Once again, another wonderful KITSUNÉ MAISON compilation comes down full of various artists doing various things including this song from the band Computer Magic. The newest compilation, entitled KITSUNÉ MAISON COMPILATION 12: THE GOOD FUN ISSUE, is replete with fun, a melodious song cycle that crosses a wide pattern of the hippest in hip, the coolest in cool and the newest in new.

Computer Magic‘s thrilling inclusion on the compilation came to me this morning in my inbox. The song “Ex-Believer” is a quirky, if slightly herky-jerky, selction of bebop electro pop for odd mods like yourself. It seems to me a timely number, being that every day that goes by, we’re all becoming ex-believers just a little bit more.

Computer Magic – Ex-Believer

Want to check out more from the compilation? Here’s a quick minimix, then you can click here to purchase the whole thing.

Perhaps because of the fact that it’s drawn controversy from The Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family already, it’s worth noting this particular new Christmas anthem that has been served up by the UK band Babybird with a familiar cameo.

The band, whose roots date back to the mid-1990′s, is fronted by Stephen Jones, also a terrific solo performer in his own right. Babybird have scored a number of minor hits in the UK but remain widely unknown here in the U.S. save for the song “You’re Gorgeous” which gave them international exposure early on. But after breaking up in 2004, the band have since reformed and been recipients of great patronage by one of their biggest fans and supporters, Johnny Depp — a.k.a. the Jack Sparrow of this shit — including cameos on recordings and videos directed by the world-renowned, multi-talented performer. His inclusion on this humorously tongue-in-cheek (albeit now controversial) bit of Christmas music (which leads off their latest album The Pleasures Of Self Destruction [iTunes]) is about as predictable as the sun coming out at night; nobody, including me, would expect to be updating their blogs to discuss a controversial Christmas recording featuring Johnny Depp.

But with religious groups demanding the song be banned from the airwaves as the song vies for a shot at being the Christmas #1 in the UK, it seems pertinent to share it with you here so you can decide what all the hullaballoo is really for and, if you like it, give you a chance to purchase it, edging it even closer to the #1 position on the UK charts.

What’s It About? The song tells the story of a group of teenagers that hire a Jesus look-alike whom they convince to organize a “stag night”. When things go wrong, the Jesus look-alike (who likes to have a bit of the drink and drive the occasional stolen car) ends up dying and, somehow, learns that he actually is the REAL Jesus.

::: LISTEN ::: Babybird feat. Johnny Depp – Jesus Stag Night Club

[buy from iTunes UK] | [buy from iTunes USA]

Saw a man in a bar with his hair like a lady
Bloody thorns ’round his ears like he was a crazy
He had holes in his hands and a cross for a spine
Crushed a berry in his Perrier and called it wine

He said, “There’s great sadness in life, but don’t sit there and blub:
Here’s some tickets for your friends to the Jesus Stag Night Club!”

I can’t remember where I was last night
Think I was hanging naked off a church spire
Tied by my ankles to a weathervane
Felt like I was Jesus on fire
Cuffed to the bumper of a big truck
I begged my dad (?) to take me to a strip bar
Drank kerosene slammers through my eyeballs
Drove myself home in a stolen car

Turn a bird upside down and it lies in your fingers like a dead man
When you throw it in the air it’s resurrected from your hand
We went to a motel, he showed me his Bible
I said, “Tell me the truth,” while he looked me in the eyeball

He said, “There’s great happiness in life but don’t just sit there in love:
Here’s some tickets for your friends to the Jesus Stag Night Club!”

I can’t remember where I was last night
Think I was getting on a night bus
Lyin’ on the laps of my good friends
Judas Priest and Lazarus
I’m getting married in the big bad morning
But it feels like I’m giving birth
I feel so happy I could scream
“This is my last few seconds on Earth”

Saw a man in the street lying on the floor beaten up
He had a fish finger sandwich and a yellow M coffee cup
I bent down drunk and tried to pick him up
But when I turned around I could see…it was Jesus…

I can’t remember where I was last night
Think I was hanging on a church spire
Tied by my ankles to a weathervane
Felt like I was Jesus on fire
Cuffed to the bumper of a big truck
I begged my dad to take me to a strip bar
Drank kerosene slammers through my eyeballs
Drove myself home in a stolen car

I can’t remember where I was last night
Think I was getting on a night bus
Lyin’ on the laps of my good friends
Judas Priest and Lazarus
I’m getting married in the big bad morning
But it feels like I’m giving birth
I feel so happy I could scream
“This is my last few seconds on Earth!”

