Enjoy your Sunday - Courtesy of Audio Muffin

Mercury Records is releasing the debut album Habits from the electro-rock band Neon Trees on March 16th.

The initial single from the album is a song called Animal. The way I’ve been exposing this track to my friends is thus:

The first time you listen to the song you are going to realize you are hearing a great song. The third time you hear the song you are going realize this is one of the catchiest songs you will hear all year.

You’ll probably notice a similarity to early Killers here too - think Killers when they were making the catchiest music in the world. And strangely enough, The Killers were themselves the ones who broke this band on to the mainstream when they took them along for their 2008 tour.

The album continues the theme started with the single; pounding guitars and steady beats behind powerful and catchy as hell vocals. I’ve said catchy more than a few times in this post, but I can’t stress how much this word defines this band. If you were to drop Neon Trees into your dryer, you’re are going to need to double up on Bounce dryer sheets - no joke.

They’ve also made a couple of videos to support the new single. The first takes them to the desert, and does a good job of showcasing the rock-star quality of lead singer Tyler Glenn. I’m on the fence about the haircut, but you can be sure if this dude was at a bar, he’s leaving with your girlfriend.

Their second video premieres today and pays homage to the coolest scene from any Batman movie ever - yeah I said it. Check the bottom of this post for that vid. And much like Jay-z killed the autotune, I feel this is the last video people are allowed to wear animal masks. That’s right, Neon Trees is the omega.

I also got my hands on some dope remixes from a “secret” source at Mercury. I’m going to throw up the best two, the first from remix heavy-hitters Yes Giantess. Yes Giantess of course out of the same music crew that became Passion Pit (listen to the end of the remix for STRONG signs of Pit).

The second remix is from Tyler Glenn himself. Hot damn, this guy can put down amazing remixes as well? I guess so.

Neon Trees - Animal (Yes Giantess remix)

Neon Trees - Animal (Tyler Glenn remix)

Lately, my music discovery routine has been in tunnel vision. A year ago I was stuck inside what I would call a folk phase, and am now dwelling in the world of synthesizers and vocals that float on into the infinite.

But no matter what your mood or mindset, occasionally something is dropped into your lap that cannot be ignored, and will question the entire concept of ‘genre’. Like we say around the bakery, good music is good music.

And with that introduction, may I introduce Inspired Flight.

Inspired Flight is a duo from San Diego that features Chavez and OpenOptics. Both entered the music world in the hip-hop scene. As their musicianship matured Chavez focused his attention to guitar and songwriting. OpenOptics took the opposite path with his attention tuned towards records and DJing.

They joined forces with Inspired Flight which mixes the best of both worlds.

The music is light, clean, and captivating. The vocals usually begin pained and yearning, and quickly develop into floating melancholy melodies that force you to slowly sway with the lush and delicate instruments.

They still keep one arm in the hip-hop world, showcasing underground rappers on a handful of their tracks. You’ll notice one of the tracks below includes some swift delivery from Eligh of Living Legends. Yeah, that’s right, I know I just got Train and Hot Dog’s attention.

I don’t need to say too much more about the music. Just relax and let some good tunes flow through your speakers.

Note that the album and tour dates will be announced shortly, so keep an eye on their website for those. And if you like the tunes below you can find more from their EP on their site as well.

Inspired Flight - Pull, Push, Let Go featuring Eligh of Living Legends

Inspired Flight - I Won’t Let You Down

It’s been about 5 years since I last had a car, and at this point I’m pretty much used to life sans-auto.  The only time I miss having the ride around is when I feel the urge to have a good ol’ fashioned car-rock session.  As Sydney C and I used to lament in our pedestrian-laden lives back in Boston, nothing beats blasting the shiza outta your car speakers and driving to destination unknown.  The reason I’m rambling on about this is because I’ve been jamming to some music lately that cannot be contained by headphones (especially those white earbud sonuvabitches), and have had a hankering for an obnoxiously loud cruise down the west side highway. Who’s coming with?

The man behind the motor-cravings is Yelawolf.  Hailing from Alabama, Yela is putting out hip-hop that is dripping with bass, down-south durrty, synths, strings and 808’s - it’s practically begging to blared through shitty factory speakers and custom systems alike. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that dude can rap his ass off too.  Switching flows more often than a leaky faucet (<— that’s the best metaphor I could come up with, aaaaand that’s why I’m not a rapper), Yela drops verses that run the gamut from backwoods to hoods and everything in between. A nice little break from the headier side of indie hip-hop, I must admit - I like-a the Yelawolf.

Now from what I gather, Yela used to be signed to Columbia, but left a while back and is now handling biz on the independent/solo tip.  He has since dropped a couple of mixtapes, the most recent one being  the aptly-titled Trunk Muzik back in ‘09, which is the same tape that got your boy Train all up in a tizzy.  In addition to Mr. Wolf’s lyrical acrobatics, Trunk Muzik also features verses from Bun B, Raekwon and Juelz Santana - not too shabby for a free(!) mixtape. I would guess that a full out album is in the works, but until then I’ve got a few tasty tunes to keep you satiated.  Below are two jams and a vid from Trunk Muzik, in addition to a download link to the mixtape.  Yela is also currently on tour with another bet-they-blow-up-in-2010 Muffin favorite, Wiz Khalifa - head on over to Myspace to peep the dates.  Alright, enough yapping, more rapping.  Yelawolf: Train Tested. Muffin Approved.

Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik

Yelawolf - Stage Lights (remix)

Download the Trunk Muzik mixtape HERE for free!

Be sure to follow your boy Train on Twitter to keep up with the freshest news coming out of the Muffin bakery!

The music world was hit with some ominous news earlier this week when we found out that Guru, brainchild of Gang Starr, suffered a cardiac arrest and is now in a coma. Along with DJ Premier, MC Guru took hip-hop to a new level with an infusion of jazz and hip-hop hybrid sweetness through the NYC scene. For nearly twenty years this hip hop duo continuously laced head bobbing tracks that led the way for the underground New York hip hop scene’s emergence.

Keith Elam (Guru) is only 43 years old and we can only hope that he will make a full recovery. DJ Premier confirmed the news on Monday and Guru’s people have confirmed the seriousness of his health problems.

For someone who has and will continue to shape the hip-hop world, we can only send our sincere hopes for a speedy recovery from Audio Muffin. Keep Guru in your thoughts and prayers

Gang Starr - Skills

Gang Starr - Capture