The Knocks, knock me out

The Knocks are an electronic music duo hailing from the big apple (the lower east side at that). They produced their early stuff in a home studio aka apartment then opened their own big kid place, HeavyRock Music. Then they played at clubs and shiz, and now they are big and touring with Ellie Goulding who you may remember from a Top 100 post a few weeks back blah blah.

You may have heard "Make It Better" or "Dancing With The DJ" or one of their other million remixes, either way if youre into electro/remixy shiz then they are the way to go. They also seem to have a thing for music of the early 60's and hit up quite a few temptations covers that don't at all suck.

Check em out and insert a bad pun about knocking on your door here.


listen if you like: chromeo, girl talk, chiddy bang, remixes galore


sidenote: if you listen to any of these, check out a snippet of "Dancing With The DJ" and then the campire acoustic version, which is the most interesting transition from electro to guitar strumming I've ever encountered. The Daft Punk/Ellie Mix is also amazing, and super mellow comparatively.



Dancing With The DJ ( Monsieur Adi Remix) - The Knocks
Dancing With The DJ (Campire Acoustic Version) - The Knocks
When You've Got Music (Feat. The Knocks) - Chiddy Bang
Knock On Wood (Temptations Cover) - The Knocks
There's Something About Us Under The Sheets (Ellie Goulding vs Daft Punk) - The Knocks

Back from the other side of the world with island tunes.

This is an actual picture from my trip. Well, the real thing was less purple. 

Hey bitties and whatever the guy equivalent of bitties is. I'm back bitches! Maybe you didn't notice but my partner in blogging crime, Ms. CM has been holding down the fort for the last week in my absence. Seems like I missed a doozy, White Lies and The Head & The Heart live?! Its a good thing I was in motherf*in Hawaii and not say, Idaho (no offense Ida-hoes) otherwise I would be hella jealous. Luckily I did bring back a taste of the pacific with me, in some jams old and new and a Tuesday island playlist, just.for.you. 

1. John Legend and Reggae = match made in heaven. 'Nuff said.

2. Graffiti 6's "Stare Into The Sun" sounds straight off the Blue Crush soundtrack. I know because I watched Blue Crush last night.

3. Tanlines is a little funky electro meets reggae sort of feel, lots of percussion in "Real Life" makes you want to get native with yo' bad self and "Z" featuring Glasser is a more mellow tune with Glassers pretty ooh's and aah's kind of making you want to sway, or at the very least twirl.

4. Finish that shit off with my favorite song to blast when driving along the beach (how can you resist a meeting of Passion Pit and Cold War Kids, the curiosity!)


Can't Be My Lover - John Legend feat. Buju Banton
Stare Into The Sun - Graffiti 6
Real Life - Tanlines
Z - Tanlines feat. Glasser
Mine Is Yours (Passion Pit Remix) - Cold War Kids

Foster the People at Mercury Lounge

A few weeks ago I fell deeply in love with Foster the People's EP. The kind of love that makes you hate yourself because you listened to one song on repeat until your eyeballs rolled back into your skull and all your words came out in song. So, before I went to see them last Friday at Mercury Lounge, I had the pre-concert panic that the world of auto-tune and synthesizers would prove Foster to be just another shitty band with a really good production team behind them. The horror!


Thankfully for us, the rest of their tour stops, and the lucky bitches at Coachella this year, that couldn't be further from the truth. Their amazing energy transferred perfectly through the small setting at Mercury, one of those shows where you couldn't help but awkwardly bounce around your 11 inches of floor space. Equally entrancing, the boys penchant for trading instruments, including a few songs where they featured 2 drummers (one standing and focusing on the symbol). As you stood in the crowd and watched lead singer Mark Foster do the everyman-shoulder-dance you really just couldn't help but love them.  

check them out if you like: The idea of MGMT and Passion Pit 
having a love child

if you like them check out: Temper Trap, the band behind the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack killer "Sweet Disposition" and a band you will quickly discover, is my fucking favorite.

Foster The People - Helena Beat by The Clink