Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

If Rough Trade's Album of The Year List (RTAOTY) is anything to go by, this should be a match made in heaven.

The producer of last year's album of the year and member of the band who won said award, Jamie Smith, has teamed up with this years runner-up in the RTAOTY, Gil Scott-Heron, to provide a reworking of 13 tracks from I'm New Here for a new album We're New Here, which is set for a release on February 21st 2011.

Will it work?

Who knows? You can already listen to 'NY Is Killing Me' here or here.



Sounds very dubstep-y to me. I'm usually not a fan, but I quite like it because unlike a lot of dubstep I here, it's not too minimal. Having more than just a bass line and a clap sample, it provides an interesting listen, and when you add Gil Scott-Heron's unique vocal delivery, it gets even better.

You can take a risk and hope you like it and buy it now, or wait until the release. Although, I suspect the physical copies, especially vinyl, will be limited, so I'd bust a move over to the website and buy it.

VBS: The Producers

Hey there.

This Wednesday head over to VBS.tv and catch episode 4 of their 'Producers' series.

This week they have enlisted the help of Jamie Reynolds, frontman of the band to have released one of the most disappointing albums of the year, but I'm sure he has weaved the magic he is capable of in this episode.

Am I the only one who thought Surfing The Void was a bit rubbish?

I can say this because Klaxons, quite rightly, couldn't give a sh*t about my worthless opinion.

Trailer:

VBS Films Student Riots

For those of you who are not in the UK and have no real need to keep up to date with UK news, these last few weeks students have been getting pretty angry about the rises in tuition fees.

As a student myself, I very much agree with those who are fighting against this proposed rise and it upsets me greatly to see other young people either not caring or openly criticising the protesters and finding them an embarrassment.

Obviously, violence is not how we would like to achieve our goals and greater unity and a more definitive stance is required, but to be perfectly honest, it makes me so fucking angry hearing that an entire generation who spent their whole youth fighting 'the system,' who benefited from free University education and who are responsible for this whole economic mess are condemning the behaviour of rioters, telling us we have to pay ridiculously high fees and telling us that we are going to have to pay to get the economy going again, while the rich carry on as good as unaffected.

Oh yeah, and when we do leave University, there are hardly any jobs thus making those 3 years and £27 000 in tuition fees a complete and total waste.

If you really want to organise effective action against this, why not refuse to sit your exams? Everyone from A-Level to final year students. Show them that we are actually not prepared to pay. After all, what is the point in protesting so vehemently against something, if after you lose you're still going to be a part of it?

New Mexico

If you like good old fashioned rock and roll, then todays offering will be a treat.

New Mexico hail from Californ-I-A, famous for girls, a hotel and Jack Bauer.

New Mexico specialise in garage rock and occasionally remind a young 'un like me of early Kings Of Leon and a slightly more polished Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!. But, they are definitely distinct from those guys. They have a lot more 'edge,' whatever that actually means, than KoL and a much bigger sound than TSTT.

What is certain though, is that these guys are all about fast guitars that aim to get you off your seat and throwing your hands in the air like you just don't care.

The new EP is out now on iTunes and available on Bandcamp. They've also got some shows on in San Diego over the next few weeks.

Dec 3 – Whistle Stop Bar – San Diego
Dec 10 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
Dec 31 – Bar Eleven – San Diego, CA
Jan 21 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA

Backstage Heroes

I literally have so much stuff to write for you guys that I have no choice but to crack out another post today because I thought I better do it while I'm still in the mood for givin' you some lovin'.

Check out Sam Kilcoyne, the man/boy who makes me feel kinda worthless and like I've wasted my life because at three years my junior, he has already started a music festival, is running club nights and is in a band. What am I doing? Eating biscuits in my room and writing something no one reads.

Who knows? Maybe someday I will have my own club night. Not likely, but I can always dream and as this young whippersnapper has shown me, it's possible.

Interview and pictures at Vice Style.

Timbaland & Missy Elliot - Get Involved - Joe T Vanelli Remix

The title sums it up pretty nicely, really.

Not a whole lot extra to say. You know who Timbaland and Missy Elliot are, and I have it on good authority that Joe T Vanelli is an Italian House Music legend.

Here Joe T Vanelli gives us a slightly tech-y, house remix which works pretty well and adds more support to the theory that house music is back. (And it is back and it is better than dubstep, but that's another story).

Timbaland & Missy Elliot - Get Involved - Joe T Vanelli Remix by PurplePR

Way Yes

I've had Way Yes sitting in my Internet letter box for a while now, and combining my laziness with my recent holiday they've sat there patiently waiting for me to listen to them and show them some love.

