18. You Should Have Heard This By Now: Amanda Blank- “I Love You”

June 11, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardamanda blank, diplo, female rappers, hip hop, i love you, iggy azalea, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, you should have heard this by nowLeave a comment

Iggy Azalea is the 2014 equivalent of Ja Rule. I like “Fancy” and I’m sure she has some other decent songs but I think she’s a pretty crappy rapper. She spells her own name. Multiple times. I hate to say it, but I think female rappers are kinda in fashion. Or maybe just aggressive women in hip hop.

Anyway, I think somebody who is worth checking out, and was around before this popularity surge and hasn’t really blown up, is Amanda Blank. I dunno what she’s doing right now but in 2009 she released one of my favourite albums, “I Love You”.

It’s fun and guilty sexy. Not the kind of sexy you want to admit to finding sexy but still sexy. It’s produced by Diplo and features all kinda people like Santigold and Lykke Li. When I was studying for my Leaving Cert, I had some sort of a mental episode and my brother and I danced to the entire album straight through. That’s probably an awful advertisement for anything… Still, it’s got that Diplo, dance-y vibe to it which I love. The highlight for me is probably either the opening track, “Make It Take It” or track ten, “Big Heavy”. The first is a super high energy/electro belter, while “Big Heavy” almost has a kind of disco element.

It’s one of my favourite albums and I’ve been drawn to it again recently because I’ve been listening to the radio a lot and hearing the big Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj tracks and then I was thinking back to the Azalea Banks album from like last year. I think Amanda Blank was ahead of the curve. I think that if this album had dropped right now it would be huge and that seems kinda sad to me. So give it a listen. All five of you.

17. I’ve been listening to…

June 3, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardbetter under water, betty who, chromeo, i've been listening to, jealous, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, kill me, lost on the way home, slow dancing, solange, the movement, under, white womenLeave a comment

Ok so I started this like 2 weeks ago and then forgot about it. I’ve been working pretty much full time so that’s been kinda taking it’s toll. After work for the last while I’ve been too tired to do anything. It’s only now that I have the energy after work to write again.So, anyway, I’m finished. Finished the year, finished the degree. Since I last posted anything there’ve been lots of different musical events in the world of me. I’ve opted to post a playlist of the general crap that has got me through the last few weeks of college and then launch into newer stuff. We’ll divide it into the highs, the all-nighters where I’ve been deliriously buzzing on my own and the lows, sobbing into some dirty geometry and wanting someone to hold me.

Highs:

”

White Women” by Chromeo.

This is my favourite album. I love every song. Even the songs that shouldn’t be cool like “Frequent Flyer” and “Sexy Socialite” are fucking awesome. Album has been out for a while so I couldn’t really do a “New Music” entry about it but that’s not to say it wouldn’t be worth a full blog post. I think Matt from Back Room Beat gave it the best endorsement, “White Women is what Random Access Memories should’ve been”. It’s funky, it’s sexy, it’s fun. It’s got some ELO, some Jamiroquai, some Hall & Oates, some Katy Perry, some Prince and shit tonnes of vintage Chromeo. It’s intense. I might have cried. Nobody was around so I’m pretty sure I’m still an alpha dog. The highlight for me is “Lost on the Way Home” feat Solange. It was the track that jumped out to me on first listen. Just sounds fucking cool. Not dealing with that elevator bullshit even slightly.

“Kill Me” and “Better Under Water” by Make The Girl Dance.

I know nothing about Make The Girl Dance. I assume they’re French. These two songs are amazing. The lyrics are fantastically shite. Musically they remind me of Martin Solveig from before “Hello” or whatever that song was that got massive. Is that electro? I don’t know what you’d call it. It’s montage music, sexy montage music, with added pelvic thrusting.

Lows:

Betty Who, “Slow Dancing -EP” and “The Movement”.

Christ. They’re not lows as in I didn’t enjoy the music but the lows where I was tired and emotional.

You can check out the full playlist here

16. You Should Have Heard This By Now: Taking Back Sunday- “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?”

April 17, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardemo, kevin is a bastard, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, Music, music recommendation, taking back sunday, what's it feel like to be a ghost2 Comments

So I’ve got the exams and final assignments for my final year coming up in the next few weeks. It’s a time where I’ll probably listen to a lot of music, but not have a lot of time to write about it. So before I descend I figured I’d throw up an entry. It’s the start of a new series and it’s one I’ve wanted to start for a while. So “You Should Have Heard This By Now” is based on the idea that there’s tonnes of songs that I love and want to share. Some are going to be songs that everyone knows but that I feel are worth a mention and some are going to be gems that I’ve found over the years.

First up is a “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?” by Taking Back Sunday. I didn’t go through the emo phase when it was actually a real thing. I had some sort of weird hippy thing with long hair and waistcoats. So there’s a load of bands that probably mean something different to most people than they do to me. I’ve gone back at various times and investigated different bands that I only really knew from people’s badges. This track was a little bit different. I heard it on Masters of Rock with the bizarre creature that is Bruce Dickinson back in 2006/7 on BBC something. Really weird show with a really eclectic mix of really solid tunes some of which may appear later in this series.

