Passion Pit Remixes Ra Ra Riot, YYYs

It seems Passion Pit is everywhere you look nowadays. With the surprising success of their debut Manners, the Boston-based quintet (which I had the pleasure of seeing a few weeks back) have taken the music industry by storm with their unique blend of synth-pop stylings and piercing falsettos, courtesy of Michael Angelakos. Manners has been my most listened-to album of 2009 (eat your heart out Dark Was the Night and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix), and each song on the debut LP gets better and better upon every listen.

It seems everyone and their mother has remixed “Sleepyhead”, “The Reeling”, and “Little Secrets” recently, hoping to cash in on the group’s sudden popularity. Lately, however, the group has been doing some ear-catching remixes of their own, with great success. My personal favorite thus far is their flawless synth-driven remodeling of Ra Ra Riot’s “Ghost Under Rocks”, which you can check out below. Also, grab their latest, a remix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll”. Long live Passion Pit.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix)”
MP3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll (Passion Pit Remix)”

Love,
Zack

New Passion Pit – The Reeling

Thanks to Derek over at Neon Gold for the tip on the new Passion Pit jam, “The Reeling”, which will be the first single on their debut full-length, Manners, due out May 19th. “The Reeling” keeps with the band’s vibe of being totally all over the place and pulsating with electro-fueled emotion. Since the single has yet to be released, stream the song over at their myspace, and check out Giantess’ Bo Flex remix of “Sleepyhead”, a more bass-heavy and structured take on the jam of the millennium, below. May 19th cannot come soon enough.

MP3: Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead (Bo Flex Giantess Remix)”

Love,
Zack

Spotlight On: Passion Pit

Passion Pit was introduced to me by my good friend Derek a few months back, and the adjectives he used to describe the new guys from Boston are usually reserved for only the most awe-inspiring and hype-deserving bands. After listening to “Sleepy Head”, I totally get it. The song is a two-minute-and-fifty-eight-second eargasm; one of those songs that cause feelings of nostalgia for that time two minutes ago when you were still enjoying the masterpiece that is “Sleepy Head”.

I am aware that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, what with some peoples’ dislike of overly synthy or layered songs, but I implore you to at least give it a shot. If any of their new stuff sounds anything like “Sleepy Head”, consider Pretty Penny the frontrunner for best album in the universe.

I NEVER speak in absolutes.

MP3: Passion Pit – “Sleepy Head”

Sorry about the zshare again. For some reason my hosting is acting up.

Love,
Zack

YOUR PASSION, MY PLEASURE

Although they now call the stripper-clad streets of Los Angeles home, The Dance Party is a band originally from our nation’s capital. They formed while still in college at the University of Maryland a few years back. Fast forward past several frat parties, a couple sold out 9:30 Club shows and some CMJ appearances to the present day. The band recently signed to Atlantic Records and will be releasing their debut album Touch on September 28th. With the major label success, comes the producers looking to do remixes…

LA based DJ/production duo Breakdown are the first to take a crack at a track from Touch, recently lending their remix skills to “Pretty Girl”. It is a certified dance floor jam. A lot of peaks, a lot of valleys. It’s got a little bit of everything – blending funky bass lines, with strong rock hooks and electro synth.

The Dance Party will be playing Rock and Roll Hotel in DC on October 1st for their record release show. Buy tix now?

MP3: The Dance Party – “Pretty Girl (Breakdown Remix)”

-Will

YOU’RE PACKING TONS OF GUNS

DJ Bahler is a mash-up DJ from Los Angeles who recently released a mixtape called Mashin’ Pit, which features our favorite band’s repertoire spliced with some of the more recognizable jams in recent memory. While it is entirely possible (and, in my opinion, likely) that DJ Bahler came up with the name of the mix and then put music to it, the results are nonetheless intriguing. Highlights include “Mum Mum Mum Moth,” which deftly balances Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor” with “Moth’s Wings,” tied together with the vocals from Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face.” Also worth listening to is “Potholes on Easy Street” which samples, among other things, Kanye’s “Touch the Sky,” Yelle’s “Ce Jeu,” and, of course, Passion Pit’s “Tons of Guns.” Grab the whole mixtape here, and the aforementioned favorites below. You may not love them, but honestly, I can’t get enough of anything that even remotely involves Passion Pit.

