Trains to Brazil is a great song, and it made me rather obsessed with Guillemots for awhile. Then I got the EP for cheap at Sunrise Records and enjoyed it, but once again focused on that song, and then kind of forgot about them. I meant to check out their LP Through the Windowpane, but it got lost in the shuffle. And suddenly I find out they have a new album (Red) out and a killer new single. So basically what I’m saying is: I’m sorry Guillemots. I haven’t given you the respect you deserve. I promise I’ll make it right. Yet another band to add to the recent Britpop kick I’m on.
And this has nothing to do with Britpop, but Man Man’s new album is going to be something special. For your listening pleasure, this is Top Drawer. Enjoy the weird. I can’t wait for Rabbit Habits.
Since the DVNO ep and video just came out I thought I’d throw this one in too. It’s probably one of the best remixes of this song. Surkin seems to be the only one who really attempted to do his own thing with the re-working.
I was recently excited to discover Friends of Pop, a collective that organizes gigs and indie dj nights here in Toulouse, France. As I perused the bands that I’d missed, I found Rodeo Massacre, who have got me thinking that my slim 511s aren’t really enough, and that skinny are the way God intended jeans to be. At least if you’re going to make music this cool.
Clocking in at 2 minutes and 30 seconds, “Brand New Day,” the Massacre’s first single brings me back to the first Ramones album, a time when a good recording only needed some sweaty kids in cool outfits, a few microphones, and a guy in the hall to tell everyone to shut up for a couple of minutes.
I can’t find anything about the band that isn’t on fashion blogs, which is unfortunate because there’s nothing sexier than a chick singer howling like “Harmony in My Head” by Buzzcocks. For now, you’re going to have to settle for the video and a MySpace link.
Toss the drumsticks aside and shake hands. This is rock and roll.
A friend of mine suggested I listen to the new Mystery Jets album, so I checked out the single Young Love. It’s fun Britpop, but it didn’t really hit me until Laura Marling started singing.
I think I’m in love. Intrigued, I immediately sought out her album Alas, I Cannot Swim and, expecting more bouncy pop music, found some of the best folk music I’ve heard in some time. I was also surprised to learn she’s only eighteen. Beautiful and haunting, Ghosts is a song I’m going to be listening to for some time.
This Thursday I attended my first Foo Fighters concert, an event several years in the making. Skipping opening acts Hi-Fi Handgrenades and Against Me, I arrived about 15 minutes before the Foos started their set. I managed to get to a spot on the floor with a decent view for most of the night. The opening song was “Let it Die,” from the surprisingly solid Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, and it set the tone for a night made up of hit singles. I was a little disappointed the band didn’t delve further into their catalogue, but that’s to be expected at this point in their career. They did however pull out Stacked Actors, Cold Day in the Sun and Nirvana rarity Marigold.
I challenge anyone to not be won over by Dave Grohl’s charisma. After running across the arena to the second stage to play a 5 song acoustic set, greeting the audience with “Now who has the shitty seats, fuckers?!” reminded me why I’m a fan. Not to mention finally hearing Everlong live. Though looking back at the setlist, the best song of the night was clearly Monkey Wrench, if only for the shouting of an arena prior to the final chorus. The Big Me Mentos story was also a hit, largely due to the spot-on Rivers Cuomo impersonation. Apparently Weezer covering the song during the Foo Fighters/Weezer tour from a few years back is the reason it’s back on the set list. It’s a pretty enjoyable cover. I walked away from the night with a handful of blurry photos, a t-shirt, and a smile on my face.
The first single from the forthcoming Narrow Stairs has made its debut. Clocking in at 8:35, it’s much longer than the typical Death Cab song. I Will Possess Your Heart has an intro that lasts just long enough to trick you into thinking it’s an instrumental, but the voice of Ben Gibbard soon chimes in with his familiar brand of lyrics. But is that something sinister I hear this time around? Clearly that intro will be cut in the radio edit, but it makes me eager to see what direction the rest of the album is taking.
Very rarely do remixes get me all worked up, but I’ve been listening to the Twelves’ remix of Black Kids’ I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You nonstop for the past couple of days and I’m just astounded. I wasn’t familiar with the original, so I checked it out afterwards. It’s enjoyable enough, but suffers from muddy vocals. The remix brings the vocals up in the mix and amps up the actual ‘dance’ I expected from the title. It still maintains the lovelorn nature of the original, but brings a ready for the floor vibe as well. Infectious as the plague, this is.
And since this has become about dancing, it may be appropriate to include the Justice video for DVNO. Somehow I forgot about the song after my initial runthrough of †, but the video got me going again. It’s fairly similar to the clip for D.A.N.C.E., albeit with colourful words instead of T-shirts.
My Swedish friends are hating me for butchering the Swedish language with my babblefish translated titles - so this one goes out to them.
I first wrote about Lykke Li back in December. At the time, she was pretty much the bees-knees in the Swedish music scene. After having only released one single (”Little Bit“) people were hailing the 21 year-old as the next Robyn. Just a few months later, and konichiwa bitches, Lykke dropped her debut LP Youth Novels. The LP was produced by Björn Yttling (of PB&J fame) and Lasse Mårtén (who after producing Kelly Clarkson singles, seems to have gotten frustrated and turned to the likes of Lykke and the Shout Out Louds to get back his street-cred). The album is a fairly solid debut for Li. If I was Pitchfork, I’d probably give it a 7.4/10.
A couple of my favorite tracks are:
1. The Jens Lekman-ish “My“, a dreamy pop number which makes me want to run through the Swedish low-land wheat fields.
3. “This Trumpet in My Head” is one of two spoken-word songs on the album. It’s got a sweet classical guitar intro, a great little trumpet section, which Lykke claims she just “can’t get out of her head”. It kind of reminds me of the first time I listened to Danielson’s “Did I Step on Your Trumpet?”.
In the mean time, Lykke’s also gotten to be quite tight with her fellow Scandanvians, performing a medley of songs including (her own) “Little Bit”, “Until We Bleed” and “With Every Heartbeat” with Kleerup and Robyn at the P3 Guld Award
[Update: That video got deleted. So here’s a sweet video of Lykke busking with her homies in Sweden]
Another sweet video, featuring her new-found homies, is her acoustic rendition of “I’m Good, I’m Gone” (Lykke’s latest single) with guests: Robyn, Adam & Bebban (of the Shout Out Louds), Daniel (of The Concretes), Lars Laakso and Mikael Hjalmar:
I’m feeling mellow aujourd’hui and The Postmarks have been on repeat all day. They are from Miami and their sound is very 70s-esque. The video for ‘Goodbye’ is perfection and the girl has fantastic fringe.
‘Let Go’ and ‘Know Which Way the Wind Blows’ are my favourites.
I think it would be amazing if The Teenagers remixed ‘Goodbye’ or ‘Let Go’, oui?! I’m still obsessed with their re-working of ‘Fallen Snow’ by Au Revoir Simone and the Postmarks have a pretty similar sound so…
oh, and in case you were curious about le photo….. it is the cover of my zine, Les Femmes, with Hannah (alors, peut-etre). The glasses just seem to fit all too well with the 70s vibe of the Postmarks. Anyways, it is going to be out soon, for more info…lesfemmeszine@gmail.com.
