Fortunately, while we still have no word on the additional tracks that will be released if this song will indeed be released as a purchasable single, the duo paired up with VS Magazine to present a fashion music video of sorts and has just officially debuted on the magazine’s website!

Singer Alice Glass wears some absolutely gorgeous apparel while Ethan Kath sits down in the director’s chair and makes a split second cameo about halfway through the imagery. (There’s a few times where you see the shadow of him and the camera as well, which is a nice added touch!)

While the direction itself creates glimpses of image experimentation, the video in itself is a simple 3:25 journey. Filmed in a superb abandoned mansion in New York City, it provides a broken down journey into the bleak, grey sonics the band has to offer and it the piece’s subtle movements that victoriously plays off of the rambunctious synthesizers, driving percussion, and floating/reverb vocals.

It’s sad to say that it’s an abnormality that we see an album promoted longer than six months let alone two years and it’s a strategy to be commended for if you ask us. Especially for an album as eclectic and tremendous as Crystal Castles (II).

We won’t have to resuscitate because Crystal Castles are breathing just fine on their own.

Click here to check out the video on VS Magazine’s Website!

Click here to purchase Crystal Castles (II) [iTunes]
Click here to purchase Crystal Castles (II) [Amazon]

While most would take what radio DJ’s say with a grain of salt, it’s well noted that Serafinowicz is a huge fan of the Sandisons and possibly even a friend of the duo. Basically, we should be semi-jumping in the air in celebration instead of the usual eye roll we give toward their cryptic Myspace and Twitter updates.

The modified transcript of what was said on the radio show is as follows..

“I’m gonna play some Board of Canada now. I’m a bit of a Boards of Canada evangelist. They’re my favorite band, I think. Maybe them and The Beatles. But, they are a band, again, a bit like The Fall. It’s like once you get into them, or rather, once something clicks you just wanna hear everything they’ve released. This track I’m gonna play, it’s from their last full album, which is The Campfire Headphase from 2005. They’ve got a new album coming out soon and I think it’s gonna be a double album and I’m so excited, I really am-to hear their new one. Um, I just love them.

See what you think. If you don’t know them, see if they click for you. I’d love to know what you think–”Peacock Tail” from Boards of Canada.“

Listen to the stream of the show here for UK listeners and here for abroad. Boards of Canada starts about an hour into the stream.

Also, make sure you follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. 2020k are huge Boards of Canada fans as well. You may remember our Flashback entry on their gorgeous “1969″ track (which can be viewed here) and our article on the Solange Knowles take on “Left Side Drive” (which can be viewed here).

The Campfire Headphase was released October 17th, 2005. [Amazon]

On February 15th, 2012, we got a taste of both of how the previously mentioned records would sound if they morphed together to form a soundscape all their own. The Kindred EP is an amalgamation of sorts in that it combines the long song lengths and slow progression that Four Walls/Paradise Circus offers, but also contains the sonically moody vinyl crackles and ambiguous vocal samples that make up a sound Burial is known all too well for.

Kindred’s final track “Astray Wasp” displays this combination by interpolating samples to create mini-mixes of two tracks from his 2008 Untrue album (“Endorphin” and “Shell of Light”) into the original song. The samples are kind of like sprinkling ashes, if you will, and give a semi-nostalgic feel of sorts to the EP’s ending. Beyond the samples, the track plays like a symphony as it’s eleven-plus minutes of music is split into several differing sections and moods that all blend together by a small drop in music, with ambient segues.

It’s the final four minutes of the entire Extended Play that are the most gripping. They start with a minimal four-four low frequency kick and the beat frantically skips around the time measure. This skipping actually confused fans into thinking Hyperdub’s label released flawed versions of digital tracks. The label quickly took to their Twitter to assure the listeners that the drops in the track are completely intentional (I can’t help but think of when customers were trying to return Madonna’s Music CD when they thought the guitar loop through the beginning of “Don’t Tell Me” was the disc skipping). Eventually, the peculiar cutouts cease and a delicate train track sounding percussion section chugs along an open-spaced piano-synth. Pulsing electronic static, and a minimal, glitched vocal sample that tempts the listener to “turn your body” (or something similar) enter as the euphoric layers fade into a drone, with blossoming reverberated chime effects and thunder that play the record out.

