Dirty on Purpose |
Last month, Peter Rojas, founder of the Engadget and Gizmodo tech blogs, and Josh Deutsch, of Downtown Records, launched a DRM- and vowel-free blog called Rcrd Lbl, with free, legal MP3 downloads. Rcrd Lbl pays both artists and labels like Warp and Modular in exchange for permission to post songs. “Their music is already out there for free, so what we're doing is making them more comfortable about putting it out there,” Rojas reasoned with Wired recently. Here are a few tracks that have been offered so far.
Purse Snatchers, “Christmas Lights”
This track by the married duo Doug Hartman and Annie Hart, of Dirty on Purpose and Au Revoir Simone, respectively, has standard holiday elements: twinkling bells, musings about seasonal decorations. But the song’s melancholic composition of outerspacy electronic looping will kibosh any comparisons with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Dirty on Purpose, “Leaving”
Speaking of DOP: that band owe a lot to Belle and Sebastian for their shoegazing brand of rock, and it shows on “Leaving,” their just-released Rcrd Lbl–exclusive track, which includes the dreamy lyric “I’m like a dead volcano, just passing time.”
Zoot Woman, “We Won't Break”
The first single by the British electro-pop duo Zoot Woman in four years smashes together new-wave synth and hard Daft Punkish beats.
Justice, Mos Def, and Spank Rock, “D.A.N.C.E.”
We can’t decide which were more abundant — covers of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” in 2006 or remixes of Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” in 2007. Not that this is a bad state of affairs — with remixes abounding, the original version of “D.A.N.C.E.” now feels a bit naked. Rcrd Lbl’s offering, with Mos Def and Spank Rock, is clad in hot kicks and gold chains.
Related:
Justice, Shaggy frog, Be Kind Rewind, More 
- Justice
Vice like the magazine or Vice like Miami?
- Shaggy frog
Michel Gondry is not a household name.
- Be Kind Rewind
This isn’t Gondry’s best work — it’s too unstructured, labored when it begs to soar.
- Goodbye nasty
Anyone even minimally versed in Ms. Blank's œuvre would chuckle at the idea of her trying to keep things clean. Emerging from Philly dirty-rap crew Spank Rock, Blank distinguished herself among a sea of rap dudes with her dizzying spitfire attack and willingness to get nasty in a manner that was both playful and intimidating.
- Blank slates splattered with neon
I’m not sure what kind of set list Santigold brought, but I’m guessing that she scrapped it after the crowd remained limp three tracks in.
- A very loud empire
Work those connections, because the Holy Fuck show at the Middle East upstairs this Friday is already sold out.
- Carb unloading
After spending Thanksgiving gorging yourself on turkey, mashed potatoes, and all manner of high-calorie treats from candied yams to kaleidoscopic Jello molds, you should have energy to burn.
- 16 Blocks
Assigned to transport a talky, small-time crook (Mos Def) to court, NYPD detective Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) rediscovers his inner cop when he learns that the kid is about to testify against some corrupt cops.
- Mission Hill style
“We want people to have fun, and we want a little debauchery," says DJ Ian Beck.
- Paper trail
Whether he’s spinning for trance heads or punk-rock kids, the DJ’s imperative is the same everywhere: “It entails making everyone shake their ass all night long, non-stop,” says Paper’s resident DJ, Eric Marcelino.
- A little bit Louder Now
Having risen from post-hardcore bands that even your mom has taken to calling “emo,” they’re now a band with a rock and roll work ethic and aspirations to pop greatness.
- Less
Topics:
Download
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, Dirty on Purpose, Mos Def, Spank Rock, Belle and Sebastian, Gnarls Barkley, Justice, Less
