Pitchfork last year proclaimed New York band Boy Crisis to be "the absolute worst band in the world right now." Despite this, I very much enjoyed their single 'Dressed to Digress' earlier this year.
Same goes for new track 'The Fountain of Youth'. It's a bit more of a laid-back affair than its frantic predecessor and reminds me a bit of Empire of the Sun or a poppier MGMT. It's flanked by a suitably wacky video:
Apologies for being something of a Marinaphile but I just stumbled across the cover art and track-listing for 'The Family Jewels'.
It's a shame that 'Jealousy' didn't make the cut but there's a couple of new tracks on there like 'Rootless' and opener 'Are You Satisfied?' that I'm eager to hear.
Tracklist:
01. Are You Satisfied? 02. Shampain 03. I Am Not A Robot 04. Girls 05. Mowgli's Road 06. Obsessions 07. Hollywood (Infected Your Brain) 08. The Outsider 09. Hermit The Frog 10. Rootless 11. Numb 12. Guilty
The album is due out next February. The countdown starts here.
I'm currently unhealthily obsessed with the work of graphic designer/art director Albert Exergian. I especially love his recent body of work based on TV culture:
I don't really care for Stella Artois as a drink but I always enjoy their adverts. This latest one featuring Florence and the Machine is something of a cracker:
I suppose Ms Welch is kind of selling out by endorsing a brand of lager but, honestly, I'd forgive her anything
21-year-old Aussie 'skate-rat' Jonathan Boulet's 'A Community Service Announcement' is the kind of indie anthem that would sound right at home on the '(500) Days of Summer' soundtrack. Instead, it soundtracks this rather excellent video, directed by New Zealand duo Special Problems.
Boulet seemingly survived this ordeal and his debut album is scheduled for release next month.
Brother and sister pair Muchuu seem to be causing something of a stir with their brand of dreamy electropop, permeating the blogosphere at an impressively swift rate.
State's Alan Reilly notes that practically every write-up about the duo sees them described as 'cute' and, although most writers also acknowledge the "crimson undertones" that prevent their music from being sickly saccharine, the video for their debut single 'Somebody Tell Me' is pure unadulterated cuteness:
The single is out next week with an album 'Adventure We Go' due in 2010.
When Little Boots toured the UK recently, her support was made up of the dream-team of Erik Hassle and Ellie Goulding. Rather tragically, it seems that neither act will be flanking Ms. Boots when she plays her debut Dublin headliner this Friday.
However, there is some consolation in the form of a joint cover by Ellie and Erik of Robyn's 'Be Mine!', presumably recorded while they were on the road together. Their acoustic rendition has been made a free download via Popjustice and you'd be well advised to click here and check it out.
Also worth a spin is 'Fighter Plane', the b-side to Ellie's current single 'Under The Sheets'. This one you'll have to pay for alas.
Kudos to State for unearthing this nugget of televisual brilliance showing Devon lass Joss Stone disgrace herself with a fake American accent at the Brit Awards a few years back:
I've just stumbled upon this gorgeous cover of The Shirelles' 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' by Swedish songbird Lykke Li, recorded in July of this year in Stockholm:
'Guerrillas in the Basement' is a festival of underground theatre brought to you by Dublin-based collective Independent Youth Theatre.
The festival kicks off tomorrow and will see a total of five productions performed over two weekends. The festival will feature three brand new plays ('Delusional Butterfly', 'OMG, A, Like, Totally Improvised Teen Drama' and 'Wait! They Don't Love You Like I Love You') as well as productions of Tom Swift's 'X Factory' and Jean Paul Sartre's 'Huis Clos' (starring yours truly).
Full list of times and dates of performances can be found here. E-mail iytinfo@gmail.com for bookings or more info.
The video has surfaced for the first of two collaborations between arguably the two biggest female popstars on the planet: Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. 'Videophone' is a Beyoncé track that has been re-swizzed to feature a guest vocal from Gaga.
Honestly, I don't think much of the song but the ladies are looking decidedly foxy in the video, with Ms Knowles channeling Betty Paige and Gaga looking disconcertingly normal, giving her outlandish ensembles a rest and allowing her dance moves take centre-stage:
It's a pretty safe bet to say Team Beyoncé were calling the shots on this one. Personally, I'm more interested to see what visual accompaniment the Haus of Gaga come up with for the confusingly similarly-titled 'Telephone', which features Beyoncé in a guest-spot originally intend for Britney.
If it's anything approaching the extravagance of the 'Bad Romance' video, it'll be a popgasm for the annals.
