Healer Selecta - "Tura Stomp" Video

Move over Girl Talk. There's a new DJ mining the crates to create the ultimate dance music. Healer Selecta mixes retro soul, funk, go-go, and rock n' roll into seriously catchy beats. The video for "Tura Stomp" is particularly awesome. Turn it up and start the dance party.

The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya And Radioclit Are The Very Best (2008)

So far this album is my favorite new find off Pitchfork's The 50 Best Albums of 2008 list. For starters they sample a ton of artists that made the our Quickcrit lists, specifically Santogold, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, and the Ruby Suns. Take all those bands, some other cool bands I likely missed, add a healthy dose of Amadou & Mariam and throw it in for a couple spins in El Guincho's blender and you have a fair idea about how awesome this album sounds. Oh, and right now they are giving it away free on their Myspace page. Of course, check out "Kamphopo" (the Pitchfork recommended track), but also listen to them steal the beat from "Paper Planes" on o "Tengazako" and their reappropriation of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa". At times the album reminds me of the way Girl Talk references pop hits, dresses them up, and gets them ready to party. However, don't get the impression that this album is all remixing and sampling. It's not. The Very Best mostly play and sing their own songs — their orginal work fitting in perfectly with the groups they reference.

Pop Quiz Kid's November 13th at 1:33 PM Shuffle

Oh, hello.

Don't You Evah - Spoon
This song is alright, not my favorite evah Spoon song, and I'm a fairly solid fan. The opening chords sound sorta Yo La Tengo mellow-jammy to me, in a good way. Reminds me of the 18-hour train ride I took during college, from Williamsburg, Virginia, home to Birmingham, Alabama. I ate some cinnamon Teddy Grahams, took 2 Tylenol PMs, and listened blearily to "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" on repeat, on my Sony Discman.

Play Your Part - Girl Talk
I'm sorta bummed I missed this show last month, but it was a verrry late show, packed with verrry drunk kids, and I'm too old for that shit. Also, when I get drunk and dance I fall over! I don't love each and every Girl Talk mash-up but in general they're fun and cool and make me happy nostalgic. When I figure out where a sample's from I feel like I got a POINT. This track has some lovely moments, like when the music opens up and slows down under "west side walk it out, east side walk it out, north side walk it out..." and later when a "Nothing Compares" sample pretties up the dirtydirty lyrics.

The Pioneers - Bloc Party
Not my favorite Bloc Party song - the high register of his voice stresses me out - but the refrain, like a lot of Bloc Party refrains, makes my heart ache in that awesome way. "We promised the world, we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?" ooooooh, right?

Hey Ma - Cam'ron
In case you're too new school to know this song, here's the chorus:

Hey ma, WHAT'S UP, lets slide, ALL RIGHT, all right
And we gon' get it on tonight
You smoke, I SMOKE, I drink, ME TOO, well good
Cause we gon' get it high tonight
Got drops, GOT COUPS, got Trucks, GOT JEEPS, all right
Cause we gon' take a ride tonight
So ma, WHAT'S UP, let's slide, ALL RIGHT, all right
And we gon' get it on tonight

Pretty much word-for-word my conversation with War Machine the night we met.

And finally...

Mr. Brightside - The Killers
I can't listen to a whole Killers album in one sitting, too repetitive, but this song always gets me movin.

Afterthoughts: Without War Machine's awes. ome. gift of a fully loaded (cute! red!) iPod Nano last Christmas, I wouldn't know what any of you were talking about, ever.

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (2008)

Pittsburgh's Girl Talk (real name: Gregg Gillis) is a former biomedical engineer who quit his day job to pursue his real art and craft: DJ-ing. Specializing in the creation of incredibly catchy “mash-ups,” he incorporates the best highlights from popular top 40, 80’s, hip hop and alternative rock songs we all know and love, to make brand new tracks for us to continue loving. Diddy might claim to have invented the remix, but Girl Talk took said remix, shook it up, and served it on the rocks with a twist of lime.

To understand his mission, he has said: "The whole basis of the music is that people have these emotional attachments to these songs… being able to manipulate that is a really easy way to connect with people." Ahh, the genius in conceptual simplicity that makes you wish you’d come up with it first! Feed The Animals boasts 14 stylized and ultra danceable tracks that are dizzying as they are intoxicating. Quite simply put, this shit is musical schizophrenia of the functional kind. Mixing upwards of 300 [unauthorized?] samples from artists ranging from (hip hop) Jay Z and Ludacris, to (electronica) Aphex Twin and Kraftwerk, to (mainstream pop) Rihanna and Britney Spears, to (classic rock) Pete Townsend and Steve Miller Band, Girl Talk has moxie. In fact, according to The New York Times Magazine, Girl Talk is a “lawsuit waiting to happen” and this is just as enjoyable to watch as tabloid fodder of good old-fashioned trainwrecks is to read (see: Amy Winehouse).

He’s even gaining a reputation for off-the-wall stage antics, all of which include the spontaneous removal of most, if not all, of his clothing during his set. Apparently, nudity never gets old. But half the fun is trying to identify the artists that are being used in each track [sometimes 18+]. Plus, his mixing choices are unique as hell. Who else would think to mix The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” with Busta Rhymes’ interjection of thoughts on making “booty clap?” File all this mad genius under Girl Talk, whose style will soon render traditional DJ’s obsolete. Seriously, just put this record on and the party will come to you. And if he doesn't make you dance, get your ass to a doctor immediately to check for vital signs.

Oh, and I couldn't resist: