Flight Facilities' gorgeous 'Crave You' has been doing the rounds for the best part of six months but a video for the track only surfaced a couple of weeks ago.
A fine slice of hipster porn, the video features Whitney Brown in the role of singer Giselle, who was presumably deemed too ugly in a Black Box 'Ride On Time' fashion.
DJ duo turned one-man-show Aeroplane has set Giselle's vocals to his popular remix of Friendly Fires' 'Paris' to great effect and Flight Facilities themselves have offered up a slightly more dancefloor-friendly version of the song, which works pretty nicely too.
Obviously keen to capitalise on the mounting interest in their music, Friendly Fires have unleashed a new track from the follow-up to last year's self-titled debut.
The track is called 'Kiss Of Life' and was given an outing at Oxegen at the weekend. I really love the samba drums and can see this being the subject of many a remix. Yum.
The wonderful folk at Heineken Music answered my prayers last week by providing me with a chance to experience Oxegen '09.
I've been to the festival a number of times before but this year I found the line-up particularly enticing. Sometimes it can be hard to gauge how acts will fare in front of a festival crowd but, thankfully, none of the acts I managed to catch seemed fazed by the Punchestown punters.
I've already written about the effect Florence and the Machine had on me. Seeing the band play in such an initimate space, the week their soon-to-be-classic album was released, in front of such an appreciative audience ranks among the greatest festival experiences I've ever had.
Another brilliant performance came courtesy of Friendly Fires, who more than lived up to their reputation as a formidable live act. With such an arsenal of incredible tracks ('Jump in The Pool', 'Paris', 'Photobooth' and 'Skeleton Boy' to name but a few), it's a wonder that the Engish trio haven't enjoyed more mainstream success but I suspect they won quite a few fans as a result of their dazzling live set.
I'd seen Oxford four-piece Foals play twice before and loved 'em both times. However, seeing them at the Heineken Green Spheres was the first time I felt where the sound system was able to do justice to their high-octane guitar-driven indie pop. Or maybe they were just on form? Either way, they were a definite highlight.
I'm sure some would disagree but I also thought Lady Gaga delivered in spades. A performance that involved a moped, a piano covered with plastic bubbles, a box made out of mirrors, a keytar, several costume changes and some pretty slick choreograhy meant it was impossible to pry your eyes from the bolshy bottle blonde. Oh, and she can sing.
It's looking increasingly likely that I'll be heading to Punchestown next weekend for Oxegen. Yes, I'm poorer than a pauper but, the way I see it, the fact that the festival coincides with the deadline for my thesis is fate and, hey, who am I to screw with destiny?
Since its humble beginnings as 'Witnness' nine years ago, the festival has become something of an Irish institution. There are those that will insist that Electric Picnic has 'better vibes' but, even if this is so, Oxegen is unrivalled in terms of the calibre of its line-up and this year is no exception. From Gaga to Glasvegas, Bloc Party to Blur, Nine Inch Nails to Nick Cave, Florence and the Machine to Fun Lovin' Criminals, the 2009 roster is nothing short of stellar.
If you'd like to see the full line-up and stage times for Oxegen '09, the lovely folk at Heineken Music have provided one here. Heineken are running the Green Spheres stage for the first time this year, with some fairly brilliant acts like 2 Many DJ's, Fight Like Apes and TV On The Radio set to perform.
The 5 sets at which your most likely to see me up the front, shaking what God gave me:
I was a bit late to the party in terms of discovering English three-piece Friendly Fires and only came across their self-titled debut earlier this year, several months after its release. However, the album has already had enough rotation on my Itunes to make up for any lost time. Combining rock, pop and electro influences, the band have built a reputation as a fantastic live act and are definitely worth pencilling into your schedule.
Alt-pop singer Patrick Wolf has been a hero of mine for many moons and yet, circumstances have always prevented me from seeing him when he's played here. Wolf's music is hard to describe, not only because he draws on a diverse range of musical influences, but also because he constantly hops from one genre to the next, alternating between pulsing electro, jaunty bubblegum pop and the odd heart-wrenching ballad thrown in for good measure. Wolf's latest album 'Battle' may have divided critics but, from what I gather, his live sets have drawn fairly unanimous positive responses.
Back in the summer of 2007, when Lyndsay announced 'I Love Foals' on her Bebo skin, I genuinely thought the statement was borne out of some sort of equine obsession. Flash forward eight months later to me and Lyndsay in The Academy jumping up and down like our lives depended on it as the Oxford-based band played songs from their excellent debut album, 'Antidotes', to a decidedly receptive crowd. If the band can emulate the quality of that gig next weekend, it's definitely a set you don't want to miss.
Ladyhawke's self-titled album was one of my favourites of 2008 and, despite having listened to 'My Delirium' and 'Dusk to Dawn' kabillions of times, I never tire of their electro-infused guitar pop brilliance. I saw Pip and her band play at the launch of Arnotts' Project earlier this year and, as much as I enjoyed the set on that occasion, I have a feeling that it would be even better suited to a festival atmosphere.
Anti-folk scene queen turned platinum selling chanteuse Spektor returns to Ireland for the first time since 2007 and her sing-a-long piano pop should make for a refreshing alternative to the thrashing guitars and outrageous pop vixens running amok on some of the bigger stages. Spektor will be sure to play a selection of tracks from her recent album 'Far' but I'm hoping her set will be peppered with some older songs like 'Braille', 'Oedipus' and 'Poor Little Rich Boy'.
I've been kind of on the fence about Australian pop pixie Lenka until now. I really liked her track 'Trouble Is A Friend', which has been the subject of some great remixes, but I found some of her other stuff a little bit overly-cutesy and saccharine.
Today, however, I stumbled upon her version of 'Jump In The Pool' by Friendly Fires, which was performed for BBC Radio's 'Live Lounge'.
Consider me a fully-fledged member of the Lenka fan club.
English dance-pop outfit Friendly Fires came to my attention when they jumped on the (already rather crowded) Lykke Li bandwagon last year and covered her track, 'I'm Good, I'm Gone'.
Their quirky rendition of the track is fairly brilliant and it turns out their own stuff is decent too. Latest single 'Skeleton Boy' is great and the song is teamed with an equally impressive video.
Isn't the melody on the chorus very similar to Olive's 'You're Not Alone'?
