Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Every Day's Like Talking In Your Sleep


As I mentioned in the previous post, Kimbra is my current infatuation. I may not have done many posts the past few months but, rest assured, anybody who has crossed my path has had the 21-year-old New Zealand singer's musical morsels forced upon them.


You Said That We Would Still Be Friends

There's a new frontrunner in terms of my favourite song of the year and comes courtesy of Australian singer-songwriter Gotye.

Somebody That I Used To Know is strikingly original, both musically and lyrically, and blows Adele's Someone Like You out of the water in terms of this year's best break-up song, as far as I'm concerned.

The track also features the dulcet tones of my current obsession, New Zealand native Kimbra, and is deservedly sitting pretty at the top of Australian iTunes at this moment in time.

Read more after the jump...

Electra Heart: The Start

Ms Marina and the Diamonds made a surprise return today with a new track, Fear and Loathing. Serving as an introduction to a new 'character' (Marina strenuously denies it's an alter-ego), the video depicts the first part of Marina's transition into Electra Heart.

The song itself is a stark ballad with Marina's distinctive vocals underpinned by waves of synths that swell and subside over the course of the track.

Read more after the jump...

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Gracious. The Spaces We Make

Shot over 36 hours with a crew of two and a $500 budget, the video for Melbourne five-piece Snakadaktal's debut single Chimera is a thrifty delight.

The song is a festival-friendly slow-burner that reminds me of the best bits of Foals' Total Life Forever, embellished with vocalist Phoebe's feminine touch. Snakadaktal are all still in high school and are set to release their debut EP next month. The youth of today, hah?



Take A Second Look And You'll See

Mysterious Swedes Icona Pop have shed a little more light on their identities in their new video for debut single proper, Manners. Neon light, specifically.

After the track proved a source of mild blogospheric hysteria last year when was included on a Kitsuné compilation, it will now be released internationally on Mercury Records.

The other handful of tracks I've heard by them are all top notch, although Lyndsay wasn't entirely sold on their live show when she saw them in New York recently.



Free download of the snazzy Captain Cuts remix here:

Icona Pop - Manners (Captain Cuts Remix) by Captain Cuts

Top Rated by IconaPop

Friday, June 17, 2011

Give Her Up To The Gods

This week has seen Cork play host to the inaugural Solstice Festival, an offshoot of the Cork Midsummer Festival.

As part of the festival, Dublin-based performance colective Come As Soon As You Hear have teamed up with the festival organisers to present Human Sacrifice, an evening of DJs, dancing and virgin bloodshed this Sunday 19th of June.

Kicking off at 10pm at Murphy's Midsummer Nights at The Spiegeltent, the event will see a pretty young virgin pay the ultimate price as a gesture of gratitude to The Gods for a bountiful harvest.

Dress to distress and don't forget your dancing shoes as DJs Conor Behan and Joey Kavanagh will be soundtracking the slaying with a palette of pagan electropop. Tickets available here.



Thursday, June 09, 2011

How Stella Got Her Groove Back

A few months back, I raved about Bristol singer Florrie after I made a last minute decision to catch her playing in the intimate surrounds of Dublin's Academy 2.

Since then, I've had her debut EP, Introduction, on heavy rotation (it's available as a free download from her site here). Her electro-infused top shelf pop reminds of the better output of Girls Aloud and Annie and her novel approach to releasing her music, turning down label offers in favour of financing herself with the benefit of endorsements and corporate collaborations, is really intriguing.

A follow-up EP, Experiments, is due next week. I wasn't entirely sold on the first track, the autotune-heavy Begging Me but, this morning, The Guardian posted a new track, Experimenting With Rugs.

A melancholy mid-tempo number, laced with delicious hooks and underpinned by Florrie's deft drumwork, it reaffirms my suspicions that Florrie is a pop messiah, come to save us all.

Experimenting With Rugs by Florrie

Begging Me by Florrie

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Stuck On Repeat: Born To Do It Edition

Mr Little Jeans - The Suburbs (Arcade Fire Cover)



SBTRKT - Wildfire (featuring Little Dragon)



Caribou - Sun (Pyramid Remix)



Hudson Mohawke - Thunder Bay



Logo x Icona Pop - Luvsick



The Weeknd - Rolling Stone



Get People - Away


Not That Happiness Is Dull. Only That It Doesn't Tell Well.

