You hear that?!?

I dunno about you, but I could use a pick-me-up.

I fell while running last night. It was dark, the sidewalk was uneven, and I ate it in spectacular fashion. My hands got pretty scraped up, but the wounds to my pride cut much deeper. If I had to use one word to describe the feeling I had when I was lying on the pavement, it would probably be “dorky.” There’s something really lame about that type of sports injury, because it brings into focus just how un-rugged modern life can be. It’s not like my hands got torn up while fending off a lion or building a log cabin. I was jogging. In the ‘burbs. Listening to my iPod. Wearing neon-colored clothes. And I fell.

So like I said, I need a pick-me-up, and I’m looking to you, Dan Deacon. Just yesterday, I came across a 37-minute mashup masterpiece of his, called Wish Book Volume 1, and you better believe I’m playing it on repeat until my humors return to normal. In crafting Wish Book, Deacon has drawn from all over the musical spectrum (if you’re curious you can find a full list of artists in the track’s Soundcloud description) to create something that’s eclectic, energetic and characteristically frenetic – exactly the type of enveloping, serotonin-oozing experience one needs to pick one’s self up off the metaphorical, skin-scattered sidewalk. In a way, it reminds me of something I read on Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Mark Richardson’s Tumblr yesterday. It was a quote from Death Grips drummer Zach Hill, and part of it went like this…

It’s like taking a pill that makes you super-human.

The context was very different — Hill was talking about how listening to music through headphones can help young people block out bullying — but the message of music as miraculous medicine rings true, no matter how dorky and self-inflicted my malady may be. In this way, Wish Book is just what the doctor ordered (sorry, I had to), and the fact that Deacon’s assembled it purely for our enjoyment is cause enough to place him in the newly established You Hear That Internet Good Guy Hall of Fame, along with inaugural member Rostam Batmanglij.

Hear the whole thing below, and be sure to keep an ear out for how he uses “A Milli” — I’ve heard that verse remixed approximately 3,853 times, but this arrangement harnesses Weezy’s natural emphasis in a (shockingly) new and refreshing way.

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Dan Deacon — Wish Book Volume 1 [Soundcloud]

For the longest time, I had no idea that “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was a Queen song. This totally blew my mind when I first found out. The song’s rockabilly simplicity and Elvis-tinged vocals scream 1959, not 1979 — the latter being the year Freddie Mercury reportedly penned the tune while lounging in a hotel bath tub. If I had to trace the emotional pathway that led away from this revelation, it would probably look a little something like this:

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Step 1: Shock. ”WTF? That’s a Queen song?!?”
Step 2: Denial. ”No fucking way. I swear that song’s like 50 years old!”
Step 3: Confusion. ”But… it doesn’t even sound like Queen… and it doesn’t mention a single bicycle…”
Step 4: Bargaining. ”I guess tons of Queen songs don’t sound like other Queen songs. And Freddie Mercury did have a freakishly malleable voice…”
Step 5: Acceptance. ”Damn. Queen kicks way more ass than I realized.”

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When you think about it, isn’t this the exact same set of feelings Chris Hillard experienced on that fateful day he barged into the bathroom and found out that the British nanny he’d grown to love and respect was actually his American father in makeup and a fat suit? If there’s anything I learned from Mrs. Doubtfire, it’s that recontextualization changes things. I bring this up because I had another Mrs. Doubtfire moment this weekend as a result of something James Blake posted to Facebook in reaction to whispers that he was collaborating with Lil Wayne:

This wasn’t just any “little bootleg.” This turned out to be the same badass remix of Weezy’s “A Milli” that I became obsessed with when it first hit the interweb. I took it jogging. I took it on drives. I did everything but put a ring on it… and, ya know… find out that Blake was the one who made it.

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Though I was shocked when I made this connection on Saturday morning, no denial stage was needed. The remix bears many of his signatures, from its soulful undercurrent to the extreme vocal modulation. And there’s even a solid reason for the disconnect; Blake released the song under a pseudonym —Harmonimix. Now that I know though, I love it even more. That fateful Facebook post transformed the song from an island of brilliance in a vast and often unrewarding sea of remixes into a catalyst for getting to know a side of Blake I didn’t know existed. Now I’m off to explore the other songs he’s remixed under the Harmonimix name, and I get to look forward to the purported September release of brand new Harmonimix material. Join me by trying out Blake’s remix of “A Milli” below, along with his take on D’Angelo’s “Left & Right.”