Now I don’t know about you, but who can argue with a having a gleefully catchy rock-and-roll Christmas #1 that is so filled with humor and drunken malarky that people actually take seriously the premise? If you’re one of those who realizes you like it, follow the links below to spend your £0.79 to inch it closer to a Christmas #1. It’s humor, folks. They’re just taking the piss, and now people have gone haywire about it. Laugh. Have a pint or two, listen and, you know … Have A Merry Christmas.

::: Purchase Babybird’s The Pleasures Of Self Destruction [iTunes]
::: Purchase “Jesus Stag Night Club from iTunes UK
::: Purchase “Jesus Stag Night Club” from iTunes USA

I woke this morning to yet another new song from the forthcoming Charlotte Gainsbourg album in my inbox. Entitled “Out of Touch”, it hearkens the echoes of Charlotte’s work that engage me most directly — her sensual, left-of-center poesy delivered over an elegantly crafted piece of clever spy pop. I believe this, too, shall be included on the forthcoming Stage Whispers, due 13 December in the U.S.

Charlotte Gainsbourg – Out of Touch

A few months ago, I reported that Charlotte Gainsbourg‘s new double live LP Stage Whispers would be released on 8 November. Guess what? I was wrong either because Pitchfork reported it incorrectly at the time or, more likely, her label pushed the release back. In any event, it turns out that release date is actually DECEMBER 13th in the U.S. You can pre-order Stage Whispers from Amazon here.

So here’s the story from before with some updated info (HT: Larry Fitzmaurice / via Pitchfork):

On December 13 (December 5 in France), Because Music/Elektra will release Stage Whispers, a double-LP of live and unreleased material from Charlotte Gainsbourg that follows up October’s Terrible Angels teaser EP. We’ve already heard “White Telephone”; below, stream another song from the collection, “Paradisco”. The song was written and produced by Beck, and features drum programming from ex-Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti/current the Samps member Cole M.G.N. If you’re looking for more Gainsbourg, there are two more Stage Whispers tracks, “Set Yourself on Fire” and “Out of Touch”, available for listening over at Air France’s Facebook (that’s Air France the airline, not the band).

September 6th sees the release of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Terrible Angels EP (Because Music/Elektra) featuring two unreleased songs — the Conor O’Brien/Villagers-penned “Memoir” and this title track, written and produced by Beck. Also included on the EP are two videos, one of which is this Nathalie Canguilhem-directed video. Look for Charlotte’s double album, Stage Whisper, to be released on 8 November in the U.S., featuring a mix of live and unreleased tracks. (via Pitchfork)

Wool Recordings is releasing a new record at the end of June, entitled La Piscine. What makes this release special is that it is personally curated by Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier and several of her friends, including songwriter / composer / producer Richard Swift. Sadier & Swift, we’re told, met at a party some years back and, after hearing his record, she invited Richard to open for Stereolab’s 2008 U.S. Tour. Their musical relationship blossomed into Swift producing Laetitia’s 2010 solo album, The Trip.

On this limited edition silkscreened vinyl record, you’ll also hear touches of minimalist pop from Rebecca Gates‘ new project Parcematone and Parisian band Superbravo. Enjoy, for now, “Resistance dans l’ombre” from Richard & Laetitia.

[ Follow Wool Recordings on Twitter ]

Toro y Moi’s “Still Sound” (from their instant classic Underneath The Pine) gets another sweet remix, this time from Chuck Enciso & the video that Popeye Jawns created to go along with it is pretty clever. Judge for yourself.

Toro y Moi – Still Sound (Chuck Enciso Remix)

Chuck Enciso, an American music producer, songwriter, and recording artist from Southern California. A sound that can be described as futuristic spacey West Coast music. His music embodies a Hip Hop foundation and combines elements of Experimental, Progressive, Electronic, Indie Rock, Rnb, Dub-Step, Classical, and every other genre you can think of.

Jed and Lucia have released a limited vinyl run on Ubiquity Records of their latest EP Helium accenting a fascination with dreamy, ethereal synth-pop (a fascination which I share). Their nuanced style on this, the title track from the EP, is warm and simply textured. Not unlike contemporaries Toro y Moi and James Blake, Jed and Lucia seem to understand perfectly how to combine unetched harmonies with a cacophony of echoes and found noises that brighten corners and sweep into rooms like fading sunlight cast through the window, muted in abstract patterns against the drapes on a lukewarm October day.