Anyway, this track has stuck with me more than most. It’s a really kick ass riff. I’m sure people probably find them super whiny or whatever, but I’m a whiny dude and that’s ok with me because I can filter out other people’s moanyness. I think they’ve got a cool set up of voices. It’s probably easier to enjoy if you can ignore the lyrics. It’s like they try too hard. They’re not quite at the same level of Panic at the Disco! but they’re not great, “Tacky and irrelevant/ so what?”. The word tacky is so “Mean Girls” (Mentioning “Mean Girls” makes me kooky right?). It’s also got a nifty quiet bit and then ends with more heavy heavy. It’s just a fun song that makes you want to bounce around like a fucking idiot and sing as loud as you can. It seems like there’s not a lot of “rock” songs like that around anymore but I’m probably not looking in the right places…

Ugh… Youtube.

Hit me up with songs that are similar though. You’ll have the honour of being my first commenter. heh

15. New Music: Crimson -“Bootylicious (Crimson Edit)”

April 7, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardbeyonce, boiler room, bootylicious, brian king, can you handle this?, crimson, dcu, dcu fm, destiny's child, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, music recommendation, new music, remix, too many tags?1 Comment

Do remixes count as new music? Of course. Crimson is a sound dude and this is a cool remix. I love when remixed classic songs work and this does. It’s chilled and sexy. I think one of the most important elements of a quality remix is identifying what’s good about the original. That really works in this one. I can’t remember anything about the original apart for the one lyrical hook. Honestly, what did the rest of that song sound like? Crimson takes what’s good from the original and makes a totally different song out of it. Very cool.

He also appeared recently on a really interesting international project, “Trying to Find Love in a Parallel Universe”. It’s 26 tracks from 25 artists all over the world. Have a listen to Crimson’s effort here and check out his soundcloud for cool and freeeee tunes here. I met the man himself over in DCU last week while I was helping out long time friend of Kevinisabastard.com, Matt Moynihan, with his deck-nomination on DCU FM. The boys in DCU DJ Soc are running a Boiler Room inspired event tomorrow night which should definitely be worth a look, including sets from Crimson and Back Room Beat aka Matt Moyhihan. Check out the details here.

* Had some trouble embedding the soundcloud track so I’ve stuck a link to the track in instead

14. New(ish) Music: Skizzy Mars -“Pace”

March 17, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, new music, not that new, pace, phases, skiz, skizzy, skizzy marsLeave a comment

Super lazy, soz. Struggling to stay motivated to write or search for music. I might go back through some old finds and dig out some free mixtapes and stuff for y’all to keep the blog ticking over. In the mean time something kinda came up. “Pace” by Skizzy Mars. Skizzy has been one of my favourite rappers since I first heard “Douchebag“. So that’s been like two years. He’s been pretty consistent. I go through phases of being super into him. His last major tape, “Phases“, happened to come out at a time when I wasn’t feeling particularly hip hop so I never really got it. It took so long to come out and everything he released was so good that it just became so built up that it could never live up to the hype in my mind.

“Pace” has just appeared at a time when I needed something new to listen to and it’s really good. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to blog about it when it first appeared and I didn’t listen to it the day it came out. I gave it a few days. I honestly think it’s the most consistent thing he’s ever put out. I hate to say that music is “more mature” but I think Skizzy is more mature this time around. Like, he is younger that I am and I have total respect for all the stuff he’s put out, but there were times when he came across as a dick in his lyrics. There’s still plenty of drugs, plenty of women, but there is a developed character behind it. Now there’s women he wants but can’t be with and shit like that. It’s more human, I guess.

I think musically it’s better than anything he’s put out in a while too.The new stuff on “Phases” was a lot of similar sounds and the general vibe was too chilled for me. This time around he’s back to using great samples which was one of his best traits before. He was able to put out good all-round tunes. The highlights for me are “Summer 11” and “Too Ill”. The vocals are great as you’d expect but the tracks are class. Also check out how he says heart in “Mistakes”. Gas.

Anyway, download the full tape here and get the rest of his stuff here [all freeeeeeeeee].

13. I’ve been listening to…

February 27, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardchillwave, i've been listening to, indietronica, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, zoaxLeave a comment

It’s been a busy week or two and I’ve probably been burning the candle at both ends. Well, it’s caught up on me. Serious man flu going on. Sweating out like a mother fucker. Anyway, it gives me the chance to get back to this.

So what have I been listening to? Here we go.

That Zoax EP. Over and over. My only issues is that it’s not an album. Means I’m listening to it straight through a couple of times in a row before I feel like I’ve had enough.

Then on an entirely different note I’ve been listening to some chillwavey/indietronica kinda stuff:

“Old Love/ New Love” by Twin Shadow.- Love this one. It’s got some real chilled bits combined with that early house throwback piano and vocals combo. Then at the end there’s a quiet bit with hella Prince influence. It’s just cool. Sexy and funky. This was my favourite.

“Coloured Screens” by Antonio Paul.

