It’s Friday afternoon, which means that we’re counting down to beer o’clock, and amusing ourselves during these long beerless hours by recapping all the best music we heard during the past week. Happily, there’s plenty of good stuff to stream — most notably, there’s the new Savages song, which is many many kinds of awesome and augurs very well indeed for their debut album. There’s also the John Vanderslice “Diamond Dogs” cover that we premiered earlier this week, most excellent remixes of Kendrick Lamar and Phoenix, new songs from Cold Cave and Stephin Merritt, the entire new Flaming Lips album (live!), and more. Get streaming, peoples!
Savages — “She Will” Hello, new favorite band! We can’t wait for your album! [via The Quietus]
John Vanderslice — “Diamanthunde” We premiered this track earlier this week, and continue to enjoy Vanderslice’s minimal take on the title track of David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs.
Kendrick Lamar feat. Jay-Z — “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” (remix) This remix is really pretty great, so much so that we actually prefer it to the original — and happily, Jay-Z’s verse at least sounds like he’s trying to stay awake, so that’s something. We highly approve of the Jordan/Kobe cover art, too. [via Stereogum]
Phoenix — “Entertainment” (Dinosaur Jr. remix) This is basically a cover version rather than a remix, considering that it features a new guitar part, new vocals, and new pretty much everything else, but we’re certainly not quibbling over semantics when the finished product is this great. J. Mascis reimagines Phoenix’s characteristically jaunty single as a laid-back, country-tinged jam, and it works beautifully. Who’d have thought it, eh? [via Self-Titled Mag]
Cold Cave — “People Are Poison” Wes Eisold: as misanthropic and angry as ever. Bless. Don’t go changing, Wes. [via Stereogum]
Carmen Villain — “How Much” (JD Twitch remix) We are generally into anything remotely Optimo-related, and JD Twitch’s brooding remix of Carmen Villain’s “How Much” doesn’t disappoint — it’s a claustrophobic and atmospheric banger, served with lashes of reverb and a whole lot of implicit dance-floor angst. [via The Quietus]
Future Bible Heroes — “Living, Loving, Partygoing” Yay for the return of Stephin Merritt’s party-centric incarnation! Future Bible Heroes come across like the Postal Service sinking cocktails on a Balearic beach on this track, which we’re guessing will get quite the workout on Brooklyn rooftops over the coming months. Crack a PBR and it’ll be like summer is here already! [via Consequence of Sound]
The Juan MacLean — “You Are My Destiny” This new Juan MacLean track explores similarly summery territory, albeit in a more dance-floor-oriented manner — it’s a warm, house-y jam that will fit very nicely indeed into any neo-house-oriented playlist. It’s good to hear MacLean producing again, too. [via Pitchfork]
Emufucka — “Xanadu” (Submerse remix) Honestly, how could we refuse a track from someone by the name of “Emufucka”? Even if the song sounds like someone trying to turn off a malfunctioning Commodore 64 by hitting it with a bass drum and an esoteric tropical flute? [via XLR8R]
The Flaming Lips — The Terror And finally, if you’ve been waiting to hear the new Flaming Lips record, rejoice — as you’ve probably read, they played it in its entirety at SXSW. Happily, someone recorded the set, and you can now stream it. Enjoy the rest of Friday afternoon! [via Tiny Mix Tapes]