Nowadays it'd be called a mashup or sound collage or "culture jamming," but when the first 12" from Double Dee and Steinski dropped in 1985, it was hip-hop. Illegal Art's forthcoming compilation of Steinski's work, What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective, collects a significant body of the cut-and-paste wizard's work, including an entire second CD devoted to 2002's essential illegality Nothing to Fear: A Rough Mix, but older heads will geek over the stuff on disc one, from the Kennedy-assassination deconstruction "The Motorcade Sped On" to the Television Mix of Steinski & Mass Media's Jackson 5/Bush I-warping "It's Up to You"-- and, of course, the frequently-bootlegged "Lesson" series.

Double Dee and Steinski's classic "The Payoff Mix," aka "Lesson 1"-- denoted on the original Tommy Boy 12" as a "Mastermix of G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid's 'Play That Beat Mr. D.J.'"-- is a bit overlooked by many hip hop heads in light of the other song on that single's A-side, the legendary and groundbreaking "Lesson Two (James Brown Mix)". (One notable exception: rock critic Dave Marsh put "The Payoff Mix" at #213 in his 1989 list of the 1001 Greatest Singles, oddly sandwiched between the Diamonds' "Little Darlin'" and Gene Chandler's "Duke of Earl".) But there are still moments of inspired juxtaposition and b-boy comedy: along with the requisite snatches of break standards like the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" and Herbie Hancock's "Rock It", Double Dee and Steinski throw in loops of Culture Club's "I'll Tumble for Ya", Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti", cheesy dance instruction records ("heel, toe, heel, toe"), and Humphrey Bogart's "play it, Sam" dialogue from Casablanca. It's one of the earliest bridges between old-school and sample-era hip hop, and once Steinski transitioned from spliced-together analog tape into actual digital sampling, his club-friendly subversion would get even wilder.

MP3:> Double Dee and Steinski: "The Payoff Mix"
[from What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective; due 05/27/08 on Illegal Art]

The School hold class outside in the video for "All I Wanna Do", the Cardiff, Wales-based septet's recent single for Spanish indie-pop label Elefant. Like the group's "Let It Slip", which we posted last year in demo form, "All I Wanna Do" is a swaying, winsome tune with some of the Phil Spector lushness of Lucky Soul, the Belle & Sebastian-style modesty of Camera Obscura, and the airy, girl-group vocals of both. Something about the lilting melody and lyrical theme here also brings to mind Kirsty MacColl's 1979 Stiff Records single "They Don't Know"; like that song, the School's latest glows with the crush-like euphoria of new love, helped by production from Ian Catt (Saint Etienne, Field Mice, Trembling Blue Stars, Stars). All singer Liz wants to do, in case you couldn't guess, is "hang around with you." The David Smith-directed clip follows umbrella-toting young couples around South Wales as they frolic by the pier, watch the ships come in, buy ice cream, and other stuff guaranteed to make the grumpier among you blanch-- at least until the ending, where I did. An EP featuring "Let It Slip" is set to follow, according to the label, along with a full-length album later this year.

[from the "All I Wanna Do" single; due 04/14/08 on Elefant]

It's hard to believe that Los Angeles art-punk duo No Age is just now about to release their first proper album (last year's fine Weirdo Rippers was actually a compilation culled from a series of vinyl-only EPs). "Eraser", the second track on their forthcoming Sub Pop debut Nouns, was just posted to the band's MySpace; it's a major highlight, and it also might be their most accessible song yet. Introduced with chiming acoustic guitar, an undercurrent of fuzz, and a bright tambourine, "Eraser" turns into a textbook example of the band's buoyant noise-pop aesthetic and then it's over before you know it. They know how to leave you wanting more, which is where the On Repeat part comes in. Thanks to Nathaniel Higgins for the tip.

MP3:> No Age: "Eraser"
[from Nouns; due 05/06/08 on Sub Pop]

Photo by Staphane Gallois 

The first track from Ladytron's upcoming album Velocifero is heavy, almost punishing: a fat, grinding synth churns away somewhere underground; drums hammer like a punch machine stamping out sheet metal; and the singing, in Bulgarian, sounds like a series of strict orders that must be obeyed or else.

MP3:> Ladytron: "Black Cat"
[from Velocifero; due 06/03/08 on Nettwerk]

Fred Schneider's going to need a car that seats about 220 to fill up the Funplex with revelers. It's a little scary how little Kate Pierson has aged since she was roaming around the world-- she's about to turn 60 for god's sake-- but otherwise this clip for the title track from the band's first record in forever is goofy fun. 