::: Jed and Lucia – Helium (Letherette Remix) :::

Here’s the original version (as a point of comparison):

Sleigh Bells. Derek Miller. Alexis Krauss. Good band. On tour. Go see them. Don’t ask questions, just go! Full tour dates after thee jump.

[ Sleigh Bells Official Website | Buy Treats on Vinyl from Insound ]

SLEIGH BELLS :: Spring Tour 2011 :: April – May

APRIL
4/13/11 Pomona, CA @ Glass House
4/14/11 San Diego, CA @ 4th&B
4/15/11 Indio, CA @ Coachella
4/18/11 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto
4/21/11 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
4/22/11 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
4/23/11 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
4/24/11 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
4/26/11 Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity
4/28/11 Orlando, FL @ Firestone
4/29/11 St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
4/30/11 Miami, FL @ Grand Central

MAY
5/2/11 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
5/3/11 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
5/4/11 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
5/6/11 Richmond, VA @ The National
5/7/11 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
5/8/11 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
5/11/11 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
5/12/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/17/11 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
5/18/11 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews
5/19/11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

[ PHOTO: Above & Beyond Mag ]

I didn’t know who Akila Fields was or what he was up to before last night, but this song “Closer” by his project Sleepyvillain appeared in my Soundcloud inbox and I’m like…ok, I’m here. You got me. The obvious comparisons to both Destroyer and Toro y Moi is inevitable, and that’s perfectly fine, good company to be lumped in with. I guess Sleepyvillain’s got something called Arithmetic coming out (see the album cover there?), but I know nothing more — and I definitely want to.

Anyways, Sleepyvillain (whoever you are) I hear what you are screaming loud and clear, dude, and now my readers do, too. You are blipping on my radar for sure.

[ Sleepyvillain on Twitter | Sleepyvillain on Bandcamp ]

Their third album Let It Sway (Polyvinyl) is triumphant, not-too-sweet indie pop with seamless edges in a direct line with The Shins, a collection of nearly perfect gritty pop songs with an achingly sugary filling. The production is never overbearing, set just enough to let the stellar songwriting shine through. Let It Sway, full of sneering sing-along melodies and marching rhythms, droning guitars and punch-drunk effects, has quickly become one of my favorite albums of 2010. I cannot recommend this album enough.

[LISTEN] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Sink/Let It Sway [MP3]

[LISTEN] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Everlyn

[Pre-order Let It Sway from Insound and receive a FREE 7", poster, sticker, and button (while supplies last)!]

For three years now, we’ve watched as Beach House has gone from humble, subtly hypnotic Baltimore slack-key-core twosome to a fully realized and accomplished recording act. With the forthcoming release of Teen Dream on their new home label of Sub Pop, the team of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally will have completed a transformation that has allowed them to take on a new sense of direction in the music and in their lives.

Check out this track, “Norway”, from the forthcoming album & head over to Sub Pop for further details on the band and their new record.

Beach House – Norway

[Beach House at Sub Pop]

I suddenly felt small.

So deadlines for the “best of 2007″ rolled around, and I was in a tailspin, dogged by the massive amount of music I had encountered. I kept reflecting on these words of Billy Corgan that I’d read years ago. Billy had once quipped to, I think, Rolling Stone, that, “Not every year can be a great, or even good, year in music.” This thought just stirred in my head and fed into some neurosis. The thought actually fucked with me; maybe 2007 wasn’t that great? Or was it? So I slacked until it was way too late to really do it with any fervor.

Newsflash: Shit aint happening like that this year. I’m past all that, and this year’s going to be different.

I don’t know if my opinion is necessarily better or worse than anyone else’s when it comes to music. I’m a long-time deep music fan who combs the trenches for something new and different, someone who’s been doing that for years. I have an opinion about music which is informed by all that, but I don’t pretend to know what is or isn’t “good” or “the best”. If you love hip-hop, you’re going to think a different album is the #1 album of the year than I am (even though I love hip-hop). If you love indie rock, same thing.

