Nineteen Ninety Never

At first glance, Dr Hollywood and The Girls Can Hear Us come across as pretty similar -they both produce totally danceable, electro-rap and they pretty much look like the same guys in their promo shots.

I guess the major difference is that while Dr. Hollywood is from the sunshine state, The Girls Can Hear Us rep London, Ontario.

Dr. Hollywood - We Run LA (Dance Remix)

The Girls Can Hear Us - I Know This Song

Although I’ve been listening to that We Run LA track on my iPod almost non-stop this week, I think The Girls Can Hear Us edge them out for having also done a remix of Wouldn’t It Be Nice

The Girls Can Hear Us on Myspace and their official site

Dr. Hollywood on Myspace

You gotta hand it to Adult Swim. First they brought us the Mouse & The Mask, an album by MF Doom and Dangermouse that was heavily influenced by Aqua Teen Hunger Force and other adult swim shows. And now they’ve dropped ATL RMX on us, a free album featuring southern hip-hop tracks remixed by electro artists. Young Jeezy? Check. Young Dro? Check. Two (count ‘em) Li’l Jon tracks on the mix? Check.

Lil Jon feat. Kee - Give It All You Got (Drums of Death Remix)

Young Jeezy - I Got This (El-P Remix)

OJ Da Juiceman feat. Gucci Man - Good Night (HEALTH Remix)

Grab all the ATL RMX tracks here.

Sean Yee writes an awesome little blog called Key Of Grey, and its all about audio production.

Anyways, Sean was good enough to hook me up with a track he produced called Grandfather Clock featuring a couple of friends of his. Part of the track is in Japanese, and he’s done a cool write-up of how he actually put it together.

Sean Yee - Grandfather Clock (f. Yoshi and Cynthia)

The image above is from Sean’s other website, where you can read all about his recent travels to Japan.

I’d say that half of the music I like is pure, decadent electro that doesn’t really require much thought. The other half is music that tells a story, and that’s why I like this track from Oddioblender. Give it a listen and let the story play out.

Oddioblender - Psychics Don’t Need Hooks

After listening to it, I totally started remember Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. Remember how he read your memory card, and the only way to beat him was to unplug your controller, and plug it into the other port? Truly a memorable moment, and definitely some fourth-wall breaking shiznit right there.

You know who else doesn’t need a hook? Jay-z, that’s who.

Jay-z - No Hook (Team Teamwork Meeting the Owl Remix) (from their nerdtastic Ocarina of Rhyme album)

Man, nothing says “hustler” like spending the entire day hanging out at the train station wearing a white suit and talking to hot chicks.

And that’s all these guys in the photo above ever did. I used to see them all the time at my local train station in Japan, and the funny thing is that they weren’t the only ones like that. Pretty much everywhere you went, there were guys like them. Apparently, they are called “Nampa men,” with nampa being the Japanese word for hustler.

I don’t know if they drove a van like in that other picture, but it would be awesome if they did.

Anyways, here’s my salute to hustlers:

Rick Ross - Hustlin’ (DiscoVillains Remix)

MC Plus+ - Still Hustlin’

Jay-z - Can’t Knock The Hustle (Borracho! Remix)

Clipse - I’m a Hustla

Pharrell - Show You To Hustle

There has been a lot of talk lately about the connections the Jigga might have to secret societies like the Masons.

It makes me wonder what these theorists would make to Jay-Z’s connections to German electro-pioneers and avid cyclists Kraftwerk. In the track “Sunshine,” it definitely sounds like he samples the Kraftwerk track “Man Machine” from their album of the same name.

Jay-Z - Sunshine

Kraftwerk - The Man Machine

I remember first realizing where Jay-Z got that sample from and being blown away. Probably more blown away than was warranted. Someone needs to do a mashup of these two songs.

And remember: its not a crazy conspiracy theory if it actually turns out to be true.

Edgar Rice Burroughs had one hell of an imagination - he didn’t just write the Tarzan books (including Tarzan at the Earth’s Core), but he also wrote a series of books about Mars featuring an immortal named John Carter. Rumor has it they’re making a movie about his adventures, and I anticipate it being awesome.

In the books, John Carter is supposed to be from Virginia. You know who else is from Virginia? Pusha T and Malice from Clipse, that’s who.

Clipse feat. Pharrell - Mr. Me Too (Neon Coyote Remix)*

To top that off, here are some banging Mars-themed tracks to get you going.

Fake Blood - Mars (Original Edit)

Fake Blood - Mars (Herve Re-fix)

Kid Cudi feat. Crookers - Embrace The Martians (Tevar Edit)

* If you really want to stretch the connections here, it makes perfect sense to include a Neon Coyote remix in this Mars-themed post because The Coyote was a major character in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. Throw your hands in the sky if you’ve read it!

Woolcovered recently pointed out that Cadence Weapon has released a mix tape under the “pay-what-you-can” model.

I threw Cadence five bucks for the album, and you should too.  I saw him perform in ‘08, and he was pretty entertaining. Here are a couple of tracks to get you started:

Herve & A-Track feat. Cadence Weapon - Roll With the Winners

Cadence Weapon - House Music Medley

I picked up that shirt in the above picture at Capsule (69 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto).  I don’t think that a single gun is repeated on the entire shirt, but I bet that the part of you that is stoked for the G.I. Joe movie is trying to name every single one of those guns.

Cadence Weapon’s mix tape website

Cadence Weapon on MySpace

Cadence Weapon on iTunes

Even though its June and slightly rainy here in the T-dot, it still feels like the start of summer, and it feels like a good time to post some warm-weather, good-times music.

The video above is for the track “Hey You” by Pony Pony Run Run, and its got a funny, summery feeling. The band has even dropped their own, dance remix of the track:

Pony Pony Run Run - Hey You (Pony Pony Run Run Remix)

The June Soundmen dropped a track in my email the other day (you can too: ultimatecowboy (at) 199x (dot) org), telling me to pay attention because it was going to be “the summer banger.”

June ft. Remo - Watch My Moves

I don’t know if it has the staying power to be the banger we’ll be listening to all summer long, but its fun for now.

For a couple of good summer mixes, check out the wonky Sound Pellegrino Team Thermal mix on Curb Crawlers, the MADJAZZ’s Summer Brainstorm on Mad Decent or The Summer Never Ends mix by Jens Lekman. All three should be good for bumpin’ on the patio with a case of beer on a warm evening.

Tiga is going to be playing Toronto’s CiRCA nightclub on June 5th, and I’m definitely going to go. Ever since I heard his first album, Sexor, I’ve loved all of the guy’s music.

Wait..that’s not totally true. Half of Sexor actually sucks, and feels a bit like filler. But the tracks on the album that are good are amazing. 3 Weeks, (Far From) Home and You Gonna Want me are definitely some of my favorite songs from any artist. The Ballad of Sexor is also a hilarious track, and it kinda makes me think Sexor was probably a Fitte Prins.

I haven’t heard much of his new album, Ciao!, but like everyone else I’m totally hooked on the first single, Shoes.

Tiga - Hot In Here

Tiga - Ballad of Sexor

Tiga - (Far From) Home (Speed of Sexor Reprise)

Tiga - Shoes (Spencer and Hill Remix)

Tiga - Shoes

There’s more Tiga on 199X here for you, and a bunch of Shoes remixes at Ilictronix.

Catch Tiga on iTunes, MySpace and Twitter. Oh, and he also reps Canada with a .ca website.