Guest Mixtape – Lightning Pill / Chris Bynes

I’m a jack of all trades, and a master of at least a few. I blog every now and then (in fact, I am an occasional contributor to both Afropunk and IHeartNoise, write songs in various genres (my forte are antifolk, experimental pop, and electronica), make beats on occasion, edit videos as a hobby, write poetry, stories, blogs, etc. I’m a firm believer. The two projects I have going are Charcoal Sketches of the Invisible Man and blank videotapes. One is a mainly keyboard-heavy project, and the other is more beatsy, instrumental and electronic.
Some of my music can be found on www.soundcloud.com/csoim-blank-vids

 
clipping – Story 2
clipping. is one of many rap groups/artists vurrently tearing apart the idea of what hip-hop is sound to do or sound like by jumping time signatures like hopscotch as Daveed Diggs raps about a gay arsonist. After this, I highly suggest checking out their albums, namely their Sub Pop debut.
Animal Collective – Bleed
There aren’t a lot of songs that hold up well with only two chords played, but Animal Collective’s song feels like both a song and an expression of emotion, mixed with a common shame for its realness. What makes Animal Collective so damn amazing is their ability to take experimental music and make it all sound more than just wacky, but a part of the human experience.
Offspring – The Kids Aren’t Alright
For those who expect all experimental stuff in the list, let’s deviate from that right now. What I love so much about this song is what it is about. In fact, what inspires me is the fact that Offspring takes on relevant topics from submissive/masochistic men (Self-Esteem) to wannabe white gangstas (Pretty Fly) to unprotected one-night-stands turning into broken families (Hit That). This song is about those whom in their youth swore they would own the world and make a big splash only to find those same kids grew up living shitty lives. This song should inspire anyone who hears it to get off their ass and start living their lives to the fullest.
The Rentals – Waiting
I’ve gotten to the point where I would normally shrug my shoulders at rock bands or powerpop bands UNLESS something like a keyboard or a synthsizer had a major part in their songs. I like music that manages to make pop music out of essentially geeky things, and make it a huge earworm, like The Rentals did with “Friends of P” and “A LIttle Bit of You in Everything”. So, if you want to send some music my way, one surefire way to get me to listen to it is to let your keyboards or pianos take the lead. Speaking of…
GoGo Penguin – Wash
Some songs just defy words. When I listen to “Wash”, I picture a moment in pitch black darkness before something uplifting within your soul inspires you to move on forward. It’s one of the main tracks that 1) solidified my respect for piano Jazz (or Post-rock) and 2) I would probably recommend to anybody looking to get into their work.
Lab Waste – Get the Signal
It’s a shame that hip-hop is getting a futuristic facelift, but the names Giovanni Marks or Thavius Beck fka Subtitle and Adlib don’t get their names thrown around enough. Their mechanical take on hip-hop and dance is just a morsel of what these guys can really do.
Diabia$e – Put In Work
As a per-diem beathead and full-time composer, what tends to get my attention sometimes are beats that seem made to just relax you. Somewhere, someone is asking to spit over “Put In Work”, but the best part about this beat is that it sounds so tranquil (due to the smooth Jazz samples) that you could care less about anyone doing anything to it. Those are my favorite kind of beats: the ones where it’s so beautiful that the last thing you are thinking about is who would sound good rapping or singing over it.
Lemon Jelly – Ramblin’ Man
I have heard through the grapevine that Lemon Jelly is a band that is seldom ever talked about in musical circles. In fact, the only time I have ever heard someone outside of blogs mention Lemon Jelly was Solange, who listened to them and Boards of Canada while making her Sol-Angel album. This ends now. As soon as you are done wit hthis, indulge heavily into Lemon Jelly. Heavily!
Plaid – Hawkmoth
This song contradicts what I said about Dibia$e. Everytime I hear this damn track, I am just imagining some brave, adventurous R&B singer coming across this and singing over it for her mixtape. The piece is just so spellbinding and as likely to cement itself into your head. There isn’t much to say other than Plaid’s deliverance of great melodies hasn’t worn out in time.
Actress – Parallel World
I heard this was one of the tracks Actress experimented on, but never thought was quite right. This piece is a damn-near haunted house of a track over some shifting IDM drums. It was enough to get me obsessed with Actress for a while.
Bonus: Flunk – Distortion
All you need is four chords, a few words and it is like you can sleep well with some good vibes in your system. THis had to be a bonus idea.