I've started reading again recently, after a bit of a drought. My plan is to pester friends and family for their favourite books and attempt to read a book a week over the summer. At the moment, I'm reading Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel García Márquez, as suggested by my sister, but if I run out of suggestions I'd like to revisit Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin at some point.

A macabre tale that centres on a woman's strained relationship with her eldest son, the book is one of my all-time favourites and I'm really excited about the imminent film adaptation starring Tilda Swinton.

It's not being released until September, but reports from its recent premiere at Cannes have been overwhelmingly positive and, after watching the teaser trailers, I'm near convinced that this is going to be the movie event of 2011.







Friday, June 03, 2011

South By South West

Come As Soon As You Hear, the creative collective/pack of dossers I'm involved in, are very excited to announce our involvement in Solstice, a brand new initiative being run as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival this month.

The mini festival, organised by four young arts enthusiasts, will run from the 16th to the 19th of June and will showcase work by over 150 emerging artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre and visual art descend. Transforming the Old FAS Building in the heart of Cork city into a pop-up venue, Solstice will include over 30 performances and will run from 10am to 10pm each day.

We will be debuting a new show, Spurt, devised by Karl Watson and Dan Colley, as well as helping to liven up the festival's top secret closing party with something we've been working on for a few weeks. Check out the full programme here.

Solstice is an exciting new venture and, if you fancy doing your bit to help with proceedings, you can donate to their current Fund It campaign here.

Solstice from Solstice on Vimeo.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Spherical Notions Meets... Clare Maguire

Ahead of her Irish television debut on The Late Late Show, Spherical Notions sat down with Clare Maguire for a chat about drunken audiences, the pressures of being the Next Big Thing and the Irish relatives that she didn't know she had.

SN: Hi Clare, how's it going?


CM: Good, thanks. It's nice to see you again.

SN: So, this is your third time back in Dublin in as many months. How did you find the Sugar Club gig?

CM: It was one of the best gigs ever. It was amazing when people stormed the stage at the end. When I was doing my soundcheck, I was like 'Oh, God. How's this show going to go down?' because everybody was going to be sitting down, but when I came out there were people standing all down the aisles, so it wasn't so bad. People were standing up by the end so it was kinda fun. It's a great venue. I really liked it.

SN: You had some family there in the audience, am I right?

CM: Yeah, I had loads of family there - family I hadn't even met before. There were people saying 'Hi, I'm your second cousin' and I was like 'Oh, really?'. Then I was getting loads of tweets afterwards from people saying they were related to me.

SN: Obviously, you've strong connections here in Ireland. How have you found the reception here?

CM: Ireland's my favourite place to come. It's my favourite place in the world. I'm really excited that the interest seems to be growing here as well. The Late Late Show appearance will hopefully be good for it too.

SN:Your new single, The Shield And The Sword, is one of my favourite tracks on the album and the new video is great. Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind it?

CM: The main part of the video ties in with what I wrote the song about, which is my experience of the music industry. It seems very glamorous but there's all this internal struggle stress that goes on with it. The performance scene is inspired by my love of Marilyn Monroe.

It's kind of what you hear on the album, in the sense that it's all very grand, but there's so much going on behind it. So, that's what I wanted with this song - I wanted it to be powerful, but it does still have that emotional aspect to it.



SN: What's the plan for the summer then?

CM: I'm doing T in the Park, Glastonbury, V Festival, Bestival, Camp Bestival, and some other festivals. It's weird because I've never done the festival circuit before and now I'm doing all the big festivals.

SN: We had Jessie J here at The Trinity Ball recently and she said afterwards that it was one of the worst gigs of her life and she was a bit shocked by how drunk people. Do you think your braced for the festival shenanigans?

CM: It's a bit bad that she's said that. I'll probably be the one lying on the floor, passed out! Nah, I'm used to big parties and lots of music and drink. I'm really excited for the festivals. The band and I were just talking about dressing up and making it really fun and exciting.

