The Funcooker

The Mixtape Circuit: TRV$AM

Fix Your Face Vol. 2—Coachella ‘09 (Download via MediaFire)

Originally released online in exchange for one tweet, here’s the latest mixtape from the DJ+drummer duo of DJ AM and Travis Barker, better known as TRV$AM.

It has been a monster year for the duo after a speedy recovery from last September’s Learjet crash. AM continues to build upon his reputation as of one of the best party rockin’ DJ’s with multiple residencies in LA and Vegas, while developing Activision’s soon to be released DJ Hero. Barker, on the other hand, is on bill for one of the largest summer tours: the Blink 182 Reunion 2009.

If you’ve heard the original installment of Fix Your Face, you’ll be familiar with a couple of the pair’s lines. However, don’t sleep on this mix—it’s a great way to welcome the summer! AM’s signature genre-bending, attention deficit disorder style paired with Travis’ beastly skills blend seamlessly and solidify their place as one of the greatest DJ+drummer duos.

UTADA / This Is The One

Utada
This Is The One
Island Def Jam

She is huge. Her Japanese debut First Love sold more than 8 million copies, is certified 32x Platinum by the RIAJ and is the best-selling album od all time in her native Japan. She’s one of her homeland’s most treasured musicians, but it’s easy to as: who is Utada Hikaru? Simply put, she’s the pop star North America didn’t hear about. After the critically-acclaimed but commercial flop Exodus, her major label American debut, Utada strikes back with a vengeance in This Is The One. Collaborating with a-list producers Stargate and Tricky Stewart, Utada sets herself for North American playlist domination. Sounding like Mariah-lite or a womanized Ne-Yo, this little Asian brings some catchy, quirky pop-R&B that should fine their home on the radio. First single “Come Back To Me” is a slow-burner jam with an unobtrusive piano riff and 808 handclaps, while “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - FYI” samples Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, fortified by hip-hop beats, to magnificent results. Opener “On & On” is club-ready, decent heavy beatwork paired with some very unfortunate Lil’ Jon-esque yeahs. All R&B epic-ness falls into the title track “This One (Crying Like A Child),” a guitar and piano scorcher about falling in love with a celebrity singer. While Exodus was more experimental, dicking around Timbaland productions, gritty synth pop and esoteric lyricism (“All along / I was searching for my Lenore”), This… is so very mainstream - so mainstream that it can seem vapid. Utada’s lyrics, much like early English Shakira work, are deliciously strange. Lines like “I wish that I could photoshop / All our bad memories” and “Honeys, if you’re gay / Burn it up like a gay parade” are like movie nerds - so awkward, but so hard not to like. Though musically UTada sounds like a thousand pop singers blended together, her unique voice is all her own - soulful, with just the right touch of depth. Admittedly, she can be an acquired taste, but This Is The One is easy enough to swallow.

Utada | Official Site
Utada on MySpace Music
UTADA / This Is The One @ Blizzaga, Inc.

UTADA / Exodus

Utada
Exodus
Island Def Jam

Utada Hikaru is the little Asian that thinks she can. With her pop music career born and raised in postmodern Japan, her venture into American territory is both dangerous and intriguing. The closest thing she has to American success is her theme songs for Square Enix’s RPG series Kingdom Hearts (“Simple & Clean” and “Sanctuary”). She could have stayed in the shallow end of the Japanese pop music scene, but Utada decides to swim into deep waters with the release of her highly experimental Exodus. Dabbling in space age electronica, old-school hip-hop and underground pop-rock, her Island Def Jam debut isn’t at all mainstream. But it’s good. Timbaland-helmed title track “Exodus ‘04” is a lovely mix of minor piano chords and hip-hop influences, while “Animato” is a futuristic oddity that namedrops Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin. “The Workout” dives into off-beat handclaps and gritty techno-synths, as Utada sings about getting Far East-freaky with dirty blonde Texans and born again Christians. Utada uses her eclecticism to create a masterpiece based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe: the elegiac techno-rock of “Kremlin Dusk” is, hands down, the song of her career. This 5-minute opus, featuring multi-layered percussion by ex-Mars Volta drummer John Theodore, sports some of the most esoteric lyrics on Exodus: “I run a secret propaganda / Aren’t we all holding pieces of dying ember?” Lead single “Easy Breezy” seems to be a joke - the bubblegum pop quality is so sugar sweet that it’s ironic. “You’re easy breezy / And I’m Japanese-y!,” Utada sings behind a throbbing baseline early Britney would have delighted in. Collectively, Exodus isn’t much of a crossover into American markets - it’s too weird for mainstream audiences to pay attention to. The melodies are unconventional, the vocal acrobatics are unusual, and the lyrics can make poetry majors drown in confusion. But for those willing to wade in the waters of Utada’s mad scientist music, Exodus is well worth the swim.

Utada | Official Site
Utada on MySpace Music
UTADA / Exodus @ Blizzaga, Inc.