Well wait no more.

I finally got round to giving these a guys a spin, and they were definitely worth it! Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Way Yes are Glenn Davis and Travis Hall. Immediately, they reminded me of Vampire Weekend. Indeed, if Vampire Weekend are going to make a slightly experimental third album, it would probably sound a lot like Herringbone.

The vocals may not always be conventional, but they still manage to fit into the afro-beat vibe that is running through the EP. Way Yes manage to combine many layers of sounds, that build throughout the tracks and none more so on closing track 'Color Blind.' When you add meaningful lyrics into the mix, you have a winning record and a band I am very much looking forward to seeing more of.

Herringbone is available to buy now on their Bandcamp page and sees a proper release on 14th December. If you also happen to be from Ohio or in Ohio in the next 2 months, you can catch them live on these dates:

Dec 16 – South Park Tavern, Dayton, OH 
Dec 17 – Kobo, Columbus, OH
Jan 8 – The Treehouse, Columbus, OH

I almost forgot to say that they've also had a go at remixing, providing this reworking of Computer Magic's 'Immediate Cause Of Sleep.'

Edit: If you have already read this you will notice a few changes in the tour dates. What was the 20th December date at Carabar was, unfortunately incorrect, and on the 20th November. Also, the date on the 16th December has now been cancelled.

Holiday

Going to be quiet around here because I will be on

Mandingo

Interested in inter-racial swinging?

Want to watch your girlfriend get nailed to the wall by a big, black man?

If this happens to be relevant to your interests, watch this.

Of course there's a little more to it than that.

It explores that most basic of human desires and why people seek this sort of lifestyle. What struck me was that by having an entire 'scene' devoted to black guys and hearing how they view it, there does seem to be some sort of underlying racism to it, but maybe that's just my white guilt.

For me, it's not quite obvious who is being exploited the most.

You make up your own minds about it.

Young Circles

Young Circles are high school friends Jeff Rose, David Barnard, and Jordy Asher coming all the way from sunny Florida. Recent well known Floridian bands include Surfer Blood and The Drums, so they are amongst pretty decent company.

                                          Photo by Alex Vanderkooy

It's almost impossible to pin these guys down to a single genre or compare them to another band past or present. The best way to decribe them really is an experimental noise-rock band. But, even that doesn't quite do it. Each song from new EP Bones has it's own style. There is definitely some dub influences, blues, psych-rock and many more.

Speaking of their new EP, it is out on 1/11/11. At first, I thought that this meant it wasn't going to be released until a year from now, seeing as how being British I write my dates DD/MM/YY, but then I remembered Americans give the DD and MM the ol' switcheroo. In conclusion, it's probably out 11th January. Makes more sense really, surely no band needs a whole years worth of hype?

You can listen to and download the song 'Sharp Teeth' which is straight off their new EP. It's cool, totally legit.

Niki & The Dove + Bi-Polar Men

T'other day I was sent a remix of Nike & The Dove's 'DJ, Ease My Mind' by Bi-Polar Men. I'm not sure if this was because I had signed up to a mailing list, or if they somehow found me, but I hadn't heard of either of these groups.

But, boy-howdy am I glad to have made their acquaintance!

For those like me who don't know, Niki & The Dove hail from almighty Sweden, and you can definitely sense a hint of, or maybe a lot of, Lykke Li and Karin Dreijer Andersson (maybe it's just the accent, but I like it. Lots), but who's complaining?

Not me, with booming, anthemic choruses and whimsical electro-pop that can help to lift you out of the November gloom.

  DJ, Ease My Mind (B-PM Refix) by Norton's Fork

Sign up to the mailing list here to get 'Winterheart' for free. Also, click on the picture to get 'Mother Protect' for free.

It also somewhat reminded me of Baron Von Luxxury's remix of Little Boots' 'Meddle.'

The Creators Sessions

Yesterday's fashion-related post didn't take your fancy?

Want more music stuff?

Then I've got just the stuff.

Remember all that Creators Project malarkey I wrote about sporadically in Spring/Summer? Well, now reading about it can actually pay off for YOU.

They've put together this amazing competition where they are giving 3 lucky winners, one from the UK, one from Brazil and another from the USA, the chance to go to New York and record an album.

I think you'll agree that this an amazing opportunity, despite the fact you'll be working with a guy behind Owl City and Semi-Precious Weapons. I'm sure he still knows what he's talking about and will provide invaluable help.

