Illangelo - Crash Landing

Producer Illangelo, whose claim to fame resides more in his work with The Weeknd's 2011 trilogy of mixtapes, has a convexly interesting project on the way. August 20 will see the release of History Of Man, Illangelo's ten part concept LP based off the John Milton classic poem Paradise Lost. While some may be wary of the lofty aspirations, the LP's second part - "Crash Landing" - actually sounds fairly great. Check it out below.

The Weeknd on Later ... With Jools Holland

Abel Tesfaye made his first official UK television stop yesterday on Later ... With Jools Holland to perform on of his House Of Balloons standouts, "Wicked Games." The performance comes on a trail of his appearances promoting Trilogy, which is available now. Check the performance out below.

Albums Of The Month: October 2012

Albums Of The Month - October 2012

Before I start spouting off about what I think were the best albums of the past month, I'm terribly relieved to say that the election is finally over. It seemed to last two years, but it's finally over and dead. Now we can move on to the important things, like music and snacks and things.

3.) Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

There's a somber, underlying element to the murky electro house movement in the UK. There's more artists than one can count that bleed the elements - bass-heavy smoke screens filtered with echo spaced vocals, spinning slowly as if it were a stereotype of London rain. Ironically, the artist that seems to grasp the air space the best seems to be New York producer Burial, who plays with stuttered, moody vocals in the same vacuous landscapes.

And that's largely what is heard on Manchester producer Andy Stott's Luxury Problems. The sounds are unusually steep, but fit the billing of the English underground soundtrack. The tracks do the usually uneasy mission of collectively bleeding into one stable, but unnerving collage of movements. And as a whole piece, it comes through richer and fuller because of it.

2.) Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
I won't lie; I had no idea who Miguel was or where this album came from before early October. The obvious comparison here is to The Weeknd's breakthrough debut House Of Balloons, in 2011. To flatter sensibilities, that's actually fairly honest. The endearing R&B isn't slogged by lazy ambition, with Miguel asserting a collective identity. Tracks like "Do You" and standout "Don't Look Back" are immense, crashing, and exploratory, divvying between stadium aesthetics and street corner beats. In all, there's a lot to hear on the second and third times around, making Kaleidoscope Dream one of the more surprisingly daring albums of the year.

1.) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
The number one album of October shouldn't shock anyone, anywhere. Among artists, Kendrick Lamar was probably mentioned more in 2012 than any other, and that was before the release of good kid, m.A.A.d city. With the tantamount hype raising ever so slightly by the weeks (a delayed release may have had something to do with it), the album delivered and then some. Tracks like "Backseat Freestyle" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)" had been out for some time before the full album, with fans admiring the Compton phenom's blisteringly fast verses, coated in some of the more stark themes that have become unfamiliar in mainstream hip-hop.

It's that obvious Compton influence that prevails here, twinged with modern spins. N.W.A. and Dr. Dre - who worked with Lamar on one of his first singles "The Recipe" - hold sway in a west coast vibe that spreads over territory. But rather than plug his Cali sensibilities every other verse, Lamar sells himself. Think more Tupac, less Easy E. Obviously that's a huge name to aim for, but if anyone can in, it seems he has the ability. 

Lollapalooza 2012 Must-See Artists Pt. II

Today we'll continue our Lollapalooza countdown with Part Two.

#8: Bassnectar
Lorin Ashton has become a regular electronic mainstay for major music festivals in recent years, performing at Lollapalooza as recently as 2009. Despite his career beginning over 11 years ago, the San Francisco native has been riding the ongoing wave of popularity that basically any big name in the electronica scene has been getting. Now, with tremendous stage shows and seizure-educing light extravaganzas, Bassnectar has earned a reputation as one of the genre's 'must-see' acts.

You can catch Bassnectar headlining at Perry's, on Friday, August 3 at 8:45 p.m.



#7: The Weeknd
Because I haven't talked enough about Abel Tesfaye over the past year and a half, now I finally get my chance to catch the much-hyped Canadian singer in a huge setting.

The Weeknd has no immediate plans to release anything new following up his super-acclaimed three free mixtapes; House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echo of Silence. But since his April performance at Coachella, he's been getting even bigger, selling out shows with relative ease.

You can catch Tesfaye performing at the Red Bull Soundstage, Saturday, August 4 at 6 p.m.



