songs i've been listening to recently, pt. 1

Wiz Khalifa - B.A.R.

If it wasn't for Nation, I would've probably slept on this dude forever. And really, half of Burn After Rolling is misguided decisions - whoever thought it would be a good idea for Khalifa to cover Beyoncé's "If I Was A Boy" in ironically out-of-tune Auto-Tune has a screw loose - while the other half has dude just going in. It never quite reaches the heights scaled by the opener (posted above) but it's nice to know some rappers are nice surprises these days - a cool example is on the chilled-out "Timeless".

Download Burn After Rolling from Wiz Khalifa's Myspace i.e. HERE.

no raditude on there YET!

On last week's FLFD my compilation of the week was a collection of Weezer covers by 8-bit record label Pterodactyl Squad. It's exactly what you imagine a Weezer tribute by a bunch of video-game inspired bands would sound like (i.e. gimmicky but fun).

I Fight Dragons - Why Bother?

Download Weezer: The 8-Bit Album HERE. It's totally free and everything!

swoosh

Because I'm ridiculous and have my opinion formed fully by Nah Right [/sarcasm], I've been playing a lot of US hip-hop golden boy Drake recently. So Far Gone is my shit, I'm not going to lie, especially when it goes back and forth between the more laidback, almost drowsy material ("Houstlantavegas", "Sooner Than Later", "Successful") and the massive sounding summer smashes - namely "Best I Ever Had" with its video with, well, good looking women. (Really good looking women. True story.)

So my first reaction to the cover/reimagining of the song by Donna, Anna & Ruby was "EUGH THIS IS LIKE THE LIVE LOUNGE GODDAMMIT" before it started seeming pretty sweet, with those new lyrics and all that stuff. It sounds a bit like the song can end at any point and you'll continue singing along, which is both a testament to Drake's original and the cover version.

Donna, Anna & Ruby - Best I Ever Had

(via Cover Me)

And while we're on the topic of Drake, the made-to-be-massive posse cut "Forever" featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem leaked last week and Tom Breihan went in for Pitchfork. Ouch. Low reviews and general spreading of apathy aside, the song's allowed me to annoy my girlfriend with a brand new catchphrase: "I'm shuttin' shit down in the maaaaaaaalll". And for me, that's priceless.

Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem - Forever

The FADER cover story that the photo above is taken from is worth reading if you hven't peeked yet. Click here.

ahhh, no sandler

One of my favourite ever songs covered in an even better way. Can't believe I had never heard this before last week... big up Gilles Peterson and Mayer Hawthorne (the podcast where Hawthorne played the track can be found HERE)

Curtis Mayfield - We've Only Just Begun (Live)

wake up music

Wake up, it's a new week!

Angles - My Boyfriend's Back

The Slits - Heard It On the Grapevine

Ceremony - Living Hell

late pass

So, majorly late on two things this week:

1. started listening properly to The Smiths

2. found out that Radiohead did a cover of "The Headmaster Ritual" from Meat Is Murder for a Scotch Mist podcast

Playing catchup can be great from time to time.

Radiohead - The Headmaster Ritual
via Ryan's Smashing Life