SN: What can festival-goers expect from your live show?

CM: If it was up to me, and someone else was paying for it, I'd make it a big massive show but, with the festivals, you're kind of restricted by cost. As long as you really involve the audience, make them part of it and go in to the crowd, that helps make it fun and exciting.

I kind of obsess over James Brown, watching him on YouTube, and I love how his band all have a particular movement, so I've been trying to get my band to do that. I just try to make it really colourful, young and poppy.

SN: There were some mixed reviews for the album. Did you find the more negative reviews hard to take, after working on it so long?

CM: Not really. I don't really read that many reviews but I knew it was gone and Radio 1 aren't playing The Shield and The Sword, which upset me a bit.

When I was doing the record, I was putting pressure on myself, over-thinking it and worrying about people not liking it, but since I put it out, I've just been concentrating on really are the people that do like it. The people that are tweeting me and Facebooking me and coming to the shows.

The critics who didn't like it, that's fair enough and I can see certain points they're making about it. The more my career develops, the more fanbase I build and the more music I get to create, I think they'll turn around and begin to realise when it is quite raw and you hear it live, it does translate well and it is growing really strongly. That's all I have to think about it.

SN: Do you think that being featured on 'Tips for 2011' lists puts unnecessary pressure on artists like yourself?

CM: When I was on it, I didn't feel too much pressure. Jessie J was top of everything, so everybody was writing about her mainly. It was just a release for me when I finally released the record. I was just so relieved.

The more I'm playing live and the more fanbase I get, the more I'm thinking that I just have to not be too serious about it. I'm in the music industry, I'm 23, I'm doing what I want to do. I just have to try and have fun with it.

If you surround yourself with people who just tell you you're amazing or Google yourself all the time, it's just going to play on your mind and make you negative. So, just surround yourself with people who tell you you're an idiot, have fun at your gigs, don't Google yourself, and you'll be fine.

Forward to 50:25 here to see Clare's performance on The Late Late Show.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Oh I've Been Waiting, Definitely

I'm on a bus. With Wi-Fi. And sitting still for what feels like the first time in weeks. In my memoirs, I think I'll chalk this down as a triumph.

The icing on the cake is that the internet connection is allowing me to listen to Grimes, who I've been obsessing over the past few weeks.

Like fellow Canadians Austra, elfin beauty Claire Boucher is producing otherworldly pop with a glorious high-end sheen. Boucher's output is a little more sugary and lightweight than Austra's, but ensnares your attention just as forcefully.

Her Darkbloom split-EP with D'Eon is currently permeating the blogosphere, with lead single Vanessa garnering the lion's share of attention, perhaps in part due to the Chung-friendly visual accompaniment.



Grimes - Devon by Arbutus Records

Grimes - Vanessa by Arbutus Records

Grimes plays Whelans in Dublin on August 3rd. It's a date.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Where The Highs Won't Bring You Down

"Normally people clap and cheer at this point," Lykke Li sniped, as she returned to the stage for her encore in Tripod, Dublin, last week.

She may be prone to prima donna behaviour but, with one of this year's strongest albums under her belt and a live show that more than does it justice, I guess she's entitled to have a high opinion of itself.

Wounded Rhymes is an album I keep returning to and discovering new favourites and there are a few great remixes keeping things interesting.

The Gold Panda remix of Sadness Is My Blessing pitches Lykke's lovelorn vocal against a glitchy lo-fi backdrop.

Lykke Li, "Sadness Is A Blessing (Gold Panda Remix)" by The FADER

Meanwhile, the Its Overture mix of I Know Places incorporates elements of Talking Heads' This Must Be The Place to superb effect. Doesn't it sound a bit like Miike Snow's Animal?

I Know Places (Its Overture Remix) by Its Overture

The new video for Sadness Is A Blessing is great also:



Got Plenty Of Fight Left

Wicklow woman Roisin Murphy has teamed up with Dutch dance duo Mason for a new track, Boadicea, from their new album They Are Among Us.

Pulsating electro beats underpin Murphy's silky vocals on this mid-tempo number, which comes flanked by this pretty excellent video that exemplifies the merits of power naps.