Backtracking through the EP, “Loner” let’s us know “there’s something out there” and begins with several eerie feedback-esque/distorted synth layers, with a whole note synth that stabs its way in and out of the mix. An ambient house beat, equipped with two different shakers panned to their respective sides of the stereo mix quickly throw themselves at the track, creating the dense mood. A sixteenth note, looped melody with a brilliantly lush and prominent reverb effect plays through each bar and progresses the overall house sound, before again, dropping out to reveal yet another minimal soundscape. The synth line appears again, in a muted form before unleashing it’s main fury upon the mix again and through the majority of the song. It’s claustrophobic sounding in theory – with the melodic line smothering and creating a restricted, paranoid emotion, and leading the way.

These mixed sections allow for the vocal samples to actually play more of an aiding role and it’s only once the electronic white noise abruptly makes its way in and out of the track that “Loner” strays far from it’s main direction. The final minute, however, changes everything and creates blissful musings out of a miniscule paradise consisting of one synth line and vocal sample that urges us to “hold On”. It illustrates fog, clouds, a visible gas and reaches a quick and effective climax.

Most of Kindred is panned down the middle with the exception of a few supporting sections of instrumentation and all of the background and field ambient effects. The rain and the crackle are constantly creating an atmosphere that’s more prominent than previous Burial releases and are used as a sort of main instrument in the mix. It’s as if Burial realized how much these sections of his songs effect the listener emotionally and decided to utilize them in a more forward based manner. It’s a technique that succeeds and helps paint a picture of empty London streets, or the after hours of a downward spiral during the late night club scene.

The title track, “Kindred” is where we see our partying reach it’s most intense. Standing at eleven-plus minutes, a diaphanous and floaty track introduction is quickly squashed before the first minute mark and an assaulting and commanding slew of woodblock, middle frequency range kicks, and rhythmic layered and looped synth line attacks. It’s one of the most disturbing and confrontational 2-step/garage based beginnings in Burial’s moderately sized discography and one that’s not to be ignored in any sort of fashion.

Interestingly enough, the fury is tamed with the integration of several flowing synths and several emotionally pitch shifted vocal samples that rival something that sounds like the vocal melody to Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”. (We highly doubt that this is the actual vocal sample, as a lot of editing would have to have been done to it).

The aspect of Kindred that makes this a flawless release is the movements that are featured in the title track and “Ashtray Wasp”. They’re almost split up in classical movement form, operating completely separately from it’s original build up, but yet incorporating a sense of natural progression from the ambient noise that allows the tracks to sound seamless and united.

Although we’re receiving music at a slow pace from Burial, we’ve been granted six tracks (eight, if you count the Massive Attack ones that we are still waiting to be available digitally) that absolutely show awesome artistic creativity and musical development.

There’s not much to say from an engineering standpoint on this EP or about Burial’s music in general because all of the techniques used are so gorgeously obscure and intricately executed that it’s impossible to even scratch the surface on how a certain sound was created, shaped, and formed. It’s perfection, it’s creative, and it’s heartbreakingly honest and emotional. While a full LP has yet to be announced, we’re anxiously twiddling our thumbs and headphone listening to the two released EPs on repeat. Well done.

Album Rating: 5/5

Purchase Kindred EP (Lossless or Lossy files available!) [Hyperdub]
Purchase Kindred EP [iTunes]
Purchase Kindred Vinyl [Bleep]

Alright, bye.

It’s been six months since the release of “Clump” but our little hope has brought us to all of these extravagant announcements and more! To kick it all off, the poor tormented mandrake/Tree Licker descended from the sky on the day after Valentine’s Day. And in all of her blonde hair, risque & theatrical movements, she delivered a new song of fire: “Sever.”

Before we continue, please allow us to jump for joy in celebration that “Sever” is not only available through major market powerhouses Amazon and iTunes, but a lossless version of the file can be purchased through Junodownload.com. While it’s a bit pricey, this marks the first lossless download from the project..a request we put in on May of last year on our article on the 2020k #1 song of 2011, “; John”. Between this unexpected twist and a confirmation of a physical album, we’re beaming with full hi-fidelity excitement.