“Power Trip”(J Cole cover) by X Ambassadors

“Embrace” by Hayden James (some kinda weird version)

“You’re Not Good Enough” by Blood Orange

“You’re the One for Me” by Great Good Fine Ok

“Make Me” by Ambassadeurs

Check out the playlist here. That has everything except the Ambassadeurs track (which is a free download) and the J Cole cover. It also has everything from the last entry and will have everything from future entries!

12. New Music: Zoax- “XIII”

February 15, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, new music, xiii, zoaxLeave a comment

Right, I’m not going to even bother trying to sell this to people. Zoax have released “XIII”. I’m a mega fan boy. Up until yesterday I had more Zoax t-shirts than they had released songs. The more I write about it, the more I’ll seem like a geebag. So I’ll keep it short and simple. Five tracks. “High” is my favourite. I felt like the EP mixes things up nicely. The focus is spread around the band a bit more than in the previously released stuff. It really takes a lot to make me actually use iTunes and buy shit, but Zoax are a special case and it was well worth it. Fucking A.

Buy it here. And check out the video for “Burn It To The Ground” here

11. I’ve been listening to…

February 12, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardbands starting with C, fun tunes, i've been listening to, indie, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, playlist, stormy weather is a load of ballsLeave a comment

Hey! New section. Sometimes I’ve got things to show off but not a lot to say about them. So this is the plan. I’mma start a “What I’m listening to” bit. Not much to say. A bit of thematic bollocks maybe. Who knows. So this is the inaugural post, bands with Cs. It’s all quite indie which is weird considering I’m working quite hard on a hip-hop project at the mo. Here goes

From The Colourist we have :

And then I’ve been listening to:

Honestly, those links are pretty random. I tried to keep them all to soundcloud but then I gave up. So here is the Spotify playlist: happy indie tunes by bands with Cs, for everything except “Wishing Wells” which doesn’t seem to be available.

So that’s it. Have a listen. The tracks are light and cheerful and have been helping me pretend the world is alright on public transport this week.

10. New Music: Justin Bieber- “Confident”

February 7, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastardbieber, confident, justin, justin bieber, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, new musicLeave a comment

Justin Bieber. I understand. He’s a dick. He’s a monumental dick. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, he’s actually put out some decent songs over his lifetime spanning career. “All Around the World” is a belter (well if we forget Ludacris) and if he didn’t say the word fondue I think I’d definitely enjoy “Boyfriend“. “Confident” is better than either. It’s better than lots of things actually. I’m a massive Chance the Rapper fan and in this one Bieber is actually pretty spot on. He reminds me of the Weeknd if the Weeknd was a nice boy. Just listen. Forget who it is. Don’t watch the official video. Pretend he’s speaking a different language. He’s got a great voice now that it’s not as high pitched and the track is classy and sexy. Chance is solid and has a little sing which I always enjoy. If it was Timberlake or somebody like that everyone would love it.

Obviously no matter what he does, Bieber is still Bieber. His lyrics are muck and mostly he just has one verse over and over or repeats one word. A lot of his output is still a load of balls. And then on top of it he’s acting the maggot at the minute. But if ya release enough music you’re bound to do something right eventually and this is one of those times.

9.- New Music: Zak Waters

January 28, 2014April 4, 2020 kevinisabastarddisco, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, lip service, new music, over you, zak watersLeave a comment

I had a couple of blogs planned to write today but they kinda got blown outta the water. Heh. Christ. Zak Waters, genius. I first heard of him from Sunset in the Rearview, which is a super solid source for good tapes. He’s been one of the highlights. So then I followed my usual process of general creeping and downloaded all the free stuff he had on Facebook which was pretty consistently good. Anyway, that was a while ago and I’ve been a massive fan since.

So today was the release date for “Over You”, the latest single from “Lip Service”. It’s a bit more serious than some of the other tracks from the album which is fine by me. He is one of my favourite singers around at the minute. He’s doing a really poppy, electronic thing which could quite easily fit into a “chart music” kinda category but I think there’s something that little bit more interesting going on. I once had an argument with someone about whether disco was relevant anymore or still had a place in modern music. I think that Zak Waters is the progression of my ideas of what disco is. Like, Daft Punk have kinda revisited disco in the last year, but I think that Zak Waters is actually making modern disco. Rather than writing reworkings of disco/Motown/ blue-eyed soul or whatever else people are doing, “Lip Service” takes all these influences and makes it new. Zak Waters is keeping disco relevant.

I love “Over You” because you get a real confident vibe though the vocals without it seeming cocky. He has the voice to totally do a Christina Aguilera all over it and it works. Like, listen to that “Don’t wanna be lonely” -bit. That is serious singing. Part of the reason that he doesn’t come across as a dick is the way he’s played it. The videos are visually interesting and don’t focus solely on him. There’s none of the same ego as you see with some amazing singers. I like this song and the album as a whole because it covers a lot of bases. I would totally recommend it if you like anything from Hall & Oates, Chic, Stevie Wonder to Katy Perry or Mikey Mike or Pony Pony Run Run. He combines classic songwriting, a great voice and lots of really well put together, contemporary, electronic pop sounds.

I fucking love him. I sound like an obsessed idiot, but I mean it.