The Last Drop » new music

Drop Kick: Summer Bears Fruit – Early morning finds on a rainy June day

TopDrop — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:16:12 +0000

San Francisco summer is in full swell – clouds, cold, and rain. Horrible for marathon training. Perfect for staying cozy in bed and finding new music. And find I have! A brief rundown of what to do if you too are stuck at home on a rainy day:

Love: Still Fighting
My newest (soon to be reviewed) music crushes, Thao & Mirah, do a rather convincing cover of Pat Benetar’s Love is a Battlefield right here in the Bay Area. Peep the video. And listen to the rest of their recording session on The Bay Bridged.

Andre 3000 comes out of hiding for…Ke$ha????
‘fraid so. Unbelievable. But true. And sadly, as much as I want to fuel the flames of Ke$ha’s general awfulness, Andre adds an instant level of validity to this track. What was once mind-numbing forgettable pop is now a succinct commentary on life’s realities as we age. And a kiss off to bougie friends. Or whatever. We R who we R after all.

Minaj really is best a trois
I already secretly liked “Till the World Ends”. It’s shameless, has a predictable build, and, by now, is a throwback to my youth. Add in Nikki Minaj and it only gets better. It’s her year and once again she delivers, slowing down the tempo to add further insult to her already killer flow. Ke$ha mops up the sloppy seconds to round out this name dropping extravaganza.

Dropkick: New Year, Same Old Grind

TopDrop — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:37:58 +0000

2011. Looks like it’s about to have some more of the same. Which can be a good thing. Especially if it’s Ciara getting back into the habit of making tastefully grind-worthy club bangers. From the looks of “Gimme Dat”, it’s on. Not a bad way to begin the year I say.

Drop Kick: In the spirit of Kanye

TopDrop — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:42:08 +0000

This sh*t is… f*cking ridiculous. Weezy’s back. “6′, 7′ ” is a colossal song, set to slay anyone in it’s path. I have a soft spot for minimalist beats and monster rhymes. This kills it. What a day for hip hop?!

BTW – More to come on my review of the latest K West masterpiece/self aggrandizing critical darling (the reference being Track #7).

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Drop Kick: Dubstepped it Up

TopDrop — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:45:40 +0000

Hip hop is mighty stale these days. And it takes a lot for me to really consider a new, much hyped artist. Take Drake as case in point. I’m still iffy on his staying power and ultimate capabilities. Punchlines are there (for now), substance is short. And lyrically, can it get any more redundant? However, a new track released on Pitchfork highlights an amazing dubstep remix of a Drake’s “Fireworks” and turns it into a bit of glory. Granted, Drake is used in the most minimal sense – confined to three words used, at maximum, 5 times – but it’s the little things that count. Time and time again, dubstep seems to save the day, taking the intensions of hip hop and R&B and actually realizing them. Yeah sure this steals a lot from the Burial playbook. But it works. And that’s all that matters.

Back to the Future

TopDrop — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:31:28 +0000

Around this time of year, everyone starts recapping their favs of the year/decade/any other irrelevant time period that can be discussed ad nauseum on the blogosphere and over leftover turkey. The fine folks at Stereogum are taking things a step in the other (and frankly more exciting) direction by recapping a basic human instinct: anticipation. A present to the future. Why not indulge in the speculation of greatness, particularly when it seems like so much can go right in 2010. With an early lineup of some youngins (Panda Bear, MGMT, Yeasayer) and some vintage inspirations (Massive Attack!, Avalanches) we are sure to have a resurgence of great music. Finally, Animal Collective will not be the de facto leader (although they are coming out with some hotness too) for best of the year.

Start smacking your lips and getting your eMusic downloads in order

Drop Kick: Beyonce Acting Wild Again

TopDrop — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:33:00 +0000

So, she’s actually letting her alter ego get a full album. This is news. Was this not the downfall of a certain “Vision of Love” singer that let her alter ego chase butterflies and bathe in Glitter? Women never learn….At least Sasha Fierce wants to party and dance her butt off. While the song is nothing special (as many have noted, it could easily be a reject from the insanity of B’Day), Beyonce redeems the mediocrity of music by dancing. Dancing so hard and long that you are simply mesmerized by the image. And the leotard. And the random metal sleeve on her arm. I’m thoroughly confused, but in a pleasant way. You be the judge.

Democracy In All Its Glory

TopDrop — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:20:00 +0000

In honor of the current electoral bliss sweeping the nation, I add my personal contribution to democracy. Daily voting. For new music. No more relying on other blogger pundits or the larger music industry to tell you what is good and what isn’t. Just listen and speak your mind. No social network to leach onto, no magazine subscriptions to buy for a free trial period. Just streaming media and your thoughts. Thanks to CherryPeel, you can engage in your civic duty, create a playlist of the ballot measures you approved, and share them with all types of voters. A simple thumbs up or thumbs down determines your vote. No odd rating scale, no maybes. Just good, clean, voting fun. Isn’t that what America is all about?

Always Cutting Out the Middleman. Always.

TopDrop — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:42:00 +0000

That big yellow smile is just not as naive as it used to be. More cunning than usual.

So bands are fed up with record labels. One approach is to just screw the system and give you goods away for free online (The Radio-NIN approach). Another emerging approach is to make deals directly with the retailer. And if this retailer happens to be the largest one in the world, you might reach a few people in the process. Wal-Mart has always given the squeeze on the middle man to “pass on the savings to the consumer”. Their latest target is now the record industry as artists are going direct to Bentonville for marketing and distribution.

I can’t say I blame the artist or Wal-Mart on this one. If you want better distribution, why not head to the world’s best logistics expert? You want good marketing without the bloated overhead? Head on down to your local Wal-Mart and see how well they get behind selling a product. It all makes sense. Except it only works if your wares work for the Wal-Mart consumer. I have a tough time seeing Vampire Weekend or Panda Bear finding a new audience in Transylvania County, NC (yep, there really is a Transylvania County). Or any up and coming artist that doesn’t already have a following. We shall see how widespread this selling direct to the retailer goes. This may be good news for my favorite CD store in the world!

The High Cost of a Cheap Journey CD

Stuck on You

TopDrop — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:29:00 +0000

But not a bad Farrelly Brothers movie. Quite the opposite. TuneGlue, as brought to me by VSL, is the new, new thing. Think Pandora only not banned in the UK (thanks Gordon Brown!). And throw in a fun six degrees of separation format and you get TuneGlue. What I like – ridiculously easy format for finding similar artists. You can click on a new artist, see their latest releases, purchase their album on Amazon, or delete them. You can even play with the way the chart looks. Fun!
What I don’t like – listening to new artists. Why can’t I? I like the knowledge of seeing new artists, but everything these days relies on a free listen of SOMETHING! I would expect a site supported by LastFM to have at least playability. Maybe they are saving it for V2.0.

Thoughts anyone?