MP3: DJ BAHLER – “Mum Mum Mum Moth (Passion Pit vs. Major Lazer vs. Lady GaGa)”
MP3: DJ BAHLER – “Potholes on Easy Street (Passion Pit vs. Kanye West vs. Yelle)”

Love,
Zack

Just Keep it Cool Baby, I Don’t Wanna Know

I know I’m about, oh, a year and a half late to the U.S. Royalty party, but that’s not going to stop me from posting about a song that I literally cannot get out of my head. I downloaded “Keep it Cool” around the time that it was making it’s rounds on all the taste makers, but for some reason it just sat in my iTunes to rot. I hit up shuffle a few weeks back, and lo and behold, the Bo Flex (Yes Giantess) remix of “Keep it Cool” serenaded my ear drums, at which point I proceeded to listen to it, you know, about twenty times on repeat. The punchy drums, catchy-as-all-hell chorus, and warm synths reminiscent of Passion Pit, come together like Voltron to form my Summer jam of 2010, even if I am a year late.

I am particularly embarrassed because the band is centered in my hometown of D.C., and just played at my favorite venue (U St. Music Hall) and I missed it. For shame.

MP3: US Royalty – “Keep it Cool (Bo Flex Giantess Remix)”

Love,
Zack

We Get Up Early Just to Start Cranking the Generator

A relatively new and positively refreshing relationship has been forged between hip hop and blog-buzz bands. The ever-growing list includes Kid CuDi (who has sampled everything from Vampire Weekend to Band of Horses), Chiddy Bang (MGMT, Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, etc.) and Theophilus London (Discovery, Ellie Goulding). Now it’s time to add a new name to that list; Gilbere Forte‘ (pronounced Jil-bear For-tay). The Flint, Michigan native has just released a new single, “1st Floor,” and is blowing up the blogosphere with his clever integration of Freelance Whales “Generator ^ 1st Floor.” The track was produced by Passion Pit’s Aislyn, so naturally it’s flawless. Grab “1st Floor” below, and pray for more hip hop/indie incest in the near future.

MP3: Gilbere Forte’ – “1st Floor (ft. Freelance Whales)”

Love,
Zack

Our Love Was Lost and Hope Was Gone

Passion Pit, Temper Trap…what’s next? Happy Hole? Emotional Precipice? Seriously, all incredibly lame jokes aside, both of the aforementioned bands make some pretty solid music nowadays, which we’ve noted on numerous occasions here. The latter group, Australian-bred Temper Trap, gave us “Sweet Disposition,” otherwise known as that song from 500 Days of Summer that everyone listened-to-but-didn’t-know-the-band-and-then-Dirty-South-&-Axwell-made-a-sick-house-music-version-and-it-became-even-more-well-known-song. Well, if you listened to their debut, Conditions, you’d know that they also have that-sweet-song-with-the-handclaps-and-adorable-lyrics. “Love Lost” is that song, and you should grab it below, and pump it listen to it.

MP3: The Temper Trap – “Love Lost”

Love,
Zack

The More You Change the Less You Feel

Passion Pit, you’ve done it again. You’ve contributed another amazing cover, this time for Levi’s Pioneer Sessions project, which “finds the clothier selecting hot artists to cover classic tracks that influenced their music.” No description necessary, just LISTEN TO MORE PASSION PIT. WOOOOOOO!!!!!!

MP3: Passion Pit – “Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)”

Love,
Zack

All Things Go – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

This post has been a long time coming. As you loyal readers may have noticed, we have upped our posting to healthy levels over the past month, averaging a little over a post a day. Adrian and I have realized that this is our passion, and we really want to make sure we continue to push forward and make ATG better and better. With that in mind, we have decided to overhaul the site, remodeling everything to make it more streamlined and interactive. Basically, we want All Things Go to be taken to the next level. Since this is a music blog, and we value our readers’ insight, we wanted you all to be a part of the process. Tell us what you would like to see. More mixtapes? New color scheme? More dedicated posts? Contests? Concert Reviews? We can’t improve without your insight.

In addition to the remodeling, we will move to our own domain, which we have yet to decide on, but http://www.allthingsgo.wordpress.com will still work for all you RSS subscribers.

One thing that Adrian and I have discussed is that we wish people would comment more. Without your comments, we don’t know what’s working for all of you, and what isn’t. In addition, comments boost our egos, and help us want to post more. Without it, we feel like people just come, steal the jam, and don’t even read our beautifully crafted pieces posts.

Ok so, with all of that being said, please leave more comments letting us know what you like or don’t like, and PLEASE shoot us an email at allthingsgoblog@gmail.com telling us what you think we can do to make ATG better.

ALSO, if you aren’t already, please FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

MP3: Passion Pit – “Better Things”

Love,
Zack & Adrian

PS: We may be looking for a few more dedicated writers. It’s not paid (obviously) but it’s a fun experience to share your thoughts on music with an audience in the millions tens of thousands thousands. Send us some writing samples at allthingsgoblog@gmail.com along with a brief bio if you’re interested.