I hadn’t intended to write a post on the break up of Nashville garage rockers Be Your Own Pet. In fact, I’ve never been able to make it through either of their albums, the self-titled disc or Get Awkward. The reason I’m writing is because I’ve finally enjoyed one of their songs, “Becky”, but if I showed you the video and didn’t mention the break up, I would appear pathetically misinformed, which at times I am, but not this time.
On August 1, the band posted this announcement on their homepage:
“To all of our fans, we are sad to bring you the news that our upcoming shows in the UK are going to be our last as a band. We thank you for all your love and support these past few years. It’s been a blast, but the time has come for the four of us to go our separate ways.”
For those of you killin’ em in the UK, enjoy the shows. For those of you anywhere else, enjoy this video for “Becky” which wasn’t included on Get Awkward’s North American release because record execs figured the lyrics were too violent (along with a few other songs). And if there’s anything we’ve learned from Hostel, it’s that violence can be cool. But please kids, play safe.
This past week I watched the season finale of CSI: NY as well as the movie Collateral (Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx). Both were about shady cab drivers who might just kill you for shits and giggles. So when I stumbled upon the ominous image above, I was naturally quite fearful that the site BlackCabSessions.Com would feature amateur videos of a London-cabby getting his Hannibal Lecter on. After entering the site however, I realized that I’d discovered a sweet sweet gem. No death - pure indie goodness.
The site features videos of a variety of different indie artists performing in the back of “an iconic London-paradigm: the London Black Cab.” The results are “fleeting and beautiful and surprisingly romantic. I’m totally hooked,” says Aaron Dessner of The National. I totally agree with Mr. Dressner.
Here are some of my favorite videos posted so far:
Gnarls Barkley’s first album St. Elsewhere was the hottest 37 minute album to come out in the summer of ‘06. The odd couple are back April 8th with their new album:
The first two videos are hawt shit, and totally different from each other.
First Single “Run”:
Tag-line - It’s about to be on like hot butter on popcorn. (*It also features JT for the boys and bitches).
Second Single “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?”:
Tag-line - And maybe it’s a little selfish, all I have is the memory, yet I never stop to wonder, is it possible you were hurting worse than me? (*This one features ?uest Love for the gangstas and tricks)
If you have any taste for whatever good hip hop there still is in mainstream, then the name “Child Rebel Soldier” (CRS) should already ring a bell. CRS is a hip hop supergroup consisting of Lupe Fiasco (the Child), Kanye West (the Rebel), and Pharrell Williams (the Soldier), and given the level of these artists’ independent success, I don’t have to point out how much of a big deal this is. The only song that they have out so far is “US Placers” which was released on Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape last year, and was performed by Lupe Fiasco at last year’s Lollapalooza.
According to interviews with Fiasco, they’re planning to release an album by September of this year… all they have to do is to find some time to start working on it (read: expect delays). And, of course, there’s also the issue of Lupe Fiasco announcing his retirement after his third album “LupEND”. If he’s serious about that, this probably means that Child Rebel Soldier is just going to be a one album project… which is sad, but there’s no point crying about it until we see what this supergroup can accomplish on their first album. But if it’s anything like “US Placers” in its originality, which samples from Thom Yorke’s “Eraser,” then it’s sure to be exceptional.
Although the song US Placers doesn’t have an official music video yet, it’s getting a lot of attention on YouTube. Especially this one particular video that’s so well done, it could have even been the official video. It was directed by graduated film student Vashtie Kola, who is a close personal friend of Mr. Williams and is the stylist of the Skateboard P’s clothing lines Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream (find out more about this Downtown Sweetheart here). The video was filmed on an absolutely zero budget. The actors did it for free and the props were either all hers or borrowed from friends. The concept for the video is just as original as the song itself, portraying kid versions of the artists rapping over the song. Now without much further ado, here’s the unofficial video for CRS’s “US Placers” by VA$HTIE.
“Death to Los Campesinos” is the first song on Hold on Now, Youngster…, the soon-to-be-released debut album from Los Campesinos!.
Those Dancing Days are a all-girl band from Stockholm. Here’s the video for the self-titled single “Those Dancing Days.”
To warm us up for the debut LP Morning Tide to be released in April, The Little Ones have released “Ordinary Song”, their first single seperate from their debut, the Sing Song EP.
“Waving Flags,” the first single taken from the third British Sea Power album Do You Like Rock Music?, continues their seemingly perfect streak of epic singles.