On a night out at 'Antics' in Dublin's Crawdaddy last Summer, I stumbled upon a London-based trio by the name of We Have Band, whose brand of sprightly indie disco was right up my alley.
Whoever was booking for Antics at the time clearly had their fingers on the pulse because the then unsigned, relatively unknown London-based outfit have since enjoyed all manner of success, including releases with trendy boutique labels Kitsuné and Pure Groove and a prominent slot at this year's Glastonbury after triumphing in the festival's 'Emerging Talent' contest.
After nabbing a last-minute ticket courtesy of Le Cool, I braved an apocalyptic deluge and wandered along to see the band play Crawdaddy once more on Friday night.
Dublin band Feed The Bears aren't perhaps the most appropriate choice of support act but turn in a decent set before, after setting up their own equipment, We Have Band take to the stage.
They may have the wardrobe and demeanour of painfully cool London scenesters, but band-members Dede, Darren and Thomas waste no time in demonstrating that they have the substance to match their style. Launching into their set of frenetic, dance-pop numbers, the band soon have the soggy crowd busting a move and shaking themselves dry.
Combining chunky basslines and electronic samples with an assortment of electronic drums, tambourines and cowbells allows We Have Band to produce a much more layered sound than you might expect from a three-piece and, by sharing vocal (and whistling) duties three ways, the band add another facet of variety to their sound.
Interspersed with establish anthems 'Oh!', 'Hear It In The Cans' and 'You Came Out' are new tracks from the band's forthcoming album, scheduled for release in the new year. The new material goes down just as well as the more familiar tunes and it seems that, however much success We Have Band have enjoyed in 2009, 2010 may well be the year that sees them graduate to the indie elite.
"Remixes are a gateway to new sounds." So says the lovely Platinum Jones, and I reckon he's not far wrong.
A few months back, Eimear introduced me to a rather excellent 'dub-step' remix of Ellie Goulding's 'Starry Eyed' by English producer Jakwob.
Jakwob has now re-swizzed Goulding's latest single 'Under the Sheets' and the results, once more, are slightly brilliant. I realise taking a fancy to house/dub remixes of chart-pop doesn't qualify me as a hardcore electro fiend. All I know is that I can't get enough of Jakwob's tracks and remixes right now.
Crikey, what a week. After graduation taking up the best part of Monday and Tuesday, I spent the latter half of the week chasing Marina & The Diamonds around the country.
First stop was her debut Irish headliner at The Academy on Wednesday. For me to review her performance on either night would be pointless as it'd be equivalent of me writing the word 'amazing' 500 times but there are some great write-ups of Wednesday's gig by fellow-Emeralds here, here, here and here. Great photos from kDamo can be found here also.
Thursday then saw myself Patrick and Paula, Eimear, Pops and a few others make the journey down to Carlow for the Heineken Music Green Spheres event in Dunn Rí.
All credit must go to Heineken for the fantastic set-up. The huge club, which features two separate stages, was doused in green light for the occasion and two characters in green full-body lycra suits (that brought to mind the Durex sperm) greeted us as we entered.
Marina was first up to perform and once again delivered a performance worthy of several hundred 'amazings'. Although the audience were obviously not as familiar with her music as those in attendance at The Academy the night before, she gave just as much on stage and no doubt recruited a few more additions to her ever expanding collection of precious stones.
Next came Swedish-American indie-pop purveyors Miike Snow, who arrived on-stage sporting white face masks. I'd gathered from reviews of their shows that they generally play relatively short sets and enjoy toying around with the songs for a live setting so was pleasantly surprised that I got to hear most of my favourite tracks including 'Burial', 'Animal', 'Black & Blue' and especially 'Silvia'.
Miike Snow have expertly adapted their debut album to a live setting and, even if the latter part of the set did descend into a jam session of sorts, it'd have been worth the hassle of a trip down to Carlow and back purely to see them.
Headliners Digitalism performed their set in a separate space. Even if some of the crowd were a bit 'over-enthusiastic' when the German dance act took to the stage, it didn't stop us busting a move to tracks like the indisputably epic 'Pogo', all the while illuminated by some excellent visuals.
Heineken are already working on events in December in both Cork and Dublin featuring White Lies and Neon Indian. I suspect word of mouth from the Carlow gigs will make it somewhat more difficult to get your hands on tickets, so be sure to sign up here pronto. [Images: Eimear Fitzmaurice (1), Heineken Music (2-4)]
Back in 2007, I had a short-lived but rather intense love affair with the music of Kate Nash. The story goes that Kate fell down the stairs, broke her leg, and, out of sheer boredom, picked up a guitar and penned the collection of songs that were the basis for her tragically over-produced debut album, 'Made of Bricks'.
