The Chuckness

I was sent a couple of tracks by The Parlotones from a buddy in the industry, and I’m 100% sold on “Honey”, a sneak peak at their upcoming album Journey Through The Shadows. The South African rock band has been in the game for a minute now, seeing significant success in their homeland. I don’t know though, with a sound like this — I could see them breaking through the American threshold. It doesn’t hurt that the lead singer sounds like the long lost brother of The Killers’ Brandon Flowers either. Hit the stream below for a little taste. Tweet

Purity Ring has quickly attracted fans and established a mini cult movement with a limited musical catalogue. It’s borderline impossible to pinpoint how a band becomes “cool”, but Purity Ring is definitely following the right steps. They dropped this little gem off to the blogosphere today, and it’s eerie as hell, per usual. Look out for their album Shrines come 7/24. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download: Purity Ring – Obedear Tweet

Back in late March, the Brooklyn-based duo Manicanparty came out of left field and blew me away with their debut track “Rebels In The Light”. Their follow up song, and second leak off of the upcoming Manicanparty EP, continues the trend of focusing on pristine vocals over melodic, spacey production. Pretty sure I could get used to this. Tweet

Arguably the most unoriginal video of 2012? I think yes. You can’t just have an entire video made up of horses running in slow motion because you have “horses” in your song title. That’s a bunch of bullshit. Either way, it’s still a jam. Tweet

The new single off of Wiz Khalifa’s upcoming sophomore album has landed. Lamely titled “Work Hard Play Hard”, it features production from heavyweights Stargate and Benny Blanco — and the chorus is probably going to be enough to propel it to the top of the hip-hop charts. Sounds like it came directly off Rolling Papers to me — which is ironic because he said he was going to try to stray from this sound on his next album. Either way this will be a smash, and O.N.I.F.C. is due out 8/28. Thoughts? Tweet

The story behind this track is pretty awesome. Deadmau5 created the instrumental for “The Veldt” (inspired from the short story), and let people submit their vocals for it to give it some legs. The catch was that he wanted the vocals to relate to the story. This random dude Chris James sent in his take on it, Deadmau5 randomly clicked on it, completely flipped out and loved it — and they worked together to make it an official jam. The majority of this all took place as Deadmau5 was doing one of his live uStreams, which you can check out … Continue reading →

Looks like we have some sleeper talent right here. Lucy Stone is a product of Philadelphia, currently a student in the music program at Drexel University. First thing’s first — she’s got the name to succeed. Lucy Stone is the quintessential name for musical success; you really can’t get much better. On top of that, she’s got the vocal talent. Start up “Out Of Time” and you’ll notice it’s on full display throughout — just raw vocal skills. With a jazz-infused bassline, a refreshingly unique hook, and a name like Lucy Stone, this track deserves more than your attention. Shout … Continue reading →

Well this is refreshing. College producer/DJ Justin Blau is throwing sold out shows across the country on nearly a daily basis. At the same time, he’s stepping back from his daily life to see the big picture. With the release of his new remix on Beatport, all proceeds will go to Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools in the developing world. It’s an unbelievable cause — here’s to hoping he doesn’t end up jackin’ it in San Diego a la the man behind Kony. Visit 3LAU’s website to stay up on the campaign. Tweet

Theophilus London is making a brilliant move by grabbing the likes of Fred Falke, The Bloody Beetroots, Crookers, Brodinski, etc. to put together his remix album Timez Are Weird These Nights. His debut album was something serious, and by enlisting the help of some of the bigger electro DJ’s/producers of the moment, he’s preparing it for the nightclub scene. All I know is that this Fred Falke remix is semi earth-shattering. Head over to Rolling Stone to check out the remix LP in it’s entirety. Tweet

In celebration of Record Store Day coming up this Saturday, K’NAAN is releasing a FREE limited edition 7″ at all participating independent record stores. It’s kind of bizarre how 7″ records are making a mini-comeback; people seem to dig resorting back to old technology. Either that, or they just like the nostalgia of having an album package to look at, as opposed to digital MP3′s. Either way, K’NAAN has put forth an unreleased track and a brand new Bob Dylan cover, which we have for your streaming ears below. Tweet