Delays deliver another dancefloor-filler with “Love Made Visible” from their new EP of the same title.
First off, the title is one part reference to a really good Swedish music blog, http://www.swedesplease.net/, and one part plea.
There are those that subscribe to the belief that indie pop music was born in the releases of Scottish record label Postcard Records (i.e. Josef K, Orange Juice, and Aztec Camera), and to some extent that is where the home of pure pop music remains, as evidenced by more recent bands like Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, and Camera Obscura. But somewhere in that bustling period from 1981 to today, indie pop found a second home. Sweden, despite its distance, and with many thanks to the internet, has had a huge outpour of both excellent and excellently-received albums. Some of my personal favourite artists include Peter Bjorn and John, Love Is All, The Concretes, and Shout Out Louds.
Today I’m going to focus my energy on my newest favourite Swedish release. Jens (pronounced “Yawns” or “Yens”, not quite sure which) Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala, is an album I would usually refer to as my favourite album of the year (Website/MySpace). However, I’ve stopped using that moniker as I tend to have several “favourite albums of the year” making it very clear that I am either confused or a liar. All will become clear once the end of year bests are published on Ca Va Cool. So what I mean to say is that I love Jens Lekman, and that at one period in time this year, a period which may not have ended yet, this was/is my favourite album.
Sounding as if a humble eukele player was given unlimited access to an orchestra, Jens Lekman’s second LP Night Falls Over Kortedala is both understated and overstated at the same time. The core of the songs rest in Lekman’s Jonathan Richman-esque delivery: witty tales of insecurity with a romantic twist. But then each of the songs is expanded to their climactic limit with instruments from varying genres (i.e. R&B, Salsa, Classical). Definitely worth more than just a listen, and if you like what you hear, check out “A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill” and “Black Cab”. Click on the [more…] link for some of my Swedish favourites.
Here’s the music video for “Sipping on Sweet Nectar”
M.I.A.’s Kala is released on August 21 and singing/rhyming/whatever it is she does seems as consistent as the first album, but this album really innovates in the differences in style of the productions. The sound that Diplo set on the first album is expanded here by a myriad of new sounds, including those from Timbaland and Three 6 Mafia, whose presence proves how big M.I.A. has gotten.
The album begins the same as The Modern Lovers (1976): “Roadrunner, roadrunner, going faster miles an hour,” then flows through a few weak points where the album gets too adventurous, but then we hear the real highlight “Jimmy”. The new single has everything a dance song should. Lyrics which come off like Jane Birkin moaning “Je t’aime,” an LCD Soundsystem beat, and then to give it real umph, strings that sound like they’re an ABBA sample (think Madonna).
Here is the video for the Switch-produced Bollywood disco dance floor filler:
Maya Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A. will be releasing her second album Kala on August 21. The London-born, Sri Lanka-raised rapper will be working with the likes of Diplo, Timbaland, and Three 6 Mafia on the new record.
The video for the unofficial first single from the album was filmed in Jamaica and financed by M.I.A. personally. Enjoi this video for “Bird Flu”. There’s also some good videos from the first album after the (more…) link.
Shout Out Louds are going to be releasing their second album Our Ill Wills in Sweden on April 25 on Bud Fox Recordings. An international release will follow but they’re kicking off the promotion with a European tour, hopefully with a North American tour afterwards. The first single is “Tonight I Have to Leave It” and shows that they haven’t lost their knack.
The album is produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn And John, not the first collaboration since the Peter Bjorn And John video for “Young Folks” was directed by Ted Malmros, bassist for the Shouts. I just love that song and video so much that I’m going to include it in the post. Click on the (more…) link below to check out the best pop song of 2006.
We received a message in the post today from a man referring to himself as Ca Va Cool’s “most annoying reader”. He sure earned the title as he went on to say that “Arctic Monkeys are so 2 years ago, and Neon Bible is so 1 week ago”. His sarcastic tone was no surprise as this mysterious man is none other than my brother, always ready to correct. Not only did Ca Va Cool just post on the new Arctic Monkeys, but we are behind the times as we have not posted on Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible. We’re still in our formative years, give us a break, it’s coming. So yeah, in order to make up for this he has suggested some videos which are the cat’s meow. His list just didn’t cut it, so I threw in a few of my own to spice it up. They’re all embedded, so click on the link below to check them out.