We'll continue with Part III tomorrow ...

Free Cocaine 80s Mixtape

Fans of The Weeknd, or just damn good music in general, should drop everything and grab this six-track mixtape from Cocaine 80s, courtesy of 2dopeboyz. Download it here.

First Lollapalooza confirmations? Let's just say they are for the sake of fun.

Bare with me here, because it's been a pretty long time before I've been able to say that it looks like we finally have some Lollapalooza confirmations.

The reason is a bit different than past years, but Lollapalooza (three-day passes are on sale today, by the way) has posted adds around the Chicago public transit system. At the Logan Square station, four "clue" ads were posted, verified by several Chicago blogs including Wine & Pop.

The "clues" indicate lyrics from four different acts, of which are two suspected additions: Justice and Jack White, alongside two very surprising inclusions, The Weeknd and Die Antwoord.

Regardless of your opinion on the last inclusion - it's usually not positive - those are four big attention grabbers, and have hyped up a pretty exciting festival that, by the way, will be fully revealed April 11.

As always, stay tuned for more details!

Tuesday Bears: New Weeknd video - Montreal

Earlier today, High 5 Collective, the group that premiered their unofficial video for The Weeknd's "The Morning" a few weeks back, released another unofficial video for "Montreal." Watch below.

Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2011: Part IV

We'll continue our countdown today with songs #10 - #6.

#10: Big K.R.I.T. - Country Shit (Remix ft. Ludacris and Bun B)
Return of 4Eva, while Big K.R.I.T.'s true breakout album, isn't totally single-minded. For Justin Scott, the 25-year-old breakout Mississippi rapper, every southern rap anthem is met with self-conscious ones. But forgive me for not ignoring "Country Shit (Remix ft. Ludacris and Bun B)," a heavy souvenir of modern southern rap; dirty, party-minded, and as unapologetic as it is enjoyable. Rap music needs real voices now and again, but no one will argue against this change of pace. 



#9: Black Lips - Family Tree
Arabia Mountain's defining moment, "Family Tree" is the product of a well-placed production snarled in between the Black Lips now effortless messy pragmatism. It's inherently sloppy, but consciously put together, combining what the band had already perfected, and what it desperately needed work on. There's something to love about the Black Lips and their renown stage persona, but it seems ill-needed for any band who doesn't sound like they're drunk seven days a week. And maybe now they're still drunk six of those days, but they figured out something right in between those chaotic moments.



#8: The Weeknd - The Morning
The world's true introduction to The Weeknd, "The Morning" is the expertly crafted new-wave hip-hop soul, in a drilling, real-world sense. The production, as I've repeated several times over, is something to be in awe of. But rather than staying stuck on the ethereal sounds spiraling through the background, Tesfaye's soft, but wrenching vocals of high-style dejection eventually stick out. Parties, women, sex, and nothing to show except the human that comes out of it. It's richer than it sounds, but not because of the subject matter, but the sly attempt of spilling his guts out enriched in a glorious "ambiance." 



#7: Battles - Ice Cream (ft. Matias Aguayo)
The long march of "Ice Cream's" sexually-addled introduction - brimmed with soaking, short-breath "oh" and "ahs" - is a eyebrow raising mark, not only for a song, but for a band like Battles that settles so often without any kind of vocals in their work. And while no member of the three-piece progressive group actually puts their time into the singing (that's what Aguayo is for), it speaks louder than most of their instrumental work on Gloss Drop. The group's tread the pop-prog territory before with 2007's "Atlas." And while "Ice Cream" isn't "Atlas," in terms of off-hand oddball structure and unpredictability, it comes through with that same level of insane enjoyment. Also, the best video of 2011 helps.



#6: Radiohead - Lotus Flower
When the video for "Lotus Flower" debuted on an early February morning, a calm sense of pre-hype hysteria rose. Fans had only heard of Radiohead's The King of Limbs roughly a week before the release, and almost knew nothing about it aside from a few sparse live performances from Thom Yorke's solo work. The video was instantly transfixed as internet-rattled gifs and t-shirts with Yorke's "choreographed" dance routine, but mostly in fun of what Radiohead has become to the internet community. But in honesty, "Lotus Flower" is a monumentally complex rendition for the veteran group, filled with dual percussion, Johnny Greenwood's quietly chaotic sound bites, and increasingly skillful sound arches that sound unfamiliar even to a band as accomplished as Radiohead. The King of Limbs may have not been the flaunting standout that many hope from the band, but "Lotus Flower" clears the temporary uneasiness.  