Previous efforts by Roisin have largely failed to win over the record-buying public but the DJ set remain ever loyal and, accordingly, there are several decent remix of the track doing the rounds. Pick of the bunch for me is Polydor's slinky house remix.

Mason Feat. Roisin Murphy - Boadicea (Polydor Remix) by Polydor

Mason feat. Roisin Murphy - Boadicea (Human Life Dub Remix) by Human Life

Mason Ft. Roisin Murphy - 'Boadicea' (Evil Nine Remix) by Evil Nine

Monday, April 25, 2011

Fluorescent Adolescent

Neon Hitch's first single proper, 'Get Over You', didn't exactly set the world alight. It's a shame really because all of her bootlegs and guest-spots got my hopes up.

Thankfully, the original gypsy queen is not quite ready to abdicate her throne to make way for Cher Lloyd. She's teamed up with Benny Blanco and Santigold producer Switch for a new track, Silly Girl.

It's pretty heavy on autotune but the super-slick production more than makes up for this. It's exactly the kind track I hoped Beyoncé would come back with, and I suspect it's gonna help boost Ms Hitch's stock no end.

Neon Hitch - Silly Girl by NeonHitch

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Local Heroes: Red Radar

Hello.

The lovely people from Red Radar let me go back in and shoot another video with them. This time I got to recommend some of my favourite Irish music at the moment, including James Vincent McMorrow, Laura Sheeran, Fight Like Apes and Bipolar Empire, all of whom I've managed to catch live the past few months and was suitably impressed by.

Joey Kavanagh from REDradar on Vimeo.


I also gave a shout out to The Casanova Wave, who I recently caught supporting Go Panda Go, but sadly that piece was a victim of the cutting room floor.

James Vincent McMorrow - We Don't Eat (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) by Adventure Club Dubstep

Jenny Kelly - Fight Like Apes by anhuber1@gmail.com

Take Me Where She Sleeps by L A U R A S H E E R A N

Here's A Daisy For Good Luck... by The Casanova Wave

Feel That You Own It by Bipolar Empire



Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Merrill's Streak

Somewhere between 'swim with dolphins' and 'learn how to drive' (yeah, really) on my List Of Things To Do Before I Die is 'go to the SXSW festival'.

The annual music film, and interactive conference in Austin, Texas, has become one of the major platforms for emerging musical talent and reports from the festival can play a big part in making or breaking an up-and-coming.

The benefactor of some of the most superlative-laden reports this year was New England native Merrill Garbus, aka tUnE-yaRdS.

Armed with idiosyncratic layered vocals, clattering percussion and some gargantuan guitar riffs, has a similar energy to early Yeah Yeah Yeahs tracks.

The video for latest single Bizness is a blast and you can also stream her gramatically questionable new album 'w h o k i l l' over on the Guardian Music site.



Thursday, April 07, 2011

Jump Hoops While I Set Them Alight

I got very excited about Durham gal Hannah Yadi a few months ago when I came across her excellent song, Guillotine.

YADi - GUiLLOTiNE by Pop Culture Monster

Yup. Still excellent.

I hadn't heard much from her since and presumed she was cowering in a dark room somewhere, paralysed by the knowledge that she'd never craft a song quite as good as Guillotine.

Apparently not. A quick listen to her Soundcloud suggests that she has been continuing to churn out pop nuggets in the vein of Marina and the Diamonds and Kate Bush.

The tracks are all really solid and suggest that Yadi is going to be a pop force to be reckoned with when she starts releasing music. Pick of the bunch for me is Willow but please do check out the full selection.

Yadi - Willow



[Image: Jack Davison]

Adventures In Sub-Bass

My first experience of dubstep was when Dublin Fringe Festival played host to Skream back in 2008. I had never encountered Skream or this wibbly-wobbly genre of music but, while selling tickets to people, I quickly realised that he was quite a big deal in certain circles.

Since then, the genre has spun up out of the underground and its influence can be heard on records by 'mainstream artists' like Katy B and Chase & Status. Heck, even Britney Spears has had a look in.

