Music news
Alright there, just so you know I’m one of those undeserving few who receives music, like, way early. So here’s a heads up: Metronomy’s new single ‘My Heart Rate Rapid’ is a jaunty electronic pop-funk roller that’s part Devo, part no-wave and all experimental synth-lines. It’s the kind of track that punctuates the time when a shindig turns into a hootenanny causing the most palpitations per person per beat (PPPB) thus far in ‘08. If you’re a DJ/having a house party/own an MP3 player you need this in your life like New York needs new (good) venues.
A musician that creates beautiful simple lyrics and says all the things you think a man has wanted to say but has never had the courage… With easy folk, county, blues melodies that just make you smile. His voice at times verges on shrill but this just adds to his unique charm, his falsetto his amazing. It’s a modern day Bob Dylan who is truly a hopeless romantic.
Pete Molinari has recently been recording with one of the UKs most well respected musicians, artists, poets, Billy Childish. He sang a song the other night in London, one written by Billy the lyrics as such ‘I can’t love you, because I don’t like the man that I am’. An incredibly simple and beautiful track, I haven’t heard such a song or been excited by one in such a long time. A second album is on it’s way, go listen to ‘sweet louise’ now….. petemolinari.co.uk
Here's the video for Gnarls Barkley's new single, "Run". The same music video that was recently banned from MTV - not for sex, violence, or an incredibly cheesy cameo from one J.Timberlake; but for the psychadelic, strobey lights that caused it to to fail the Harding Test - a guidline that prevents TV images causing epileptic fits. So if you are prone to a touch of the dizzies, then please exercise caution when viewing.
Carbon footprint huge after all the music festivals you went crazy at over summer? Join the club. If you are left craving more festivals but feel more than a little guilty about your impact on the environment then look no further than Climate Festival 2008. As well as being totally carbon neutral, 100% of all profits will be donated amongst affiliated environmental organisations, Climate Friendly Australia and The Wilderness Society. Oh yeah, and as well as being as green as Al Gore, David Attenborough and Chloe Sevigny put together there are a great group of artists on the bill too. The line-up includes Junkie XL, Tommy Lee & DJ Aero (yes THAT Tommy Lee), Klass and not to mention Aussie favourites Bumblebeez, Scientists of Modern Music and Resin Dogs (sound system) with more to be announced!Climate Festival will travel to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in April so get your non-carbon-footprint making dancing shoes on!
Could "Naughty Girl" become the ironic club banger of 2008? Today the anthemic anti-drug/ pro-cringe tune made famous on Summer Heights High (and kept alive around through drunken renditions in the months since) is being released as a single. "Naughty Girl" creator Chris Lilley - I mean, Mr G - has teamed up with Paul Mac, Stylaz Fuego and John Paul Talbot to produce remixes of the song which, together with an acapella version, will be included with the single. “I’m planning to use the song as the school bell for a week once it’s released". Mr G told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph recently, "The Principal doesn’t know this yet but I’ve booked in with the PA ladies and I’m going to blast it all over the school. This should help sales,”. Lilley has also created a flashy video for the single which I'm sure will be blowing up the You Tubes a any day now. In the meantime, enjoy the original above.
I've been trying to not write about this/these band/s for a few months now. Who knows why. Maybe I was hoping their cd/s would magically fall into my lap somehow, and then I would have something more concrete to say about them. I guess I still am.
Googling them is harder than you'd think, try google searching The Speakers. Damnit, I just did, and contradicted myself before I even finished my point. Well, the real point is, you definitely don't get to their myspace. Instead, you have to search 'The Lightning Bug Situation' - if that isn't a mouthful, enough. Not even Amazon (UK) have heard of them. There you have it, the ultimate in unheard of, but multiple-release, bands. Basically, there're two guys, two bands, and they've been playing together on and off since they were 12 years old. The Speakers last album, Yeats is Greats, is a collection of songs using words by one W. B. Yeats, not surprisingly. Brian Miller, the half behind the solo project The Lightning Bug Situation plays a sparser and more delicate sound than that with partner, Peter Musselman, in The Speakers, though in saying that I mean no implication to any lack of delicacy to the latter band.
Either way, I'm not entirely sure who I like more. It's beautiful folk/electronic/classical-influenced music (depending on who you're listening to), the kind which makes you wish it could loop and loop for days, because you just don't tire of it.
Best news ever? Yes. If you're me. Courtesy of my favourite record label Drag City, not only are Silver Jews releasing another record this year, but so is (long, long awaited, for those who have been waiting) Jim O'Rourke. O'Rourke, famous for playing with Sonic Youth during a significant period for the band, has been busy producing other people's albums, one to mention, Joanna Newsom's Ys, which is a feat of an album.
These two artists happen to be two of the most poetically inspiring musicians, and this is a pleasure I can't consider holding my breath for.
Better yet though, Silver Jews will be touring Europe in May in support of the release of the new album 'Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea'. Apart from playing venues in and around the UK, they're on the bill for All Tomorrow's Parties 2008 in May, the festival which last year marked the beginning of my 2007 festival indulgence, and superceded the others in terms of band quality, and festival-goer-quality attendance.This years ATP is curated by Explosions In The Sky, and with other bands like Iron 'n Wine, Eluvium, Sunset Rubdown and Battles in the line up, we won't be dancing to the off-beat this year either.
So, thanks Drag City. Because you exist. Thanks David Berman. Because my life with your poetry and your music in it is a better place. Thanks Jim O'Rourke. Because you have contributed more to music than I will ever know about, and you don't cease to be amazing in your own sweeet production.
