During the brutal dark winters in Scandanavia all you can do to keep from losing your mind is to focus on how sweet it is to be hanging out on a beach in the sun. This particularly harsh winter in Finland, French Films wrote the soundtrack to an 80′s summer movie that I wish existed, where Robert Smith goes on a road trip to LA to try and sign his band, but his car gets stolen on the way and he has to hitch hike with a stray dog that he befriended in Idaho. Each time there’s a driving montage, which is like every 10 minutes, a French Films song plays. Then they have a big volleyball tournament and David Byrne is the referee and when Robert Smith spikes the winning point they freeze frame on a high five while “Great Wave Of Light” plays over the credits.

French Films – Great Wave Of Light
French Films – Up The Hill
French Films – Golden Sea

Download audio file (french_films_great_wave_of_light.mp3)

These days everyone with a computer is “working on an album.”  Most of them never actuallyhappen, and the ones that do are pretty much always terrible.  Every now and then some idiot-savant finishes up his bedroom disaster, and it somehow ends up sounding super raw and bizarre and it’s completely fucking perfect.  I don’t know anything about Local Wizards except that it seems like their changed their name from “Pizza Pizzazz,” and that’s pretty great too, so they really got the whole package here.

Local Wizards – Burn It Down
Local Wizards – I Have Nothing At Stake
Local Wizards – Cold

Download audio file (burn_it_down.mp3)

A week ago, after spending an afternoon looking like an idiot in an old wood-floor rollerskating rink in Glendale, I Netflix’d (that’s a verb now) this awesomely bad roller disco movie, set in Venice during the supposed late 70′s rollerskating craze and featuring a tarted up Linda Blair with some castaway cast of soon-to-be-in-porn actors and actresses that can’t act or act-ress. Its a typical teenage fad movie, like Breakin’ or Thrashin’, with some good-hearted rich girl trying to be down and a struggling out-of-her-league underdog trying to get famous for something you can’t make money at, and his cheeky friends and her shitty parents who don’t understand and all the usual shit. Needless to say, it was awesome, and I sat through the whole thing with my jaw in my lap. My wife said I shook my head through the whole movie, probably at the completely improbable situations, characters and dialogue that danced before me (on skates, and in slutty 70s/80s fashion, of course). It was like an American Apparel boner-fest with badly delivered laugh-out-loud lines and a disco soundtrack. Well, except with this track, which opens the film and totally rips the rest of the original soundtrack double-LP a new asshole. Powerpop by numbers about some supposed “Good Girls” who are clearly sluts, sung by this one-hit L.A. wonder with a rapper’s name.

I’m not much of a Folkie, so a lot of the subtleties of the genre are lost on me.  But every now and then, a Folk project just sounds “right,” like the songs really did need to be written in an abandoned church in the woods.  Microphones – The Glow Pt 2 grabbed me this way, and it sounds like Phil Elvrum is a major influence for Mesita, at least for A Million Shades of Sky.  The long-form song structure, guitar vamp, subtle arrangements all nod to Elvrum, but Mesita isn’t afraid to layer in a synth or drum break half-way through the track!  Where Elvrum stays grumpy and depressed, Mesita bring a warm, up-beat optimism to their seasonal depression soundtrack.

Mesita – A Million Shades Of Sky
Mesita – Time Away From The World
Mesita – Somewhere Else

Download audio file (a_million_shades_of_sky.mp3)

Wish it was Summer but it’s not. I was going to try and sit on this one until then, but I get to excited and can’t ever seem to do that. Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes of Chessie have both been around for a minute, messing around with electronic music all through out the late nineties and finally released Manifest in 2008 on Plug Research. Combined with 2001′s Overnight, you get an amazing combination of style and beauty that makes you reference all your favorite bands from last week. Try not to fall in love too quick.

From Manifest
Chessie – Intercity
Chessie – Long Bridge
Chessie – Poughkeepsie Aflame

Download audio file (intercity.mp3)

From Overnight
Chessie – Daylight
Chessie – K Tower
Chessie – S to U
Chessie – Eyes and Smiles

Download audio file (daylight.mp3)

Hey look, its little Inga Humpe from the German art-punk outfit Neonbabies from a few posts back, all grown up and off to covering British dance hits. Sometimes, when I re-read the things I write, I hate that I always say things like “it sounds like ‘x’ mixed with ‘x’”, but I’m a really lazy writer, especially after a few beers, so I’m going to say “it sounds like the Chromatics mixed with early OMD, covering the Pet Shop Boys”. But this time I’ll have to add “except it sounds about ten times cooler than anything those two stone-faced twinks ever did”.

