learning how to dive

Jarvis

2006-10-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

wow. it's been seriously ages since i updated this. whoops. i'll try and put something half decent on here then.

first off.

jarvis.

he is a legend, and he lives just round the corner from my house.
he has a new album. it's pretty good.

jarvis - i will kill again

also, i am winning the jarvis 4-1

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zongamin.

thank god. you know when you have a song that you know you know stuck in your head, but you can't quite place it? i have had this for nearly a year with this insanely catchy song, which i finally realised today was zongamin, when it played on a compilation i had on my itunes. i should have figured this out a long time ago, but it's not that easy when the main hook is a beat that just goes d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-ddah...d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d duh.

zongamin - bongo song

now i just need to remember who did that other one, duh-duh-d-duh duh duh duh duh duh

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swan lake.

supergroup alert! i've had this ages now and it's still nearly as awesome as any band which is made up of dan bejar (destroyer), carey mercer (frog eyes) and spencer krug (sunset rubdown) (see previous entries) would expectedly be, and this is one of the best tracks from it

swan lake - a venue called rubela

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klaxons.

since i last posted klaxons have got massive. earlier this year they were playing at tatty bogles to a crowd that could fit in my bedroom (in fairness tatty b's isn't much bigger than my bedroom) and last week they played at koko to one of the biggest crowds i've seen there. weird that. this cover of grace's disco classic has long been one of the highlights of their live set

klaxons - not over yet

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wolf eyes.

i've written about wolf eyes before so i won't repeat myself, but essentially they have a new album and it's as insanely noisy as ever. if you missed them live last time, be sure to check out barden's on december 7, if you dare

wolf eyes - rusted mange

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lcd soundsystem.

james murphy was comissioned by nike to do a 'running track', and this is the result. while the hipster in me is slightly perturbed by the seeming selling out nature of this collaboration, i can't deny the greatness of the music...i might even take up running for it

lcd soundsystem - 45:33

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the long blondes.

while i still can't shrug the niggling feeling that i should be embarassed about liking them, the long blondes can't seem to put a foot wrong. the album is great, and this, one of the 'newer' i.e. one i hadn't heard on previous singles is one of the best things they've done yet.

the long blondes - you could have both

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and now, the 'wow i can't belive it's been so long since i last posted that i haven't even written about that yet' part

scissors for lefty

i first heard this song at the beginning of this year as a demo, and it hasn't aged a day, it's easliy one of my favourite singles from the year. i didn't have an mp3 for ages, but now i do, and i'm giving it to you

scissors for lefty - mama your boys will find a home

the low miffs

are great. i am missed them play on tuesday because i went to see mates of state, who admittedly i love, but i still feel somewhat agreived.

the low miffs - this is the new

adam green

adam green, moldy peaches, you know all that already. somehow i overlooked this gem of a bruce springsteen cover bside from ages ago, which was recently brought back to my attention.

adam green - born to run

some time between my last post and this one it was my birthday, and one present i received was a dvd documentary of the seminal 90s hardcore outfit refused. this really is one from back in the day.

refused - new noise

and moving away from that section of old stuff but sticking with the hardcore theme, converge has a new album and it's aimmense

converge - hellbound

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aand finally

FOALS are the best band around at the moment. go and see them live. i don't have any mpthrees. go to their myspace instead.

foalsspace

kids on holiday

2006-09-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

wowow. it's been a long time since i posted.

i've been here

it was quite nice

here's a bunch of stuff i listened to a fair bit while i was away

the new camera obscura album is pure twee pop greatness.

camera obscura - lloyd i'm ready to be heartbroken

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i'd been listening to newer voxtrot songs more recently and had forgotten how great this older one is

voxtrot - the start of something

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this is from the being john malkovich soundtrack, and is absolute genius. although if you haven't seen the film it admittedly might not make much sense.

