Do you dance? For what? Cash? Fame? Sex? Fun? Pleasure? Because the voices in your head tell you to do it? Because it is Saturday and you want to have a good time? All of the above?
All Things To All Men, released digitally on the 7th of September and quite possibly grooving your local club.
Personally, I find Jona's and Claire's need to remember (over and over again) that they do not believe or support the occult extremely funny. Then again, you just need to take one look at the current imagery of their website and most recent video, Psychic City, to understand why the masses are getting mislead. So listen up everyone, I'll explain it:
It's all based on the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda games! Possibly Final Fantasy Tactics as well.
Them two are clearly retro gamers, which adds an extra layer of geekyness to the whole YACHT affair, thus making it even more rewarding.
Jonathan Glazer (of UNKLE's Rabbit in your headlights ft. Thom Yorke fame) captures the male half of The White Stripes falling out of terms with the female half of The Kills in a gritty, raging, gun augmented fit of tenderness.
Horehound is out and about via Jack White's pet label Third Man Records.
Why not wait for monday then? Well... first some tracks are so good - such as the case - that delaying it would be criminal. Heresy even. Right up there with blocking The Bloggess on twitter. Seriously bad karma, I tell you, like... totally! Secondly, because this particular track will be available here via the rcrdlbl website until the 25th of August *only*. (WTF, no html code for blinking text anymore? Fascists, they take away all the cool annoying stuff. I bet Steve Jobs did it.)
Then again, I reckon it will be on youtube forever unless Dim Mak throws a hissy fit.
Addendum: That Gladiator EP from AutoÉrotique looks just sick... AC Slater, Milano, Klever... hot!!!
If there is such a thing such as musical serendipity then sure this is it. There I was the other day, mopping about the demise... err... sorry "temporary hiatus" of We Smoke Fags, which lead to groaning about Goose totally dropping out of the face of the earth for a couple of years (after an obscenely good first album, Bring it on) and some shouting due to Shy Child not coming over when the below hit my emospace inbox. And I looked upon it. And I listened to it. And then I listened to some more. And it is all very very good! The names I've already dropped should give you an indication of the these lads direction, electro beat driven post-punk, so be sure to check them out. They are unassigned at the moment (OH!!! THE HORROR!!! THE FUNKY HORROR!!!), so be sure to stop by their myspace or their last.fm page to listen to their songs. In repeat. Over and over. New bands depends on this. Even more so, downloading their stuff, so go to amazon or iTunes (which I can't seem to open... shitty piece of trendy software) rack up on the good karma points with awesome sounds to boot!
Tigersapien. - Youth and Vitality (Designer Drugs Remix)
Firstly the self-titled release of The XX, via Young Turks. They had been mentioned before because of the first single Crystalised, so besides the album being released what happened between then and now? Well, the video below for the second single Basic Space happened which is so so sweet that it makes you want to lick the screen. No worries, I won't tell anyone, it's perfectly normal. Also read some not so favourable reviews, but seriously, I don't give a fuck. Ordered.
Lastly, Simian Mobile Disco's Temporary Pleasure. The first single, Audacity of Huge, didn't actually caught my attention to be honest. What made me raise an eyebrow and think "this might actually be good" was just realizing the amount of star-power involved in the album. The good kind such as Beth Ditto from Gossip, Chris Keating from Yeasayer, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip and the double cute combo from NYC, Telepathe. MOAR singles neeeded. And remixes as well. Thank you and come back always.
Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge (ft. Chris Keating)
Due to return via Merge Records on the 8th of September with the album In Prism after... a gazillion fafillion years! Beggar's Bowl is the first glimpse of the undoubtedly excellent riffs to come. Free download of here, live performance just below and full album stream via their page at Merge. This reminds me once again (last time being the recent release of the new Tortoise album) that Slint should really, really, I mean REALLY reunite and tour Europe.
Polvo - Beggar's Bowl (July 30, 2009 at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia)
Long overdue, I know, and do apologize for it. What can I say? I'm a lazy bastard. Betwixt metalheads (blessed eye candy) on the main stage and trendy hipster folks (electric blue skinny jeans are not cool anymore y'alls!) on the secondary stage expectations were rather high, specially on the second day due to the deluge of last year's best British bands. Late of the pier, Hadouken! and Does it Offend You Yeah to be honest need some more mileage, period. Klaxons are living proof of that if we are to compare this last show and the rather bland one they did two years ago. Tv on The Radio did their thing, albeit overly distorted. What a shame. If you didn't recognize the lyrics to sing along the show could easily turn into a Sonic Youth concert from their early albums.
So, was there anything really good? Anything that made you go like "WTF is happening out there?" Well, yes, from the ones everyone was curious about due to prior events on the Sonar Festival and so many other places: Crystal Castles. Alice Glass did her usual coked-out-of-her mind routine of shambling around the stage carrying a strobe light while growling and shouting on the mic, climbing on speakers and recklessly throwing herself on to the crowd. It was the first concert I saw where the roadies and stage hands were always on stage and in plane sight, carefully monotoring Alice's every movement. If this was all staged, my hat is off. Honestly, any anorectic chick that went all slapdash on the eye-shadow could pull that show off. As for the beats, we had Ethan Kath, the man behind the machine that feed all that 8-bit sampling into the roaring crowd, highly catalysed by Alice's performance, as well as a live drummer. The interwebz tell me that he's called Christopher Robin.
So what made it that special? The sum of all of the above of the which the end result is a homage to unrestrained dissociated ferocious 8-bit electronic abandonment. Nevermind the album, nevermind the hype, just go see them live and draw your own conclusions.
I kind of remember posting these already, however can't seem to find them. Or was it a post on blip.fm? Well, nevermind, here's two in a row from the album Deep Cuts by Swedish electro luminaries The Knife to celebrate womanhood, tropical weather and football. Believe me, it is all connected.
Just had a visitor by way of the Google search string "just full with hope". Awww, ain't that cute... a baby driving a car. Let me just fix that. Although I adore Cass McCombs and, you know, puppies and butterflies and grudge fucking and all that, today we only have gloom and doom. Kinda like Live Journal, but with more accurate wrist slashing and less pics of dodgy furry art. No, wait, that's deviantart. Nevermind. Bad day at work, just click play. Thank you and come back always.
Sure don't like the sound of that... Come back, Joey. Come back!!! In the meantime take a tour of their myspace and listen to Canape of Love. Repeatedly.
Catacombs by Cass McCombs. Just like Low or Red House Painters, but with far more hope and self-awareness. Surely one for the top 10 of 2009, out now on Domino Records.
Beth Ditto and friends, thou hast let me downth. Youtube, however, didn't. Balloon fetishists rejoice! (yes, there is such a thing, just don't ask me how I know this)
I do have to admit that the album as a whole did not quite sink in at first listen. Nevertheless I valiantly soldiered on, fuelled by raving reviews from close friends whose musical taste I have the utmost respect. It has now really grown on me. Far more cohesive and with a steadier direction than Standing in the way of control, that being rocking your socks off with electro tainted guitar licks and drum punches.
Pack your bags everyone 'cause the party is happenin' in Berlin. Be it groove tinged or trippy beats, Moritz Friedrich aka Siriusmo delivers with extreme freshness.
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