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Ruby Weapon – Two Weeks (Grizzly Bear cover)

This song may just save your day. It surfaced on the net as the soundtrack to a slideshow of party pictures on YouTube. I extracted the audio and haven’t been able to stop listening to it since – it’s mesmeric. From what I can gather, it’s by a virtual unknown  going by the name of Ruby Weapon, who has uploaded a batch of Animal Collective/Panda bear cover versions, but there’s little else in the way of information. Which is too bad, because I’m absolutely smitten with this. Best thing I’ve heard all week.

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Download a high-quality recording (radio broadcast) of a two and a half hour set from Tom Waits’ current tour courtsey of NPR. Set list below: Continue Reading »

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5UHZZx9xw8]

This is the debut performance of a new Grizzly Bear song, live on David Letterman last night. It’s a little keyboard-heavy and, by their own admission, they were quite nervous, but every single thing this band has done since Yellow House has been extraordinary. I just can’t wait until that new album is done! You can download an mp3 audio track of this performance here.

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We are exactly half-way through 2008 so I’ve put together my top 60 songs of the year…and have made them all available to download in one long mix. While the list is generally intended to be as objective and comprehensible as possible, it’s obviously compiled with the general taste of SeeWhatYouhear.com in mind (just about every single one of these tracks have been featured on the site).

There are always going to be some that have been overlooked and, given the amount of varying release, re-release and leak dates, there will be technicalities to contend with too. I’ve also included two Bon Iver tracks…just because I feel like it. But in general terms, there is so much quality here that I think it speaks volumes about how much great new music is out there. Here’s hoping the second half of the year provides just as many gems! Continue Reading »

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[audio http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/50153/In%20Step.mp3]

Girl Talk – In Step

Following Radiohead’s pay-what-you-like model, the new Girl Talk album is finished and ready for download. The above track is a sample of what you can expect to hear, a characteristically disorientating combination of The Travelling Wilburys, Dee-Lite, Nirvana, Kraftwerk and the Beach Boys – and the music geeks are already busy cataloguing the entire labyrinth of samples on Wikipedia.

You’re entitled to pay absolutely zero for the download, but you are asked to choose from a selection of reasons why. All “donations” over $10 include a copy of the physical release delivered to your door when it becomes available in September.

When I interviewed Gregg back in January, I asked him had he revised his opinion on making his music available for free and this is what he had to say:

You said you would give your music away as downloads for free if you could still be considered a legitimate musician by doing so. Since then, Radiohead have done the whole…

No one else has actually called me out on that and I think that’s great. I don’t think we’ll be doing the whole Radiohead thing exactly, especially because for me making money from CDs is so minimal compared to playing shows. It’s a very ‘00s thing where people don’t buy as much albums but yet people know about music and are more excited to come to shows. You have to make your money elsewhere.

In terms of the next album, I can’t say 100% yet but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make any profits from it on purpose. I really love having a physical CD and it takes money to produce that. Even though Radiohead did it, I still feel like there’s a little apprehension towards sample-based music especially because there’s so many remixes exist on the internet and it’s become so big over the past few years, I still feel that I need a legitimate CD for certain people to take it seriously as an album. I’d be happy to give it away on the internet for free but I still don’t think people would it treat it the same way they did Night Ripper. Regardless, we’re going to be pushing some new tactics as far as the way the money’s distributed full stop.

Did Illegal Art break even with Night Ripper?

Yeah, they did. They made a little cash which was exciting. Illegal Art are non-profit so all the money goes into future releases. I really can’t say but I know my two previous releases before Night Ripper made little to no money at all so I imagine it’s that way with a lot of their releases and they really push a lot of crazy, experimental music on the label. So it’s exciting that actually success will continue on and fuel new releases.

You can read the finished interview here.

On a related note, the LA Times have compiled A brief history of the album’s recent decline in value.

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