meanest man contest

mic.edu on new circle into square label comp

2010-03-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

there's a brand new label compilation out today from circle into square, and it features the song "surrogate role model" by our old group, mic.edu. cis will soon be re-releasing brand new crime - the 1988 split cassette release by mic.edu and our friends substance abuse. more info on that soon! label compilation vol. 1 also includes new songs, old songs, remixes and b-sides from cars & trains, the harvey girls, big spider's back, and boy in static.

mmc remixes seamonster's "bearsuit"

2010-02-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

seamonster has a new 7inch ep called two birds coming out on march 2 as a joint release between gold robot, royal rhino flying records, and martyrs of pop. it's available for pre-order now, and all purchases come with a free digital companion ep called these bones, which includes our remix of seamonster's "bearsuit," along with remixes (and a cover) of other seamonster songs by visions of trees, bomarr, roman ruins, and björn kleinhenz.

"other countries" mix

2010-02-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

i put together a downloadable "mixtape" for the very awesome blog when you awake. the mix is called other countries and is focused on country music classics covered in languages other than english ("a boy named sue" in french, "sixteen tons" in portuguese, "harper valley pta" in norwegian, and more, more, more). give it a listen and read the "liner notes" i wrote here.

mmc remixes cars & trains' "the roots"

2010-01-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

cars & trains has a great new album out today. it's called the roots, the leaves and it's being released by the very fine fake four label. cd and download are available today; vinyl's coming in two weeks.

a companion remix album also comes out today. it's called the roots the remix. we did a remix of c&t's song "the roots"; the record also features remixes by bomarr, ernest gonzales, blue sky black death, boy in static, and a bunch of others. you can grab the remix album as a free download at circle into square or drop a few bucks on it at spots like itunes, amazon, and emusic.

"partially smart" video

2010-01-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

hey hey yo yo - there's a brand new video out for our song '"partially smart." it was directed by the amazing john irwin and is a tie-in to the web comedy series "txt m3 b1tch." we filmed the clip over two weekends in los angeles.

"partially smart" is from our ep of the same name - you can grab it for free at rcrd lbl or play it in tap tap revenge 2.

isaiah toothtaker - "yiggy"

2010-01-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

it's been a while. mmc's been working on lotsa stuff but we've been bad bloggers, so we haven't talked about it here. but we'll change that in 2010 - that's a resolution you can hang your hat on.

isaiah toothtaker has a super bangin new album out. it's called yiggy and it's available as a free download here. it's got production by megasoid, subtitle, jamie laurie, eligh, and more. your homie eric (me) also produced a track, called "t.t.t.," which isaiah made a video for. check the freshness.

"how to break bad news" soundtrack + launch party in bklyn

2009-04-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

for the past couple of months, i've been working with my friend tim molloy on a soundtrack to his new novel how to break bad news, which was published recently by virgin books. the soundtrack came out today as a free downloadable album on rcrd lbl and includes tracks by dirty on purpose, michna, sam champion, coco b's, and - you guessed it - meanest man contest. download, stream, or grab it as a widget to embed into your own site here.

if you're in new york this week, come hang out with us on thursday, april 9 at hugs in williamsburg, brooklyn, where we'll be having a little launch party for the soundtrack's release. tim will be reading from and signing copies of the book, and the guys from rcrd lbl and i will be doing dj sets that include songs from the album. event info and soundtrack tracklist below:

how to break bad news soundtrack launch party
thursday, april 9, 2009, 9pm-midnight
@ hugs: 106 n 6th st, brooklyn, ny (between bedford ave & berry st) [map]
guest dj's (playing tracks from the soundtrack + other fun musics):
elliot aronow and sam duke (rcrd lbl) & eric steuer (meanest man contest)

how to break bad news soundtrack tracklist
01] "audience in the room" - dirty on purpose
02] "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)" - meanest man contest
03] "modern lover" - coco b's
04] "i live this life here for you" - evan voytas
05] "love song" - cruel black dove
06] "double negative" - the jim yoshii pile-up
07] "hey she say" - the gay blades
08] "my friends" - the franks
09] "do what you want to do" - michna
10] "your party was yesterday?" - sam champion
11] "hot caught" - eagle and talon
12] "national divide (kings theme)" - kings & queens
13] "the best of time" - jacob c. morris
14] "ending era" - magic me

mmc's xlr8r podcast + daedelus rmx getting love!

