Friday, 29 January 2010

Americans Do It Better

Thought that us Europeans had the monopoly on dreamy electro-pop? Turn your head around and think again, monsieur!

I managed to come across this rather marvellous fellow on MySpace earlier today called Jamie Long. And boy-howdy has he struck gold. Throwing together dreamy synths, a handful of fuzzy guitars and an ample portion of brooding and downbeat vocals he creates a wonderful music pie your ears will never have too much of.

Especially enjoyable to listen to is 'Pool House' which has an intro that you just don't want to end that sounds like it's just flown in from Stockholm, so it's no surprise then that perennial favourites 'The Sound of Arrows' of got their hands on his work and offered up their very own wonderful remix of 'Years.'




If you go to his MySpace page (linked up top, like) you should be able to find a link to get an absolutely free download of 'Pool House' and 'Monaco.' Yay!

Also in the news today: I got my clammy hands on this latest piece from SebastiAn, 'Threnody.' Hmm, usually I can get down to his futuristic sounds, but on this record, do we really need 11(!) minutes if build up, don't get me wrong when it gets going I think it's pretty tasty, but I could have done without 11 minutes of pure engine noise.

Now, off to start thinking about what should make it into my luurve mix for Valentine's Day.

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Good dog!

Ikea and Henrik Larsson?

No, there is in fact more to Sweden than thes etwo fine exports. We can now add Labrador, self proclaimed best purveyors of pop music in the world, to that illustrious list.

But you might be thinking, 'whoah there, Johnny Big-Balls. That's quite a boast.' And, yeah, it is quite a big statement to call yourselves the best in the world, but you know what, they're not far off.

First up, let's take a look at [ingenting]. I must say that these guys are pretty brave to only sing in Swedish because ut's not exactly the route to stardom, especially since the biggest markets are anglophone. But, despite not knowing what they're on about, they still make some good music, especially with the booming 'Halleluja.'

Then we have 'The Mary Onettes,' described as the missing link between 'A-ha' and 'The Jesus and Mary Chain,' so I'm guessing that's where they took the 'mary' from in their name. I'm going to throw another name in the mix too, 'The Smiths,' especially on the track 'Void.' All in all, nice sounds!

Radio Dept have already been covered elsewhere recently so I'll leave them be, but they are good too, and incidentally playing at Emmabodafestivalen, which I might have to mosy in over too, if not for them then for the Ed Banger party in the woods, and it's only £60-odd which is dirt cheap.

And once more, for old times sake, 'The Sound of Arrows' and their quite ridiculously amazing song, and video, 'Into the Clouds.' Now, that is what pop music should sound like, end of!



Friday, 22 January 2010

Let's Get Critical!

Ok boys and girls. we've had some good fun so far, but it's even more fun when we learn at the same time!

Noam Chomsky. He gets around a bit doen't he? Sticking his oar in left, right and centre, although if my oar had as much knowledge and insight to offer I'd be shoving it up in everyone's faces.

Before know, the only time I'd really heard anyone talk about Noam Chomsky was on Russell Brand's old BBC Radio 2 show, which, by the way, was scandalously cancelled after just a little bit of nonsense with an answer machine, he literally used to be the highlight of my week. Anyway, he'd mention him now and again, not really sure why, and say how great he was.

Well, now he can see why. He quite literally has a C.V. which is not only longer than your arm, but probably longer than your leg too, I'd say it would come about to about shoulder height on your average Dutchman.

I don't think there is a title you can give him that will really do his contribution to modern society justice, with his groundbreaking advances in linguistics, that I won't even try to explain here since it is beyond my tiny, little mind, impact on modern psychology and strong political views which have seen him somewhat marginalised, politically at least, in the U.S. which isn't wholly surprising given the very conservative nature of the US.

I could very easily write about Mr. Chomsky for pages and pages, but I'm almost certain you will find much better profiles elsewhere on the Internet, or even in a library, you know, that place with actual books that are so much easier to read than computer screens and don't mess up your eyes.

