MP3 Grab Bag

You have to admit it...life is pretty random. Thanks, Apple. But seriously, rather than sugarcoating this into something of meaning, I'll just say it: this post has got to do with nothing, just music. These are just songs that I've been digging recently, but posting on each one separately would be an exhaustive process, and I just don't care about you guys enough to do it (edit: that's a lie, I care about 3 of you) (edit: sorry Lenny, didn't mean to forget you. that makes 4) (edit: just so I don't actually offend anyone, I care about all of you except those four people) (edit: yes Lenny, you're one of them. stop calling me).

[MP3] Ray LaMontagne - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley Cover)
Last week, the disturbingly relentless RIAA gave me a lot of trouble for hosting a Gnarls Barkley song. In their honor, here's a pretty damn fine cover of a different GB song, sung gracefully by Ray LaMontagne, who was unavailable for comment.

[MP3] Calexico - Cast Your Coat
Garden Ruin just came out about two weeks ago, and if you don't have it yet, get it. This one's a "bonus track" from the album, but is about as great as everything else on the record. The end gets pretty noisy and disjointed, which is actually really refreshing coming from these guys.

[MP3] SOUND Team - Movie Monster
Have you heard SOUND Team yet? They're like super-mega-oprah-hyped, but something tells me it's all worth it. Maybe it's how good the upcoming Movie Monster is... this shiz hits stores June 8th (my birthday!), make sure to pick it up then!

[MP3] Feist - Mushaboom
[MP3] Bright Eyes - Mushaboom (Feist Cover)
[MP3] Feist - Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix)
God.... this song. Somehow I didn't catch on to Let It Die back in 2004 and have been playing the crap out of it recently. As I'm sure you all know, Mushaboom is without a doubt one of the best songs of 2004. Here are the three versions of it that I have. The Best Part: there are even more remixes coming out on a Remix and Collabs CD called Open Season, due out tomorrow! Get it here)

[MP3] Eagle*Seagull - Holy
Jeeze, how many moods does this band swing?!? I got into E*S a number of months ago and literally can't put the album down. This is the song I'm addicted to now, a slow-moving dedication to reassurance: "You make me want to be a saint / who kills people..." Brilliant. If you haven't heard of this band, march immediately here to get more. Thank me later.

[MP3] Gilberto Gil - Bat Macumba
This is the first track off of the wildly popular, critically hailed Tropicalia: A Revolution In Brasilian Sound, an amazing collection of 6 or 7 artists who worked within the tropicalia movement of 1960s Brazil. Buy this one too.

[MP3] We Will Build - 1214
Here's another great song from iGIF favorites, We Will Build. These guys won one of our contests a little while back, beating out a lot of great competition. For fans of Ratatat, The Postal Service, DNTEL, and the like. More of WWB here.

[MP3] José González - Left Behind
Jose teamed up with Zero 7 on their upcoming album, The Garden, which comes out on May 22nd. This song may be pretty short, but it's a great reminder of Jose's talent he showed us on Veneer. Preorder The Garden here.

[MP3] Erin McKeown - Blackbirds
Just heard Erin McKeown for the first time yesterday...very impressive. Her voice actually sounds a bit like Feist, which is nice, while her style's a little more rock n' roll. What do you guys think?

That's it for my random grab bag mixer thinger. Gimme some love!