2009-04-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

check out the new mix meanest man contest put together for xlr8r's podcast series. it's called category killer selection and it's made up of an hour's worth of music that we've been loving lately. we included a brand new remix of our song "some people" by the super awesome berlin-based producer touane. here's the tracklist:

category killer selection by meanest man contest (for xlr8r / april 2, 2009)
01] "morning sunshine" - the idle race
02] "réu confesso" - tim maia
03] "he's large" - shelley duvall
04] "cum on feel the noize" - neil innes & son
05] "the girls of the navy" - the wirtschaftswunder
06] "magnetic thys" - the samps
07] "you only left your picture" - fashion
08] "some people (touane mix)" - meanest man contest
09] "traffic" - chad vangaalen
10] "que pena (ele já não gosta mais de mim)" - gal costa & caetano veloso
11] "long hot summer" - the style council
12] "last walk around mirror lake (boards of canada remix)" - boom bip
13] "cellz" - doom
14] "rainy day in centerville" - minnie riperton
15] "shutout" - the walker brothers
16] "by the sea" - wendy & bonnie
17] "tribulation" - samamidon
18] "the energy story" - college & minitel rose

speaking of xlr8r, they also posted our new daedelus remix (see previous post) earlier this week. visit their site to download it for free. thanks to the good people at pasta primavera and so much silence for posting it too. we love you!

homework records presents "lavori domestici vol. 2"

2009-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

bologna, italy's homework records has just released lavori domestici vol. 2, the label's second compilation of electronic music from around the globe. meanest man contest's "you're right. it's ballin'." is featured on the album, along with 25 other tracks by great artists like retina.it, alexander stone, quiroga, and apes on tapes. the (double) album is available as a free download under a creative commons by-nc-nd license and can also be streamed in its entirety from the homework site.

"you're right. it's ballin'." is also available on our we blame you ep, available on gold robot records.

a-ux remix of "sharp drest" at the chrome kids blog

2009-03-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

cardiff's chrome kids have been killing it lately with remixes, their own tracks, and a sick new mixtape called hulk hop vs crunk rock. they also run a music blog focused on dubstep, hip-hop, glitch, and bass music. earlier this week, they posted an electro remix of "sharp drest" by new york producer a-ux. i hadn't heard before and it's off-the-wall good.

the original version of the track - by me, mochipet, and oonceoonce, is available on mochi's album microphonepet and can be downloaded for free at rcrd lbl (and other places too - see previous posts). you can also hear it in the soundtrack to nba 2k9 and catch a bunch of other great remixes of it at the remix microphonepet page.

mmc remixes daedelus for "friends of friends volume 1"

2009-03-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

friends of friends is a new label started by mmc's pal leeor brown. the concept for fof's first release goes like this:

fof invites an artist to join the fof family by signing on to do a split ep; they in turn invite another musician or group to complete the split release and commission a designer to create the ep’s artwork on a limited edition t-shirt which will include a download card. included will be the release, exclusive remixes and special content.

friends of friends volume 1 features daedelus, who asked jogger to contribute music for the second half of the split and kozyndan to design the project's cover art/t-shirt design.

the bundle, available for purchase at the fof store, features remixes by michna, eliot lipp, nosaj thing, grahm zilla of thunderheist ... and us! we remixed the daedelus track "off to the races" and got our li'l buddy cuzzo to drop some smooth lyrics on it. rcrd lbl debuted the track as a free download today. give it a listen!

daedelus - "off to the races (meanest man contest remix feat. cuzzo)"

you can read more about the project at xlr8r and pitchfork. there's also an interview with leeor about it at amoeblog.

sneakmove minicomp at the anticon store

2009-03-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

our pals at the anticon store have added the 7inch vinyl editions of sneakmove minicomp 2 & 3 to their catalog (buy volume 2 here and volume 3 here). the minicomp 1 vinyl is still available at sneakmove, and free mp3 downloads of the tracks from all three volumes are still available at rcrd lbl (volume 1, volume 2, volume 3).

two mmc songs in "tap tap revenge 2"

2009-03-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

check out meanest man contest's tracks "partially smart" and "the tenderloin" in tap tap revenge 2 - the new edition of the top iphone game, which was released last week.

from wikipedia:

tap tap revenge is a rhythm game by tapulous available as an application for the iphone os. the game has a simple interface, while the game itself is quite similar to popular games such as guitar hero and rock band. the goal of the game is to tap each of the colored balls when they reach the line at the bottom of the screen. if the ball is hit on the beat, the player gains points, but if not, it counts as a miss.