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Lil Wayne — “A Milli” (Harmonimix remix) [Soundcloud]

D’Angelo — “Left & Right“ (Harmonimix remix) [Soundcloud]

The best music conversations are the ones that never really end. They live on in the reminders you enter into your phone’s notes application — a band name you don’t want to forget or the title of a documentary that needs to be added to your Netflix queue. They pick back up thanks to the follow-up emails, tweets and texts in which the recommendee shares a reaction with the recommender, or the recommender finally remembers the album name that a few too many beers spirited away. They leave traces, like the stack of records that flew out of the crate because they demanded to be played (you can only talk for so long about how Exile on Main St. was recorded before you’re morally obligated to put it on).

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Mrs. You Hear That and I hosted some friends from out of town over the long holiday weekend (the same friends who clued me into Moon Hooch a little while back), and our many music conversations — exchanges about Exile, the George Harrison documentary Living in the Material World, Jack White’s Blunderbuss and the mention of King Sunny Adé in Pitchfork’s vicious Body Faucet review — are still bouncing around the front of my brain, just as surely as the records pictured here are still leaning against the side of my TV stand. I snapped this photo because I loved how these albums offer an actual, real-life, honest-to-god playlist — a tangible version of something that, in my experience, usually exists on a computer screen. I also love how well this small collection of albums encapsulates the weekend as a whole. Each one wiggled its way into a meal, outing or conversation, and I’d like to think that if you showed me this picture 10 years from now, I’d still be able to remember where we went to dinner on Saturday night (Stella’s) and how our Sunday trip to the James River proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that my wife’s iPod loves Lil Wayne (doesn’t matter what else is on there, that thing shuffles straight to Weezy; it’s uncanny). 

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Though there’s no denying the wisdom inherent in the title of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass (Saturday’s lunch music), a weekend spent listening to good music with good friends doesn’t have to vanish the moment it’s over, and I’ve got the physical playlist and iPhone reminders to prove it. Listen to a few favorites from the weekend below to help me keep the conversation going.

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The Rolling Stones — “Sweet Virginia” [Spotify/iTunes]

Alabama Shakes — “I Found You” [Spotify/iTunes]

George Harrison — “Wah-Wah” (live) [YouTube/iTunes]

King Sunny Adé — “E Saiye Re” [Spotify/iTunes]

Feeling understood is great. Songs with lyrics that make it seem like someone out in the world really gets you are worth their weight in gold. So how about music that can make you feel understood even though the lyrics are written in a language you don’t speak? That’s a serious accomplishment, and it’s how the Very Best has made me feel over and over again. So how do they do it? What’s their secret for breaking down the language barrier? Four words: cultural points of reference. It all started (for me, at least) with “Warm Heart of Africa,” the title track from their last sampling of original tunes, which featured a collaboration with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. They turned around and did it again via the artists they chose to remix on their Super Mom mixtape. In both cases, the artists they chose to work with and remix acted as fantastic reference points — like firing up flares from different locales within the pop music landscape. It didn’t matter that the lyrical aspect of Esau Mwamwaya’s contributions fell on un-understanding ears; I still felt a meaningful connection. Finding out the duo was into the same artists that I enjoy (Kanye West, LCD Soundsystem), as well as music I don’t know but am interested in exploring (Baaba Maal, Kate Bush), was a bit like finding out that someone you’re getting to know likes all the TV shows or restaurants that you do. These types of connections are essential to forming new relationships; they’re an essential step toward letting down your guard and really feeling at ease around someone (I sound like a total introvert right now, don’t I? Ugh. I knew it as soon as I typed it…). And nothing I REPEAT NOTHING makes you feel easy… wait for it… like Weezy. In late April, the Very Best shot up another exceptional reference flair when they released the video for the first single off the duo’s upcoming album, MTMTMK (due out July 17). The soaring single, entitled “Yoshua Alikuti,” is draped across a spectacular remake of Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” video — ya know, the one-take clip that rivals Orson Welles’ seamless opening tracking shot from Touch of Evil in terms of directorial brilliance, while also demonstrating just how important it is for a famous person to have each component of their outfit handed to them individually by different members of their entourage. Though the continuous-shot format is absent from the remake, the strange title font… the red pants… the sloppily censored beverages… they’re all there, as is Mwamwaya stunning voice. It’s definitely worth watching both, but you don’t even need to have seen the original to appreciate the unbridled badassery of the Very Best’s take. I mean the dude walks a goat like it’s a golden retriever. What more do you want?!? Watch the video for “Yoshua Alikuti” above, peep Weezy’s “A Milli” clip here for comparison (or because it just tends to brighten one’s day), listen below to one of my favorite tracks off the Super Mom mixtape, “Ndekha,” and join me in getting all jazzed up for MTMTMK.

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The Very Best & Moroka - “Ndekha” [Soundcloud]