[from Funplex; out now on Astralwerks]

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

The latest music blog sensation is a mysterious French woman with a penchant for extreme lo-fi. OK, actually, The New York Times ran a story today about a recording of the human voice made in 1860 (well before Thomas Edison's famous sound experiments) that has just now been made audible. In brief: French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville created a device called a phonautogram that converted sound waves into lines on paper; researcher and audio historian David Giovannoni and his team found a way to transform the notation of one of these recordings, of an unknown (likely) woman singing "Au Clair de la Lune", back into sound. The playback sounds like something Philip Jeck excavated from the bottom of a landfill, which is to say, pretty wonderful, if you happen to like noise. The Times has the full story and the track.

MP3/Stream:> "Au Clair de la Lune"

As the intolerably long wait for Tha Carter III gets into (god please let it be) the final weeks, Lil Wayne looks to be showing up with all barrels blazing. The autotune r&b of lead single "Lollipop" and lavish Kanye West production of potential C3 cut "Comfortable" represent the kind of savvy pop moves you'd expect from a guy recently getting airplay for his guest verse on Mario Barrett slow jam "Crying Out For Me (Remix)". Meanwhile, supposed "street" single "A Millie"-- which has been floating around in a couple of different variations but appears here in a version from the mixtape Street Resurrection 4-- gets back to the free-flowing rapping that Weezy has wowed us with in the past.

No guitar solos, no T-Pain-esque vocals, just 808 snare slaps and a droning "a millie, a millie" hook: That's "A Millie", as in, "a Young Money millionaire". The DJs drown out bits of Wayne's wordplay, some of which may have appeared in a previous freestyle, but admirers of Da Drought 3's hyperlinking lyrical jumps should enjoy the way Wayne big-ups both the almighty dollar and Allah, or invokes everything from "Party Like a Rockstar" and Andre 3000's relationship with Erykah Badu to, somewhat randomly, Gwen Stefani. "I don't owe you like two vowels," quoth the "no homo" homophone fan. Mr. Strapped Condoms even refers to himself as a venereal disease. The haters are already foaming at the mouth, but the rest of us know better than to rush the flow.

MP3:> Lil Wayne: "A Millie"
[Tha Carter III is due 05/13/08 on Cash Money/Universal/Young Money]

The Game would like you to know that he was in jail, and he's getting out. Four walls apparently couldn't contain the West Coast rapper's Cool & Dre-produced "Big Dreams", and really, "free as a bird" makes a lot more sense in this context than in that lackluster Beatles reunion song (Lennon was dead! You call that free?). Expected to appear on Game's upcoming third album, L.A.X., this track finds Jayceon Terrell Taylor continuing to gruffly, none-too-subtly set himself up as the heir to his mentor Dr. Dre, even as he also sets his sights on East Coaster Jay-Z: "I done rocked enough fellas to be you, Jigga." Big dreams, indeed, but this is the guy behind Doctor's Advocate and The Documentary, so, y'know.

Soulful female vocal samples jostle with wobbly synths and some totally literal sound effects (a V12 roaring, dogs barking), leaving Game plenty of room for good-enough boasts about murder-- "I kill tracks like AIDS" barely even makes sense, but it's funnier than last week's entire "South Park" episode-- and drug dealing-- "Lunchtime I was selling behind the bungalows"-- plus some much more interesting shit about Ellen DeGeneres, blood diamonds, and Michael Vick. Oh, and Jah Rule, Fat Joe, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne? Game's got one word for you: "Compton!" Still, the "big money, big pimping, big dreams" chorus doesn't quite live up to its triumphant horn blares. Taylor's still the weird, raspy, endlessly name-dropping rapper you know from his previous work, but "Big Dreams" could use some of those album's expensively fashioned hooks to help keep its dreams firmly in mind after the track ends, instead of just slip-sliding away.

[from the "Big Dreams" single; out now on Geffen/Interscope]

As Pitchfork reported at the end of February, North Carolina's Annuals are putting out a somewhat unusual split-EP called Wet Zoo with themselves. The news story explains how that works, and the record is due April 1. "Sore", the first track on the release, is an intriguing introduction to the set, as it moves from a hushed, Sufjan-like opening to highly emotive crescendos slathered in strings. Sounds like they're thinking big, and it suits them.

MP3:> Annuals: "Sore"
[from the Wet Zoo EP; due 04/01/08 on Canvasback]