As a result, the tastemakers have focused their attentions on chillwave, moombahton and other suitably obscure genres. I was never especially in thrall to the genre, but occasionally there's still an artist that will grab my attention.

One of these is Adventure Club, whose Brand New remix I came across recently and was drawn to, despite not being familiar with the original.

Brand New - Daisy (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) by Adventure Club Dubstep

Since then, the Candaian duo have transformed X Factor alum Diana Vickers and Irish folk troubadour James Vincent McMorrow into unlikely dubstep heroes with considerable success. An EP is on the way apparently.

Diana Vickers - Sunlight (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) by Adventure Club Dubstep

James Vincent McMorrow - We Don't Eat (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) by Adventure Club Dubstep

Ready Or Not, Here I Come

Meet Blinky™, the creation of NCAD graduate and Oscar nominee Ruairi Robinson.

A young boy (played by Max Records of Where The Wild Things Are), feeling unloved and lost in the world as a result of his parents' constant fighting, decides that investing a robotic friend might be the answer to his problems.

At first, Blinky's arrival seems to have the desired effect, but the boy soon begins to have his doubts and things take a turn for the sinister.

Blinky™ from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

All The Single Ladies

A while back, I posted a Penguin Prison remix of Kimbra's Settle Down that I stumbled upon but, idiotically, I forgot to investigate the original.

Thankfully, Nialler9 posted the video for the track a few weeks ago and, since then, I've pretty much had it on loop and forced it upon everybody that's crossed my path.



Originally from New Zealand, Kimbra operates out of Australia these days. Her debut album, Vows, will be released pretty shortly but, in the mean time, there are a couple of cuts worth a spin. None are quite as devastatingly brilliant as Settle Down, but few songs are.

Settle Down by Kimbra

Cameo Lover by Kimbra

Kimbra - Settle Down (Penguin Prison Remix) by Lizmania

Saturday, March 26, 2011

She Saved The World. A Lot.

This is probably going to be the last post of this nature I make on the blog (more about that soon) but I just wanted to let any Dublin-based people know that the collective I'm involved in, Come As Soon As You Hear, are throwing one of our parties in the Twisted Pepper tonight (Saturday).

It's called Hellmouth As Soon As You Hear and, as the name suggests, it's based on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.


There'll be DJ sets from the eminetly talented Frankie Grimes, Andrew Bannister and yours truly. As well as some old-school Buffy classics, expect to hear some of the following:

Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know (Frankie Grimes Remix) by frankiegrimes

Martin Solveig Feat. Dragonette - Hello (Eberhart's Sunset Love Mix) by Eberhart

Rebecca Black - Friday (Anal Filth Remix) by circuitbored

It's free in before midnight if you pop your name on this here guestlist. You nearly would.

Poster by Jacqui Ferns.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Les Animaux Dansent

Fresh from their premieres of the new albums by Lykke Li and Oh Land, Hype Machine are debuting new material by another European pop femme, Yelle. The French electropop madame's new album Safari Disco Club is streaming exclusively on the site here ahead of its official release next week.

My limited knowledge of the French language means I have only the flimsiest of grasps on what she's singing about most of the time but that doesn't stop me enjoying her spiky concoctions. Pick of the bunch for me is the album's title track and the wonderful La Musique, which comes flanked by this excellent video.

Safari Disco Club by YELLE

Yelle - Que Veux Tu (Madeon Remix) by Madeon



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Stuck On Repeat: Moment Of Impact Edition


Mike Posner - Rolling In The Deep (Adele Cover)



Black Light Dinner Party - Older Together



James Blake - A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover)



The Teddybears featuring Robyn - Cardiac Arrest



Icona Pop - Top Rated



Brand New - Daisy (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix)



Monarchy - I Won't Let Go



It Ain't Something You Can Synthesize

Although the two were frequently mentioned in the same breath as artists destined for success in 2011, I'm still not convinced that Jamie Woon can impress quite as spectacularly as James Blake has done with his eponymous debut.

All the same, it's probably for the best that Hudson Mohawke opted to remix Woon's new single, considering how Blake has compared the art of remixing to 'musical prostitution'.

