ONCE: November 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! This month is exciting for a couple reasons. First it is a fun month for getting together with family, eating turkey and then going home and officially starting the Christmas holiday season by hanging lights and decorating trees. But also it is exciting because next month ends the first full year of the ONCE mixtapes. This month we have some great new tracks from Jay-Z, Eddie Vedder, Wyclef and Angels and Airwaves. But we also have some cool obscure tracks like a classic Little Richard track. So lets get into it. Happy Turkey month!

Track #1
The Blood Brothers
“Camouflage, Camouflage”

I had already picked this track off their 2006 album “Young Machetes” for this months mix when word came down that this month they decided to end their ten year run and break up. So it seemed fitting that they made this month. The great interaction between Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney who started the band while still in high school. This song highlights the perfect chemistry between them. They will be missed.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4OEtlteAojI&feature=related – Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wrecks

Track #2
Wyclef (ft. Akon, Lil Wayne and Nia)
“Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)”

Wyclef is back with his 7th album. Entitled Carnival 2, it revisits the concept of his first solo album in 1997. A story of a refugee girl and her struggles to accepted into the country. This track has made me a fan of Lil Wayne. It has a great hook courtesy of Akon and some sweet raps to boot. The album drops in December and if this track is any indication of the quality of the album then we should be in for a early Christmas treat!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7PxBGHjABnU – Video for Sweetest Girl

Track #3
Black Kids
“Hit the Heartbrakes”

This new band out of Florida have garnered lots of indie cred this year with the release of their 4 song EP, “Wizards of Ahhh” that can be downloaded for free from the MySpace account. Their approach is simple. They use a lo-fi approach and then add some great harmonies and catchy riffs to make the music stand out on its own. A full length album should be coming soon and only time will tell if they are able to carry this formula over to a 12 song layout.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ORqlI7nXww0 – Unofficial video for I’m Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend To Dance

Track #4
Atmosphere
Sunshine

Atmosphere, the rap collective out of Minnesota, continues their prolific album output that they started in 1997. This track comes off of their “Sad Clown Bad Summer 9”. They just released late this month their “Sad Clown Bad Fall 10”. But this track is a about a hangover that seems to top them all. But then he walks outside and discovers the ultimate cure along with some deeper soul searching.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NHzyxBi5H-c – Live video of Sunshine

Track #5
Karbide
“End of October”

Warning. This song is addictive and you will have the chorus bouncing around in your cranium for days. My good friend out of Houston penned and recording the track over the space of a week in a bout of creative flow. The track quickly gained the attention of Garageband.com who named it their track of the day. Formerly of San Antonio based band Mutbuket, this track out shines all his previous works which is no easy task. Lyrically deep, the track creeps around you like a dirty realization that we aren’t all perfect. With this new project of his, we can only hope for more great tracks like this.
http://www.garageband.com/artist/Karbide

Track #6
Common
“I Want You”

Raps leading conscience is back with 7th album “Finding Forever”. A great track about love that you had, love that you still want, but love you know is no good for you. His lyrical word play makes me giddy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YeOOL6A7Tfs – Video for I Want You

Track #7
Little Richard
“If You Pick Her Too Hard (she will come out of tune)”

We are all used to the flamboyant personality of Little Richard with his signature hits such as Tutti Frutti, Good Golly Miss Molly and Long Tall Sally. But this track shows why he is regarded very highly by his peers and even James Brown once credited him with, "first putting the funk in the rock and roll beat." This was recorded in 1972 as part of a more countrified session that he experimented with.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xhn7OQAmgLk&feature=related – Live version of Send Me Some Love

Track #8
Skinnyman
“No Big Ting”
Alexander Holland has been on the London grime scene since 2004 when this single boosted him from obscurity to a minor celebrity in Britain. He has taken his time coming out with a new album, and has only released a couple of EP’s since then. This is a great example of his skill.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QRu_OA0r0RM&feature=related – Council Estate of Mind video

Track #9
Eddie Vedder
“Long Nights”

Eddie Vedder released his first solo album entitled “Into the Wild”. It is a great soundtrack to the Sean Penn movie that is making waves right with the same title. The movie is about a young man who moved to Alaska in a adventure of the spirit. The soundtrack perfectly highlights the sometimes loneliness and isolation the character experiences.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hZaxrhtgltI&feature=related – Hard Sun video

Track #10
Jay-Z
“Sweet”

I am not a fan of Jay-Z or Diddy. But somehow when the two came together to form this unofficial soundtrack to the movie American Gangster, something clicked. Diddy and crew supplied the Motown laden beats that became the basis for the album. Then Jay-Z entered the picture and told his own story that mirror that of movie bad guy, Frank Lucas. This album is a solid trip to the 70’s. This album has suddenly become one of my favorite this year. This track perfectly illustrates what this album is all about. But this was a hard call because there are so many great tracks on this album, picking this one was tough.
http://treyminator.blogspot.com/2007/11/jay-z-is-american-gangster.html - Live version of American Dream

Track #11
Saul Williams
“Raised To Be Lowered”

There is absolutely no reason to check this album out because it is completely free! It is the new release from Saul Williams entitled The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust. You can go to his website and download it for free or pay $5 for the better bit rates. The album was masterminded by Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder. It plays like a NIN album, but with the poet sensibilities of Saul.
http://treyminator.blogspot.com/2007/11/saul-williams.html - Live version of Black Stacey

Track #12
The Killers
“Tranquilize (ft. Lou Reed)”

The Killers deliver this awesome album. When most bands simply put out a best of collection featuring all the songs you already had, they have done the opposite. They have released an album full of b-sides and great extra tracks from both the Hot Fuss and Sam’ Town sessions. It plays like a brand new album. This track features the great Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed. The song is a haunting song that contains among other things a chorus of kids singing about their sins.
http://treyminator.blogspot.com/2007/11/killers-tranquilize.html - The video for Tranquilize

Track #13
Coheed and Cambria
“No World For Tomorrow”

This was the second hardest choice I had to make on this mix. Which song to use off their brand new “Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two - No World for Tomorrow”. The fourth album that finishes the awesome story line of the characters Coheed and Cambria. This track seemed like the best I could do without just making the entire mix all from this album. It is seriously that good!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DE2e2Gf8NAk - Video for Running Free

Track #14
Angels & Airwaves
“Sirens”

The second album from former Blink 182 vocalist Tom DeLonge is tons better than the first one. The first album was like drinking warm water. At first it seemed to quench your thirst but then you never got that satisfaction. But with “I-Empire” you get what you were missing. Several great songs dominate the soundtrack which continues the same theme as the last one, love is all you need!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1bFvDAng3sA – Video for Everythings Magic

And the nominees for 2008 Independent Album of the Year, are....

* Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge)
* Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (Sub Pop)
* Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
* Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
* El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (Definitive Jux)
* Justice - † (Downtown / Vice / Ed Banger)
* Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)
* Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
* Radiohead - In Rainbows (self-released)
* Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone)
* Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
* The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)

All these are super great albums! Although I have the album and have tried to get into them, Beirut and Panda Bear I cannot quite get into.

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