Anyhow, a while back the good people at VBS had a chat with Noam where they cover many interesting issues. Not least President Obama. And I think he raises an interesting point regarding his followers because I feel that when the hard times come it is more than likely that his loyal supporters will fall away and just add to the apathetic masses. Personally, I could understand why people would do this, such is the lack of any real political diversity these days because although he seems to be taking steps in the right direction, the U.S.A will still remain a capitalist's playground.

For those of you who have made it this far, here is the full interview between Noam Chomsky and VBS.

Enjoy!




Tuesday, 19 January 2010

OMFG!

Check out my top right hand corner.

Très cool, n'est-ce pas?!

Funland!

G'day.

It seems that nowadays the Finns have given up tango dancing and sauna competitions and are now making music, with Renaissance Man and LCMDF seemingly the main culprits, and selling it to the rest of Europe. Yay!

But, wait! Who's this galloping in from the horizon? It's Husky Rescue. I say galloping, more waiting patiently for us foriegners to recognise them as they are soon to release their third studio album and have been together for nearly 8 years now.

Anyway, I got their free track 'We Shall Burn Bright' the other day and I'm quite enjoying it. It's a bit like Air France, but on a dark and slightly nightmarish LSD trip with it's whispered vocals and ominous tone which sort of reminds you of Goblin. So, yeah, it's definitely Finnish.






In other news, the votes are in and, with a little help from me old pal Joe, have been counteed and with a staggering 147.2% of the vote the winner was more Ed Rec gear. In second was rekkid spinning software with 72.5%, which ordinarily would be enough for victory in a four way race, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

To play us out, a really beautiful version of 'Ray Ban Glasses.'

Friday, 15 January 2010

¡Vámonos Chicas!

Whilst getting my daily intake of NME tv the other day a band called Music go Music popped up. Unfortunately, the first thought that came into my head was that they look like a band your mum and dad might have been in about 30 years ago, such were the hair and clothes. But, that could just have been their style because we all know how 'in' the 80's are right now.

But, I gave them a chance and whilst not exactly ground-breaking, they're nice enough. After all, you could do worse than take Abba and Blondie as your main influences and I'm sure they'll pick up a nice niche following and manage to play to some full crowds, albeit in small venues, for their upcoming London dates. Yet, I'm not sure they'll shift many records in the UK judging by what makes it into the charts these days.

Completely unrelated, but worth mentioning anyway, a while back DJ Mehdi released 'Black, Black and Black,' his bootleg remix album, as a prelude to his 'Red, Black and Blue' remix album and he was giving it away for free and if you haven't got it yet, it's on his blog.

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Yes, I was that bored

The top 28 albums I own ranked in order, excluding 'best of' and live albums, otherwise 'A Cross the Universe' and 'Alive 2007' would be way up. Also, 'Contra', 'The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart' and 'Strangeways, here we come' haven't clocked up enough listens to be in the reckoning. Also, if this offends you greatly, I did this in about 5 minutes so these were all gut decisions that have had little thought.

  1. Homework -Daft Punk
  2. † - Justice
  3. Acolyte - Delphic
  4. Fantasy Black Channel - Late of the Pier
  5. A Brief History of Love - The Big Pink
  6. (We Are) Performance - Performance
  7. In Ghost Colours - Cut Copy
  8. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective
  9. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
  10. Discovery - Daft Punk
  11. Human After All - Daft Punk
  12. Summertime - The Drums
  13. In And Out Of Control - The Raveonettes
  14. Youth And Young Manhood - Kings of Leon
  15. Show Your Bones - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  16. xx - The xx
  17. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
  18. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
  19. It's Blitz - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  20. United - Phoenix
  21. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
  22. Bright Like Neon Love - Cut Copy
  23. Fever To Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  24. Alphabetical - Phoenix
  25. Fixin' To Thrill - Dragonette
  26. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
  27. Myths Of The Near Future - Klaxons
  28. It's Never Been Like That - Phoenix

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Acolyte

As I previously mentioned, this record is incredible, and here is why:

Right from the start, when 'Clarion Call' gets going you're already jiving along to the tasty synths and hot beats, and this is only 2 minutes into 51.6 minutes, according to my iTunes. Then, pow! 'Doubt' comes along and knocks your face right off, despite it's spluttering start, and you can't help but sing-a-long.

