Eric Frederic of Oakland, California is otherwise known as the band Wallpaper. Frederic creates catchy club songs with a funky twist all his own. Anyone who is already a fan of the likes of Chromeo or Ratatat will surely fall in love with Wallpaper’s quirky and lovable sound. Frederic kindly gave us some insight into five of his current favorite tunes, which have now been named Fresh Tracks. He tells us where he first heard them and why they are oh so fresh. Check out Wallpaper’s tour dates here.

Tyler The Creator – Bastard

Friend’s living room, on a ghetto ass YouTube to TV set up. Real heavy, honest, freaky. And the choices this dude makes in the piano part are too interesting to ignore.

Das Racist - Puerto Rican Cousins

Tour van, downloaded the mixtape and did a long listen. Smartest bros in rap. Also love the line from another track on this mixtape about just “rapping weekends.” They kill it.

 

Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You

At a club called Eve in San Francisco, for a party called PST thrown by Sake One. He played it all distorted and blown out sounding intentionally. That made it sound like the most futuristic Sleigh Bells-esque disco throwdown. After finding out who and what it was, still an amazing song.

Ne Yo – Champagne Life

106 KMEL in the SF Bay Area. Not really a hit song because its so interesting harmonically and it’s a little slower than most dance stuff. Channelling MJ all over it.

 

This Heat – A New Kind of Water

On tour with Subtle a few years back, this song just had a resurgence in my brain. This band was doing “post punk” before “punk”. Wild song.