Robyn - “Cobrastyle” (Teddybears cover)
This is Robyn’s cover of that Teddybears song that everyone has heard at some point in their lives, whether they realize it or not — “Cobrastyle” — which probably came about due to her working with Klas Åhlund, a member of the Teddybears, in production of the album.
Robyn puts her own cute spin on the Jamaican vernacular (courtesy of Mad Cobra, originally) that made the original so catchy and fun to tap your foot to to and leaves a song that is still fun and catchy, but with a sizeable injection of silly and sexy. It practically demands repeat plays.
The Kills - “What New York Used to Be”
The Kills’ latest album Midnight Boom sounds like the late-night primal chantings of disaffected and world-weary lovers holed up in a seedy basement somewhere. For a minimalist band, guitarist Jamie “Hotel” Hince and vocalist Alison “VV” Mosshart provide a rather full and specific sound that speaks not only to jaded, well-dressed urbanites but to anyone that considers themselves a lover of rock-n-roll at its purest, its dirtiest. The band’s Big Apple eulogy, “What New York Used to Be” is a dark thrill-ride through the city’s romanticized and sordid past. The Kills conjure up some of the magic of “what used to be” while retaining their sharp, modern aesthetic.
Cursive - “Art Is Hard”
Yesterday’s Daytrotter session with Cursive (which includes two unreleased tracks) got me listening to them again, and I can’t believe it took this long. This track is from their album The Ugly Organ, which is more of a concept album, than an album of songs in their own right. It tells the story of an ugly organist’s life of lust and empty sex. The songs, however, do stand out on their own, regardless of the somewhat pretentious concept. “Art Is Hard” was the first single from the album, back in 2003.
Clever Tuneage Giveaway Title
Tuneage reached a milestone recently. As you’re probably aware, Tuneage is powered by Tumblr (which we love) and in the middle of last week, we reached 1,000 followers. To understate, we were exceptionally pleased to reach this milestone; neither of us — Bill and myself — expected to reach an audience this size when we first started Tuneage this past February, and certainly not this quickly.
To celebrate, we’re holding a small giveaway and giving away lots of stuff. Just because we’re nice like that, and because we’d be nowhere without you guys.
First of all, here’s what we have to give away.
- A 1GB PRODUCT (RED) iPod Shuffle
- The following, courtesy of Asthmatic Kitty
- My Brightest Diamond’s album Bring Me The Workhorse (My Brightest Diamond on Tuneage)
- Castanets’ album In The Vines
- Half-handed Cloud’s album Halos & Lassos
- Sufjan Stevens’ album Illinoise
- Shannon Stephens’ self-titled album
- Courtesy of Two Shots of Rye, three digital copies of their album Hooks on Tape
- Courtesy of The OaKs, the choice of either their album, Songs For Waiting, or an OaKs t-shirt (The OaKs on Tuneage)
- Courtesy of Flobots, 5 signed copies of their album Fight With Tools (Flobots on Tuneage)
- Courtesy of Johnathan Coulton, a digital copy of his entire catalogue (Jonathan Coulton on Tuneage)
- Courtesy of Sony BMG, the following:
- Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volumes 1-3
- Johnny Cash’s The Collection
- Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run 30th Anniversary
- Courtesy of Arcticology, a digital copy of his debut album, Looking for Satellites (Arcticology on Tuneage)
- Courtesy of Daytrotter, some t-shirts and stickers
We’d like to extend a huge thanks to everyone that has donated items for us to give away. We’re extremely grateful.
Now, what do you have to do to have a chance to win all this stuff? It couldn’t be easier. In fact, thousands of people have already done it: we want you to make a Muxtape. But we want a Muxtape with a theme: the perfect Summer mix. Interpret the theme however you like, and make a Muxtape out of it.
Easy enough, right? We’re allotting two weeks for you to come up with your perfect Summer mix, then we’ll begin the judging and hand out the prizes after that.
Some things to note:
- Only entries posted in the comments of this post will be considered
- You must provide a valid e-mail address with your entry, in the e-mail field, so we’re able to e-mail you
- If you’re unable to create a Muxtape, send us an e-mail and we’ll discuss alternate methods of entry.
- Winners will be asked for their mailing address, so please don’t enter if you’re not willing to share your address with us.
- Only US residents are eligible to win physical goods, but anyone can win the digital-only prizes
- No Tuneage contributors are eligible to win anything
But that’s not all! We also have something special planned for our first 7 followers as well as our 1000th follower, but we’ll talk about that in another post.
Starlight Mints - Inside of Me
Starlight Mints’ albums as a whole are decidedly more experimental and psychedelic than this track — and, in places, a bit rubbish. But some of their stuff, like this track from their 2006 album Drowaton, is just brilliant. Right from the opening guitar riff, nothing but great, jaunty pop. Perfect for getting you through Monday morning.
James Taylor - Country Road
It’s Mother’s Day! Best wishes to all the moms, grandmas, great-grandmas, surrogates, and baby mamas out there. Your love and kindness makes us all who we are, and we at Tuneage would like to thank you for that!
One of the greatest experiences ever for me was when Mom and I saw James Taylor at MSG Theater, 4th row center. Having grown up with him, Billy Joel, Neil Young, and Carol King playing around the house, I developed a strong connection between JT and my family. It was emotional and fun - Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
What artists or songs did your Mom offer you?
Episode 3: The Wreck of the Old '97
Our most reblogged this week was Mates of State with 19 reblogs (at the time of writing), so we chose bands that formed in 1997 as the theme, to allow for a little more variation in musical styles than last week’s.
Listen to episode 3 and let us know what you think!
Flake Music - Spanway Hits
In 1992, a couple of friends got together in Albuquerque, New Mexico and they started a band. They were lo-fi. Not the bad lo-fi that is lo-fi just for the sake of being lo-fi… but that slightly endearing, exciting lo-fi that makes you want to keep listening to see what they can accomplish. Their brand of jangly pop was well received locally. They released several 7” splits with other local bands, an EP called Spork and full length CD entitled When You Land Here, Its Time to Return. After some time, two of the members went off and started a side project. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the band dissolved. The band’s name was Flake (alternativly known as Flake Music). They have been resigned to the annals of indie rock history.
So, what ever happened to the side project? Nothing really. They moved to Portland, Oregon and became the Shins.
Sunset Rubdown - Up On Your Leopard, Upon The End Of Your Feral Days
Sunset Rubdown began as a side-project of Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug, but with three LPs under their belt, to Wolf Parade’s one (for another month, at least), it doesn’t really make much sense to refer to them as that anymore. And side projects aren’t usually this good, despite most Indie bands spawning at least two these days, it seems, and Krug himself having been a part of four. (Remember Fifths of Seven? Me neither.)
Anyway, this track comes from last year’s Random Spirit Lover, which is just about perfect, and one of my favourite albums released that year.
Mates Of State - Get Better
Alright, I’m really excited about this song, this album, etc. Remember how excited I was when I heard the new We Are Scientists track on the radio? Yeah, that song was directly followed by this one, which made me completely stoked for new music all over again! Mates Of State have to be the best married duo/band out there. Anyway, Re-Arrange Us will be out May 20th on Barsuk Records.
Rock.