john malkovich soundtrack - malkovich masterpiece remix

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whether he's the new neutral milk hotel is neither here or there in my opinion, i just like the songs

beirut - postcards from italy

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i was minorly disappointed with 'the letting go' i have to admit, but there are some beautiful songs on there, especially this last track

bonnie prince billy - untitled

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in case you thought i was going soft, here's some proper scenecore nintendisco

crystal castles - xxzxczx me
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the fact that i quite strongly dislike a LOT of the tracks sampled on the girl talk album, there's something about the way they're mashed together that somehow makes it alright

girl talk - bounce that

AND

this is the stand out track from one of the best records this year. so good.

tv on the radio - wolf like me

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PLUS a couple things i've been 'digging' since i got back

apparently there was a big hoo-har while i was away about pitchfork illegally leaking the new album. it's definitely worth getting excited about anyway.

joanna newsom - emily

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if you ever pay any attention to what i write on here, you should have heard the new frog eyes album. so instead of posting something from that, here is a live songs from a session they did for daytrotter.

frog eyes - bushels

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AAND

last but definitely not least

this is sick. i've been listening to it non stop. the album as a whole is a weird one, quite different from echoes, way more upbeat, probably will be equally as good once i get used to it. this song is just too awesome though. must be the next single.

the rapture - Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh Huh

do you suffer from mental

2006-08-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster @ White Heat

Probably the biggest night ever at white heat, and one of my personally most anticipated ones. Having never seen them, despite being quite the fan (particularly of the first album), the oppurtunity to see them at white heat was quite amazing. They didn't disappoint. Their unique goth/psychobilly hybrid music is a slightly unusual one for the white heat crowd, but they went down incredibly, with Guy McKnight's intense frontman persona transfixing the room. I'd forgotten how much I liked them. And I love it when seeing a band does that to you.

eighties matchbox b-line disaster - i could be an angle

Here ~~Lies~~ Liars Drum

Another rediscovery of sorts this week, in as much as it's possible for the latest album from one of my favourite bands to really be 'rediscovered', drum's not dead is back on heavy rotation again. If anything, what was already probably my favourite album of the year so far has got better after a brief hiatus (in which I've been listening to they threw us all in a trench and they were wrong so we drowned instead). I have new favourite songs. And I'm empathising more with the Drum character's vibe now too (previously I was way more pro mt. heart attack). Some people still don't get liars, despite all my efforts...a common critque of this album is that it 'sounds like red indians', probably something to do with the tribal drumming and yelping...but I don't understand - they're quite right in their observations of course, but surely that's a good thing?

liars - drum and the uncomfortable can

Zoo Zoo

I've posted loads about xiu xiu before so all I'm gonna say is that this is from his new ep of covers and it's really good.

xiu xiu - don't cha (pussycat dolls)

refinance your mortgage

2006-07-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Islands at Barden's Boudoir

Not only is Islands album one of the best this year but The Unicorns were one of the best bands of the last few years and there was no way I was going to miss Islands at Barden's last night. And I'm glad I didn't. It was an amazing gig - the band in their all white outfits packed out the small stage and put on such an entertaining show that I'd even almost forgotten the hour plus wait between the support band in a venue hotter than it is when you get sweat rain from the ceiling in 333. Nick Diamonds even told a pirate joke, recited lyrics from that sandi thom thing I always see on billboards and talked about jamie oliver.

islands - volcanoes

extra!

the unicorns - jellybones (demo)

I realised today that (I'm fairly sure) Islands is the 3rd band (not counting support bands) I've seen in a row that has a saxophone.