Had it been a synthesizer and not a guitar that Kate had chosen to use in writing the songs, I imagine the demos she produced would have sounded something like The Good Natured. Although 19-year-old Sarah McIntosh's London accent is perhaps not as grating as poor Kate's, there's more tham a passing similarity between the two girls' voices.
Teaming shimmery synths, staccato drumbeats and heartfelt lyrics, McIntosh's music is both absorbing and addictive. Each new track she posts on her Myspace is better than the next and she's definitely worth earmarking as one to watch.
'Right Hand Hi' by Kid Sister (aka 29-year old Chicago rap artist Melissa Young) has been knocking around for what seems like ages but, seemingly, it's only being officially released in a few weeks' time.
The video for the track has surfaced and, although it's nothing special, it's an excuse to post one if my favourite tunes of the past few months again:
We've had no shortage of female-fronted outfits pushing the boundaries of 'pop' of late, helping to restore honour to the much-maligned genre . Alas, there seems to be decidedly fewer male singers offering antidotes to the ballad-loving boybands and reality TV rejects that continue to plague the upper reaches of the charts.
Enter Wolf Gang, aka 22-year-old Londoner Max McElligott. Channeling influences like Talking Heads, David Bowie and Roxy Music, he crafts glorious pop ditties that are a damn site more interesting than recent output by the likes of Robbie Williams and Mika.
Last week, I was delighted to be able to do a DJ set at The Bernard Shaw Carboot Sale, thanks to Chewy. Apart from a couple of technical glitches as a result of me completely forgetting how to use the equipment, I was pretty happy with how it went.
It might sound really sad but there are few things that give me a bigger kick than somebody asking me the name of a song or remix I've played. It doesn't happen especially often (people are more inclined to ask for "something a bit more current, like 'Sweet Dreams' by Beyoncé") but the crowd at Bernard Shaw were a little more receptive than usual.
One track that went down especially well was Nightwaves' 'She's Electric':
Nightwaves are Californian duo Kyle Petersen and Josh Legg, who produce exactly the type of bassy electro-disco they'd be inclined to sign to their label or feature on their blog. As well as 'She's Electric', they've a number of other great tracks currently tickling my fancy...
On Thursday, I managed to wrangle a ticket to see Leeds-based indie outfit Wild Beasts play The Academy, courtesy of Celina.
Admittedly, I've been living on a musical diet of synthy electronica and female-fronted alt-pop for the past while, but White Beasts are one of the few 'indie' acts to have successfully infiltrated my Itunes.
I've tried and failed to come up with an adequate description for the four-piece's sound. Perhaps part of this difficulty stems from the fact that they have two rather different-sounding singers that share vocal duties.
Hayden Thorpe's distinctive falsetto anchors the lion's share of the band's set but, as on the band's current album 'Two Dancers', Tom Fleming's deeper, more conventional register provides some welcome variety now and again, helping to prevent Thorpe's voice from grating.
Thorpe tells us a few tracks in that "everything's gone wrong up here", presumably addressing technical difficulties. The decidedly mixed crowd (occasionally shouting 'hilarious' things like "Come on, yis beasts!") don't seem to notice/care, greeting recent singles 'All The King's Men' and 'Hooting & Howling' especially emphatically.
Admittedly, I wasn't familiar with much of the band's material before the gig but, having been won over by their rousing performance and the variety within their set, I fully intend to acquaint myself a bit better with Wild Beasts.
After the gig, a crowd of excitable younger music fans have gathered outside the Academy in the hope of catching a glimpse of Charlie from Fightstar (née Busted), who was playing upstairs. Hayden Thorpe strolls out the main entrance and nobody budges but, to tell the truth, I'd rather have him sign my face any day.
Oh wait, I do actually. I fully intended to make a hullabaloo last week about how brilliant Dublin-based duo Heathers' gig was but got distracted by (seemingly fruitless) job interviews and whatnot.
I've been a huge fan of Heathers' album 'Here, Not There' for a long time and, despite the fact that they play practically every fortnight, circumstances had always prevented me from catching their live show. So, despite a chronic lack of funds at the moment, I decided to head along to catch their gig at the Project Arts Centre with Paula and Eimear.
