Category Archives: Uncategorized

March 2016 Chart

Destruction

Artist Song Name Remixer
Tiga Make Me Fall In Love Tiga Vs. Audion Pop Version
I love his new album No Fantasy Required. Was tough choosing one favorite track.
salute Diamond Gold Rush
Coma The Sea Baio Mix
Daco Dreadnought
Kanye West Ultralight Beam (feat. Chance the Rapper & Kirk Franklin)
When it comes to Kanye I always prefer the production over the lyrics.
New Order Singularity Erol Alkan’s Extended Mix
Aww yeah! It’s been a while since Erol Alkan has put out a remix — it was worth the wait.
V.I.M. Maggie’s Last Party Beats & Bass mix
I don’t know much about this song but it’s crazy and weird and I love it.
Supermax Lovemachine GusGus remix
Santigold Banshee
Cassius Action (feat. Cat Power)
I never would’ve predicted these two artists (Cassius and Cat Power/Chan Marshall) two collaborate. But they did. And it’s great.
Alex Midi In the Air Tonight (feat. Delacey)
This is for my Phil Collins-loving friend Aurea Astro.
AlunaGeorge I’m In Control (feat. Popcaan)
WhoMadeWho Hi & Low
M83 Do It, Try It
This song took a few listens but then it really caught me. It’s not what I would’ve expected from M83 — which could be exciting. New album out soon.
Shlohmo Druid Caravan of Smoke
So Rick Rubin produced an album of a bunch of electronic music artists doing songs inspired by Star Wars. I love a bunch of the tracks — they are weird, funny, exciting. But this dark one by Shlohmo is definitely my favorite.

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October 2014 Chart

October
It’s funny: Toward the end of nearly every month when I know I want to get this chart posted, I start worrying that there isn’t enough music. That I haven’t discovered or fell in love with any new songs. But then during the last few days as I start figuring out what songs to include (based in part on play count, rating, etc. and in large part on which songs get stuck in my head), everything comes together and more often than not I’m like, “Oh wow. What was I worrying about? I’ve got some great songs to include!” This is one of those months. Things came together at the end and I realized I have some new favorites.

Artist Song Name Remixer
Kasper Bjørke Apart (feat. Sísý Ey)
Let me include part of the MixMag review (it was their Disco Tune of the Month): “With ‘Apart’ Kasper Bjørke has created a modern day dark disco anthem that can proudly sit alongside the lieks of Sharon Brown in the hall of fame. The press release describes it as ‘commercially friendly’ and while it may have charted in 1987, nowadays the chance of this getting Radio 1 A-listed is slim. It’s catchy for sure, but its dark, twisted pop overtones are more akin to French Kiss ‘Mischief’ — itself a prototype techno anthem for 1979. The drums are 80s and unprocessed. The vocals are female and forlon. The synths are innocent and upset. It’s nothing short of genius.” Couldn’t have said it better myself! Also: I need to look into more “dark disco anthems.”
Lilly Wood & The Prick Prayer In C Robin Schulz radio edit
DJ Rashad I Don’t Give a Fuck
Iggy Azalea Black Widow Tiga remix
I never would’ve thought I would’ve included an Iggy Azalea song here, but the magic Tiga works on this song is too incredible. It reminds me of my fav song of his: “Shoes”
Yelle Complètement fou
Caribou Can’t Do Without You extended mix
So glad I found this extended mix. This is one of those songs you want to go on and on and on… Almost went with the Munk remix (how predictable, I know), but in the end the original really did it for me the most.
Justin Faust Jackalope
Him_Self_Her Love You Like I Used To dub
Laidback Luke Bae (feat. Gina Turner)
Drew Hill Talk to You Groove Armada remix
Go Satta Time to Love David Garcet My Discoshoes remix
This song wins the award for being stuck in my head the most. And I loved it.