Actually I just realised that's not true. But 3 is still quite a lot within the space of a month or so. So here are some mp3s by such bands.

love is all - felt tip

the rapture - get myself into it

rumble strips - hate me you do

Good Shoes

Good shoes don't have saxophones but I've never posted them before I just saw the video for new single all in my head and I think it's quite cool so I'm posting it:

and here's the mp3 as well, just because

good shoes - all in my head

SunnO)))

I don't think this could be more unrelated to the catchy indiepop I've posted above but I just got this bootleg of a SunnO))) gig and wanted to post a track from it. Genuinely the most frightening gig experience of my life, this recording can't go any where near acheiving the atmosphere of the show, but you could try - play the song so ridiculously loud it feels like your house is going to fall down from the vibrations, fill the air with dry ice and goths and then get three satanic looking men in hooded capes who look like they are there to bring the apocolypse to stand in the room with you. Then half way through have a man who might well actually be the devil come and scream at you.

sunnO))) - orthodox caveman (live)

The Horrors

Slightly less scary than sunnO))) (but not all that much less; Faris is both one of the tallest and skinniest people I've ever met and he has a mean stare) is the new Horrors video by the legend that is Chris Cunningham, who was actually at that sunnO))) gig...so how's that for circularity?

AAARGGH! real mosters!

can't go out, can't stay in

2006-07-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

Back in the dizzy heights of norwich.
Working. Looking for flats.
It's been a long time - shouldn't have left you.
So here's quite a lot of songs.

you already know how good whitey is
whitey - can't go out, can't stay in

yeah i know all thermals songs sound the same, but it's good. this is from their new album.
the thermals - pillar of salt

i don't know anything about this, other than it is one of the best things i've heard in ages. like animal collective on acid. actually not quite, but it's always fun to say things are like things on acid.
annuals - brother

the best dubstep album this year.
burial - distant lights

death from above 1979 remix/electronica project is all the rage on the net right now
metric - monster hospital (mstrkrft remix)

early 90s rave is clearly back in, so it's time to dig out all your old dance compilations
s'express - theme from s'express

they way they sample the 'daaaaah dah dah dah' bit in this at the beginning makes it sound just like one of those julee cruise songs from a david lynch film
architecture in helsinki - do the whirlwind (hot chip remix)

shut up i am dreaming is still one of my favourite releases from this year - and this earlier album snakes got a leg which i acquired contains many of the original 'raw' versions of a few of the songs. oh, krugy.
sunset rubdown - stadiums and shrines

latchmere by the macabees is one of the catchiest songs i've heard all year
and this is the video for it which i've just seen now i have sky again
i love the colours and shoddy stop motion. it's awesome.

catsup

2006-06-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

I've been busy all this week with this which you should come and see which is why I've not posted in ages
but last night's shenanigans were worth digressing for

Viva Cake

London's funnest fifties cabaret club, with free roller waitress served tea, cake, and lessons in lindy hop is well worth a visit

http://www.myspace.com/vivacakbitches

which was followed by
Klaxons

Flying off on an outfit dilemma causing tangent was the Klaxons rave in hoxton square. In a disused gym with ventilation rates well below the CIBSE recommended air changes per hour fresh air requirements, klaxons played their ravenous pop tunes. Well barley.

klaxons - 4 horsemen of 2012
klaxons - atlantis to interzone

Bonus mosh part 2

download these wickedbad songs

les parisiennes - L'Argent ne Fait Pas le Bonheur
the faces - ooh la la

matinee at the oyster house

2006-06-09T00:47:00.001-07:00

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti + Belong @ Luminaire

I'd read a bit about Ariel Pink's gigs before, so I had some idea about what to expect from the L.A. lo-fi popsmith, but really nothing can quite capture the essence of his performance - words like 'shambolic' and 'crap' spring to mind, but do nothing to explain the goodness of the gig...it wasn't bad, it was just rubbish - in a good way. See?

Anyway before Ariel, car park records' Belong performed their sonic soundscapes. I've written about this band before, sounding somewhere near the distortion-soaked melodies of my bloody valentine or fennesz, the ocean of sound that is their records translates well to a live setting, though admittedly without adding a whole lot (or taking away) from the recorded sounds. Still, the effect of the sonic tide of overdriven reverb washing over you is quite amazing. They had some fairly awesome video art on show to look at too, if you got bored of seeing a guitarist strum the same rhythm continuously throughout or watching the electronicist (i think i made up a new word) push buttons and turn dials. I'm actually quite interested in watching that, but it was cool to be able to appreciate the video at the same time.