The greatest thing about “Sever” is all of it, but more specifically it’s the work in equalization. There is a great bottom end buildup that holds the track together by boosting the kick around 100Hz and a snare drum boost at 200Hz. The majority of the synth work falls within the mid-range bridge between the previously mentioned instruments and Jonna Lee’s vocals. In fact, if you place a simple hi-pass filter on the song, you’ll find that almost the entire high-frequency range is dedicated to the vocals of the track. At a basic listen, the only other instrumentation you hear passed 6kHz are small bits of sytnth layers and the thin, top end of the snare drum.

Depth has always played a huge role on Iamamiwhoami tracks, but it’s more apparent on the simpler tracks such as “Clump” (see our review here) and “Sever”. Noise floor and what sounds like vinyl scratching, rain, or field recordings also take over a small bit of the top end. However, these aspects of the track are mostly included for playing a more accented role in the song. The light percussive field recorded loops have a panned delay on the right channel, which causes the stereo image to subtly broaden. These effects play such a large part in depth that without them and the reverb on Jonna’s vocals, the mix wouldn’t have as much space as it is perceived to have despite there being less tracks in the song itself.

Panning also plays into the melodic synth layers of the song. In the same way a piano’s notes are laid out flowing left to right, high to low – the melodic synths are smartly panned so that the lower notes are heard more through the left channel of the stereo mix. The higher octave notes obviously play more prominently through the right. It’s a pretty standard mixing technique, and in this case causes the listener to be able to distinguish between the two melodies that are playing simultaneously with one another and diminishes any sort of clash between melodic content.

Although the synth work and equalization are both great in their own right, it’s the signature vocal effects are what take up the forefront of “Sever”. In fact, the vocals seem to be at the front of the mix more in this track than a lot of the tracks featured through their previous earlier releases such as “U-2″ or “B”. Perhaps it’s a part of the story? An extention of seeing Iamamiwhoami blossoming from having no voice, to being one of the mysterious acts in the music industry. Or maybe it’s an attempt at toning down the obscure tones, but whatever the reason may be, it’s not a horrible decision. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. An example of how this song benefits from this technique lies within the first phrase of the second verse. It starts A Capella and without Jonna’s vocal being as represented in the mix as it is, it would lack power and consistency. It would instead drown amongst the instrumentation of the track. Higher vocals = good move.

Even though the recent Iam songs seem to be settling down and drifting away from the heavy experimentation; the reverberation, atmospherics, and top notch vocal sound from the project remains consistent.

Also, amidst the heavy amount of reverb on the main melodic line, there is a lower registered vocal which is hidden to provide an even thicker sonic atmosphere.

Small supportive “ba-dum” bits come into play toward the end of “Sever” and are equalized to sound as if they’re coming from an old radio. The effect is paired with reverberation and is placed a bit lower in the mix, giving a far away feeling. Looking deeply into this, it could represent the loss between reality and imagination. The adlibs are hopeful sounding (fantasy), but are placed at a lower level than the rest of the vocals (reality). The video seems to be hinting greatly at the theme, so it’s not surprising that sonics of the track itself provide subconscious emotion.

For more information on the video and it’s theme, we ask that you check out ForsakenOrder.com’s fantastic write-up. It can be viewed by clicking here.

Consciously? The lyrics are simple. Two lines for each verse and four for the chorus. The absence of lyrics against the eight measure section provided for verses adds a unique and sparse feel to the track and works well against the overall open feel of the track. The chorus gives an eerie look into reality vs fantasy by confessing “I won’t be fooled by its touch or emotional supply. In scent of a fail, in heavy love we dry. The cold in the bare grass, so delicate by one’s eye.It’s why we can’t rely and elope tonight.” Phrasing and lyrics seem to be a bit reminiscent of an early Bjork as well.

Interestingly enough, though Iamamiwhoami seem to be exploring the folklore of a mandrake through themes in their music, it’s impossible to ignore the beautiful songwriting style that leaves enough open interpretation for the listener to draw and relate his or her own experience and meaning to. A sense of a toxic lover (“my looks so grand from the distance that you need to touch“) or a general look at an outcast in society refusing to budge (“To be accepted, I must blend into convention’s way and same universal ways“) are verbally flirted with. Take it as you may, but “Sever” is a fine songcraft in it’s own right.

With a CD release and lossless files for the songs from Kin finally coming to fruition, it looks as though Iamamiwhoami are carving a path using new technology and extensive research to give listeners exactly what they want. The best part about this? They’re doing it while releasing some of the most intellectual Electronic music of current age and without compromising artistic integrity.

Track rating: 5/5

Click here to purchase “Sever” [iTunes]
Click here to purchase “Sever” [Amazon]
Click here to purchase “Sever” [Lossless, Juno Download]

Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the most up to date Iamamiwhoami happenings. We follow the project quite closely on 2020k.

In the article, Doucleff explains that John Sloboda, a British psychologist, performed experiments in which he asked listeners to identify certain sections of musical phrases that set off emotional responses. These participants chose 20 different sections, and 18 of them all contained a mechanic of music called an appoggiatura.

“An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. “This generates tension in the listener,” said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. “When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good.

Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.” – WSJ Article

The article goes on to state that “Someone Like You” is sprinkled with these types of musical accents, specifically in the chorus of the track, when the songstress unexpectedly switches the note being sung at the end of the first phrase of the section.

The breaks between melodic repetition during the verses and octave jumps during the songs duration also play into effect. When all of this is coupled with the listeners own relative experiences in relation to the song, it creates a powerful, tear jerking effect, and can even release the chemical dopamine in the brain!

This is some amazing stuff. To read the entire article, which goes into more specific detail and mentions Samuel Barber’s “Adagio For Strings” (one of our favorite classical tracks) please click here!

Adele is nominated for six Grammy’s at the 54th ceremony (airing tonight) and is expected to take home the bulk, if not all of them.

In our previous article, we rolled our eyes at everything from stage name changes, plastic surgery accusations, and her unforgettable Saturday Night Live performance because we deemed them unimportant in the land of the 21st century musical artist and we were right. Upon the release of Born To Die, it took over domestic and international iTunes charts, found itself the number one record in seven countries (Number two in the United States, behind Adele), and top five in at least ten other countries. At the end of the day, it seems we were partially right: the image did speak somewhat for the music, but clearly the music then spoke for itself.

The writing on Rey’s debut is a vivid portrayal of the broken American dream and lost loves, amongst hopeful memories and melodies that weave the melancholy feelings together in complex simplicity, and wraps strong emotions which drive the cinematic themes. Conflicting romantic feelings run rampant through the entire disc, more importantly on “Diet Mtn Dew” and the album’s lead single “Video Games,” and capitalism makes several appearances, once “Million Dollar Man” and then again in “National Anthem”.

Rey demonstrates that “Money is the anthem of success” and uses the patriotic National Anthem phrase to create ironic hyperbolic statements related to sex and power. “I’ll sing the National Anthem while I am standing over your body, hold you like a python,” is one of the more visual and best attention grabbing lines of the record, but the bulk of the record is written in this type of manner. The trip-hop dipped “Diet Mtn Dew” connects New York City and the carbonated, aspartame-filled, staple beverage to a yearning of a seductive up and down journey, while “This is What Makes Us Girls” justifies the actions of the aforementioned song, proclaiming they all look for heaven, but they put love first.

It’s a cohesive journey and while fine works of literature that can stand on their own against their musical accompaniment can sometimes come off as too complete, dry, and/or dull, this album has none of it. It lyrically and vocally packs paradoxical emotion and pure, genuine feeling of a well educated, heartbroken 26 year old, with the wisdom and well versed influences. Vocally and lyrically being compared to Nancy Sinatra, Fiona Apple, and Stevie Nicks is not a bad thing in any sense, and the well thought out, mystique appeal of the writing aspect of Born To Die, coupled with the haunting, satirical, and beautiful album cover, even places Lana Del Rey in the outside circle of peculiar, brilliant filmmakers David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. (For the Quentin reference, we recommend checking out the blood splattered album booklet).

Where this debut album drifts away from it’s perfection is in the mechanics of the soundwaves themselves. Born To Die subtly crosses into Pop, Hip-Hop, Downtempo, Rock, and Adult Contemporary influences, it’s eclecticism is disguised and, at times indistinguishable because of the heavy influence of 21st century loudness mixing, which gives the record a more low-frequency heavy, vocally upfront feel to it, as opposed to it’s stronghold on genre bending. Dynamic Range average stays at a horrible 5DB range, with the maximum DB difference in lying in at 6DB, and it only reaches that level on four songs, respectively (“Born to Die,” “Video Games,” “Summertime Sadness,” and “This Is What Makes Us Girls”).

