The Black Keys/Luda/Q-Tip/Raekwon/Mos Def project

This is going to be unreal. Full line-up includes: The Black Keys, Ludacris, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Mos Def, Jim Jones, Nikki Wray, Billy Danze, Pharoae Monch and NOE.

Official site: http://www.blakroc.com/index_artists.html
Article: http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/185857435/black-keys-unveil-project-w-ludacris-rza-raekwon

Volcano Choir

New(ish) Justin Vernon! If you've read this site I'm sure you know I'm a big Bon Iver fan. Volcano Choir is an assembly of fellow Wisconsinites, including Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, Justin Vernon, and Thomas Wincek. I just heard this track on my XM radio (which I'm becoming a big fan of) and really liked it. With Vernon's intimate falsetto and the mention of snow, it sounds not too distant from something you'd find on a Bon Iver album. Material for this group actually pre-dates Bon Iver, though the group is releasing an album titled "Unmap" soon. Hope you like the track, I sure do.

Full album streaming here

Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

Have you heard this?! Now, I wouldn't consider myself a terribly emotional guy, but this track cuts me deep. Several things about it made me squirm on first listen. The baritone croon, the swarming reverb, and the lyrics, which seem to become more and more profound with each ascending repetition, without at all becoming dull. It's almost as if they repeat incessantly because the struggle he sings about hasn't yet - or won't ever - resolve...or maybe that's just me.

It's sharing songs like this that brought me back to TAO (and due to popular demand, of course). Hopefully I can keep it up this time.

*Oh, and thanks to a completely unfriendly internet search name, it's really hard to find more music by these guys. If you happen to have more luck than I have, please, help out a friend.

Video: Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

**Thanks Matt Golden for finding this extremely resourceful article about Girls! http://www.faqmagazine.org/ChristopherGirls.htm