mike posner

The Dunce Cap: August 9, 2010

in: heavy rotation

My name is Simon.

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 20: New York is pretty heavy. Girl, I hope it doesn’t crush you. (listen to mix via 8tracks)

1. “Open Happiness” – Butch Walker, Travis McCoy, Brandon Urie, Cee-Lo, Janelle Monae and Patrick Stump
2. “Dirty Dustin Hoffman Needs a Bath” – of Montreal
3. “Many Moons” – Janelle Monae
4. “Funny Little Frog” – Belle & Sebastian
5. “Magazines” – The Hold Steady
6. “Titus Andronicus” – Titus Andronicus
7. “When I’m With You” – Best Coast
8. “Lucky You” – The National
9. “Summer Babe (Winter Version)” – Pavement
10. “The Dress Looks Nice on You” –Sufjan Stevens

Playlist number 20 for the week of 08/09/10. Couldn’t have ended better if I’d planned it. And the countdown to Evanston has fallen now into weeks. I’ll be back in town in less than a month, and I’m pretty thrilled. Fall is always a blast in Chicago, even when the weather turns colder and then frigid. And with fall comes the onslaught of concerts which seems to ebb as the year winds down. This is a mix to celebrate the concerts headed to The Windy City in September and October which are making me antsy, excited and broke.

So far, I have tickets for The Hold Steady and of Montreal/Janelle Monae, and I’m itching to buy a ticket to The National. My bank account is cursing me with its constant reminders of dwindling funds, but it’s all worth it, no?

This Dunce Cap features the artists I’d most like to see this year, including Pavement (who will play Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion Sept. 13), Belle & Sebastian (at the legendary Chicago Theatre Oct. 11 – be sure to look out for my pal Modibo, who you may have heard in our Chicago Public Radio audio piece!) and Sufjan Stevens (his first official tour in nearly four years, I believe, also at the Chicago Theatre Oct. 15). It’s going to be quite the concert season.

And, for good measure, I included the Butch Walker-written and produced track “Open Happiness.” The song features a whole load of artists, including Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump and Gym Class Heroes Travis (now “Travie”) McCoy and was the basis of the Coca Cola advertising campaign of the same name last summer. It’s an incredibly hypnotic summer song fitting to close this one and welcome in autumn.

Happy listening.

(editor’s note: I’m watching Jersey Shore – no apologies – and Pauly D just said “From here on out…” His pronunciation, thought? “From hair on out.” Too funny. Also – how is Mike Posner MTV’s Artist of the Week? Unbelievable. I don’t even think I know anyone who even likes Posner.)

Dunce Flash: Mikey Makes Good

in: the press

A portion of The Billboard Hot 100, July 13, 2010

In case you can’t quite read this, this little chart, courtesy of Billboard, puts Mike Posner‘s “Cooler Than Me” at #6. On the Billboard Hot 100. Nationwide. Nationwide. Can someone anyone please explain to me how this has occurred? Okay, look, I’ve gotten my shits n’ giggles dancing to a Posner live show. And I have listened to his mixtape (the first one especially) dozens upon dozens of times. And “Cooler Than Me” was and still is my favorite track from said mixtape. But, really? #6? It’s been on the charts 10 weeks, and I’ve heard the song in five states. And there was a blurb in Entertainment Weekly about the guy. How has this possibly happened? How did the underdog triumph?

Mike Posner

Now, don’t get me wrong. Posner’s talented. He released that first mixtape, “A Matter of Time,” from his dorm room at Duke when he was barely 21. He snagged a record deal and a degree, touring on the weekends (including a stint at Northwestern’s Dillo Day in May 2009). This summer, he played Bonnaroo and is slated to play every date on the Warped Tour (and, though a former Warped diehard myself, that’s not saying much), and he’s managed to make himself a household name on Top 40 radio.

But does he deserve it? I mean, there’s a lot to be said, surely, about whether or not the music on modern pop radio qualifies as “good” (and I, for the record, am in that pseudo-snobby camp that says it usually is not), but Posner doesn’t really seem to fit that mold. He’s catchy, certainly, with a certain kind of nerdiness that nearly passes as being cool. It’s the way he mixes his beats and throws down his rhymes, almost with hesitation, sheepish, uncertain. You know the Yahoo commercial currently airing with the extra-nerdy guy lip-synching to a poorly done quasi-rap song?
(editor’s note: forgive the author. that “poorly done quasi-rap song”? kanye. Yo Kanye, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish, but Mike Posner has one of the best videos of all time!)

It reminds me of Posner every time.

I’ve embedded the original cut of Posner’s hit single, “Cooler Than Me” from his first mixtape, “A Matter of Time.”


Mike Posner, “Cooler Than Me” (A Matter of Time version)

What do you think?
Is Posner pretty fly for a white guy or just another white (c)rapper?

And a pretty insightful comment from Bebe:
who would have thought we’d see the day
when mike posner was at #6
and eminem is at #10

(editor’s note: jimmy brooks walked again. and made a killer – and wildly popular – album. i guess anything’s possible. cheers, posner.)