Lana’s voice is driven to the front of all mixes, but it’s the reverberation, delay, and spacing of the vocal tracks that allow the vox-up, tight compression techniques to be deemed alright, as depth and space is still created in the overall album because of these characteristics.

Born To Die isn’t that track heavy either, so live strings, percussion sections, the occasional guitar, and the emotional field recordings/occasional yelp and yell from an anonymous man are given the okay to be mixed more prominently inside the songs, as even though their dynamic range isn’t in the slightest what it could become if more care and a less-is-more approach were taken, they work and build up the album to become a powerhouse of frequencies, all warm sounding and uniquely creating a evocative throwback, paired with up to date technological tactics.

It’s the assembly of melodies and rhythmic sections that create an atmospheric subtly and middle America, strung out country-girl mood that makes Born to Die so alluring. Warm and exciting strings instantly start the opening and title track, and quickly dissipate into an open area of breathy Lana adlibs, electronic blips (reminiscent of the trend started on Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreaks), a hip-hop hype man of sorts, distorted screams, and a minimalist guitar line that sounds throwback to the Twin Peaks theme song. It’s all drenched and wet with reverb, beautifully complimenting each other the entire way through the track’s run and all play together to present all of the elements, in quiet form, that are to be experienced through the duration of the record.

Mid-way through, we meet “Radio,” one of the more downtempo pop oriented tracks that begins just as atmospheric as the album’s opener, but is presented with a rhythmic driven section of the song and top notched vocal production (including a smartly vocal, vocoded, that comes in through the middle of the track). It’s an easily accessible, honest love lamentation that remains dark because her baby loves her because she’s playing on the radio. Explicit language contrasts the fluffy, light melody and descriptions, and demonstrates the overview of talent and strength this rookie, breakout start is capable of.

“Million Dollar Man” lends to another throwback pop sound, crafted by the wonderful songwriter Chris Braide (Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Cheryl Cole) that sounds like a standard nu-ballad, tinged in an aerodynamic lyrical melody, flowing strings, that sounds like a more polished and honest version of something Geri Halliwell or Nicole Scherzinger would pop-approach on a record, and lends another songwriting winner about a million dollar man leaving a woman to question why her heart’s broke.

“Summertime Sadness” follows up with even more Hip-Hop yelps and excited children buried in the mix and explodes in the way most songs are built up on the record. While the atmospheric openings of the songs and rhythmic introductions do get a bit tired, they’re always evolving, always different, but always unified at the same time so that they all stand out distinctive of each other and create a partnership that musically works with one another in perfect form.

However, perfect form and perfection can be seen as two different pieces of the puzzle and while Born To Die doesn’t quite reach classic status, it’s fourth track “Video Games” is an indescribable masterpiece. It’s also a part of an album that puts a fine dent into the first quarter of the 2012 year.

Album Rating: 4.5/5

Purchase Born To Die [Amazon]
Purchase Born To Die: Deluxe Edition [Target]
Purchase Born To Die: iTunes Deluxe Edition [iTunes]
Pre-order Born To Die – Vinyl [Amazon]

Since the introduction of being able to make music straight from your laptop or PC, there’s a huge do-it-yourself market comprised of unpolished, raw recordings that boarder along the line of budget sounding sonics and amateur brilliance. Netherlands based Electronic musician Flamingo Pudding balances on the wire effortlessly, more often than not teetering on the brilliance side of the scope. His vast discography, spanning from free downloads of his Last.FM and Soundcloud pages, along with the recently released Flamingo Pudding And The Gravis Reazm tip toe around a discombobulated stereo image, envelope effects, and parallel compression effects that surprisingly create a middle ground for cracked chaos to roam freely amongst cohesive song structures.

…And The Gravis Reazm is an eclectic combination of music, bordering from sample based, feel good Electronic songs like “Cyclone”, to the Euphoric Royksopp-esque “Portmondeux”, and emotional, distorted, and stuttering “Psygnosis”.