Jazz guitar great Joe Pass must have gone through some sort of acid-induced nervous breakdown (or the usual baby-boomer-style mid-life crisis) when recording this record in 1969. It starts off innocently enough, with the first few similarly named tracks on the a-side consisting of the usual nimble, solo guitar work that made him a jazz guitar icon. Somewhere between the last bars of “Interlude #5″ the acid kicks in and Joe’s all of a sudden backed by a full band and vocal choir that lands itself somewhere between Up With People and The Free Design; a poppy, trippy, near cult-like 60s experience that seems incredibly out of character and yet a perfect fit. Joe Pass purists dog this release pretty hard (jazz trads are always threatened by experimentation and innovation, even if helped keep jazz alive for decades), pick it up if you can find it (or send me your copy since I’ve found every Joe Pass record except this one readily available in my local bargain bins).

Joe Pass – A Time For Us

Download audio file (A_Time_For_Us.mp3)

Ever since posting that Nashville Ramblers single a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking of the b-side, a sweet cover of “Fragile Child” originally recorded by the pre-Creedence Clearwater Revival garage band, The Golliwogs (named after a British, old-timey racist rag doll no less). Initially more of a vehicle for John Fogerty’s brother Tom during the early and mid-60s, these suited up teenage minstrels released a string of bluesy, sweet-voiced garage-rock singles on San Francisco’s Fantasy Records. Getting a little bit attention around the bay area, John eventually took control as the main songwriter and vocalist as the band morphed into the Creedence powerhouse.

The Golliwogs – Fragile Child
The Golliwogs – Brown-Eyed Girl
The Golliwogs – You Got Nothin’ On Me

Download audio file (Fragile_Child.mp3)

Happy New Year – I can’t believe that we are still doing this. And I love that.
This is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite people. Stay up in 2012.

N Amesake E – The Ocean Is One Day To Give Up Its Dead

Download audio file (namesake-the_ocean .mp3)

Elzhi – Elmatic
Download audio file (elzhi_halftime.mp3)
Detroit heavyweight Elzhi broke out when he joined Slum Village, but his best releases have been his underground mixtapes.  The Preface was one of my favorite mixtapes of 2008, and Elmatic is definitely the top of my list for 2011.  It’s a reworking of Nas’ classic Illmatic, and the concept had me skeptical at first.  The brilliant part is that every beat is played by Will Sessions, a live soul band similar to El Michaels Affair. Each beat is recognizable but with a new twist on the old favorites.  Similarly, the raps will often nod rhythmically to the original songs, but with new wordplay twists so that you never forget what you’re hearing is new.  It’s the perfect balance between borrowing and respectful homage that comes as close to eclipsing Illmatic as anything ever will.

BONUS: Will Sessions – Mix Takes (10 minutes of classic beats live!)

D-Block – The L.O.X.
Download audio file (d-block_its_ok.mp3)
The L.O.X. includes Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P.  I’m not sure I have much to say about this one, if you don’t know at least one of those dudes, you’re sleeping.  This mixtape is the best of the best all three these guys offered up this year.  The beat is hard, the raps are clever, these guys are on top of their game.

Trae Tha Truth – Undisputed
Download audio file (trae_hometown.mp3)
Originally part of DJ Screw’s “Screwed Up Click” family, Trae Tha Truth now runs with the ABN crew (Assholes By Nature), and he’s on the verge of blowing up in a major way. Undisputed was his most solid mixtape to date, mixed by the legendary Don Cannon, with a stable of great guests and beat-jacks.  His distinct voice and lazy flow stand out from the pack.

Lil B – I’m Gay (I’m Happy)
Download audio file (lil_b_unchain_me.mp3)
Berkeley bizarro rapper Lil B played the media for free press with the wild title, but the irony is that this was the most cohesive and consistent album Lil B has released to date.  It still has the signature ‘based’ freestyles, but it’s also packed with written raps and killer beats.  See also Clams Casino’s Instrumental Mixtape