It’s only been until this summer that I finally got acquainted with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down’s incredible alt rock, when, completely by chance, I stumbled across their myspace. Boy, was I missing out! There’s something really special about the band, it’s almost like they have this sort of aura around them, something that I can’t quite put my finger on – maybe it’s their catchy pop hooks or, just as well, the…
I simply loved this stunning animated video for The Decemberists “The Rake’s Song” from the very first moment I hit play! It’s all very well put together, revealing a colorful winter landscape, packed with an usual feel good vibe and equally feel good dancing cardboard figurines. The video was was created and directed in Moscow, by Alex Dashino and Varvara Volodina, two second year students studying Moving Image at Central Saint Martins College of Art…
The Brooklyn dance punk duo have gone a long way since their first major label debut, “Oracular Spectacular”, got out back in 2007, propulsating them to instant stardom. It’s been hectic – it can be pretty clear for anyone to notice, fact noted by the band numerous times before too. Let’s just hope that MGMT’s upcoming new album, just recently dubbed “Congratulations”, isn’t going to be affected by the incredibly massive hype their break through…
Julian Casablancas’ first single, “11th Dimension”, off his upcoming debut solo album, has been more or less unanimously voted the hottest track of the past month, based on the outrageous amount of reactions on blogs, twitter, facebook and all the other social networks that you can think of. With “Phrazes For The Young” being slated for official release only two weeks from now, we’ve been treated to yet another track from the album, the cascading…
As previously reported, The Flaming Lips’ follow-up to their recently released full length “Embryonic” will be a cover album of Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon, most probably adapted to the band’s eclectic experimentalism. This Friday, The Flaming Lips hit the KCRW studios where they played Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic closer “Eclipse”, as part of their session for the station’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show. You can check out the faithful rendition of Eclipse…
When did music television die, exactly? I’ll tell you when – it was when we all gave up on it, and with a collective mouseclick accepted Youtube and Myspace as our appointed saviours. But! There’s a more pressing question on my mind: is there a single post-Myspace moment where we can say music television went beyond an existence of pallid, pathetic obsolescence, and into fully-fledged, crap-slinging horribleness? When I say “music television”, I don’t mean…
Last night, The Flaming Lips played LA’s Ricardo Montalbán Theater as part of a more intimate set, free of the band’s usual live show props (no explosions, fake blood or anything that could be considered outrageous, not for The Flaming Lips at least). There, the band opened up the crowd with a set packed with new songs off the new album, “Embryonic” – a really hate it or love it release. Besides the impeccable performance,…
Grizzly Bear were joined yesterday night by Beach House’s Victoria Legrand, with whom they also collaborated on the New Moon soundtrack, for an incredible performance at the end of Conan O’Brien’s The Tonight Show. A bit unexpectedly or not, the band played their smashing pop single “Two Weeks” Victoria handling the eerie backing vocals which simply sent a chill down everybody’s spine. Two Weeks is off Grizzly Bear’s most recent album Veckatimest out now.
Hello. Have you been having a good day? Oh, I’m sorry – didn’t she warn you? Oh dear. Well, I’m sure they make a cream for that. Oh, they don’t? I see. Well, if anything is going to cheer you up, it’s the paragraphs which directly follow this one. Tom Waits’ fancy new website tells us that Mr Waits is going to release a two-disc live album, taken from his 2008 Glitter & Doom Tour….
Halloween came a bit early for Camera Obscura this year or should I say in a year back in the ’60s? Vintage film, weird hairdos and mustached women. Can you think of a sweeter thing? Off Camera Obscura’s latest album “My Maudlin Career” out now on 4AD.
Tibi Puiu
Al Byrne