If I sat down and tried to pinpoint the one unifying factor in the music that I listen to and enjoy, it would have to be “music with a soul”. It doesn’t have to preach an ideology or start a movement, it doesn’t have to be anthemic or angelic. It simply has to get me to stop what I’m doing and go, “What in the hell is this?” When I become awestruck, the music will stay with me.

This list represents the songs released in 2008 (to the best of my knowledge) which caught me in my tracks, got me to stand up and take notice, gave me a reason to write and feel good at the end of the day that I was telling everyone a new secret or spreading the good news. I hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I have enjoyed hearing them.

1 – Voxpop – “The Boomerang Generation” (unsigned)

When this London four-piece popped this song into my inbox, I had no idea what I was getting. They sent a sweet and humble letter along with it asking me to please share with my readers. The song is dynamic in a string of ways: it’s a pop song, it’s a protest song, and it’s filled with the kind of energy I love to hear. Far and away, this is my favorite song of 2008. Let’s hope that 2009 will bring us a Voxpop album to hear & enjoy.

2 – Lil’ Wayne (produced by Bangladesh) – “A Milli”

The song is inescapable. You couldn’t get away from it most of this entire year & it took some folks a minute to get with the program. But love or hate Lil’ Wayne, this song was a cornerstone of 2008 stereos, parties, clubs, remixes, and just about everything else. Respect.

3 – MGMT – “Time to Pretend”

I am extremely proud of MGMT and happy for them — what started as an experiment in their dorm room at Wesleyan has blossomed into an anthemic world-wide phenomenon. This song was on the tips of every tongue that knew its words and could relate. This song is great because, plainly, it paints a portrait of a certain truth (to which you’re either hip or you’re not). The song’s intent, along the group themselves, seem to lack the pretension that the press wants to heap on them. I, for one, can’t wait to hear what their work with The Chemical Brothers is going to sound like.

4 – Santogold – “L.E.S. Artistes”

Santi White is an operator of the highest order: she’s the real deal, wearing every helmet she comes across with dignity and sheer style. Performer, songwriter, executive — she can do it all and do it all well. In the song “L.E.S. Artistes”, Santogold has both capitalized on and captured a portrait of a time in music and arts that has seemed fairly desperate. If ever an anthemic line was needed by those on their way to whatever success, “I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up” should be the mantra to which they adhere.

5 – Estelle (feat. kanYe West) – “American Boy”

It took me a long time to get into this record, but once it stuck with me I was sold. The maturity of Estelle’s progress as a performer and singer is impressive, her vocal prowess unmistakable. The marriage of her style with kanYe’s flows make the song as world-class as it purports to be.

6 – Lord T & Eloise (feat. 8 Ball) – “Back From the Business Trip”

If you’re from down in my neck of the woods, you know that Lord T & Eloise were everywhere this year, selling out (and overselling) venues everywhere. Word of mouth has been kind to them with good reason. Not just because I told you so (and I did tell you so), but because they gave 300% to every packed out venue they set foot in and ripped every microphone they touched. “The Industry” still haven’t figured out how to classify LT&E, but they need to stop thinking about it and just blast their jams. Aristocrunk is on the move.

7 – Aimee Mann – “Looking for Nothing”

As Aimee Mann carries on her journey as a songwriter and performer, she continues to craft elegant pop song structures around stories that evoke the wistfulness of a by-gone era with distinction. Fully modern in their presentation and execution, her 2008 release was a peerless collection of satisfying, soul-wrenching odes, perfecting a sound she has long been masterful in shaping and humbled by creating. “Looking for Nothing” represents her finest material, and one of the most perfectly-penned songs of the year.

8 – Meg Hutchinson – “Home”

From time to time, it seems to me that the least liked (or known) songs are often the most loved. Folk singer-songwriter Meg Hutchinson has, perhaps, suffered from a curse of virtual anonymity this year, but by no fault of her music. Some songs cannot be reviewed effectively; they can only take on meaning to the listener through time and circumstance. It is my great hope that others will come to find the deep-ceded affection that I have found for this song, an ode to appreciation for the things we all take for granted far too often.

9 – Erykah Badu – “Honey”

Erykah Badu….man man man. A soul diva and performer of the highest order, she just continues to release albums (and songs) that turn my knobs, nahh mean? Seems like on every record she releases, it’s the “bonus track” that really contains an actual bonus to it. New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) will likely be in my year’s best, and this song represents to the fullest what Ms. Badu is laying down.

