New jj Sounds Exactly Like Last Year's jj...Thank God

So jj apparently recorded a new album in what kind of seems like secrecy after somewhat of a breakout year. To tell you the truth, both of these songs sound like they could have been right on their last album, and considering I thought that they had probably the most underrated album of the year in '09, I'm pretty happy about this. They even go back to mixing in Lil' Wayne into what's an awesome track called "My Way." To tell you the truth, jj is kind of what Moby could and should have probably evolved into if he hadn't of turned into this radically liberal, attention-seeking, Fatboy Slim wannabe deusch, that makes about one good track every seven or eight years. They're relaxing, original, and their entire sound just comes off extremely natural to the listener.

Tribute to: Beck

I have been a Beck man for what's now over half of my life, considering I just turned 29 and Mellow Gold dropped in '93. The one cool thing I've found with fellow Beck fans is that everyone has their own favorite album from him, which makes total sense considering everything he's done explores so many genres that it's hard to pinpoint one single, definitive piece of work. For me, it's Mutations. It has the anti-folk creativity of Odelay with the emotion of Sea Change, and the latter happens to be my second favorite. So here's a tribute to one of my favorite solo artists ever for the holidays via several of my favorite tracks:

My favorite track off Mutations. It's the closer which then heads off into a hidden track, but this one is classic Beck just singing his fucked up heart out in that mellow style that he's perfected.


Midnite Vultures is an awesome record. If you mixed up Barry White, Prince, and Beck, you'd get this album. This album shows off how much Beck knows his shit because when you think about it, the whole thing probably shouldn't have worked at all.


My favorite track off Odelay.


I think The Information has gotten better since it's been released. I know it's only been 3 and 1/2 years, but humor me. Guero was one of his bigger successes in a long time and everyone expected him to release something else genre-exploring, when in reality he released what was a collection of songs that probably could have fit into a sequel to Odelay that people would have been perfectly happy with at that time. The Information, to me, isn't as much of a whole album as some of his others, but it's still a damn good collection of songs and this is one of my favorites.


Sea Change is a hard album for me to listen to sometimes. After a bad breakup, I turned to this album right after and just kind of immersed myself in the lyrics. As corny as it sounds, I guess it helped somewhat. Songs like "Lost Cause" and "It's All in Your Mind," which would probably be considered incredibly depressing to most, let me know that at least this wasn't anything out of the ordinary that I was going through. Anyways, this particular song I listened to quite a bit. I absolutely love the video and I think it's one of the best songs ever written about heartbreak.

Awesome Video for Washed Out's "Belong."

This video came out pretty recently and I think it's cool as hell. Chicks in 80's spandex have always done it for me for some reason. I've become a huge fan of Washed Out this year and I'm looking forward to whatever he puts out next. If any of you haven't heard his debut LP High Times yet, you're missing out.

New Swiss Band Sings in French and I Don't Hate Them

I have no clue what the hell these guys are singing about, but I'll be damned if it doesn't make me happy. They're called Mama Rosin and their album is pretty solid with heavy Creole influences...go figure. I dare you not to snap your fingers to this shit. I'm willing to look passed the whole Swiss dudes singing in French thing because they use banjos, which are a universally forgiving entity.

Great Live Version of St. Vincent

So this version of Actor Out of Work has been making its way around the radio waves and it's pretty awesome. Have to say I may prefer it to the album version actually, probably because I'm a fan of anything with a saxophone involved in it. Even if it's being played by an extremely creepy looking dude with a mullet in a headband.

Top Ten Tracks of 2009: 5-1

5. Mat and Kim - Daylight


4. Girls - Hellhole Ratrace


3, Passion Pit - Moth's Wings


2. Phoenix - Lisztomania


1, Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks

Top Ten Tracks of 2009: 6-10

10. Washed Out - Feel It All Around



9. Atlas Sound (featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab) - Quick Canal


8. jj - Ecstasy



7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction



6. Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move