[caption id=”attachment_2007” align=”aligncenter” width=”480” caption=”Not quite.”][/caption]

Among my friends it’s known as the boxer story—the day I ripped a wide hole in the crotch of an old pair of boxers, pulled it over my head, and wore it to the mall with a girlfriend I was desperate to dump. Of course I lacked the courage to break up with her, and of course it seemed easier at the time to wear old boxers as a shirt in a public place, with my arms through the leg holes and the waistband clinging to the top of my stomach. It seemed easier than telling the truth; truth being I no longer cared about anything she had to say, and no amount of sex made her company tolerable.

This was back when I believed compatibility could be discovered like a trail overgrown with vines and brush, and if only we both kept hacking away, one day the path would reveal itself. We had almost nothing in common. She liked music from the _4 A.D. _label and I was strictly a _Sub Pop _guy. She was into tall blonde men and I was 5’8” dark-haired Jew (technically I still am all those things but my dark hair is turning gray). I considered Beringer’s White Zinfandel the best wine I’d ever tasted and she liked anything that got her drunk, as long as it worked quickly and didn’t burn on the way down. But we stuck it out anyway, joined by decent times in bed and a secret affinity for George Michael. George Michael! A chaser to anything grunge, and at one time the heir apparent to Hall and Oates. In 1994, everyone secretly liked George Michael. Trust me on this. Even guys wearing _Ride the Lightning _t-shirts would turn up _Freedom ’90 _if alone in their cars.

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Last Thursday, the guys of Animal Collective made a rare appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. They performed “Summertime Clothes,” which is a cut off of their latest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, released back in January. I’m actually pretty surprised at how unusually normal looking they were for their performance. With their ecclectic style of experimental folk music, you would kind of expect them to be donning masks/capes/costumes/huge beards for their live set (see above) — but no, instead they chose to rock your standard hoodie. Interesting.

Anyway, this song is amazing and should totally make it into your own music rotation. I’m pretty sure that even Letterman was feeling their energy and dug the performance. I mean, who doesn’t get a kick out of red & blue winged creatures (that look like they came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book) spasming about idly in the background?

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As I contemplated what mixtape to post up for this week’s Mixtape Mondays column, I figured that it’s time to show some love to Drake (after all, he’s been in the Heavy Rotation section for a good while now). His mixtapes have been out for about 2 years now, but these days, it seems like everyone is head over heels for the Canadian actor/rapper/singer. He’s been slowly but surely building a huge underground fan base.

Although he’s most famous for playing the handicapped Jimmy Brooks on HBO’s Degrassi, he has been doing big things in the hip-hop world. Many critics have been comparing his burgeoning career to the likes of Cleveland’s Kid Cudi and DC’s Wale. As far as his musical style goes, he is extremely versatile. When he sings, he does it softly and gently like Trey Songz or even R. Kelly. When he raps, he brings it hard like Lil’ Wayne. The difference is like night and day. He’s also a talented ghostwriter and has written for people like Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante, Lil Wayne, Keshia Chante and Dr. Dre. I definitely prefer to listen to his harder tracks such as “Comeback Season,” “City is Mine,” or “Barry Bonds Freestyle.” At the moment, Drake is working on his debut album, Thank Me Later, which is set to drop sometime around Christmas 2009.

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First of all, I just wanted to say that due to popular demand, Mixtape Mondays is back and here to stay. When Mixtape Mondays went on hiatus, so many people emailed /commented demanding that it needed to come back ASAP. We answered. From now one, you can expect that on each and every Monday there will be a new piping hot mixtape for you to get your hands on. Now that that’s out of the way, check out this mixtape.

Montréal-based producer Tor really lets his creativity and skills shine on Illinoize, a Sufjan Stevens-based remix tape. Tor pairs together the two very different genres of indie folk-rock and hip-hop to create an amazingly hypnotic and likeable blend of sounds. The music of multi-instrumentalist and indie hero Sufjan Stevens is perfectly matched to the sick vocals of Aesop Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), C.L. Smooth, Outkast, Brother Ali, and Grand Puba. This is a must download. Shout out to @jimmy_morris for bringing this to my attention!

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This is someting that is a little hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. Essentially, a handful of guys from two audiovisual labels called AntiVJ and Crea Composite teamed up to put a mesmerising installation together on the face of a building in Brussels, Belgium. You may be thinking to yourself, “What’s an audiovisual label?” Well, it’s basically analogous to a music label in the sense that it’s a collective of artists that work under the same umbrella. Both AntiVJ and Crea Composite have been described as audiovisual labels started by European artists focused on the use of projected light and sound and the influence it has on people’s perception.

In this particular video, the guys use their heavy duty AV equipment to showcase their artwork. AntiVJ was commissioned by a company called pixlmusic to create this 20 minute piece to be performed twice at night. The content is a mix of 2D / 3D visuals, and also includes a part with map/architecture related projections. When asked about the project, the guys at AntiVJ had this to say:

This project was really interesting on the technical side, as the schedule wouldn’t allow us to produce everything on site as we normaly do, so we had to develop a new technique to do the mapping completely remotely, without calibrations or tests on the actual building before the production.

The music that accompanies this is super creepy yet awesome. It really sets the mood. Kind of reminds me of the Men in Black opening theme music. Let me know what you think.

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