10 – Portishead – “We Carry On”

I didn’t know what I was going to do when I heard a new Portishead album was on the way. With so much time gone between records, I couldn’t have imagined them being in bed with their old sound. I remember my shock as darker and moodier sounds came from my stereo; it was everything that I could have hoped for. This song was my #1 favorite from Third, an album I continue to love and be fascinated by.

The Rest Of The Best (Click Individual Songs in the Playlist to Play, or play for continuous stream in order)

11 Bon Iver – Skinny Love
12 TV on the Radio – Halfway Home
13 Raphael Saadiq – Love That Girl
14 Blitzen Trapper – Sleepytime In The Western World
15 Grace Jones – Williams Blood
16 Teenagers – Starlett Johannson
17 Al Green – You’ve Got The Love I Need (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
18 Adele – Chasing Pavements
19 Q-Tip – Manwomanboogie (feat. Amanda Diva)
20 Oasis – The Turning
21 Treasure Fingers – Cross The Dancefloor
22 Kutiman – Music Is Ruling My World
23 Smoking Popes – If You Don’t Care
24 Chad VanGaalen – Bare Feet on Wet Griptape
25 Benji Hughes – So Well
26 Friendly Fires – Paris
27 Brazilian Girls – Good Time
28 John Elliott – The Ballad of Wallace Green and his Dog
29 Bob Dylan – Dreamin’ of You
30 Department of Eagles – No One Does It Like You
31 Ssion – Street Jizz
32 The Roots – 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)
33 Charles Hamilton – Brooklyn Girls
34 Sigur Ros – Gobbledygook
35 Jamie Lidell – Another Day
36 Gossip – Listen Up (Punks Jump Up Remix)
37 Of Montreal – Gallery Piece
38 Fujiya & Miyagi – Knickerbocker
39 Anthem In – Down
40 Blood Red Shoes – You Bring Me Down
41 Graham Weber – Italian Lullaby
42 Oh Snap!! – Bill Cosby Sweater (Hostage Remix)
43 Beck – Chemtrails
44 Thunderheist – Jerk It
45 T.I. – Swagga Like Us (feat. kanYe West, Jay-Z & Lil’ Wayne)
46 Coldplay – Death and all His Friends
47 Ivan Colon – Gabriel
48 Cut Copy – Far Away
49 Monsters are Waiting – Don’t Lie
50 Beach House – Gila

In a group of names like that, I might have forgotten about Chad VanGaalen except for he doesn’t let me. Thanks to an opportunity to catch him at the Sub Pop showcase at CMJ a couple of years back, I became an instant fan. His newest release, Soft Airplane continues his love affair with experimental noise pop and tender love songs, a pattern developed over the course of two other fine albums (2004′s Infiniheart and 2006′s Skelliconnection). The resonant difference is the maturity of the material & the confidence evident in the performance and songwriting.

Vangaalen’s gift has been to apply pressure only when necessary: to take dissonant arrangements and manically depressive subjects into his arms for a taste of sweetness. Thematically, it has always seemed to me, one of his central themes throughout all three albums has been death. On Soft Airplane, he doesn’t really stray too much from that mode; however, there is an unsubtle celebratory atmosphere around the subject which I found to be missing from his previous outings. Death is no longer merely an ominous figure hiding in the dark. He wants to, and wants us, to some degree, to dance with death as with a friend or loved one. On “Rabid Bits of Time”, VanGaalen’s chorus resonates his vision clearly: “No one knows where we go/When we’re dead or when we’re dreaming”, as if it were a song to be sung at the end of the universe while we ponder the destruction in our wake.

Oh, and one more thing — The easy comparison of VanGaalen’s voice and style to Neil Young are sincere and not merely cliched; they become even more favorable with this album, a comparison which is both complimentary and deserved.

Mixing tender acoustic ballads on death like “Willow Tree” and “Rabid Bits of Time” with the disaffected Casio-tone-laden indie rock of songs like “Bare Feet on Wet Griptape” and “TMNT Mask”, VanGaalen never ceases to fascinate himself (or us) with the process of discovery. For fans of Helium, The Shins, Built to Spill and others, you will find Soft Airplane both accessible and exceptional. It’s a confident, accomplished album of dream resonance worth hanging on for.

Chad VanGaalen – Willow Tree
Chad VanGaalen – Bare Feet on Wet Griptape

BUY: Soft Airplane from Amazon.Com [cd|digital]