the game is available as a free download for the iphone and ipod touch. "partially smart" is available in the "hard" section and "the tenderloin" is under "extreme." which makes sense, because our music is both hard and extreme.

you can take screenshots of your scores - so email yours to us at heymmc at gmail dot com and we'll send a little package of fun stuff to the person who gets the highest score on one of our songs.

even if you're like me, and not lucky enough to have an iphone, you can go to rcrd lbl to download free mp3's of "partially smart" and "the tenderloin."

and for more mmc-meets-video-game fun, check out "sharp drest" in nba 2k9.

mussck's "still always wonder" ep

2009-03-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

london-based glitch-hop producer mussck has just released still always wonder - a free ep of flipped and remixed tracks by fellow briefcase rockers/b.e.a.r. crewmembers, including us! download that ish! here's the track list:

[01] "put it on ya flip" f/ bearmod
[02] "necrospiritual rmx" f/ michael black electro
[03] "birth control" f/ juan huevos
[04] "post cruz rmx" f/ thavius beck
[05] "ready to wear rmx" f/ subtitle
[06] "reason 4 aka loose change rmx" f/ thavius beck
[07] "devil go away" f/ nathaniel eras
[08] "anti gravity rmx" f/ asonic garcia
[09] "the tenderloin rmx" f/ meanest man contest
[10] "things are looking up" f/ small is beautiful

the original version of "the tenderloin" is on our partially smart ep and can be downloaded for free at rcrd lbl.

magic me's "ep2" out now

2009-01-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

quarterbar here again to let you all know about the excellent rock band magic me's new release, ep2. i play guitar and sing a little in the band. this latest collection features more heartfelt jams that you wanna sing in your car and play super loud on your mp3 device. check one out:

magic me - "pink howitzer blues"

you can pick up ep2 at emusic, amazon, and itunes.

mmc on best-of-2008 lists

2009-01-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

yo! meanest man contest was featured on some best-of-2008 lists:

xlr8r included "we wouldn't want it any other way (débruit remix)" on its list of 50 best mp3s of 2008,

3hive included mmc as one of its top 25 of 2008,

music like dirt included "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)" on its top 200 tracks of 2008,

the very awesome veronica belmont put "the tenderloin" on her list of favorite rcrd lbl tracks,

and kexp included "sharp drest" in its end-of-the-year music giveaway.

the homies at rcrd lbl posted an entry about all the excitement. thanks to everyone for the love! you rule!

briefcase rockers' "heavy plot" compilation

2009-01-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

happy 2009! briefcase rockers is giving away a bunch of music to celebrate the new year. check out heavy plot (.zip, 99.8mb), a compilation which features the meanest man contest song "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)" along with tracks by lab waste, lazer sword, nosaj thing, and débruit. you can also download the mmc mp3 by itself here:

mp3: meanest man contest - "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)"

mmc's top ten mixtapes of '08 list @ urb

2008-12-24T14:51:00.000-08:00

urb published my list of the ten best mixtapes of '08. check it!

mmc's rcrd lbl anniversary playlist

2008-12-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

to celebrate their one year anniversary, the good people of rcrd lbl asked us to put together a playlist of our favorite stuff from their catalog. so we did just that. you can stream the whole mix via the widget below, or click on the track names to download them as individual mp3s from the rcrd lbl site.

good december and into infinity on fader tv

2008-12-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

i talked to fader tv about into infinity for the new episode of "la is a nice place to live," which focuses on good's new space and the good december series.

good december launches

2008-12-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

if you're in los angeles over the next two weeks, good is hosting a series called good december from 12/05/08 through 12/19/08 in their new space on melrose. it's open to the public from 11am-5pm every day and will offer salons, panel discussions, meals, and more. there will be occasional parties in the evening hours that require an rsvp; check out the good december site for more details. there's also a nice write-up about it at flavorpill with some useful info.

i'm working on two of the ongoing pieces of the series. one is an installation of into infinity - the art and music project produced by dublab and creative commons. the other is a set of podcast interviews about the culture of sharing that i conducted with jimmy wales, chris hughes, chris dibona, caterina fake, curt smith, joi ito and a variety of other people who use sharing as a cornerstone to work they do across a variety of fields. snippets of the conversations will be running throughout the series' two weeks - grab a set of headphones and listen up!