'This Momentary' continues the strong start and then it goes into 'Red Lights' where they release their inner-swede, which is essential for your emotional and physical well being.

Next up, is the title track, which at nine minutes long can be quite intimidating and when it starts you think, 'oh no, they've only gone and made nine minutes of pure ambience,' but hush those bad thoughts and send them onto the naughty step as it soon becomes a real good dance track and I wouldn't be surprised if it's caressing dancce floors as we speak.

Once more, 'Halcyon' and 'Submission' all good solid tracks that could easily become singles, much like every other track.

But now, coming in at track 8, the song this whole album has been building up to, and their closing track at live shows (at least when I've seen them), is 'Counterpoint' and boy-howdy is it good with hooks everywhere it might actually have to be made illegal due to the potential for injury.

'Ephemera' gives you a nice relaxing break before 'Remain' lifts you up gently ready for another listen.

What is remarkable, also, about this album is that it has 4 songs that come in at over 6 minutes, yet at no point do you start to get bored with the tracks, in fact you even want them to keep going.

Well done guys, and I didn't even mention New Order. Oh, wait ...

Monday, 11 January 2010

WWE Blog-down brought to you by The Flighty Zeus

Andy may not be setting fire to babies, but he has thrown down the gauntlet, but I sir, am prepared to take that gauntlet and say ... I actually stole the idea from my housemate who writes this excellent fashion blog and gets a shit load of free stuff, and I thought I'd get some action.

Anyway, my hair was long and hip first, before I traded it in for a dope quiff.

But hey now, we need to love, because after all, there's room enough for two.

Oh, and Acolyte is dead good, along with these guys who probably won't be hitting these fair shores for a few years at least.

x

Got some free time brah

Word up, dawgs!

Yeah, basically, got nowt to do for one whole motherscratching week and I've not actually left the house in over 48 hours, so you know I'm the guy to come to when it comes to being cooler than a cat in sunglasses and a leathet jacket.

What's that? 'I don't care about your pathetic life!' I hear you say, fair-do's. The other day I managed to find Oxford Style after myspace said we should be friends, like a teacher on your first day of school. I shuffled on over, apprehensively, but then again that's how I live my life, and you knw what, they're not bad. The choruses on 'your tragedy' are upbeat enough to tap your feet to and the beats are interesting enough to keep you interested.

'Personality' is clearly their love song, which meanders along nicely enough, but doen't really progress into anything substantial and 'Stained glass' is ok, but it's lyrics leave you wondering whether they want to be serious, however, they're still worth a listen.

But, let me talk about someone who is shit hot, and that is Robot Disaster. They are a mates mates band who I first went to see last October in a tiny pub in Kilburn and they rocked pretty hard despite not being the headliners and it's no surprise they're now playing bigger gigs now in London.

Their track 'Boy' is particularly impressive. It begins with a few steady guitar riffs, but then suddenly it threatens to take you off to the Balearics with it's trancy-ness going in the background (yeah my lack of proper musical knowledge badly exposed there). Say it quietly, but could they be a new 'Late of the Pier,' true musical gods.

'Shut Up' starts off like it's been lifted one of the first two Kings of Leon albums, ie their good ones, but then comes the effects which take it forward to another level.

'Guitars are overrated' then clearly takes some influence fron'I.D' by Kasabian before they pervert it and put some guitars on it and shout over it.

Watch out, these guys are gonna come at you fast and eat off your ears before you can squeeze in one last 'Belle and Sebastian' *yawn* track.