Ariel Pink set up just as I hoped he would - a small cassette 8 track on top of some crates, two keyboards and a bass guitar. All the lights were turned away from the stage, and he spent most of the evening firing a smoke machine, until he was asked to stop by the sound engineer because the smoke alarm was going to go off. He also had bottles of bubble mix which was occasionally blown. Ariel then proceeded through his set of fucked up lo fi pop, singing along karaoke style to a backing track played on cassette tapes in the 8-track, which would be abruptly ejected at the end of each song and clunkily exchanged for the next one. In addition to the backing track was the sleaze bass played a classic 80s cool dude in oversized black shades who had his flies undone all show, and a female keyboardist who occasionally played melodies but quite often just cranked up loads of effects and jabbed the keys to create feedback. Ariel hardly stood still all gig, pacing up and down the stage with his girl's hair all in his face, fluctuating between nervous paranoid wreck and a fabulous fifties crooner. The whole thing was done with such an amazing unprofessionalism that you can't help but find it hilarious to watch, Ariel would sometimes not seem to know what he wanted to play next, choosing one tape from his stash but then changing his mind just before he'd play it, and the keyboardist quite frequently looked afraid of her instrument. They played an amazing set, and when two songs from the end, without leaving the stage, Ariel announces 'this is the encore by the way', you wished he'd bought another couple of tapes to play.

ariel pink - immune to emotion (from worn copy)

ariel pink - house arrest (from house arrest)

ariel pink - for kate i wait (from the doldrums)

Daft Punk is playing at my house

2006-06-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm taking another break from my portfolio, which is going pretty well actually, thanks for asking, to drop this bomb:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/9l1qpa

I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but this is quite probably the single best mp3 in existence today. This is a genuine claim. Recorded live at this year's coachella festival in indio, CA, this is, to put in simple human language, daft punk playing live. But it's so much more than that. Just get it, right now, and listen to it all night like I did. It got me quite literally dancing around my flat, and if you've seen my flat you'll know how hard that is, not least since my drawing board is set up right in the middle of it. And to think, if I'd been a year younger, I would have been there in person to see it. Theoretically at least, I mean my whole life would have been totally different I guess. I might not even have liked daft punk. HA, what am I talking about, as if I could ever not like daft punk.

And here is a little picture of me being lame at last year's festival. As if I haven't given you enough already today. Note the odd socks. Remember, odd socks are cool kids.

daft punk

season of the shark

2006-06-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today was about the nicest day of the year so far, or so it looked from my window inside which I've been doing my portfolio all day. Oh and I did go out briefly, I had to buy some tracing paper.

So anyway I decided to post some real summery songs. Uninterestingly, most of them are songs I actually listened to mostly during this winter. But they all would have been dance hits of the summer had they not. Actually they might as well still be, who am I to judge. And the other one is from last summer. But they feel summery, and, some of them even have sun-themed-titles! Coincidence?

fiery furnaces - here comes the summer
This song reminds me of california. And it's called 'here comes the summer'. You can't get much more explicit than that.

the spinto band - oh mandy
oh mandy...oh mandee-E-ee... just about the catchiest thing ever

wolf parade - shine a light
I thought like lights, shiney, shining lights...summer? I suppose actually in summer you have to shine a light less since the sun is out more anyway.

hot chip - over and over
like a monkey with a minature cymbal, sort of like this thing, which taps out beats to songs you play it. someone buy me one please.

love is all - ageing had never been his friend
it sometimes sounds like she sings 'asians' instead of 'ageing' which is funny

lily allen - LDN

this actually annoyed the heck out of me when I first heard it, but it's grown on me loads lately, and all the bloggers are talking about her so I thought I should post her too so I'd look cool (and I knew it before all them anyway). It's undoubtedly summery, and the more I hear it, the more it sounds like a song from adam and joe.

shoe shoe

2006-06-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Xiu Xiu

Essentially the project of Jamie Stewart, with various other contributors over the years, Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoe shoe) are one of my all time favourite bands. And their new album The Air Force, due out in september is, not so much a return to form, since the last album wasn't exactly a big disappointment, but is right up there with the best of their material I think. Plus it has an amazing cover.

