cuba Libre," or three, while pulling out the bongos and other live instruments. With these instruments largely taking the place of the the original's purely computer generated sound, this track goes a little harder, feels a little more unleashed than the og, while not losing any of the first's undeniable catchiness. I love when band's go out of their comfort zone to tackle new styles of music, and the Foals definitely conquer this track.

 Foals-One (Swedish House Mafia Cover) (Jamandahalf.com) by jammininthenameof

Deadmau5-Right This Second (Full)

After hearing the tagged shorter copy of this song a week ago, I couldn't wait to get the full thing. Here it is. With shades of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," Deadmau5's new single, "Right This Second," off of his first official album is a definite change of pace for both house music and Deadmau5 himself. For house music, this is a move away from the dubstep craze that has dominated the genre for the past year or so. For Deadmau5, this single shows him moving back towards trance and music fit to fill the airport hanger size venues of Coachella and other shows. A fixture in every major electro music festival of the last year, Deadmau5's popularity has skyrocketed, and with jams like this, I can't seen any end to the popularity of the masked mouse DJ.

 Deadmau5-Right This Second Full (jamandahalf.com) by jamand1/2