The set-up is simple: sisters Ellie and Louise, armed only with a microphone each and Louise's guitar - but. my god, what a beautiful racket they can produce with just these tools.
If anything, the sisters' gorgeous harmonies are even more impressive in a live setting than on record but I think what really differentiates Heathers from similar indie-folk outfits is their distinctive stop-start style of singing.
There are plenty of gentle, wonderfully understated moments throughout the set but Heathers are most dazzling when belting out songs like 'Margie' and 'Remember When' at full-throttle. At these moments, well, the microphones become a bit redundant.
Heathers are playing with Choice Music Prize-winners Super Extra Bonus Party on Friday, the 13th of November (spooky) in The Academy. Get tickets here.
I'm currently somewhat infatuated with Quoteskine. The idea is pretty simple: graphic designer Lee Crutchley doodles on his Moleskine notebook with markers, then uploads the generally awesome resulting images and typography to his Tumblr account.
Starsmith, the man responsible for transforming Ellie Goulding from a folksy warbler to an electropop minx, let slip a few weeks ago that he was working on a Lady Gaga remix.
It turns out the track in question was new single 'Bad Romance' and, perhaps as a tribute to all the Lady Gagas wandering the streets over the course of Hallowe'en weekend, he dropped the track last night.
The track is everything you might expect from the pairing: shimmery synths and spluttering beats underpinning Gaga's gargantuan hooks.
Despite the fact she's currently nine months pregnant, alt-pop oddball Róisín Murphy has decided it's time to make her return to the limelight. You can listen to her new single 'Orally Fixated' here:
The former-Moloko frontwoman's last album 'Overpowered' was a slinky electropop masterpiece and one of my favourites of 2007. Despite rave reviews a string of fantastic singles, the record was largely ignored by the record-buying public and considerably more attention was afforded to her extravagant outfits and off-the-wall videos than the music.
The new single continues in the same vein as Overpowered's synthy dance-pop and features an almighty guitar solo and a brilliant if somewhat un-radiofriendly minute-long intro. Of course, based on past experience, the song is unlikely to get too much airplay anyway but here's hoping that, with the likes of Lady Gaga currently reigning supreme atop the charts, the time is ripe for Róisín to command and conquer.
Canadian duo Fan Death caught my attention earlier this year with the excellent 'Veronica's Veil' and the wonderfully ludicrous video that accompanied it.
They've now delivered on the promise of that particular track with an EP of gloriously symphonic electro-pop, laced with elements of disco. Lead single 'Reunited' is especially delicious and its Wizard of OZ-esque video is pure, unadulterated hipster-porn.
You can hear the EP in full on the band's Myspace.
These days, it seems every animated film released raises the bar in terms of visual effects. Classic titles like ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Lion King’, although fine movies, look decidedly dated when compared with the stunning CGI animation on offer in Shane Acker’s latest feature, 9.
The kind of rapid advances in technology that have paved the way for 9’s incredible graphics are, as it happens, somewhat central to the film’s premise. Set in a reality where super-intelligent machines have turned against and over-powered their human creators, the story warns against the perils of “mankind’s relentless pursuit of technology”.
When doll-like creature 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) awakens in this post-apocalyptic world, he’s unsure of how or why he has come to be there. However, it's not long before he discovers he's not alone and finds himself caught up in a last-ditch effort to overthrow the menacing machines and restore life to the planet.
9 certainly presents some interesting ideas but its clumsy resolution leaves too many questions unanswered and it’s difficult to shake the notion that the ground-breaking visuals came at the cost of a plot almost as hollow as the barren landscapes the film depicts.
Verdict: Visually stunning but the plot is considerably less impressive. Maybe check out ‘Up’ instead, if you haven't already.
I'm determined for Novemember to be the busiest blog month to date and can think of no better way to kick things off than with an introduction to my current obsession, Muchuu.
Muchuu (pronouced "Moo Chew") are George and Milky, an impossibly cutesy brother and sister combo that produce beautiful, shimmery synth-pop. According to their rather excellently designed web-site, 20-year-old singer Milky "writes lyrics about dreams, things she sees on her adventures, imagination and escapism; appreciating the real things, the little things that make you smile", while 18-year-old George provides the synths and harmonies on a keyboard he bought for £29.
I'd describe their stuff as sounding a bit like Frou Frou crossed with Ellie Goulding but it's probably best you decide for yourself:
I unwittingly jumped the gun a bit when I posted the video for Marina & The Diamonds' 'Hollywood (Infected Your Brain)' after some brat had leaked it.