If you're not familiar with xiu xiu, it's not incredibly easy to describe - it's quite an uncomprimising sound, mainly driven by stewart's histrionic vocals which deal with homosexuality, suicide, war and bad vacations, accomponied by disjointed electronic bleeps and intermittent cacophonies of percussion and shouting. You're better off just listening for yourself:

xiu xiu - the fox and the rabbit (from the air force)

and here's an older one
xiu xiu - ian curtis wishlist (from a promise)

and another
xiu xiu - I luv the valley OH (from fabulous muscles)

peace out

Eraser[adio]head

2006-06-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

Remember This:

Well I've heard it, and I like it. I like it a lot.

Big T had this to say about it:

This is just a note to say that something has been kicking around in the background that i have not told you about.its called The Eraser.nigel produced & arranged it .i wrote and played it.the elements have been kicking round now for a few years and needed to be finished & i have been itching to do something like this for ages.it was fun and quick to do.inevitably it is more beats & electronics.but its songs.stanley did the cover.yes its a record!no its not a radiohead record.as you know the band are now touring and writing new stuff and getting to a good space so i want no crap about me being a traitor or whatever splitting up blah blah...this was all done with their blessing. and i don't wanna hear that word solo. doesnt sound right.ok then thats that.i think its out in july and im pretty certain XL are going to put it out.love thom

thom yorke - cymbal rush

about yesterday

2006-06-01T05:13:00.000-07:00

The National

I saw the National play at koko last night, this the second time I've seen them live. It was a bit strange to be honest - for a start it's a bigger venue than where I saw them before, less intimate - the first time I saw them they were quite outstanding, they greatly exceeded my expectations, so maybe I was less impressed because I expected them to be as good as they were, I don't know. That's not to say it wasn't really good however, they are still among the better bands I've seen this year. Here is a song

the national - about today

Bog of Eternal Stench

2006-05-31T00:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've made a post, since I've been working up to my portfolio interim hand in yesterday. Here's a bunch of random songs that kept me going at 4am when I thought I needed to sleep

david bowie - magic dance

kraftwerk - kling klang produkt 2003

daft punk - rollin' and scratchin'

animal collective - essplode

motion picture sexlag

2006-05-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

Radiohead

I could probably spend hours writing about the history of Radiohead and the influence they've had on my musical life, but you probably know most of it anyway and I can't be bothered. Instead I'm just gonna tell you how amazing the gig at Hammersmith Apollo last night was. It was *this* amazing. I won't bore you any further; here is a new song

Radiohead - videotape (from hammersmith apollo)

and here is another

Radiohead - 15 step (from amsterdam heineken music hall)

these are the best two out of the new selection, I reckon

Also, I am very excited about this

http://www.theeraser.net/

this is all.

thunder, lightning, strike

2006-05-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Lightning Bolt

WOAH

Tonight was lightning bolt at the garage, and it was literally one of the best gigs I have ever been to. Absolutely incredible. If you don't know anything about their live shows here is a brief synopsis; they set up in the middle of the venue floor instead of on stage. The drummer wears a mask which looks like some pants sewn together with a microphone inside which is jammed in to his mouth for the entirety of the gig. They then play their intense songs at deafening volumes, which involve the most amazing drum and bass work (that's drums and bass, not drum n bass, just in case you're retarded) and yeah basically if I haven't made it clear already it's FUCKING AMAZING! Seriously it is absolutely insane and now my ears hurt.

