The World According To Chris Brewer

This week’s edition of my semi-regular music feature we call the 54321 (because it has five of my most listened-to tracks through the week) features a blend of styles, starting off with some nu-jazz and moving on to some filtered 80s-style funk courtesy of Chromeo. Check it out!

So I remember yesterday
When I dreamt about the day
That I’d rock on MTV
That hasn’t happened yet.

– Fergie, with last line abridged by yours truly

Here’s the 54321 for this week…it contains a couple Luomo tracks (yeah, I’m on a deep house kick again, it happens around this time every year) and some other faves of mine. Deep house always reminds me of late nights driving in downtown Portland — I miss it! Enjoy the tracks and drop me a line as always.

Oh, and by the way, my favorite track in this set is “Tessio,” and I love the vocals from 5:26 to about the 5:40 mark or so. I love how he dropped that in there…the warbly bassline and the mood of this track is just awesome. Wish I had this one on vinyl. (For those of you wondering, this version of “Tessio” is the Vocal City version…)

It’s time for a brand-new edition of the 54321, something I sporadically post on my site, sadly enough, because I don’t really have much time to compile and find versions of the top 5 tracks I’m listening to these days.

Of particular interest this week is the classic, “Two Months Off” by Underworld. The first time I heard this track was when I was going through tech school at Fort Meade, Maryland in mid-2003. I was only 19 at the time — I remember heading out to Arundel Mills Mall with a few friends and the trippy video for “Two Months Off” was playing at Journeys. I went back to the dorm, downloaded it (I since have bought the song and own it legally) and it’s been one of my faves ever since.

Without further adieu, here’s the list:

Doesn’t look like my next couple of days off will be anything close to what last week offered in terms of the weather. In fact it’s been raining just about nonstop for about four hours, and our yard is slowly turning into a lake.

Still, this rain doesn’t hold a candle to Oregon or Washington, where it would rain…the old adage I heard someone use up there was “it rains 366 days per year here even in non-leap years.” True dat.

So I guess a little of this rain can’t hurt. And I remember it’s only March and in four months we’ll all be roasting under 100 degree skies and 100 percent relative humidity. I’ll take the rain, kthxbye.

Instead, I’ll be enjoying my top 5 cuts this week, as listed on this week’s edition of the on-again, off-again 54321, where I chronicle my most listened to electronica tracks of the previous week.

Enjoy them with me…

Check out this week’s 54321, featuring mainly tracks that I discovered just in the past week. I have a feeling Chromeo and Ratatat are going to become personal favorites of mine.

I know I previously said my next post was going to be what I can look forward to in 2008, but I was listening to some music this morning and came up with a great idea…to make a post about the best music I happened across in 2007. So I’m presenting you a 54321 with a 6th track.

All of this music is going to be of an electronic nature, so be prepared to get out of your chair and jump around. Even if you are plagued by sinusitis today, like myself. Enjoy.

6. “LoveStoned (Tiesto Remix)” by Justin Timberlake.

She’s got me lovestoned. I think that she knows. This remix has me lovestoned as well.

[audio:http://www.freewebs.com/ikwientjuh/New/LoveStonedremix.mp3]

[Read more]

I totally suck at posting 54321s here on my blog. I think I’ve said I was going to resurrect the feature twice but I have failed to keep it going for any length of time.

Well, here’s the third attempt at that. Today I’m going to post my five favorite Daft Punk songs and give you the opportunity to listen to them as well. Here goes.

[audio:http://www.eviltrailmix.com/~bindi/Music/Daft Punk - Fresh.mp3]
5. “Fresh,” from the album Homework. Gotta love the guitar in this one, and for some reason the vocoder and bassline are something I could listen to at length.

[audio:http://www.musicblog.ro/data/09-daft_punk-technologic.mp3]
4. “Technologic,” from the album Human After All. Buy it, use it, break it…but definitely make sure you fix it. ‘Nuff said.

[audio:http://xxx0066.free.fr/musiques/Daft%20Punk%20-%20Superheroes.mp3]
3. “Superheroes,” from the album Discovery. You’re a musical genius if you can take a 2-second Barry Manilow sample and build an entire song around it.

[audio:http://sauve.d.free.fr/Music/12%20-%20Revolution%20909.mp3]
2. “Revolution 909,” from the album Homework. This track makes me want to breakdance. I also enjoy the video, especially the instructions on how to make spaghetti sauce.

[audio:http://mimi6cu.free.fr/jeux/musik/Make%20Love.mp3]
1. “Make Love” from the album Human After All. Idiotically repetitive, the muted guitar, the piano melody and the cheesy synth drums all come together to create a nifty little track that somehow became my favorite DP track.

This week we’ll take a look at a couple tracks from the Swedish House Mafia, a group consisting of Eric Prydz, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso. Also another Lifelike track in there as well, for the second consecutive week.

5. “Proper Education,” Eric Prydz vs. Floyd. From the Proper Education single.

I always loved the original track “Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd, and I think Eric Prydz has done an awesome job of remixing it. A classic.

4. “Running Out,” Lifelike. From a 20000ST Records compilation.

Great 80s-ish sounding track. Can you tell by the past 54321s that I have a soft spot for the 80s?

3. “Feel the Vibe,” Axwell. From the Feel the Vibe EP.

I fell in love with this song in late 2004 as I was getting ready to move from Portugal back to the U.S. Nice beat, nice chorus and I really like the vocal synth in the main section of the song.

2. “Another Chance,” Roger Sanchez. From the album First Contact.

The Toto sample in this song is instantly recognizable…Roger Sanchez took this track and turned it into a dancefloor killer back in 2001. Today, in 2007, I’m still jamming to it.

1. “My Friend Dario,” Vitalic. From the album OK Cowboy.

I actually like the video more than the song. Sorry the girls are scantily clad, but the concept of them in football helmets and the guys on air guitar is classic.

A day late and a dollar short, but here’s this week’s 54321. Some Daft Punk, Roni Size and much more.

5. “In Tune With the Sound,” Roni Size & Reprazent feat. Rahzel. From the album In the Mode.

Incredible beatboxing by Rahzel on this one. Blake Lewis, eat your heart out.

4. “Voyager,” Daft Punk. From the album Discovery.

Daft Punk is the duo that really got me interested in house/electronic music, and every time I hear this song I hearken back to Christmas 2001 when my parents bought me a copy of Discovery. I believe it was the first secular music we EVER allowed into our house.

Q&A session: What song did “Voyager” use as a sample? Answer in the Comments section if you know it. I’m sure most of you will have to Google to find the answer…

3. “Bossy (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix),” Kelis. Unreleased.

What more can I say? Crappy song turned into a nice remix that makes you think of the 80s.

2. “Adventure,” Lifelike. From the Adventure single.

Speaking of the 80s, one track that has been heavy on my playlist is “Adventure.” Heard it in the car today and thought it belonged on the 54321. So here it is…

1. “World Hold On,” Bob Sinclar feat. Steve Edwards. From the album Western Dream.

I first heard this track in Iraq last year. Still a strong favorite of mine.

If you all have any feedback or have some tracks you think are deserving of some 54321 recognition, let me know in the comments section. Peace!