We’re big fans of all of it, but it’s the last track on Flamingo’s Gravis, “Cardboard” that has us head over heels. It’s a relaxed, chill-out track that sounds simple in theory, but upon deeper listens, there’s a notice of layers hidden further back in the mix come into focus. Electronic beeps and lower harmonies find themselves becoming a glue of sorts in which hold together the chords and straightforward rhythmic section of the track. The rustling bits throughout the noise floor, though a bit loud, bring a level of humanism toward the song, adding a bit of imperfect charisma to the track.

“Cardboard” is mixed from a bright standpoint, with pitched up “do’s” that intriguingly mimic the sound of campy cats and the vocals are equalized with the majority of low frequencies discarded. It all works for the track in creating a more floating atmosphere for the track’s dreamy state, holding lyrics that go from light subjects to dark subjects.

“Eating berries on a Sunny Sunday, attacked by a bear. Well, not a real one obviously. It was a fake one made from old cardboard boxes,” Flamingo Pudding sings. The entire aforementioned sentence could be taken quite literally as a joke if read out of context of the song. After all, berries, attacked by bears made out of cardboard and flamingo flavored pudding don’t all look as well on paper as they do in our ears. But, it’s flawless. Extremely melodic, smartly executed, and a great listen!

Yes, it’s very tongue in cheek. No, it’s not a gleaming display of top-notch production. But, it’s good music, so why should I care?

Don’t believe us? Snag the free download here. It even comes with a playable game (it’s a .exe, so Windows users only, unfortunately. However, you can watch a walk through review of the game on YouTube by clicking here!)

You can snag a free download of Flamingo Pudding And The Gravis Reazm here!

According to the #Heapsong5 website, Immi was invited to the city of Hangzhou, China by the Dushi Kuaibao local newspaper in collaboration with the British Council and the PRS as an artist’s residence to create a project of her choice. The end project? A track which compiles sounds recorded throughout a 24-hour period in Imogen’s (and her team’s) life in the country. These noises span from cars going underneath underpasses, to skateboarders practicing on the streets outside, to even incorporating various vocals of an individual doing yelling exercises on top of mountains.

In conjunction with recording these sounds, a video that featured activities and happenings around the city within a day’s period was also filmed and produced to coincide with Xizi’s release, just as the previous four songs had done.

These recorded sounds were mostly manipulated in some shape or form to make up the majority of the track’s melodic and rhythmic structure. They’re pitched down, sped up, and in some cases, reverberated tail-ends are used to create ethereal sounds that are added into the mix to create a densely layered track. It sounds signature Imogen, but at the same time, marks new territory by creating such a contorted sound scape that smudges the line between organic and electronic, therefore bringing forth a vision that’s quite astounding and even has flashes of experimental sounds you would possibly hear in moderation on some Aphex Twin records.

Lyrically? It’s wonderful abstract Heap. Full of adjectives and is an optimistic track that could melodically lie within the same reigns as “Daylight Robbery” off of her sophomore release Speak For Yourself. “Slow down friend of mine/In a terrible hurry for change/As you unravel your marvels from evergreen gardens/remember we love you this way” she proclaims wonderfully through the first chorus and playfully modifies her statement from chorus to chorus, creating an even more multi-dementional feel to the song.

As musically and lyrically great “Xizi She Knows” is, there’s something that falls extremely short in the mix and master of the track. The lows don’t knock, the high’s don’t shine, the mids don’t purposefully clarify the overall sonic picture, in fact, the end product seems rather dull.

It’s a bit of a shame too, because the engineering on this track is innovative. The pitch shifting, the chopping up of sounds, automation techniques, panning, delays, reverberation effects, and even the actual idea to use these recordings (which would otherwise have just been standard field recordings) to orchestrate such a huge role in creating the song itself all show signs of one hell of a creative mind, but where’s the kick?

We’ve spoken about this problem before and it seems to be an issue with Imogen records since the release of Ellipse. While the very subtle mixing techniques worked for quiet #Heapsongs like “Neglected Space” and the 3D song “Propeller Seeds,” it creates an off feeling for something of what would otherwise be something we’d be jamming out to our cars in at full volume.

In summary, this Xizi chick? She pretty much knows. She knows that through the critique of the track, it’s still pretty damn great as it is.