While I spent most of the gig having a rad time and trying to avoid being thrown into the drumkit, I did manage to take a few photos, so here they are

RAR!

And here are some mpthrees

lightning bolt - diet of grapes and nuts

lightning bolt - dracula mountain

there's 'loads' more lightning bolt stuff and videos at http://lightningband.com/ as well

zinner frames

2006-05-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Tonight I went to see the yeah yeah yeahs at the forum. It wasn't amazing, really, I mean I never seem to have an awesome time at the forum, I don't what it is about that venue, can't put my finger on it, but something's not quite right. Anyway, it wasn't bad by any stretch, in fact it's made me appreciate the new album a lot more...I'd only heard it all the way through once because I wasn't overly impressed on first hearing; it generally doesn't stand up to the quality of the first album, although when I think about it, I'm not even sure the first album does itself. I am aware that makes no sense. Anyway there are actually some wicked songs on Show Your Bones, and the live energy they have, and the captivating stage presence of Karen O in particular, means they're still certainly worth experiencing. So here is an mp3.

yeah yeah yeahs - honeybear

and here is another one, a different one

yeah yeah yeahs - y control (faint remix)

anglo saxons at the disco

2006-05-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Jamie T

I don't know what the T stands for. What I do know is that he is going to be massive. I'm tempted to describe him as sort of a hip hop patrick wolf almost? I dunno, it's like folk music but with a beat. I'm not an expert on street poetry though I did do english a-level, but there is something about his elocution, the meter and rhythm of his delivery which is just so danm catchy it's insane. He also has the funk pretty much. And he's a cool guy just to top it off.

Jamie T - salvador

this couldn't be more ghetto

2006-05-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Scissors for Lefty

Scissors for lefty are two sets of two brothers from San Francisco who have recently signed to rough trade and are the way to becoming a next big-ish indie sensation of sorts. 'Their sound' can be pretty diverse from song to song but is generally sort of a wolf parade/voxtrot shaped object, and, live especially, singer Bryan Corza is as enigmatic as a crooning Stephen Malkmus, and I likee. They are all swell guys too, and Corza. B used to be a mechanical engineer which I think is pretty cool. They are playing live in various venues near you now and I would advise you go check them out.

I don't have any mp3s...but you can have a little listen on their myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/scissorsforlefty

Unfortunately this site doesn't contain current indie disco dancefloor favourite 'Mama' which is imho a bit better than most of these...but Next to Argyle and forthcoming single Ghetto Ways are almost equally as deck.

Suburban pop and the politics of love?

2006-05-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Long Blondes
The long blondes are five attractive young dandies from sheffield who dress nicely and play catchy retro indie pop songs. I don't think I should like them but I really do. Today I was in the video shoot for their new single called "weekend without making out" doing embarrassing things. Coming to a tv near you soon.

the long blondes - separated by motorways
the long blondes - giddy stratospheres

The Walker's Digest

2006-05-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Scott Walker

A chance combination of two isolated incidents led me to this post, a tribute to the man, the myth, the legend that is Scott Walker; a re-watching of Wes Anderson's comedy classic The Life Aquatic and recollection of how well 30th Century Man fits on the soundtrack, and the recepit of Walker's latest album, The Drift, this morning. I decided this was enough incentive to embark on a marathon of his back catalogue to soundtrack my work today.

Beginning his pop career in the popular chart topping mid 60s band The Walker Brothers (no they weren't really brothers, or called Walker), Scott, real name Engel, is a singer/songwriter in an almost Sinatra like vein, but with songs about prostitutes, transvestites, suicides and communist dictatorships. His first solo album, imaginitively entitled Scott 1 contained mostly cover versions, particularly of his mentor of sorts Jacques Brel, whom he has paid homage to throughout most of his career.

