WHAT? OKAY! Lil’ Jon mixtapes. See for yourself if they’re your thing. Lil’ John collaborated with DJ Spider to make mixtapes Rockbox Vol. 1 and Rockbox Vol. 2. Volume 1 features rock and Volume 2 features nothin’ but that New Wave shit, baby. So, does this mean Lil’ Jon is attempting to follow non-mainstream trends? It’s kind of hard for Lil’ Jon to break out of the mainstream reputaiton he has, but we’re definitely feeling the Nu Wave mixtape more than the rock. Sorry rock fans.

Overall, we find Lil’ Jon laughable, but his fame and ability to create a marketable image and form of music are undeniable. After all, he’s the “King of Krunk.” Ya heard?

“Rockbox Vol 1.:”

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Rockbox Vol. 2.:”

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Download.

1. “Soul Meets Body.” Okay, so this was the second track of Death Cab For Cutie’s (DCFC) Plans record. Plans was the first truly commercial DCFC release, as it was on the major label Atlantic Records. To top it off, “Soul Meets Body,” is probably one of the most pop-sounding rock tracks on the entire album: we can’t deny the fact that we heard it being played at The Gap; but hey, we still appreciate its sound aesthetic very much. The line “‘So brown eyes I’ll hold you near because you’re the only line I want to hear,” speaks against all the triteness (among other adjectives) of people adoring people with lighter hair and eyes. Excellent.

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2. “What Sarah Said.” This track loses to “Soul Meets Body,” because it’s just not something that you’re always in the mood for. Depressed and low, yet profound and interesting, tracks are reserved for certain moods. Whereas, tracks like “Soul Meets Body,” are not reserved for any time per se.

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3. “Title and Registration.” Love the commentary about the glove compartment never holding gloves. This begs the question though, what should the glove compartment or glove box be called? The storage compartment? The storage box? The storage box that is on the front passenger side of the vehicle? It is funny how things in general can just stick even when they are no longer valid. So, I suppose DCFC is just commenting on the fact that people are creatures of habit. That’s our analysis anyway. Sure, you could take things at face value, but why do that when you could over-analyze?

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4. “Styrofoam Plates.” Everyone knows that the lyrics of DCFC are pretty exact when it comes to achieving their purpose. Whatever you consider the purpose of lyrics to be, we believe that Death Cab lyrics are tangible to everyone, even for non-fans. This song was awesome until we learned that it’s not true that Gibbard carries a lot of hatred towards his father from a childhood of severe physical abuse, but rather merely a friend of Gibbard’s had a similar situation and the friend’s story gave rise to the song and not actually Gibbard’s own life experiences. The song is still effective regardless though, just slightly less enjoyable from the intellectual standpoint. Everyone’s life history has upsetting, emotional or even traumatic experiences caused by their family or lack thereof.

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5. “Tiny Vessels.” The harsh nature of this song is interesting. Not only that, the song contains an analysis of how depressing it can be to fall out of love with someone. Again, though, if you’re happily in love. with no end to your relationship in sight, this song isn’t going to have the same effect on you.

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6. “Passenger Seat.” How beautiful. Chris Walla has really outdone himself with the piano melody and overall instrumentals here. Further, Gibbard adds a relaxed and peaceful mood to this song.

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7.“Technicolor Girls.” First-off, what is Technicolor? Oh, you probably at least have some idea, or a less than vague notion, but do you really know what the exact meaning is? Wikipedia to the rescue:

Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc.), now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain’s Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952. Technicolor became known and celebrated for its hyper-realistic, saturated levels of color, and was used commonly for filming musicals (such as The Wizard of Oz and Singin’ in the Rain), costume pictures (such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Joan of Arc), and animated films (such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia).

The Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1915 by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott.

And there you have it. So, DCFC likes old-school stuff. We really can’t stand most things out of the 50′s, although with age and the move to Southern California, the fascination with things from the Technicolor period are a lot more prevalent. This, in turn, makes all things that could have been viewed in Technicolor somewhat more palatable.

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8. “Wait.” This reminds us of smoking cigarettes. At least, when we used to smoke. Smoking is bad, okay? But when we used to smoke and spend more time socializing than working–the opposite of now–this song was pretty appealing. Isn’t being able to relate to lyrics what it’s all about?

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9. “Title Track.” Another track about the degradation of relationships and life itself. At 1:39 in the album version, the transition is fairly notable. Regret in any relationship is not a pleasant emotion. Of course, I regret things that I really enjoy all the time. Yes, I live for regret and all of its lovely tidings.

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10. “A Movie Script Ending.” Dirty words, asterisks in for the vowels. The way this song flows exercises restraint while simultaneously building up to higher-energy moments. We’ve listened to this track so many times that we’re kind of tired of it by now.

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But here is a bonus track that we could not figure out where to insert into the top 10 at this time. Our selection of it is inspired by the work of other artists on our site!

“This Charming Man:”

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So if you know anything about Stones Throw Records, you know about Madlib and his alter-artist-ego Quasimoto aka Lord Quas. You’ll be happy to know that come February 19th you’ll be able to buy your very own Quasimoto figure in a box. The Quasimoto figure is 8-inches tall, available in equal quantities of yellow and blue, each with a brick and “cigarette.”

The hip-hop artist Quasimoto (aka Lord Quas) was created by Madlib. He has released two albums, The Unseen and The Further Adventures of Lord Quas, a collection of singles, and guest appearances on albums by Madvillain and Jaylib. The Quasimoto figure is based on the character drawn by Jeff Jank.

Kid Robot and Stones Throw released a Madvillain figure in January 2007, which sold out in a matter of hours. A limited number of the Quasimoto figure are available via pre-sale at Stones Throw’s online store, and will be sold at Kid Robot stores and the locations listed below.

You can pre-order one now here.

Bonus (Lord Quas Dunks):

We’re just past the 10-year-anniversary for Sigur Ros. Jeez, has it really been that long? You know, that Icelandic band with the lead vocalist who claims that he has invented his own language? You might have already noticed Sigur Ros in the Flosstradamus post. So, what makes Sigur Ros a great band? Well, for one, their music has the ability to have an effect on listeners without even using language! Of course, what about all the genres that have no lyrics but can affect you? Sigur Ros is different because they are using lyrics, just not lyrics that anyone can understand, no matter what language they speak. There is no translation. I think that is kind of the point that lead vocalist Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson had in mind when he decided to write the songs the way he does.

Birgisson:

Not all of the Sigur Ros tracks are devoid of language, but loads of the songs that we like feature this “gibberish” they have created, or what they have dubbed Vonlenska. If you’re too lazy to follow the Wikipedia link, Vonlenska is defined there as,

“a term used to describe the gibberish sung by the band, in particular Birgisson. It is also commonly known by the English translation of its name, Hopelandic. It takes its name from “Von”, a song on Sigur Rós’s debut album Von where it was first used. Vonlenska is not an actual language people speak in, as it lacks a consistent grammar structure, word meaning, or even distinct words. Instead, it consists of emotive syllables and phonemes; the band’s website describes it as “a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music”. Most of the syllable strings sung by Birgisson are repeated many times throughout each song, and in the case of ( ), throughout the whole album.”

This begs the question though, how much of Sigur Ros’ music is improvised? If you’re singing in Vonlenska, do you write it down first? We’re guessing it’s a combination of the two, but either way, it really works well for the band and their success.

Time for some selected tracks for your listening enjoyment.

“Njosnavelin:”

“Intro” (from Agaetis Byrjun):

“Svefn-g-englar:”

“Starálfur”

“Vaka:”