Mayer Hawthorne’s debut album, Strange Arrangement is coming out on September 8th, and I can’t wait. From what I’ve heard so far, this album is gonna be a summer classic.

This is my favorite track so far… it’s pure pop perfection.
[wpaudio url="http://stonesthrow.com/jukebox/mayerhawthorne-youreasylovin.mp3" text="Mayer Hawthorne - Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothing"]

A really great performance from a really great band. Also, Max Weinberg is officially the man!

I may be a little late to jump on this particular bandwagon, but Jamie Lidell is the shit! Take a listen…

Being 75% Filipino, I’m an obvious supporter of Pinoys in the spotlight. This girl, who was only 12 years old when she did this performance, makes me so proud that I cry sinigang tears whenever I watch this. Mabuhay.

My legs are aching, my back is sore and I have a pretty noticeable farmer’s tan. However, it was sooooo worth it. Rock en Seine, in case you didn’t read the previous post (shame on you), is an annual 3-day music festival, similar to Bumbershoot but sans all the cheesy hippie arts and crafts booths. I finally got to see Björk, and it was pretty spectacular! It would’ve been even better if the guy in front of me didn’t keep whipping my face with his dreadlock ponytail. Eh, c’est la vie. Here are my highlights:

Arcade Fire
They had a full-sized pipe organ on stage! With 13 members, I can only imagine the size of their tour bus. Maybe a tour dirigible? One of the girls, the lead singer’s wife I think, was all over the stage playing every instrument she could get her hands on, from drums, to pipe organ, to accordion, to this strange stringed instrument with a rotating lever.

The Hives
To be honest, their flavor of rock/punk rock gets old pretty quickly for me. However, their stage presence is fucking gold. The lead singer, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, is hee-larious with great quips like, “alright you French people, we are the Hives… c’est fantastique!” And the rhythm guitarist has this crazy way of strumming that made me wonder if he was even playing or not. Pure entertainment.

Mark Ronson
I’ve only heard his second album in one of those listening stations inside music stores, but after seeing him live, with a full band, I’m going back today to cop that shit. What’s better on a summer day than a great horns section and funky bass guitar licks? Answer: using those to cover a Smiths songs, that’s what.

Kings of Leon
I honestly don’t think I really knew what Rock n’ Roll was until I saw these guys live yesterday for the first time. The lead singer, Caleb Followill, said his voice was a little sore, but that didn’t stop him from giving it everything he had. Maybe the shot of Jameson whiskey he drank, after toasting it to the crowd, helped him along. His brother on lead guitar had a cigarette lit almost the entire show and either kept it in his mouth or on the end of his guitar. The drummer was drinking a can of Heineken with a bendy-straw, and the bassist completely pandering to the camera. Before and after their performance, there were sporadic girlish screams coming from backstage. This band is fucking stellar.

Download it here: http://knowbody.net/music/the_chocolate_room.zip

1. Fear of Little Men
2. Clipse – Dirty Money
3. Mos Def – Sun, Moon and Stars
4. Bill Withers – Kissing My Love
5. Camp Lo – Swing
6. Heiroglyphics – You’ll Never Know
7. Schooly D/Big Boi – Dedication to All B-Boys/Last Call
8. DJ Shadow – Turf Dancing
9. Patrick Swayze/Missy Elliott – She’s Like the Wind/Beep Me 911
10. Tom Tom Club – Wordy Rappinghood
11. James BrownGet Up Offa That Thing
12. Hot Chip – Down With Prince
13. The Jets/Europe – Rocket 2 U/Final Countdown
14. Billy Paul – Me & Mrs. Jones
15. Bj̦rk РVenus As a Boy
16. Zero 7 – Destiny
17. The Knife – Rock Classics
18. Hall & Oates – Sara Smile
19. Feist – Lonely Lonely (Frisbee’d Mix)
20. Isaac Hayes – No Name Bar
21. Throw Me the Statue – Young Sensualists
22. Beck – Summer Girl
23. Mates of State – Fraud in the 80s
24. Bill Withers – Let It Be

I just finished my first mixtape! (mix CD? mix playlist?) And boy, was it a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I tried to record as much of it in one take as I could, so it’s a bit sloppy at times but not bad for my first try. I definitely learned a lot from this experience, like mixing a BPM-consistent song with a song with a floating BPM is a biatch! I also learned that you shouldn’t dance too much while mixing because you’ll miss your cue or, worse yet, make the needle skip.

Enjoy!