So, if you're a citizen of either Brazil, the UK or the USA then all you need to do is make a new track that hasn't already been published or stolen from someone else and isn't x-rated and send it in. I'm not sure if putting a song on MySpace counts as publishing it, though. Reading the rules, I'd guess not, but I'm sure if you ask someone will tell you.

Good luck!

Love Blogging

Vice and Vice Style are running a little series avec un peu de help from BlackBerry about blogging, people who love to blog and why they love blogs.

The latest one features the apparetly anonymous disneyrollergirl and Richard Nicoll. It's got some useful stuff if you want to get into fashion blogs, or maybe even if you're already into it, there may be some new stuff for you.

And, to keep the sponsors happy, the BlackBerry Torch is très cool and I very much like mine.

Performance

This is part two of live-music-review-week-and-a-half, and I'm sure it hasn't been highly anticipated.

This Thursday I saw Performance/(We Are) Performance, I'm not really sure which is the official name as I still see both around, at The Silver Bullet and they were ably supported by Phoebe Coco and Elephant.  (No link because I couldn't find them online, type 'Elephant' as band name in MySpace search and you get 97 pages of results, and, allow that.

Phoebe Coco was good. She's either local and was therefore able to bring loads of friends and family or she is one of North London's premier artists because she almost filled up the room, albeit a very small one, and even did an encore where she played 'Seven Nation Army' on her keyboard. This was how she did her whole performance, just her and a keyboard that was just set to play like a piano. No effects. No nothing. Ace-amundo.

Elephant, however, were not welcomed quite so rapturously. This was unfortunate and made me want to really like them. Most of the crowd had either left or retired to the tables in the other part of the club and everyone who was watching was just leaning against the walls leaving a huge space in the room. Anyhow, they were sort of chillwave-y, maybe. Not seen a chillwave artist live and I can imagine them being a bit like this. It was a guy on a guitar, a girl on a keyboard and singing and a laptop on a chair. The guitars were loud, maybe too loud, but were similar in style to those you might here on 'Infinity by The xx.In fact, they were a little The xx-ish, just not as good. For now, at least.

Finally, we get down to the main act. Performance were playing to celebrate the release of their second album, Red Brick Heart , which is pretty good by the way and is available on iTunes. Their latest album has far fewer synth driven tracks and is much more guitar heavy, possibly because between album 1 and 2 they went from a four piece to a three piece. But, it also helps to keep them fresh. You don't want to see a band producing the same album over and over.

The live set was pretty banging, it has to be said.  The venue is extremely intimate, with a capacity of only 180, which meant I was able to be literally a couple of metres from the band, although I was a little unnerved when it felt like I was making eye contact with them.  Maybe that's just because I'm weird.  They played nearly the whole of their new album and only one track, 'Surrender,' from their first and everyone loved it.  the whole place was getting it's groove on to these sexy Mancunian beats, and it was possibly one of my favourite performances ever.










Oh yeah, and lead singer Joe Stretch is an internationally published writer.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

As promised, here is a review of Ariel Pink, or more like just a statement that I went to see them.

First up was support act, Geneva Jacuzzi. She was pretty cool. Throwing together some well 80's synths, killer dance moves and a cool outfit. Perhaps the only downer was that I just couldn't hear what she was saying, but whether that was the venue or her style, I do not know.

Then, came who we had all been waiting for, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. One thing that you can't deny about these guys, is that together, they really do look like an odd bunch.

Anyhow, they kicked things off with 'Bright Lit Blue Skies' which got the crowd going. They followed up with 'Beverly Kills' and then 'L'estat (Acc. To The Widow's Maid).' What followed next, was not quite so well documented, mainly because my BB ran out of battery and that I, errm, err, hadn't y'know, errr, like, errm, kinda listened really to anything err, like pre-Before Today.

The higlight for me was when they played 'Round And Round' and 'Can't Hear My Eyes' back to back. What really struck me, was how very loud they were. It was a bit like a sort of lo-fi faux-metal type of music with some raging guitars, frantic drumming, but barely audible vocals. All of their songs had this quality. I was a little disappointed that they extended this to 'Round And Round' because I was hoping it would be as gentle and soothing live as it is on the record, but it was still good.

They finished with an encore of 'Butt-House Blondies' and 'Little Wig' they left the crowd happy and dancing.

Slt!

Hei

Sorry for lack of update-age. It's not even like I've been busy having a life either.

But, this next week and a half should be live-review-week-and-a-half, due to the level of music I might be seeing.

Go fuck yourself San Diego!