We'll continue our countdown tomorrow with the top five songs of 2011 ...

Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2011: Part II

We''ll continue our countdown today with songs #20 through #16.

#20: Rustie - Ultra Thizz
Glass Swords, Scottish producer Rustie's first full-length debut, is full of songs like "Ultra Thizz," which takes a smart man's look in between dubstep and electro pop. In that regard, however, it rarely sounds like either of those genre's take collective footing in Rustie's underrated technique. "Ultra Thizz" simply does what Glass Swords does best; putting together recognizable pieces into something completely different. 

Rustie - Ultra Thizz by Bears and Bullets

#19: Real Estate - It's Real
There's nothing demonstratively complex about "It's Real," Real Estate's most endearing and memorable take to date. The band sounds, if anything, lush here, breezing through soft guitar and "Ohh" choruses, it makes the more unnecessarily produced tracks of the year seem somewhat preposterous in comparison, taking a page from Kurt Vile's book. There's nothing a song needs sometimes than a memorable hook, solid timing, and the ability to take itself less seriously.



#18: The Weeknd - The Knowing
The finale to The Weeknd's pretty fucking good debut House of Balloons, "The Knowing" is Abel Tesfaye's six-minute epic to clearly being cheated on. For all of memorable moments on House of Balloons, or even Thursday or Echoes of Silence, the two follow-up albums, none are nearly as personal or as easily to relate to as "The Knowing." But there's nothing tedious or petty that comes through, regardless of however Tesfaye really dealt with it.



#17: Bon Iver - Perth
Bon Iver's emphatic opener, "Perth" sets the unreal pace for the rest of the album that, for the most part, does its best to match it. Justin Vernon and the rest of Bon Iver sound deceivingly huge, backed by multiple drums, horns, and a rhythm section, but still manage to keep the quiet allure of the group and Vernon's intimate vocal style close at hand. It speaks volume for the rest of the album, the band keeping itself in tact with its large world sensibilities and small world sounds.  



#16: Mastodon - Spectrelight
The Hunter, Mastodon's latest effort, wasn't what most fans wanted from the group. The idea of the Atlanta metal band becoming too radio-friendly can't be good for their image, regardless of whether that notion has any true merit. Maybe songs like "Curl of the Burl" were a bit too soft for the Leviathan fans at heart, but "Spectrelight" sounds like prime Mastodon any way you shape it. The song burst through the opening like every crash of thunder cliche you can call it, drums and guitar roaring, almost unstoppable, making you forget any of the album's lighter moments. 



We'll continue tomorrow with songs #15 - #11 ...

Bears and Bullets Albums of the Year: Pt. V

We'll continue today with our top 25 countdown with albums #5 through #1.

#5: Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
In all honesty, the concept album isn't my thing. Too often the ideas of a concept album sweep away what could have been multiple tracks of endearing music, instead playing the hand of a story that isn't terribly interesting to begin with it. That's why 'essential' records like Tommy, Quadrophenia, The Wall, and Sgt. Peppers, for all their massive critical acclaim, don't truthfully pass through time as well as their super-fans would like to admit. Daring? Sure. But so was the first 'Tron' movie, and that looks terrible now. 

So, I had every right in my mind to be skeptical of Fucked Up's David Comes to Life project; a huge double-album about the omniscient David character and the pre-meditated sequence of events that follow upon meeting Veronica (both are identified in the album's second track "Queen of Hearts"). The problems that the band avoids is in their hardcore nature. While the song-writing is vital to the idea, Fucked Up thankfully understood that their punk sounds come first and foremost, not endlessly dragging through the four parts that make up the album. It almost feels like David Comes to Life destroys the concept of the concept album, playing with hearts instead of just minds.

#4: The Weeknd - House of Balloons
The man who should be on everyone's shortlist for Best Artist of 2011, Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, released three free records this year as part of a trilogy. Thursday and Echoes of Silence (released two days ago) were the final pieces, but it was his February debut House of Balloons that truly came out of no where to land him where he is right now, the best new voice in pop. Luckily, Tesfaye's edge isn't simply his voice, but his drippy, enriching production setting the pace for all three albums. The sampling is noticeable, like Beach House's "Master of None" on the seven-minute-plus "The Party & The After Party," but aren't the the most attachable portions of House of Balloons. That's Tesfaye's job, which comes through effortlessly and is hard to match.