His next release, Scott 2 contained more of Brel's material, and was a huge commercial success in the UK, reaching number 1. By his thrid album, Scott 3, the material was now dominated by Walker's own writing, and this too was greated with success, reaching the top ten.

However Walker's Scott 4, despite being now widely regarded as his most important release and a classic of the time, failed to reach the chart heights of his previous work. As a result Walker took a step back from the limelight, and apart from a couple of what are considered to be non-essential releases in the early seventies, he all but disappeared into solitude, No longer giving many interviews and rarely making public appearances of any kind.

Over a decade of silence from Walker followed before the release of Tilt, a radical departure from his earlier material which although was slightly edgy and leftfield within it's genre, was nothing compared to the uncomprimising stark landscapes of music in the almost nightmareish tones of this 1995 effort. While his early albums can be more or less considered 'easy listening', Tilt is exactly the opposite, a haunting and genuinely at times disturbing and scary album.

Walker provided a similar sounding soundtrack to the obscure 1999 french film Pola X, but otherwise has released no material until this year's The Drift. Again in the vein of the dark, uncomfortable, experimental avant-garde of Tilt, The Drift is another remarkable record from a remarkable artist.

such a small love (from Scott 1)

black sheep boy (from Scott 2)

sons of (from Scott 3)

on your own again (from Scott 4)

farmer in the city (from Tilt)

cossacks are (from the Drift)

Ancient Delay

2006-05-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

Wolf Eyes

Busy week this week, what with two major coursework hand-ins and a crit on friday...hence the lack of posts. To round it all off though I was meant to go see wolf eyes at electrowerkz, which would have been awesome, had I not been so exhausted I didn't actually manage to go. One of my friends who did go however, said it was much better than it is on record. Since she describes the records using terms like 'aural rape music', I'm assuming this is a big compliment, so I'm kinda gutted I didn't go. For those of you not familar with wolf eyes, they sound a bit like, well, aural rape, I guess, but in a good way.

wolf eyes - stabbed in the face

Ellen Allien & Apparat

On a fairly unrelated note, I've been listening to the new Ellen Alien album a bit this weekend, a collaborative effort with underground ambient electronica/techno producer Sascha Ring as Apparat. The two have pretty different styles individually, and this is an interesting project for techno music. It's good too.

ellen allien & apparat - jet

Sufjan Stevens

And just in case you thought I was getting all abstract and conceptual on yo asses, here's a track from the new Sufjan Stevens album, the Avalanche. Shh.

sufjan stevens - the henney buggy band

BlitzKrug Bop

2006-04-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Spencer Krug

I first learned of Spinny Kruger through the Frog Eyes record 'The Golden River' a couple of years back. His crazy seafarer vocal style drew my attention instantly and the next couple of Frog Eyes album were equally bum. He then got all indie populat on our asses with the release of the Wolf Parade album "Apologies to the Queen Mary" last year, which is also very good, but not as good as the EPs that came out before that innit. It would be cool here if I made a joke about how Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes sounds somewhere in between Wolf Eyes, but they sound about as similar as that sentence makes sense. Now he's back with another project by the name of Sunset Rubdown, who are again, awesome, in fact at the moment anyway I like this album "Shut Up I Am Dreaming" the most out of everything else I've heard. And it's one of my favourite records of this year so far.

Sunset Rubdown - Us Ones In Between

BONUS!YEAH!

Frog Eyes - One in Six Children Will Flee in Boats

Wolf Parade - Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts

speaking of albums of the year...

Islands

At the end of the Unicorns album "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" they sing "I woke up thirsty, on an island in the sea...now I'm ready to die" and Nick Diamonds dies. The band broke up after releasing little more than that album and a short EP. The world was a sad place. Little did we know that not too much of a wait later Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur return (to the sea), sans Alden Ginger, with new project Islands, who are almost as good as the Corn's themselves (that's a pet name, not a reference to Th' Cornn Gangg, the inbetween project which feature Unicorns songs as a backing track to Busdriver and Subtitle's rappings (or is it)). Their album Return to the Sea is another one of the best this year, and this song in particular is my current number 1 dancefloor filler in da clubs.

