Found in XLR8R Magazine

I love good music. I listen to everything from classical to classic rock, new wave to new age, and reggae to rap, but NO COUNTRY. That's not to say I've never given it a chance. I was raised in New Mexico and country was almost the only choice on the radio, friends' cars, and church dances, so I feel like I've served my time. Do I think there's anything worse than country? Well, yeah, namely Sting and System of a Down. But I digress. This post is supposed to introduce some music I like, and lately that's been coming mostly from XLR8R magazine. After picking it up for six months at the 7-11 next to my laundromat, I decided to subscribe so I could get the free CDs that come with each issue. You can read FREE PDFs of every issue here. Yesterday I received the magazine for the first time in the mail so while I make new discoveries therein, I include for you here a playlist of my last six months' discoveries (which burns to a 80min. CD):

1. "Mad Again (Club Edit)" - South Rakkas Crew; The best ragga I've ever heard and this edit skips the intro of the original and jumps straight into the song.

2. "Auntie's Lock/Infinitum (feat. Laura Darlington)" - Flying Lotus; About a year ago, I bought Radiohead's OK Computer, my first and only album from them, and listened to it over and over for weeks. Then my pick for best album of 2007 was Panda Bear's Person Pitch. I feel this song and the album it comes from continue my growing appreciation for ambient music. My wife is against this new direction for me and tires of these songs in seconds. For me, this song could never be long enough.

3. "All the Stars" - Nomo; One of the first CDs I ever bought was Thomas Newman's film score for Josh and S.A.M., which was a terrible movie as I remember but the music was just layers of percussion using all kinds of instruments. Now I see the word "afrobeat" dropped a lot and if that's what this is, it's my new thing. I love the jazzy woodwinds and the funky horns remind me of Cymande.

4. "Repetition Kills You" - The Black Ghosts; Close to The Faint, but poppier.

5. "Fuji Ouija" - Diplo; I first came across the name Diplo while going through a trip hop phase and researching the Ninja Tune label. I found "Florida" then and I'm glad to run across the name again, doing what may or may not be a slow version of The Movement's "Jump."

6. "I Took Two" - Daedelus; Featured in the cover article in my new issue of XLR8R. What I loved most about house as a kid were the ascending vocal samples. Here I find them again, SO dreamlike, but with a glitch twist.

7. "Bonafied Lovin' (Yuksek Remix)" - Chromeo; I find myself wanting to like these guys but always pushing off making any purchases. I finally broke down to get one of their shorter remixes, which has a less busy chorus that I prefer.

8. "Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop)" - Steinski & Double Dee; From their newly released retrospective collection. Evidently these guys preceded scratch DJs like Z-Trip by a decade or more.

9. "Una Dia Otra Noche" - Alla; The magazine described this as a Brazilian samba sound but sung in Spanish instead of Portuguese. The strings pulled me in and the airy vocals keep me coming back.

10. "Don't Wait for the Needle to Drop" - Dosh; I love the bells, and the distortion at the end reminds me of my sonic youth. This is good morning music or something you'd hear in a coffee shop.

11. "Infiltrate 202 (Altern 8 vs. Asterix & Space Re-Remix)" - Altern 8; Supposedly an inspiration for the magazine. I just like listening to all the different house samples mixed up.

12. "Out There on the Ice" - Cut Copy; Forget Joy Division and the current post-punk revival. My favorite band of all time came later in New Order, and while I love post-punk, I'll take dance rock over it anyday.

13. "The Mayflower Compact" - The Foxglove Hunt; The best new school synth pop next to The Echoing Green.

14. "Funky Tamazula" - Nortec Collective; It means more to me just living across the border from these guys, a half hour away.

15. "Doing It Right" - The Go! Team; 60s girl groups vs. the Sesame's Street theme.

16. "I Told Her on Alderaan" - Neon Neon; Got me back into The Psychadelic Furs.

17. "Dancin' on My Grave" - Ghostland Observatory; Electro with Freddie Mercury-like vocals.

18. "The Shade" - Eliot Lipp; Love that piano and not a tiresome loop like most.

19. "Vanished" - Crystal Castles; I don't know if anyone still uses the word "electroclash" or if there's a new and improved label that's less offensive, but these guys take the direction I was going with Kasabian one step further. My brother tried to introduce me to them at his wedding but thanks to XLR8R I was a step ahead.

20. "He She" - Alexis Gideon; The best Beck song not by Beck.

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