Track rating: 3.5/5

Editor’s note: We would warmly like to thank Imogen Heap’s studio manager Kelly Snook for her comment below on this entry in regards to the audio on the YouTube version of of “Xizi She Knows”. While this article pertains to the lossless audio file of the song, the YouTube audio may very well be presented in mono and should not be held accountable for in any loss of fidelity, as the file compression and mono signal does tend to alter the pure sonics of original mixes of any song quite drastically

We ask that you draw your own conclusions in regards to how the bundle mix sounds to you and remember that the recordings arts are respectfully subjective to the individual listener. We also ask that you share your opinion of the track in the comments section below or join the fellow iBabblers over at Imogen’s forum, where discussion of this track is just as elaborate as this article.

Purchase “Xizi She Knows” over at MusicGlue by clicking here.

There are lossless and MP3 bundles that include a listen to all of the bits that went into recording the track, as well as the video featured above, and a surround sound version of “Neglected Space”! (See our review of “Neglected Space” here).

Well, this is a pleasant surprise.

Bjork made her way onto The Colbert report on January 21st, 2012 for a quick interview and performance of “Cosmogony” in promotion for her 2011 release Biophilia (check out our review of the album by clicking here).

In the interview, Stephen and a charming Bjork go back and forth talking about the inspiration and conception behind the Apple iPad App inspired project and playfully expresses how she now feels like she could fit in like “those Troubadour performers” by being able to incorporate musical playing and singing at the same time.

Discussions of gnomes, Iceland, and incorporating science into music are discussed. As well as a beautiful performance of “Cosmogony” also making its way into the appearance.

It’s a quick and overall flawless presentation sure to send pleasurable chills and fits of giggles to whomever watches. Enjoy.

Click here for the Interview
Click here for the Performance of “Cosmogony”

Biophilia (Amazon) was released October 10th, 2011.

Things seem to be aligning for all three woman, actually.

Madonna’s promotional campaign for her new record and movie W.E. are in full swing, Minaj has released two buzz singles, and now M.I.A. adds into radio takeover with the Pitchfork premiered release of a more polished version of a song we first heard on her free mixtape Vicki Leekx, “Bad Girls”.

“My chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the dashboard. My chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the radio. Get back, get down, hold me closer if you think you can hang. Hands up, hands tied, don’t go screaming if I blow you with the bang.” – Many claim M.I.A. has traded in her radical political outlook in exchange for a much safer track, however,  it’s clear from the frustrated origin of this track and from lyrics that maintain bullheaded, empowering, and aggressive content that her stance has gone nowhere. If anything, she’s taken a more sociological approach in this outreach, and it works a lot better than the 2010 debut single from \/\ /\ Y /\, “XXXO“, which was unfortunately and wrongly interpreted by many as being a sonic pop-sellout track.

The main difference between the two versions of “Bad Girls” is that…well, the version on Vicki Leekx is very obviously a more stripped, less produced version of the track because of it’s affiliation of  being mixtape status, which are normally associated with having a more raw, more bold and accident prone sonic soundscape. So, there’s a bit of frequency build up and confusion in the higher frequencies, but it adds to the charm.

With several surface level listens of the Pitchfork premiere, we have a more intense focus on vocal presence and production (there are a lot more vocal tracks layered on each other in this version), as well as percussion having frequencies carved out for them as opposed to fighting with each other as mentioned in the aforementioned paragraph.

There are a few other middle eastern melodies that are more prominent in this more polished Danja produced mix, and a more focused stereo mix. And it all adds up to an even more powerful and concentrated track that’s more than ready for just an underground listen.

As far as this single is concerned though? We believe it’s just buzz. Maya has already stated she’s hoping for a summer release with this record and we feel as though it’s a smart music business move to release a mainstream friendly, but still signature M.I.A. bad girl style while riding the tidal waves of Queen Madonna’s promotional campaign. It covers up the shit storms she caused during the campaigning of her last record (do we remember the insane controversies over jabbing at Lady Gaga and a New York Times Journalist?) and opens up a bright new world to hopefully take over and re-snatch the worldwide appeal she held during successes of Slumdog Millionaire and “Paper Planes.”

Our chains are hitting our chest jamming out to this one….and the video is rumored to premiere this Friday!

EDIT: Here it is!

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