To Hell with Poverty

In this time of financial crisis there can be no song more fitting than this...

Gang of Four - To Hell with Poverty



Now isn't that an awesome song? The noisy guitar, the bubbly bass and groovy drums... Makes me want to do my best "white man"-dance...

We're all handicapped people, ain't we?

Staff Benda Bilili are from Kinshasa, Congo, and they make some of the most beautiful music around at the moment. It's like a blues-y afrobeat with lovely soulful harmonies. Their story is quite special too, as they're basically a group of paraplegic street musicians... which only makes me like them more.

A personal favorite of mine is their song Polio (video below). The song has a great melody with that previously mentioned mix of soulfulness and harmonies. Enjoy!

Staff Benda Bilili - Polio



A movie about the band will be out sometime soon and you can see the trailer below...



Their myspace can be found here and their album Trés Trés Fort is out on Crammed Discs/Belle Kinoise.

I grew up on the crimeside... the NY Times side

A classic... the laidback piano loop sample over the beat is - to me - RZA at his very best. Hiphop fan or not, it's just great.

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M



Choice Quote:

"But I'm still depressed, and I ask what's it worth?
Ready to give up so I seek the Old Earth
Who explained working hard may help you maintain
to learn to overcome the heartaches and pain"

From their debut and absolute classic Enter the Wu (36 Chambers)

We used to dream, now we worry about dying

Your new favorite band is called Japandroids and here's why you're going to love them...

1. They're called Japandroids for crying out loud.

2. They make awesome lo-fi noisy garage rock.

3. This is how they describe themselves on their myspace; "imagine GUNS N ROSES meets IGGY & THE STOOGES meets THE SONICS meets THE ROLLING STONES!!!! that's the band we wish we were. we're not though. not even close." So you know they're cool guys too...

4. They might be lo-fi and only two, but they're not minimal... they're maximal.

5. Watch the video below and then love them...

Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire



Post- Nothing is out now on Unfamiliar Records

I love the Power Glove... it's so bad!

Video game themes in metal versions... gotta love it!

Powerglove - Mario Minor



Check out their myspace here...

The stuff of legends...

The Bats

The Bats - North by North



This should be a huge song... you know, U2 huge with that almost stadium rock sound (definitely not MOR though). It reminds of all that was great of 80's indie rock (which is a sentence I don't say often). It has that Siouxsie and The Banshees/ The Cure pop sensibility and sounds eerily a lot like Arcade Fire (maybe they're fans). Great song.