Marina and the Diamonds + Ellie Goulding

Ah, Marina and the Diamonds. For some reason or another I never really got into Marina's work until a few weeks ago. That, my friends, would be when I first heard "Hollywood." Being the spastic blogger that I am, I immediately went for the remixes. "Good stuff," I thought. And then I listened to the O.G. And oh my word, this song is huge. (In retrospect, most of her songs are massive. I've been missing out, and I have nobody to blame but myself.) Peep it:



And then there's Ellie Goulding. "Starry Eyed" and "Under the Sheets" blew me away from day one, but "Your Biggest Mistake" just may be my favorite track from her yet. The chorus brings an unreal energy that'll knock you down and pick you back up in record time. That probably doesn't make sense to you now, but it will once you listen to the song. Trust.



And really, I promise this isn't just another case of me being madly in love with two more European pop stars. I mean the fact that the gals are gorgeous certainly doesn't annoy me, but this particular obsession is all about the tracks.

P.S. Marina's The Family Jewels dropped on February 16th and you can cop Ellie's Lights on March 2nd. Spend money, don't be a thief, etc.

Chilly Gonzales

You may know this gentleman as the virtuoso Quebecois producer behind Feist and Peaches, or his mind-bending piano reinterpretation of Boys Noize' "Waves" last year. He's back at it this month, performing a weekly at Joe's Pub in NYC with special guests like A-Trak and Andrew WK. I'm still kicking myself for not skipping a day of class and driving down to see Trizzy tear it up - word has it that they tore up cheesy RnB covers all night. I sure do hope some videos surface from that one - the Andrew WK piano battle clips on YouTube are nuts.

Anyways, the man dropped a mixtape last week, available for free on his website, where he mashes up recognizable drum breaks and rap acapellas while he shreds on the piano. It features everybody from 50 Cent to Claude Von Stroke, which all seem to work with Gonzales' rich, layered harmonics. Best of all, it manages not to sound like the glitchy ADD mashups our generation has grown so accustomed to. It's short, but one of the most creative musical projects I've seen as of late.

And a little snippet for those of you still in doubt.

Chiddy Bang

I've been all about Chiddy Bang for a minute now. I copped their "Kids" remix from Neon Gold at the beginning of the summer and haven't stop playing it out at parties since. It was effective then and it's effective now - this song simply won't die, and that's not at all a bad thing.

Anywho, the lads just released a video for the cut (thanks to the dude DJ Winter Pledge - ha - for pointing it out). Apparently it's being released on an E.P. under the name "Opposite of Adults." The idea of remixing a remix used to be obnoxious, but then Renaissance Man edited the heck out of an xx remix of a Florence and the Machine track. Now I'm all ears and hoping whatever release Chiddy Bang offers up is as good as the original. Or the remix. Or whatever you wanna call it.



P.S. This may or may not have been the most blog-tastic post of all time.

P.P.S. Does this video remind anyone else of the big headed players code in N.F.L. Blitz?

Matt Van Schie

Matt Van Schie is a crucial ingredient to every little boy's or girl's life. Though his tasteful pop songs aren't anything outstandingly unique or anything along those lines, there's something about them that pops out and slaps a grin on your face. For example, I feel like I've been listening to "Saturday Night" day after day for years on end. It's been on repeat for the past 24 hours, and every time I hear the chorus I feel like I'm back in Sydney chilling on the beach or drinking with friends before heading to Club 77. The track captures every vibe I loved about living in Australia perfectly. Gorgeous.



EDIT: Half of me is very, very glad that I don't live in an age when people went out on Saturday nights and roller-skated elegantly around a rink. That said, the other half is kinda jealous of these kids. Does that make sense in any way, shape, or form?

Lady Gaga + DJ DStar

Panda Toes loves Lady Gaga. Not surprising, seeing as how we love more or less every female pop star ever. Panda Toes also loves DJ DStar. Also not surprising, seeing as how we're super down with almost every DJ ever, especially ones that like Gaga as much as we do. Needless to say, it was downright thrilling to hear that the latter had remixed the former's "Bad Romance." End result? Well, Panda Toes loves it. We're so predictable.



P.S. If you look super hard for it, I'm sure you'll be able to find the .mp3. (Hint: you won't have to look too hard at all, actually.)

P.P.S. DStar's gonna be playing at Dartmouth in a wee bit. Get ready.

Travis Porter + Roscoe Dash + A-Trak

Travis Porter and Roscoe Dash dropped "All the Way Turnt Up" quite some time ago. I liked it, I got into it, and I forgot about it. My bad. Hearing it at the end of A-Trak's Power Party Mix for Power 106 (which you can download here) reminded what was up. Gonna start playing this out on the regular. Y'all should too.

Breakbot

The Panda Toes vets among you certainly remember how much I used to talk about Ed Banger Records. I'd blab about Uffie for days, chit about Feadz for a minute, and chat about Justice the rest of the time. Oh how times have changed.

However, that's not to say that the label's gone downhill. Lady Uff is about to drop the long-awaited full-length and Justice is still important enough for people to make fake Justice tracks. Still, I've gotta go with Breakbot as my Ed Banger-er of choice. I've spent a grip of my past week or so listening to "Baby I'm Yours" alongside Tensnake and Todd Edwards while playing Fifa, and boy does it ever put me in the lightest of moods. Get giddy:

Afrojack

As y'all probably know, Afrojack is the man. I'm pretty sure I've loved pretty much everything the dude's ever put out, and his recent output certainly is no exception to the rule. I've been wanting to throw up his "Silly Boy" dub remix for a hot minute now, but the darn thing doesn't seem to wanna be posted up on YouTube. Whatever. Below you'll find his remix of "Better Run." Though his "Silly Boy" effort is my track of choice at the moment, this here song definitely works in a grip of situations. So good. Promise.

Kingdom + Todd Edwards + Grindin Chart

Kingdom's "Mind Reader" blew us all away some time ago. Like a really, really long time ago. I've been dying for somebody to commission some remixes and release the darn track for what seems like decades now. Unsurprisingly, one of my favorite labels in the game - Fool's Gold, as it were - stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park. Remixes by fellow Grinders Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 as well as one from Panda Toes favorite Todd Edwards make this release well worth the wait. Cop it through Beatport or snatch a beautiful vinyl copy with "Mind Reader" and "You" from our friends at Acephale. Do it. Now.



And don't forget to peep the January Grindin chart. A lot of stuff I love, a lot of stuff I want to love (see: stuff I'm not important enough to have been sent yet), etc. All good stuff, as per usual.

1. Tensnake - "Coma Cat"
2. Mosca - "Nike"
3. The XX - "VCR (Matthew Dear remix)"
4. Health - "Death (Renaissance Man Remix)"
5. Dubbel Dutch - "Throwback"
6. jj - "Pure Shores"
7. Joy Orbison - "The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow"
8. Mosca - "Square One (Julio Bashmore Longhorn Remix)"
9. MVSEVM - "French Jeans (Style of Eye Remix)"
10. Riva Starr - "Dance Me"
11. oOoOO- "sedsumting"
12. L-Vis 1990 - "United Groove (Kingdom Remix)"
13. Joy Orbison - "Hyph Mango (Andreas Saag's House Perspective)"
14. Martyn - "Hear Me (Zomby Remix)"
15. Kingdom - "You"