The Cold Cut

Another day, another podcast- I've been bitten by the bug! It's so easy... I promise I will get back to writing soon- I'm just feeling a little bit uninspired at the mo'.

Just a short one- a load of new(ish) tracks, with some oldies interspersed...

New music podcast... (Link 2)

1. Captain- Spoils
2. Synthar- Hurricanes
3. Courteeners- Not Nineteen Forever
4. Crystal Castles- Courtship Dating
5. Audiobytes For Autobytes- 143 chp
6. Battles- Tendency
7. Foals- Balloons (Live At Nottingham)
8. Le Tigre- Deceptacon

Be afraid... very afraid. Maxl Rackson

I love mash-ups. Its two for one. Buy one get one free. Whatever you want to call it. That is, when you are lucky enough to find a good one.

Either way, when executed well, a mash-up is elevated a level above the original songs. Generally, you have to search long and hard for a truly brilliant combo, but I've done the work for you. Enjoy, and think of the possibilities. In order of brilliance:

Rihanna/New Order- Shut Up On A Blue Monday (ComaR) (Link 2) (Link 3)
Simply genius. Whoever put two and two together should really quit their day job. This is one of the rare occasions where the songs fit perfectly together. Seamless. Rihanna becomes bearable- it must be a miracle. Listen, NOW!

Nirvana/Michael Jackson- Smells Like Billie Jean (Link 2) (Link 3)
Imagine: this is what MJ would sound like if his voice was a bit lower, and he wrote brilliant grunge music instead of sickly pop gems. And stopped screeching. Cha-mon-e.

Crystal Castles/Bloc Party- Hunting For Witches (Link 2) (Link 3)
A remix and a mash-up, this is good enough for a coveted spot in the list. Once again proving that Crystal Castles are 'so hot right now'.

Jackson 5/Guns N' Roses- Illiterate City (Divide And Kreate) (Link 2) (Link 3)
A five part harmony is a definite improvement over Axl's screeching. Chinese Democracy that, bitch.

Eurythmics/The White Stripes- Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Seven Nation Army (DJ Poly) (Link 2) (Link 3)
Yep. Another perfect combination. I personally would have put Jack a little bit higher in the mix, but its beautiful, regardless.

Britney Spears/Amy Winehouse- Detox (King Of Pants) (Link 2) (Link 3)
At times verging into discordant territory, this just about pulls it off. Its the combo of that baritone sax and the 'Toxic' beat.

Tell me when the links go down- I'll upload them again. Oh, and keep checking back- I'll be updating again today.

Crystal Castles- Vanished
Crystal Castles- Courtship Date

Ubiquity- something that is present, appears, and is found everywhere. A quality that one might apply to Crystal Castles of late. When not remixing every song within reach, this duo have been busy releasing an endless flow of original music- 4 releases in the last two years, and counting. And on March 18, their self titled debut CD (a re-introduction, if you like, and first actual CD), will be released. The world's a stage.

Who are they? Multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. Their sound? A warped, twisted mix of enhanced synths and vocal chords. Oh, and don't forget the beats. And they have an awesome creation story. Their first release, 'Alice Practice', is exactly that. Alice, the vocalist, was messing around, whilst Kath recorded, unbeknownst to her. He posted the resultant song on MySpace, the record labels came running, ba-da-bing, they have a deal.

This album has the collective music blog's holding their breath. Whilst their live offerings have thus far lest many people undercooked, the perfect nature of songs like 'Black Panther' and 'Vanished' is enough for me to forgive them. Lets face it, how many other bands use an Atari computer chip/keyboard to produce their music? That silence? That's the sound of a band making it big.

The album cannot be pre-ordered yet, but make sure you cop it...