If this is the case, then Mohawke is certainly a high class hooker as his reworking of Woon's Lady Luck is an aural delight and, in my opinion, marginally more listenable than the original.



Lady Luck (Hudson Mohawke's Schmink Wolf Re-fix) by woon

Sky Ferreira: As If EP

It's hardly a secret that I'm a big supporter of L.A. singer Sky Ferreira. Thanks to her poster-girl looks, wry sense of humour and distinctive voice, she earned the backing of some of the world's best producers and seemed destined for success.

However, after a disorientating string of releases that bore little or no resemblance to one another, her debut album was 'postponed' indefinitely from its January release date and the outlook began to look a bit grim.

Thankfully, it seems Team Ferreira went back to the drawing board for a change of tack. The result is the succinct but spellbinding As If EP.

Opening track Sex Rules, written by Billy 'Like A Virgin' Steinberg, sounds like a 21st century update of Vanity 6's Nasty Girl, with Sky crooning about the merits of carnal knowledge over a backdrop of skittery electro flourishes.



Traces, a dub-influenced piano ballad (yes, really) co-written by Neon Hitch, has been doing the rounds for quite a while in demo form but sounds much better in high quality and is probably the track that best showcases Ferreira's voice.

Haters Anonymous, immaculately produced by the inimitable Bloodshy & Avant, is a tongue-in-cheek attack on anonymous bloggers and internet 'haters'. An anthem for the Rebecca Blacks of the world, if you will.

99 Tears is a glitchy electropop number, written by Lily Allen collaborator Greg Kurstin, that echoes the vengeful ex-girlfriend sentiments of Allen's Smile.

108, another Bloodshy & Avant production, is an elegant robopop ballad in the vein of Sky's signature hit, One. Underpinned by cascading synths, colourful lyrics like "My secret lover is 108 / I know it sounds insane, it’s really ok / He's got a face that'll haunt you for a billion decades” are imbued with a quiet sadness thanks to Sky's deliciously deadpan delivery.

Sky Ferreira - 108



Lord knows I'm prone to over-excitement, but I genuinely think As If is on par with the best pop releases in recent years (Robyn's 2005 self-titled album springs to mind).

It's out today. Invest.

Friday, March 04, 2011

The Domino Effect

Domino Records' latest protege, Austra, produce broody electronica that reminds of Fever Ray and Zola Jesus.

The project is the brainchild of singer Katie Stelmanis, who was a fixture on the Canadian indie scene before forming Austra with long-term friends Dorian Wolf on bass, and Maya Postepski as beat programmer and producer.

Their brand of gothic pop is currently a source of mild blogospheric hysteria, with mesmerising debut single 'Beat and the Pulse' and its accompanying x-rated video garnering the majority of the attention.


AUSTRA "Beat and the Pulse"

I like 'Young and Gay' almost as much. Here's hoping Austra pop up on the festival circuit this year.

Austra - Young & Gay by DominoRecordCo

Austra - Energy by DominoRecordCo

Live Review: Florrie @ The Academy

Last week, Lou Bru came up trumps when she sourced me a last-minute ticket for Florrie's debut Dublin headliner at The Academy.

The as yet unsigned singer, songwriter and drummer is closely associated with Xenomania, the man behind most of Girls Aloud's back-catalogue, and has drummed live and on record for the (former?) girlband.

She released her debut EP, Introduction, last year (which is available as a free download from her website) and in a live setting, minus Xenomania's studio gloss, these songs hold their own remarkably well.

Florrie makes the same kind of lightweight but immaculately crafted pop that saw Pitchfork darling Annie, early incarnations of Sugababes and Girls Aloud salvage the genre's sullied reputation in the mid noughties.

Alternating between belting out high-energy numbers and thrashing on the drum kit, even the most po-faced gig-goers were shimmying and shaking by the time she wrapped up her short but supremely sweet set. Second helping: sought.

Florrie - Give Me Your Love



Florrie - Left Too Late



Florrie - Call 911 (Fred Falke Remix)



Florrie happens to be among a number of artists, Lou Bru and I discussed in a recent video for Red Radar. Check it out here:

Not Very Wise and Spherical Notions from REDradar on Vimeo.