a li'l media round-up

2008-11-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

the current issue of lodown magazine features an interview with noah and me. it's scanned and posted here: "meanest man contest: double meaning"

new york magazine's new special issue is about weddings and includes a piece in which three people who work in music (including me) weigh in on clichéd wedding songs (and suggest a few updated choices). scanned and posted here: "bowie, not mendelssohn"

isgoodradio recently hosted cameron parkins and i to talk about creative commons. the archive is available here.

the medicine agency's blog - blogging on meds - recently posted a write-up about mmc's "the tenderloin," as well as one about noah's quarterbar gets sad with motown project. thanks!

cars & trains' "rusty string deluxe"

2008-11-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

check out rusty string deluxe, the new album by multi-instrumentalist and producer cars & trains (aka tom filepp). deluxe is an expanded version of tom's debut and features new songs, covers (by ceschi and the harvey girls), and remixes (by boy in static, factor, radical face, and your old buddies - meanest man contest). you can download the mmc remix for free over at rcrd lbl, which calls the track a "backyard jazz party that you have to keep lo-fi so the neighbors won't yell at you." that works for me.

mp3: cars & trains - "sometimes falter, sometimes sway (meanest man contest remix)"

"sneakmove minicomp" released digitally through rcrd lbl

2008-11-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

all three volumes of sneakmove minicomp - the short-songs compilation project i've been working on with mike senese over the past few years - have just been released digitally by rcrd lbl. all 29 tracks are available for free download, so why not grab them and then tell your friends to do likewise?

there are still vinyl copies of sneakmove minicomp 1 and sneakmove minicomp 2 available - get yours before they run out. the vinyl version of sneakmove minicomp 3 is just about ready, so sit tight. it will include a bonus track by broken spindles that does not appear as part of the rcrd lbl digital release.

sneakmove minicomp 1

01] casiotone for the painfully alone - "missoula"
02] baby dayliner - "snort your drugs"
03] languis - "noise looped"
04] blevin blectum - "money for rope"
05] oscillating innards - "sucka mc's"
06] restiform bodies - "atur"
07] dat politics - "gee gee"
08] oven mitts - "call me right away"
09] odd nosdam - "peso y dirección"

sneakmove minicomp 2

01] electric president - "i never thought that the end of the world would look so nice"
02] fog - "retirement"
03] meanest man contest - "sexy rap proposition!"
04] books on tape - "demons got me"
05] clovis heald - "the virgin"
06] bonde do role - "montagem do cabra"
07] controller 7 - "rope on a dope"
08] subtitle/giovanni marks - "supersub sunday"
09] crunc tesla - "promise recommended this"
10] newageynofriends - "video flesh"
11] fm3 - "monoqin"

sneakmove minicomp 3
(compiled by bomarr of restiform bodies)

01] shayne keator - "forgetting forgotten"
02] back ted n-ted - "i'm sorry amy"
03] principles of geometry - "napoleon"
04] coppé - "alien mermaid"
05] tunng - "spoons"
06] otis fodder - "propaganda b."
07] copy - "let's don't be scared"
08] lord grunge - "dude, where's my car?"
09] superargo - "girl don’t make a blind man beg"

dublab proton drive + 11/05/08 session playlist

2008-11-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

dublab is in the midst of its twice-yearly proton drive, an effort to raise $18,000 from listeners to help out with operating costs. visit the site, check out the great premiums you can get for contributing, and make a donation! in support of this fundraising effort, cameron parkins and i programmed a dublab session last week. here's our playlist:

odd predicament by eric steuer and cameron parkins (recorded 11-05-08)
01] "snoopy vs. the red baron" - hot shots
02] "pink frost" - the chills
03] "sentimental lady" - bob welch
04] "age ain't nothin' but a number" - chi-ali
05] "the vulture" - labi siffre
06] "fortune teller" - benny spellman
07] "bang bang" - b.a. robertson
08] "spring and by summer fall" - blonde redhead
09] "ordinary joe" - terry callier
10] "dirty hands" - the black lips
11] "nothing ever happened" - deerhunter
12] "blank generation" - richard hell & the voidoids
13] "shack up" - a certain ratio
14] "he'll have to go" - jim reeves
15] "straight to hell" - the clash
16] "planet health" - chairlift
17] "the hold" - aceyalone
18] "the 15th" - wire
19] "operation" - charlotte gainsbourg
20] "where do you run to" - vivian girls
21] "sheltered life" - erlend oye
22] "everybody's got to learn sometime" - the korgis
23] "trouble" - lindsey buckingham
24] "i talk to the wind" - king crimson

the session is available now in the dubstream along with sets by a wide variety of other dublab dj's.