M.I.A. releases Vicki Leekx

M.I.A. has released a new 18-song mixtape, titled Vicki Leekx, inspired by none other than controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Tracklist:

1. The World
2. Bamboo Go
3. Illy Girl
4. Super Tight
5. Let Me Hump You
6. WWW/Meds/Feds
7. Steppin/Up
8. Go At It
9. Vicki Intermission
10. Gen-N-E-Y
11. Bad Girls
12. Dutch Dutch
13. Marsha / Britney
14. Tamil Beat Munchi
15. Listen Up
16. MudersoundsMunchi
17. You My Love (Featuring Rosaly)
18. Get Around

Click on the link above to download.

www.miauk.com

(image via idolator)

Yeasayer release live EP

In the holiday spirit, Yeasayer have released a live EP, recorded during the 28/10/10 Brussels leg of the Odd Blood tour.

It comes with this message:

Dear Wonderful Fans,
To celebrate the close of 2010, your amazing support, and numerous requests, we have decided to unlock the Yeasayer vault and release this live show recorded at the lovely Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. We are letting you, the fans, name the price. See you in 2011!
- Much Love, Yeasayer

Click on the link above to download.

Track list:
1. Madder Red
2. Rome
3. Wait For The Summer
4. Tightrope
5. Red Cave
6. Grizelda
7. Sunrise
8. Mondegreen
9. Strange Reunions
10. O.N.E.
11. Ambling Alp
12. The Children
13. 2080

And all the naysayers are saying YEA!

www.yeasayer.net

(image by Danny North via NME)

Gorillaz release iPad album

As promised, Damon Albarn and his band of brothers have released The Fall, recorded using 20 different iPad applications (the list is on the stream page).

Track list:

1. Phoner To Arizona
2. Revolving Doors
3. HillBilly Man
4. Detroit
5. Shy-town
6. Little Pink Plastic Bag
7. The Joplin Spider
8. The Parish of Space Dust
9. The Snake In Dallas
10. Amarillo
11. The Speak It Mountains
12. Aspen Forest
13. Bobby In Phoenix
14. California And The Slipping Of The Sun
15. Seattle Yodel

Click on the link above to stream/download The Fall.

www.gorillaz.com

Bradford Cox is the gift that keeps on giving

After all those free demos he gave out last month, it seems like Bradford Cox has become used to the idea of generosity. So, in the spirit of Christmas, the man behind Atlas Sound has released five versions of “Artificial Snow” for download at the Deerhunter blog.

Click on the link above to download.

Don’t forget that they’re playing Laneway’s Singapore leg in January. Good chance to thank him personally for all the free stuff.

www.deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com

(image via the Deerhunter blog)

Beach House play for Conan

The Baltimore band showed some Team Coco love and played Teen Dream track “10 Mile Stereo” on Monday night’s episode of Conan.

Armed with their floating pyramids and Alex Scally’s spacey hammer-ons, Victoria Legrand’s voice didn’t disappoint and the band delivered an exquisite performance, adding to the tally of great performances by great bands on Conan’s return to television (see: Deerhunter).

Beach House have also released a Christmas track titled “I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun”. Click here to score that little ditty.

Click on the time button at the bottom of this post to view the video in its full glory (sorry for the technical glitch).

www.beachhousebaltimore.com

Download new tracks by Passion Pit, The Antlers and Andrew Bird

American Express’ Blank Canvases series of ads promoting their ZYNC card featured great original music by Passion Pit, The Antlers and Andrew Bird. And now, the full versions of those songs can be downloaded off ZYNC from American Express’ Facebook page.

Don’t miss out! If you need a recap, watch the ads here. And if you are Team CoCo and proud of it, the Conan O’Brien ads are too good to pass.

(image via notempire)

The friends play their favourite songs, debut two new Christmas tracks

Guitarists from The National, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, along with Arcade Fire’s multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry hit up BBC Radio 6 for their 6 Mix takeover, where they debuted two new Christmas tracks that they recorded in Aaron’s attic with Sufjan Stevens.

The 6 Mix session is like a little peek into their world and their friendships with each other and other famous names in the music industry. They talk about their musical endeavors together and it is obvious that music is the glue.

Listen to “Barcarola”, one of the unreleased Christmas tracks, here.

Click on the link above to pull out the BBC iPlayer.

www.americanmary.com
www.arcadefire.com

(images via nymag and johnnynotsid.buzznet)

CoS loves Contra the best, explains with Seinfeld analogy

Our favourite news site, Consequence of Sound, has named Vampire Weekend’s Contra their best album of the year. And although this is an unlikely choice, the accompanying article references George Costanza (win).

Plastic Beach is at its highest spot on any list so far (#4) and best-of list frequenter Teen Dream makes yet another top ten appearance at #7. The rest of the top 10 features the usual suspects in all the top 50 lists so far. The Dead Weather’s Sea of Cowards is a surprise inclusion at #15, as it has barely made a scratch on any of the other lists.

CoS’s top 10:

1. Vampire Weekend - Contra
2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
3. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
4. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
5. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
6. The National - High Violet
7. Beach House - Teen Dream
8. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
9. Jonsi - Go
10. The Roots - How I Got Over

Click on the link above for the full list.

www.consequenceofsound.net

(image via Wikipedia)

Gorillaz preview iPad album

Gorillaz has released a short preview of their upcoming album that was recorded entirely on the iPad. A video for one of the songs will be released on Christmas eve and fans can expect to download whole thing for free off gorillaz.com come Christmas day.

The band have the Advent Calendar project currently running on their website, in which they gift fans with behind-the-scenes videos, wallpaper and all sorts of swag. And in the spirit of Christmas, they attached this message:

Greetings! Gorillaz’s little elves have been busy preparing a daily feast of Gorillaz gift ephemera for your jolly enjoyment.
Tis the season to be Mary… Blah, bah, Bah Humbug, blah….! Insert your own jovial Xmas bull***t here.

Oh, do you feel the cheer?

www.gorillaz.com

Pitchfork loves Kanye (but we already knew that)

Surprise surprise, Pitchfork names Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy their best album of the year. Of course, they also gave the LP a perfect score in their review. Twisted Fantasy’s lead single “Power” was also named their sixth best track of the year.

Ariel Pink’s “Round and Round” clinched top honours for P4K’s best track of the year and the lo-fi mastercraft LP landed the #9 spot on the coveted list. Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs narrowly missed the top 10, turning up #11.

Here’s the top 10:

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
3. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
5. Beach House - Teen Dream
6. Vampire Weekend - Contra
7. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
8. James Blake - The Bells Sketch EP / CMYK EP / Klavierwerke EP
9. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
10. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Click on the link above for the full list.

www.pitchfork.com

(image via Wikipedia)