Islands - Rough Gem

Who Told You This Room Exists

2006-04-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Belong and William Basinski

With only the brief diversions of a few hours sleep, and going to Sainsbury's for milk, I have been solidly working on something called "The Manual" which is very long but quite boring, and difficult.

During this time I have been intaking the ambient sounds of William Basinski's Disentegration Loops, a series of sound recordings of ancient tape loops decaying as they play...as pitchfork explained, "as they played, flakes of magnetic material were scraped away by the reader head, wiping out portions of the music and changing the character and sound of the loops as they progressed, the recording process playing an inadvertent witness to the destruction of Basinski's old music". I find this immensely interesting as a form of art anyway, but the music produced by this process is equally as engrossing. Since the process of tape decay is fairly slow, the pieces are long and unsuited for uploading to this blog. So instead...

Belong are something I know very little about. I only discovered them while interweb browsing one day to find who was supporting Ariel Pink when I see him in June. I found this one song by him, and have since got the album, and it's pretty amazing. Similar to basinski in terms of ambient sound and quite reminiscent of Fennesz, it's perfect calming background music to antidote the warth brought about by my wrought struggle with The Manual

Belong - I never lose, really really

Be Your Own PET

Friday night I went to see be your own pet at ULU. I'd be lying if I claimed to be byop's biggest fan or anything, but I reckon they're a pretty entertaining pop-rock band albeit slightly derivative of the yeah yeah yeahs. They were awesome fun live though. Once of the most upbeat, energetic gigs I've been to in a while. Worth checking out. The singer is pretty hot too, although this has nothing to do with my interest in the band. And the guitarist has an awesome afro.

http://www.myspace.com/beyourownpet

decent bands with funny sounding names

2006-04-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

suburbun kids with biblical names

I got their album the other day, and have been listening to it a fair bit. They sound pretty similar to magnetic fields. On the website it says they want to wants to ”turn all the dance floors into a burnings inferno of Ba-ba-ba”. They're not wrong. This song in particular has some good ba-ba-bas.

suburbun kids with biblical names rent a wreck

Somewhere in Europe/ Hotpink!

2006-04-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Ariel Pink

My Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti t-shirt arrived in the post today, so I thought I'd make a post about the crazy mo-fo. Ariel Pink is some weirdo from LA who makes pseudo pop that almost sounds like it's chart music from the 50s but then backs it with various hardly bearable high pitched noise and trippy sequencing. If and when you can take the at first often seemingly hideous production issues aside you'll find some of the best inanely catchy chorus melodies you'll ever hear. It may take repeated listens. You will love it, though, eventually. Honestly.

ariel pink - helen (from "House Arrest")

And in case you're interested this is the t-shirt. It's awesome.

LIES! LIES!

2006-04-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Liars

hey look! down there. Yesterday I started a blog. It's pretty rubbish. But here's a song that's not by a band that's not, who coincendentally have the tallest front-man in rock:

Liars - mr you're on fire mr (peel session)

On this blog I will post various music related things, like songs I rate and shit.

I might also write when I see bands. Like for instance last night I saw Robots in Disguise. They dress up a bit like robots...in disguises

They also play electro-pop songs, jump around and shout a lot, and molest members of the audience in the front row such as myself and friends. As if that wasn't enough already, they also feature in the Mighty Boosh, who are their greatests fans, and attended the show. This meant I rubbed shoulders with popular tv heartthrobs. It was a bit weird, because he crawled along the floor underneath me and sat at my feet for most of the show.

Robots in Disguise - Turn It Up

learning how to dive

2006-04-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Animal Collective

I remember learning how to dive

Even though I was high

I remember learning how to dive

I have to go to the end of the board

animal collective - learning how to dive (live in tokyo 2004-02-29)