[Music Video] Watch The Duck – Poppin’ Off In Atlanta

This is a good one, ‘SoulDubstep’ as they term it by new crew from the A, Watch The Duck. Think Zeds Dead meets Chicago juke music proponents, BBU with Mystikal (or is that a Pharrell/N*E*R*D influence??) hollerin’ over top. Video features the DragonHouse dancers. I digs. What y’all think though??

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 5. Azari & III – Azari & III

This is another one of the few albums I was familiar with before getting into my epic journey of long list-nominated album listening. As I had said before and during the Polaris Salon I was a panel member of (which you can listen to HERE if you missed it, click podcast #1): the Azari & III album is fantastic! Like I also said, I can probably count the number of truly great (non-compilation/DJ Mix) house music albums on two hands and this just might be one of them. The album references early, classic Trax Records vibes but gives them a fresh, shiny coat of paint so it feels modern and new and not dated or like a pastiche.

I was privy to some discussions that tried to justify the worth of this album because of the sociopolitical subtext of the lyrics and their commentary on AIDS, addiction, homophobia etc. I think that’s cool but I actually don’t have an issue with celebrating a record that is “just dance music” or a “soundtrack to partying” if it’s great at being that. What’s wrong with being excellent within those parameters anyway? Do you know how hard that is to make an album that works as music a real DJ could credibly play in his sets at the club and also as an at-home listening experience? Azari & III managed to thread that incredibly tough needle and do both with their album.

If you love dance music or even if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and think electronic music is not ‘real’ music or something that makes for a great album listening experience and should stay in the clubs, then you need to check this out. On my short list and proudly so!

[album stream via Hypetrak]

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 38. The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence

This is one of the few nominated albums I was already familiar with before the Polaris long list was announced last week. Not to toot my own horn but I was the person largely responsible for getting The Weeknd short-listed last year. But as you know if you read this blog regularly, neither The Weeknd‘s Thursday or Echoes Of Silence mixtapes made it onto my Long List ballot for this year.

I think Abel is an important artist, not just for ‘urban’ music in Canada but music in general but if I had to keep it one hunid, I’d say House of Balloons is still his best work to date. That being said, compared to a lot of the albums I’ve been listening to on the Long List this past week, Echoes of Silence might actually be competitive for Short List consideration after all. BTW: not sure what’s going on but the amazing cover of Michael Jackson‘s “Dirty Diana” he opened EOS with has been excised from this soundcloud embed for some reason so this is not technically the real, full album posted above.

[via]

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 27. Ariane Moffatt – MA

This Quebecois singer’s synth-y flavored, bi-lingual indie pop wasn’t bad. I would term it pleasant and innocuous even (actually kind of liked the steel pan-powered “Too Late”). But music that sounds like it could soundtrack a late 20-something professional women’s kind of hip dinner or cocktail parties in their CB2/West Elm-furnished downtown condo lofts are generally not albums I think of as being serious contenders for winning the Polaris Prize. Just my point of view, of course. Look for this to be on sale in the CD section next time you’re in a Starbucks or soundtracking the next wave of Gap or iPhone commercials (possibly….)

Hit the jump to hear the full album via RDIO [preview snippets only for non-RDIO subscribers]

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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 22. Grimes – Visions

Grimes is one of those photogenic buzz artists, popular with critics and hipster fans alike, that you wanna hate. She looks .like an oddball Scarlet Johansson (sort of) and sings like Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) mixed with Minnie Ripperton (at least with the aid of studio trickery, she does. IRL? No idea). Her 80’s informed electronic, synth pop sound is heavy on effects and artifice but I can’t front, there’s some substance to it. Visions is worthy follow-up to her should-have-been-nominated-last-year Halfaxa album despite having the lousiest cover art I have seen in a long, long time – just terrible! Dig the track, “Oblivion” above, a stand-out from Visions, though? Then hit the jump to check out the rest of the album via RDIO (non-subscribers will hear preview snippets only).

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