Thursday, 7 January 2010

Feelin' Good

HEY HEY hey! How's naked thursday going for you guys? Not really, it's too cold and gas is too expensive. But hey, at least us Northern Europeans can enjoy the snow, well, except me since I'm alone in the house for now as everyone has gone home for the Christmas holidays.

Enough of this euro-babble nonsense, let's get down to bizy-ness. About 3 weeks ago, I had the pleasure of finding The Good Natured. It seems these guys are hotly tipped for big things this year, or at least they should be. And it's no surprise with great tunes like 'Red Skin' with it's ominous guitars and Florence-esque vocals in the chorus which draw the listener in. Then there is the beautiful 'Sleep in Dust' which can't help but evoke memories of the YYY's 'skeletons' and 'little shadow.'

WHAT? There's more you say?! Oh yeah, we've not even got to the big track 'Your Body is A Machine' with its melody and lyrics building up to that huge crescendo that does not disappoint.

So, with all this behind them, it's no surprise they've been snapped up by über-perma-cool label Kitsuné for their party in London, which I look forward to attending.

In the mean time, I think this party might just keep me satisfied!

Saturday, 2 January 2010

Drinks

The coolest mug in the world?

Words

Howdy-doody partners. How goes it for you on this fair morn? Anyway, as promised I will give a few words about the pictures that lie beneath.

This year was pretty good for me, as far as live music is concerned. Kicked off big style in May for the Vice bank holiday party at Heaven where I saw Filthy Dukes play live and they were incredible, so good that I bought the album the next day, there was also the über-sexy Fan Death who also played some funky beats, but I don't think anyone else there really knew what they were about, ho-hum. Then, finally, Busy P and DJ Mehdi got on the decks and absolutely killed it, despite what Mehdi says.

However, that was just the calm before the storm. On the 10th July 2009, a small corner of south-east London became French when the Ed Banger crüe, avec Justice, took over the Coronet and threw the most amazing party.

Then, I had the privilege of seeing Friendly Fires perform their homecoming gig at the Alban Arena. I say privilege, because St Albans is not really top of the list when it comes to touring venues, in fact, if you're playing in St Albans you should probably be spending your days job hunting. They kept everyone dancing all night, and evem more incredible, the support act was Delphic!

October had the potential to be awesome, and for one magical night in Brixton, it was. Phoenix were quite simply mindblowingly good. The following weekend I had tickets for the Kitsuné party, but inexplicably, I decided not to go and have been ruing it ever since, although not as much as missing Soulwaxmas.

November, wasn't half bad either. Went to see Dragonette in Hoxton, but I was astounded that they were the opening act and were hardly advertised at all, when they were quite clearly the best band on the line-up, although it did allow me to leave and watch the Ireland France match.

To end the year, I won free tickets to see Crystal Fighters, Delphic and a little band called Kasabian, you might have heard of them, to celebrate the launch of myspce music. That night was incredible, possibly the best night of the year because the crowd were really up for it and created such an amazing atmosphere, I was buzzing all night.

Over and out.

Friday, 1 January 2010

(Some of) My Musical Year in Pictures


This took longer than I thought and I'm too tired to sort it out properly and it took too long for me to delete it all and come back in the morning. I'll provide some words and more pics tomorrow. Good night x













Crumbs of Glory

Helloo! Welcome to this magnif-erous new year and what better way to start the year than with the Popjustice single of 2009, a dreamy, magical and truly epic pop song from Swedish group, The Sound of Arrows. Just to give you an idea of how much I love it, I bought it on the 13 December 2009, a little late I know, and have already listened to it 156 times according to my iTunes and I'm still nowhere near to being sick of it! I just can't find anything wrong with this song.

And to send you on your way into the sunset, here is a small wish list of things I'd like to see in 2010, in no particular order:

1. Daft Punk tour
2. Justice tour and new album
3. More tracks from Arcade Eden
4. Lots more top notch real alternative rock and shoegaze
5. Bacon sauce, giving everything that great bacon flavour!

Bises xx