The Expendables have stripped down the heavy guitars & drums and “Gone Soft” on us with their new acoustic album that is being released today. The album sees the guys rework all of their popular songs, “Bowl For 2″, “Down Down Down”, “Minimum Wage” + more. The album clocks in with 12 tracks of relaxing renditions of all your favorites. If you’re a fan of The Expendables you need to grab this one for your upcoming Summer days. Hit up itunes for the album. Highlights below.

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Download audio file (01 Positive Mind – The Expendables.mp3)
The Expendables – Positive Mind (Acoustic)
Download audio file (05 Down Down Down – The Expendables.mp3)
The Expendables – Down Down Down (Acoustic)

The NYC producer, Son Lux, recently released the remixed version of his latest album that sees remixes from the likes of Alias, Darren King, Deru, Olga Bell + many more. Don’t worry if you have never heard any of these producers, because the music will do the talking and introducing for you. All proceeds from this album will go to VSA & Accessibility, “who provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities.” Grab the album from itunes. Favorites are below.

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Download audio file (04 – All The Right Things (Darren King Remix).mp3)
Son Lux – All The Right Things (Darren King Remix)
Download audio file (06 – Flickers (Alias Remix).mp3)
Son Lux – Flickers (Alias Remix)

Uber-producer Nigel Godrich – best known as the “sixth member” of Radiohead – has teamed up with drummer Joey Waronker and vocalist Laura Bettinson to start his own band. The trio, dubed Ultraista, have created a huge splash with their first release, “Smalltalk.”

The track features Bettinson’s beautiful vocals skittering across off-kilter drums and a heaping sample of eerie synths with the classic feel of a Godrich production. If you’re a fan of some of Radiohead’s more electronic sounds, you’ll love this track. There’s already a huge buzz surrounding Ultraista – they’re going to be a band to watch. Check out the video below.

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Word is that Yeasayer sent this new track out as a physical copy to their mailing list yesterday. It surfaced on the blog We All Want Someone To Shout For but was posted as a very low quality stream. It seems as though, whoever ripped the song had no idea what they were doing. Thankfully someone on that mailing list properly ripped the song today, and here we are with it below.

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Download audio file (01 Henrietta..mp3)
Yeasayer – “Henrietta”

alt-J (∆) is a 3 piece group from Leeds, UK who get their band name from the key stroke of alt + J (yes, on your keyboard – but only on a Mac). This super secret key combination makes the ∆ symbol, so go ahead and try it for yourself.  This triangle symbol is also used in mathematical equations to represent change and it is from this meaning that the band attaches itself to.  Now that we have figured out what their name is all about, we can get down to the important thing here, the music!  So go ahead and check out the teasers below from their debut album, An Awesome Wave will be released on May 28th. Make sure you give these ones a few listens over if you are unsure about them after one listen.  Pre-order HERE

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Download audio file (01 altj – Intro.mp3)
alt-J (∆) – “Intro”
Download audio file (03 Tessellate.mp3)
alt-J (∆) – Tessellate
Download audio file (04 Breezeblocks.mp3)
alt-J (∆) – Breezeblocks

Childish Gambino dropped another track today on his twitter a few hours ago annnd that track is “We Ain’t Them”. You know what to do…

“Idea Of Happiness” is one of those songs that goes up and down throughout in terms of parts that you like and don’t like. On a geeky pop scale, this song is pretty high and there is nothing wrong with that, but there are also some really great moments on this song that will warrant this one a listen. I am talking about the synth drop after the first verse @ 0:50 and the key change at 2:27.  Maybe the whole idea behind this song is to just tease you with those parts and that’s it. Who knows, but I had to break the song down like this, sorry. Van She is an Australian pop group who just released their newest single, “Idea Of Happiness” on itunes as a single EP that features 4 other remixes of the “Idea Of Happiness” + 1 other song.  Listen below.

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Download audio file (01_Idea Of Happiness (Original Mix).mp3)
Van She – “Idea Of Happiness”

Was doing my usual digging around for music and I came across this fantastic reggae-dub riddum that starts off with a Damian Marley vocal bit and then goes into an absolute perfection of rhythms.  ”Wise” is taken from the French group’s sophomore album, Don’t Stop Dub, that was released in 2005.  Grab the rest of the album on itunes. Listen to “Wise” below.

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Kanka – “Wise”

The Minneapolis rapper, Mally, is coming out of the gates swinging with his debut project, “The Last Great”. There isn’t a couple decent tracks here and there like most of your average “mixtapes”, this one is on another level; it has the quality of debut album all over it. The producer counterpart, Sundance Kid, pushes for the spotlight on The Last Great… with his synth driven production that grabs as much attention from the listener as Mally and his superb raps. I highly suggest you grab this album right now, get it HERE.  Check the highlights below. Stream the entire thing below via Soundcloud.

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Mally And The Sundance Kid – Hands High
Mally And The Sundance Kid – Unplugged feat. Brother Ali
Mally And The Sundance Kid – Good One feat. K.Raydio
Mally And The Sundance Kid – Winner

I don’t know what it is about Sweden, but as far as musical talent goes the country continues to impress. Zhala, a former backup singer for Swedish darling Lykke Li, released her first single “Slippin Around” last week and it instantly jumped to one of the top releases of the year so far. “Slippin Around” is a dark, tribal frenzy of a track set to a thoroughly trippy video that sets the bar as high as it can go. Zhala’s debut EP is going to be one to watch out for. Check out the video below.

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