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July 2014 Chart

Summertime Sadness
Sometimes I worry that these charts become too predictable. The last few charts, this one included, have been full of familiar names. This month we have another Lana Del Rey song, another Munk remix, another Drop Out Orchestra remix, another Klaxons song, another Flume remix, another Le Youth remix, another Michael Mayer remix, another Yeasayer remix, another We Have Band song, another Kasper Bjørke song, and another Felix Cartal song (which pains me the most… I want to hate his generic “EDM”-ness but I can’t resist).

Bonus: For those of you who read this blog post, the image above is from a “fan video” I made for Lana Del Rey’s song “Summertime Sadness.” It was my friend time using Adobe Premier and I had quite a lot of fun doing it. Expect to see more of my own videos in the future… Check it out here:

And now on to the chart…

Artist Song Name Remixer
Lana Del Rey West Coast Munk Remix
Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop Drop Out Orchestra Rework
R.I.P. Tommy Ramone. I love their music and realize it’s sort of sacrilege to apply electronic music to their stripepd-down sound, but I think this Drop Out Orchestra remix is interesting.
Klaxons Rhythm of Life
Really loving their new album!
Lorde Tennis Court Flume Remix
Deorro Five Hours
Cheesy “EDM” track #1
Disclosure Voices Le Youth Remix
Ed Sheeran Sing
I never expected to see him on one of my charts but I love the Justin Timberlake vibe of this song.
Sin Cos Tan Sooner Than Now
Heard this on the show Halt and Catch Fire and loved the ’80s vibe it had.
Terranova Painkiller Michael Mayer mix
Charli XCX SuperLove Yeasayer remix
We Have Band Modulate Tim Goldsworthy extended mix
Tim Goldsworthy + James Murphy = DFA production team
Kasper Bjørke Doesn’t Matter Kasper Bjørke remix
Spaam Pompom Gali
Mr Flash Midnight Blue (feat. Surahn)
Felix Cartal Ready for Love (feat. Chloe Angelides)
It pains me to include this dude… But I keep loving his songs! Cheesy “EDM” track #2

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Nov. 15th’s “Gay” SNL

Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg on SNL
I’m glad to see a few places (Defamer via The Stranger) noting how “gay” last week’s Saturday Night Live was.

And by “gay” I don’t mean the great, awesome, queer-type way.

There were four gay-themed sketches:

  1. A family where everyone kisses each other — and at the end two of the guy cast members had an open-mouthed kiss with lots of tongue
  2. Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg doing the “Everyone’s A Critic” digital short that included them being naked and painting nude portraits of each other
  3. Snagglepuss denying he was gay during “Weekend Update” (and if you don’t know who Snagglepuss [like me], checkout the Snagglepuss wiki entry…)
  4. Two closeted gay guys making a lot of jokes with gay sexual inudendo

It’s not that I have a problem with gay-themed jokes. Last season Shia LaBeouf did some funny Macgruber sketches with gay undertones and I loved them.

The problem with last saturday’s episode was that they seemed to be using the fact that the discomfort caused by the gayness as the punchline for the joke. It was people doing gay things but not actually being gay. And since the skits were evoking humor, it wasn’t like “oh look, straight guys can do these things without being gay” it was “when straight guys do these things they are funny [because they seem gay].”

For what it’s worth, I’ve really been enjoying Saturday Night Live lately. I think Kristen Wiig is hilarious.

I hate to say this, since I know so many gays who love him, but I think the problem was Paul Rudd. He seemed to bring some juvenile male sense of humor to the show and that’s what caused all these unfortunate gay-themed skits.

SIFF 2006 Stats

I didn’t even finish compiling my SIFF Stats during 2006…

  • Total money spent on tickets:
    $133
  • Total money spent on SIFF membership (which is why I spent less money this year than last year):
    $100 (benefactor level)
  • Total time spent standing in line:
    15+5+10+10
  • Total movies seen:

  • Languages:
    English, Icelandic, Afrikaans, Mandarin, Xhosa, French, Spanish
  • Documentaries:
    1+1+1+1+1
  • Movies about movies:
    1+
  • Movies about music:
    1+1
  • Times the director was in the audience:
    1+1
  • Total voting points given:
    5+4+2+4+3+2+5+5+5