#3: Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Hip-hop too often settles with good, or just good enough. While some parts of the product remain pre-eminently consistent, truly pushing the boundaries isn't thought of as a necessary notion of the genre, it seems. For every great record that leaks through, there's another that just seems good, or passable, but not terribly imaginative. With the combined work of Ishmael Butler (ex-Digable Planets member) and Tendai Maraire, Black Up, the first studio release from Shabazz Palaces, is some of the smartest, most intricate, and deeply profound work the genre has seen in years. The narratives are existential tomes of race, materialism, and atmospheric elements only engraved in the deepest caverns of thoughtful construct. Combined with the other-worldly sounds the duo work with, and Black Up proudly comes out as one of the most imaginative efforts in recent memory.

#2: Bon Iver - Bon Iver
If there's one phrase that works for Bon Iver's self-titled release, it's "embarrassingly good." From the album's roaring opening, "Perth," to the slightly confusing, but heartwarming "Beth/Rest" (some won't agree with that), Bon Iver is too good even for the common cynic to thoughtlessly ignore. The sounds are too rich, Justin Vernon's voice is too sentimental, the craft is too perfect, the consistency is ... too consistent.

Every album has it's impossibly high moments ("Perth," "Holocene"), but rarely do they truly separate from the rest of the record, as it does here. From "Michicant" to "Calgary" to the aforementioned "Beth/Rest," fanfare is split to where the record stands tallest. But that distinction says more for Bon Iver's overall quality than anything else. It's a question worth asking, even if there's no direct answer.

#1: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Expectations were pretty high for Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83's sixth studio release in ten years. The previous records were consistently formative, but usually ended up plateauing after a couple remarkable singles ("Run Into Flowers," "Kim & Jessie," etc.) There always seemed to be an innate ability for Anthony Gonzalez to not only replicate those stand-out moments, but captivate them with something bigger, something that required more time. And it's pretty easy to see how big Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is; nearly 80 minutes and two albums worth of material. You'd figure Gonzalez would fizzle somewhere.

The album scorches in the opening, with "Intro," "Midnight City," and "Reunion" - three tracks that have already marked their way through the past few weeks as singles, and the expectations are pretty much met. That pitch-perfect manifestation of imagination and childhood enchantment Gonzalez has a complete knack for are packaged in what could be perceived as a deluxe issue, unrelenting and unconscious. It's hard not to get completely lost on the first or second listen, but that's what a perfect record should do. It needs to be so good you don't care about anything else.



We'll continue next week with our Top 25 Songs of the Year ...

Friday Bears: New Weeknd video - The Knowing

Late last night, as some kind of Black Friday special (I made that part up), The Weeknd released a near-eight minute super video for "The Knowing," the final track on his spring album House of Balloons. It's about this futuristic dystopian universe, or someone getting cheated on. Either or.

The Weeknd - The Knowing

Friday Bears: New Mixtape from The Weeknd (!) - Thursday

In case you haven't already heard, late last night The Weeknd released the second of his three-part free mixtape 2011 epic with Thursday. Demand is a bit high for Abel Tesfaye's latest work, so downloading from the site may or may not take some adjusted time.

The final free tape, Echoes of Silence, is set for release in the fall. Head over to The Weeknd's homepage to grab the most recent download, here.

Monday Bears: Top 10 Albums of 2011 ... so far (Pt. II)

Here's part two.

5: Smith Westerns - Dye it Blonde

4: The Weeknd - House of Balloons

3: Black Lips - Arabia Mountain

2: White Denim - D

1: Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

Friday Bears: Another NSFW video from The Weeknd

This morning, The Weeknd released another one of his incredibly NSFW videos from his House of Balloons mixtape (still available for free download from his website). The new video for "Wicked Games" has a ton of blow a tits. Booooring.

The Weeknd - Wicked Games

Monday Bears: New Weeknd video (unofficial) - High For This

Fresh off the release of his intensely addicting mixtape last month, Abel Tesfaye, better known now as The Weeknd, has his first (although unofficial) music video to his name for "High For This." Director Michael Cumming did his best to at least make the video pretty NSFW.

The Weeknd - High For This (Unofficial)