As I was combing the internet for good music yesterday, I found a new song from French electro-funk producer SebastiAn that features M.I.A., “CTFO” (Chill The Fuck Out). I had never heard of this SebastiAn guy before – apparently, he’s a kind of a big deal to some people. sue me. – and, to be honest, I wasn’t really feeling that track. Sad to say, but I think this one’s going straight to the junk heap that has become M.I.A.’s music as of late.

I was still curious, though, and I clicked around and found this other jawn he did with Mayer Hawthorne, “Love in Motion,” which had been circulating on the blogs and twitters for the last week or so (I see you, @melenie). At first, I didn’t even recognize the Stone’s Throw crooner’s self-described “hanging-by-a-string falsetto” through the distortion effects. I thought that maybe the track had been mislabeled. But a few seconds in I was like, “Dang, this is kinda nice. It’s a funkier, almost Prince-like Mayer that I never knew existed.” Perhaps you’ll agree. Unfortunately, this radio rip is the best quality I could find, but it’s not that bad, and its definitely worth a listen or few while you wait for the HQ version.

After jammin out to “Love in Motion” a couple times, I dug a little deeper and found this video for the track “Embody,” which premiered back in March (again, shouts out to melenie). The single was released in early April. Late pass, sure, but I had to share it. It’s by far my favorite track that I’ve heard off of his upcoming LP, Total, on Ed Banger Records. I’m sure it’s not the first time that this has been said about a French electro producer’s music, but this song’s got an old school Daft Punk air to it, which I actually enjoy a lot. The video is hella fun too. The little man is unstoppable.

Total drops May 30th in Europe and June 7th Stateside.

LA-by-way-of-michigan soul crooner mayer hawthorne just dropped impressions, an EP of covers by a variety of well-known (ELO) and little-known (steve salazar) artists. i’m not sure the impetus for this release, but i’m glad to see a stones throw artist embrace the free music model that defines our new paradigm instead of just being dicks about it (RIP the great blog DISCO DEVIL who closed down partly because of stones throw). stream “you’ve got the makings of a lover” by the festivals (original here), and download the whole thing here.

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mayer hawthorne – “you’ve got the makings of a lover” (download)

feeling bummed about the election results from last night? need some good news? well, did you know that stones throw-ers aloe blacc and mayer hawthorne are playing the emerald city this weekend? say what you will about our fucked political-corporate-media clusterfuck landscape, but good music will cure most any blues. aloe blacc will be at fremont’s nectar lounge this friday (11/5) with maya jupiter and dj 100proof, and tickets can be had here for only $10. soul singer extraordinaire mayer hawthorne (and backing band the county) will be at neumo’s on sunday (11/7). friends of LxNxM gordon voidwell are opening things up. (UPDATE: just saw that mayer hawthorne will also be dj-ing at hg lodge on saturday (11/6) for the members only almost famous night. mark your calendars accordingly.) you can get tickets for this show–which only cost $15–here, or go to moe bar and get them in person. enjoy some tracks from these folks above and below.
Mayer Hawthorne – No Strings (Classixx Original) by stonesthrow

 Stones throw just dropped a new digital 7″ of Mayer Hawthorne covering the James Pants track “Thin Moon” and James Pants covering Mayer Hawthorne’s “Green Eyed Love”.  It’s titled Pants plays Mayer, and you can cop it here.  The actual 7-inch will debut at Stones Throw’s all-45s event at SXSW.  Stones Throw and Wax Poetics teamed up to press this limited edition record, which they will be giving away at the event. 

Mayer Hawthorne – Thin Moon (right click, save as)

Snoop also loves his new album: